Part 1 (1/2)
Werewolf Mega-Bundle 2.
by Mia Harris.
Caught By The Alpha.
A chilly winter wind whipped through Ella French's long brown hair as she exited her car and headed up the long garden path that led to local oil billionaire Stephen Robinson's mansion. She, along with everyone else applying for the cleaning position, had had to go through several security checkpoints to even drive up here, so she desperately hoped that she could score the job.
Like most people, she had never planned on being someone else's maid, but that was just how life had turned out for her. Two years of college had amounted to nothing because after a series of unlucky incidents, her parents could no longer afford to support her and pay her tuition. So, she had been forced to drop out, and the last five years had been a struggle from one c.r.a.ppy, low-paying job to the next. The last position she had held as a waitress and cleaner at a cafe hadn't actually been so bad, aside from the pay, but unfortunately the owners had recently decided to shut the place down.
She had discovered the advertis.e.m.e.nt for the cleaning job online, and marveled when she had seen the pay rate. It was twice what she had been paid at her old jobs, and if she got the position, she might actually be able to pay off some of the debts she owed, which wasn't something she had imagined herself doing anytime soon.
All that she knew about Stephen Robinson was from what she had seen in the papers and heard from gossipy friends. He had made his fortune in the oil industry at the relatively tender age of twenty-eight, and then invested it further until he was one of the country's youngest billionaires. Ella knew he was a handsome man, but she had also heard he could be a formidable boss, so she hoped that if she did get this maid job, he wouldn't be around all that often.
As she arrived at the top of the garden path, a kindly-faced older man asked if she was there for the interview. When she answered, he directed her to a small door to the side, and as she walked through it, her heart sank. There were at least fifty other applicants sitting there already, and she thought she had been early. Checking her watch, she saw that it was only a quarter to nine. Fifteen minutes before the interviews start. Jesus, I bet half the candidates aren't even here yet. I'm never going to get this job.
Taking a seat next a pretty blonde girl, Ella's palms began to sweat as she looked around. If Stephen Robinson was a shallow, model-chasing playboy like so many other rich men were, then there was no way she would be hired, even for a simple cleaning job. The other female applicants ranged from pet.i.te to statuesque in height, but they all had one thing in common they were skinny. As she eyed the blonde girl next to her, she tried to picture herself even fitting one of her thighs in her smart black skirt. Nope, wouldn't happen. I'd tear the skirt in two before I even managed to stick my ankle in, she thought, sighing.
She had always been a big girl, and always been proud of her curves, but right now they were making her feel lower than ever as she eyed the other applicants. Her face was pretty enough, especially with some carefully-applied makeup, but she would never have the sort of body that would see her mistaken for a model or an actress. A plus-size model, maybe...
A few minutes later, her reverie was disturbed by a powerful, deep voice booming through the room. Jerking her head up, she was shocked to see Mr. Robinson himself standing at the front of the room, next to a door which Ella had a.s.sumed led to an office of some sort. She had initially thought that one of his employees would be taking care of the hiring process, but here he was in the flesh, even more handsome than in the pictures she had seen of him.
He was tall with even features and short brown hair, and casually dressed in jeans and a black long-sleeved T-s.h.i.+rt. The T-s.h.i.+rt left little to the imagination, and Ella's jaw nearly dropped as her eyes lingered on the well-defined muscles that lay underneath. He might be a tough boss, but he sure is s.e.xy, she thought. She had a.s.sumed a billionaire like him would always be dressed in an expensive suit, but the casual clothes gave him a down-to-earth air that she hadn't antic.i.p.ated.
”Thank you for coming, everyone. I...”
He paused and scanned the room, and his eyes landed directly on Ella. As he stared at her, she felt a rush of heat right between her legs, and her mouth dried up as her heart thumped in her chest.
”Well, I'm sorry to have made you all waste your time, but the position has been filled already,” he continued, his gravelly voice sending s.h.i.+vers racing down Ella's spine along with a tinge of disappointment as she realized she wouldn't even be getting an interview with him now that the job was taken.
The applicants frowned and t.i.ttered as they began to file out of the room, and Ella picked up her faded old handbag and sighed. Back to the drawing board, she thought, trying to recall the other positions she had come across on the jobseekers website. As she stood up and turned to leave, she felt a large hand tap her on the shoulder. Then, a familiar voice spoke to her from behind.
”Excuse me, could you stay?”
Ella whirled around to see the billionaire himself standing behind her. As he stared down at her with an unfamiliar expression on his face, she could have sworn that his eyes flashed with a golden color for a second. He looks... angry, or maybe it's something else. It's hard to tell. Did I do something wrong? she wondered. Nervous, she simply stared at him for a few seconds, unable to find her tongue.
”Would you come with me?” Mr. Robinson asked, motioning a hand towards the door that he had been standing next to only moments ago.
Ella still had no idea what he wanted, but she nodded her head and followed him anyway. He was a wealthy and powerful man, and from what she had read about him, he wasn't the kind of man that one should ever say no to. She had been right about where the door went; it led into a s.p.a.cious office where Mr. Robinson told her to sit.
Finally locating her tongue a moment later, Ella spoke up.
”Mr. Robinson, may I ask why you brought me back here?”
He sat down at a large desk across from her, and then stared at her as he rested his chin on one hand. His grey-blue eyes seemed to bore a hole right through her, and Ella felt decidedly uncomfortable as she s.h.i.+fted nervously in her seat.
”You came here to apply for the cleaning job, yes?” he asked.
”Yes. But then you said it was filled, so...”
He waved his hand to interrupt her.
”I told everyone else it was filled to get them out of here, as they were no longer needed. I'd like to offer you the job. That is, if you still want it.”
”What?” she replied, her eyes widening. ”Sorry, I mean... why are you offering me the job when you don't even know me?”
”I'm a good businessman, Ms...”
”French. Ella French,” she said.
”Ms. French. In my line of work, I need to make quick decisions, and I've become rather adept at judging situations and knowing what the right choice is, often by instinct. As soon as I saw you sitting out there, I knew you would be perfect. So I sent everyone else away.”
”But... what if you're wrong about me?” she asked, raising her eyebrows in confusion.
He chuckled.
”My instincts never fail me. At least they haven't yet.”
”Don't you want to see my CV or anything like that?”
”Yes, I would. I'm not a complete idiot,” he said, his eyes twinkling slightly. ”I a.s.sume you have a copy handy?”
As Ella leaned down to retrieve the small file with her CV in it from her handbag, her cheeks turned pink. What exactly does he see in me? she wondered, almost pinching her arm to see if she was dreaming.
Mr. Robinson scanned her CV for a moment and then looked up.
”This says you were at Hale University for four semesters studying engineering. That's an excellent school. Is there any reason you didn't finish?”
Ella felt her face turning a brighter shade of pink as he regarded her over the top of her file.
”Um... well, my parents couldn't pay for my tuition anymore, and it was too hard for me to work fulltime and study such an intensive course, so I had to drop out,” she said.
”I see. That's a shame. So your true pa.s.sion in life is engineering, then. You know, my company is always in need of new engineering talent. Of course you'd have to finish your degree.”
”Maybe one day I will,” she said, feeling uncomfortable with the reminder of how much her life had failed to turn out the way she wanted.
”Right. Maybe you will. Anyway, your CV looks good. You seem to have a decent amount of experience,” he said. ”Can you start tomorrow?”
”Yes, of course,” she said, feeling a rush of excitement as it finally hit her that she had gotten the job, seemingly against all odds. She still had no idea how or why the billionaire had singled her out of the crowd, but she was glad he had. Her bills were piling up at home, and if she didn't pay her rent soon, she would probably end up being evicted within the next two weeks.
”Good. You will be responsible for the east wing of my house. I have staff to take care of the other wings, and when you arrive tomorrow, one of them will be here to meet you and show you around.”
”Okay, Mr. Robinson. What time will I need to get here?”
”Well... I'm not a morning person. I suppose I'm what you'd call a night owl,” he said. ”So, I don't like cleaners getting here before lunch. As such, the hours are from twelve to seven, five days a week. It might seem like a lot, but this old mansion gets quite dusty, and there are a lot of rooms. You also get a forty-five minute break to eat, with food provided.”
”Oh. That's fine,” Ella replied, not wanting to admit that a thirty-five hour work week was far less than she had been expecting. At every other job she had held, she had to work fifty hours a week just to make her rent, and sometimes even more. ”Thank you so much for this opportunity, Mr. Robinson.”