Envy of all he had, of his freedom. Well, this was her chance to have some of that for herself, and she couldn’t do it with everyone watching.
She took a deep breath and regarded the house in front of her. If she didn’t know it was the home and office of the owner of Gray Bear Construction, she would be tempted to assume it was some kind of resort.
The expansive front porch was made entirely out of logs, stained with a glossy, honey-colored sheen that caught the light and made the place look like it was glowing. The green metal roof was designed to withstand harsh weather—which down in town by the beach wasn’t much of an issue. But a few miles inland, here in the mountains, she could imagine there was snow in winter.
She wondered if she would need chains for her car. But she supposed she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. It was early spring, and she didn’t even have the job yet.
Getting the job, and keeping it through winter, was only a pipe dream at this point.
She took a deep breath and started up the path, the bark-laden ground soft beneath her feet. She inhaled deeply, the sharp scent of pine filling her lungs. It was cool beneath the trees, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she walked up the steps and made her way to the front door.
She knocked before she had a chance to rethink her actions, and then she waited.
She was just about to knock again when she heard footsteps. She quickly put her hand down at her side. Then lifted it again, brushing her hair out of her face. Then she clasped her hands in front of her, then put them back at her sides again. Then she decided to hold them in front of her again.
She had just settled on that position when the door jerked open.
She had rehearsed her opening remarks. Had practiced making a natural smile in the mirror—which was easy after so many years manning the front desk of a church—but all that disappeared completely when she looked at the man standing in front of her.
He was... Well, he was nothing like she’d expected, which left her grappling for what exactly she had been expecting. Somebody older. Certainly not somebody who towered over her like a redwood.
Jonathan Bear wasn’t someone you could anticipate.
His dark, glittering eyes assessed her; his mouth pressed into a thin line. His black hair was tied back, but it was impossible for her to tell just how long it was from where she stood.
“Who are you?” he asked, his tone uncompromising.
“I’m here to interview for the assistant position. Were you expecting someone else?” Her stomach twisted with anxiety. He wasn’t what she had expected, and now she was wondering if she was what he had expected. Maybe he wanted somebody older, with more qualifications. Or somebody more... Well, sexy secretary than former church secretary.
Though, she looked very nice in this twin set and pencil skirt, if she said so herself.
“No,” he said, moving away from the door. “Come in.”
“Oh,” she said, scampering to follow his direction.
“The office is upstairs,” he said, taking great strides through the entryway and heading toward a massive curved staircase.
She found herself taking very quick steps to try and keep up with him. And it was difficult to do that when she was distracted by the beauty of the house. She was trying to take in all the details as she trailed behind him up the stairs, her low heels clicking on the hardwood.
“I’m Hayley Thompson,” she said, “which I know the résumé said, but you didn’t know who I was... So...”
“We’re the only two people here,” he said, looking back at her, lifting one dark brow. “So knowing your name isn’t really that important, is it?”
She couldn’t tell if he was joking. She laughed nervously, and it got her no response at all. So then she was concerned she had miscalculated.
They reached the top of the stairs, and she followed him down a long hallway, the sound of her steps dampened now by a long carpet runner the colors of the nature that surrounded them. Brown, forest green and a red that reminded her of cranberries.
The house smelled new. Which was maybe a strange observation to make, but the scent of wood lingered in the air, and something that reminded her of paint.
“How long have you lived here?” she asked, more comfortable with polite conversation than contending with silence.
“Just moved in last month,” he said. “One of our designs. You might have guessed, this is what Gray Bear does. Custom homes. That’s our specialty. And since my construction company merged with Grayson Design, we’re doing design as well as construction.”
“How many people can buy places like this?” she asked, turning in a circle while she walked, daunted by the amount of house they had left behind them, and the amount that was still before them.
“You would be surprised. For a lot of our clients these are only vacation homes. Escapes to the coast and to the mountains. Mostly, we work on the Oregon coast, but we make exceptions for some of the higher-paying clientele.”
“That’s...kind of amazing. I mean, something of this scale right here in Copper Ridge. Or I guess, technically, we’re outside the city limits.”
“Still the same zip code,” he said, lifting a shoulder.
He took hold of two sliding double doors fashioned to look like barn doors and slid them open, revealing a huge office space with floor-to-ceiling windows and a view that made her jaw drop.
The sheer immensity of the mountains spread before them was incredible on its own. But beyond that, she could make out the faint gray of the ocean, whitecapped waves and jagged rocks rising out of the surf.
“The best of everything,” he said. “Sky, mountains, ocean. That kind of sums up the company. Now that you know about us, you can tell me why I should hire you.”
“I want the job,” she said, her tone hesitant. As soon as she said the words, she realized how ridiculous they were. Everybody who interviewed for this position would want the job. “I was working as a secretary for my father’s...business,” she said, feeling guilty about fudging a little bit on her résumé. But she hadn’t really wanted to say she was working at her father’s church, because... Well, she just wanted to come in at a slightly more neutral position.
“You were working for your family?”
“Yes,” she said.
He crossed his arms, and she felt slightly intimidated. He was the largest man she’d ever seen. At least, he felt large. Something about all the height and muscles and presence combined.
“We’re going to have to get one thing straight right now, Hayley. I’m not your daddy. So if you’re used to a kind and gentle working environment where you get a lot of chances because firing you would make it awkward around the holidays, this might take some adjustment for you. I’m damned hard to please. And I’m not a very nice boss. There’s a lot of work to do around here. I hate paperwork, and I don’t want to have to do any form twice. If you make mistakes and I have to sit at that desk longer as a result, you’re fired. If I’ve hired you to make things easier between myself and my clients, and something you do makes it harder, you’re fired. If you pass on a call to me that I shouldn’t have to take, you’re fired.”
She nodded, wishing she had a notepad, not because she was ever going to forget what he’d said, but so she could underscore the fact that she was paying attention. “Anything else?”
“Yeah,” he said, a slight smile curving his lips. “You’re also fired if you fuck up my coffee.”
*
This was a mistake. Jonathan Bear was absolutely certain of it. But he had earned millions making mistakes, so what was one more? Nobody else had responded to his ad.
Except for this pale, strange little creature who looked barely twenty and wore the outfit of an eighty-year-old woman.
She was... Well, she wasn’t the kind of formidable woman who could stand up to the rigors of working with him.