One Way to Succeed (Casas de Buen Dia Book 1) by Marjorie Pinkerton Miller Page A

know. Do you want me to show you the bathroom?”
    Amy laughed. “No, I’m sure I can find it. This isn’t that big of a building.”
    The receptionist started to pull the door closed as she left, but Amy stopped her.
    “Can you leave it open, please?”
    “Ah, sure!” That seemed to please Sandra.
    “And, hey before you go…” Amy started. Sandra stopped and walked back in as Amy sat down to her new desk. “Maybe I shouldn’t ask, but can you tell me what happened to the last admin?”
    “Ah, Gloria,” the receptionist sighed and sat down on the small chair across the desk from Amy. “I think it came down to the fact that she didn’t work hard enough.”
    “Oh.” Amy didn’t know what she had expected, but that answer certainly wasn’t it. “How hard is hard enough?”
    “Well, Rick likes to put in about sixty hours a week, and I think Gloria thought it should be more like forty. Frankly, between you and me, I think she took the job for the wrong reason.”
    “What was that?”
    “She had the hots for him,” Sandra whispered conspiratorially. She leaned forward. “Let me tell you a little secret. Promise me you won’t say anything to Rick about this?”
    Amy was surprised that the woman would offer tell her something in confidence—apparently something that could come back to bite her—without knowing Amy for more than a few minutes.  But who was she to refuse a little office gossip?
    “What?”
    “Rick has very high expectations of everyone in this office, and yet he seems insecure about letting us women get too comfortable or too accomplished. It’s a weird paradox I haven’t been able to figure out.”
    It sounded like more evidence of a sexist environment, Amy thought, starting to wonder if showing up for this position was a mistake.
    “And something else?” Sandra obviously had more on her mind she couldn’t wait to share. “I was offered this job, but frankly, Rick scares me.”
    “Scares you how?”
    “He’s very demanding, and he’s very good at what he does,” Sandra started. “But he’s vulnerable as all hell. Just wait ‘til you hear him talking with his mother. My god, he is intimidated by her.”
    “What’s she like?”
    “Actually, I don’t find her scary at all. I kind of like her. But I’d never tell Rick that.”
    The phone at the reception desk rang, and Sandra jumped up.
    “I have to get that,” she said, walking away. “But good luck. I’m sure you’re going to be fine here.” 
    Amy wasn’t sure. What she hoped would be a cut and dried, nothing-but-business, short-term job was already filled with personal intrigue and conflicting expectations.
    She raised the seat of her desk chair so her feet would lie flat on the floor, and pulled herself up to the remote keyboard sitting in front of the computer monitor. She found the power button on the docking station and waited for the unit to come alive.
    She knew that this administrative assistant position wasn’t the kind of job that would segue into the career track she wanted. Before she heard all of Sandra’s cautions, she had worried that she was taking another detour on her way to making a success of herself. And, if it required the kind of hours Sandra indicated, she’d never have time to look for the right job. Whatever that was.
    To some degree, she was already guilty of Gloria’s sin: she was attracted to the boss. What part of her decision to take this job was attributable to that? And how well would she be able to hide the fact that she had noticed his tight ass, his biceps, his large muscular hands? She had, in spite of her better intentions, already imagined herself surrounded by his strong arms. She’d already wondered if he had hair on his chest and if it would tickle her nipples the way she’d always imagined chest hair would. Rob had had a hairless chest. His smooth face and hairless body were part of what made him look good on TV. Yes, Rick still looked young too, but he was far more