Falling for My Playboy Boss

Cora get's the Job

Chapter 3

Catherine’s POV

  Oh, I am so thankful I decided to sit down with this lovely girl. She is tough and I believe she is just what Collin needs in the office. She won’t just give up and quit while I am training her, as the last two women did. I also don’t believe she will start flirting or trying to sleep with Collin either like the two before they did. She gives off an innocent vibe and I believe she will just be working and doing her job to the best of her abilities. With how Collin is, we have enough inappropriate behavior around here to contend with. This poor girl is the one, I can feel it in my bones, and I can’t wait to get her hired and start training her. Today.

  We go to the top floor where I work, and where all the top bosses' offices are located. I stopped at my desk quickly and asked Cora to wait for me as I walked up to my boss's office and knocked. I wait for him to allow me to enter and go drop off his coffee and tell him I will be back again in half an hour; he nods but doesn’t look up from his reports.

  I get Cora and we head over to the desk in front of Jerry’s office, and I stop to speak to Coleman Fowler, who is the P.A. for Gerald Siler, our V.P. of Finance.

  “Coleman, this is Cora Bower’s, she had a 10 am appointment to interview with Jerry,” I told him.

  “Oh, yes, she is on the schedule, I can take her in for you. Thank you for bringing her up”, Coleman tells me as he gets up and goes over to knock on V.P. Siler’s door.

  “Actually, Coleman, I have scooped her up. She just wanted to thank Jerry for giving her the opportunity to interview. She is a lovely girl and I wanted to thank him as well because she has been a Godsend to me”, I told him and motioned for him to knock on the door.

  “Your 10 am appointment is here, Mr. Siler” I heard Coleman call out to Jerry and hear the “Come in” from inside the office, and I just brushed by Colman and waved at Cora to follow me after I entered his office.

  “Um, I believe that you already have a job, Catherine”, I heard Jerry say to me with a smile on his face.

  “Yes, I do, Jerry. But I got to speak to this lovely young lady at the coffee shop as she was an hour early, and I snapped her up. So, I came to apologize to you for doing that, and she wanted to thank you for the honor of the interview. You already know that I have been trying to retire for the last year, and for one reason or another, they don’t stay. But this girl, she is tough, and she overcomes it, so I snapped her up. I know she would have been a highly effective member of your team, so your son was correct to refer her, so please don’t take it out on her. She was made for that job, but as you know, my job has some stressful things about it, and I needed someone who is tough enough to do the job, and people like that are rare. I lucked out, and I just wanted to truly apologize to you for poaching your person from out from under you” I finished speaking and motioned Cora gently forward towards Jerry.

  “I really appreciate the opportunity V.P. Siler, I do. Please thank Christian for sticking his neck out for me. I got here a lot earlier than I needed to be and was in the coffee shop when Catherine asked to sit with me, and we had a very enjoyable conversation. I don’t actually know what I am going to be doing yet, but the way Catherine spoke about the job, I should be able to get the job done, I hope. I just want to apologize for how this went as I didn’t anticipate being offered a job in the coffee shop this morning. It was definitely not intentional, or a snub, to you, sir” I told him. I am grateful to Catherine for bringing me here to allow me to apologize to him for what happened. Which is a good thing considering how close my desk is to his office on that floor. I really do not want to make enemies, especially with one of the top bosses right off the bat.

  “I have to say that I hate to lose the opportunity to have Cora as my employee. She seems like a highly intelligent person and, with her background and resume, I have really lost a quality employee. My son told me that she was third in her class at Harvard for her MBA, and that is impressive in itself. If it wasn’t you, Catherine, I swear I would have gone to Collin and lodged a complaint about having my employee poached. Cora, if you decide that you can’t do the job you were hired for, for whatever reason, and believe me, you have had several women ahead of you that couldn’t handle it. Know that you do have a job waiting for you in my department. I have a friend who works at Harvard, and I asked his opinion of you last night, as an unbiased person, and he had nothing but glowing words for you. This interview was just a formality on my part, with both my friend and my son telling me what a great employee you would be. I was already ready to make you an offer. Catherine, please make sure that she is making over $120,000 a year, as that is where I was going to start her in my department. And Cora, as I said, if it doesn’t work out with you replacing Catherine, you can always come and work for me, and your payment will be the amount that I just told you”. Jerry stands up and holds his hand out to shake mine. I noticed that he offered me the job not once but twice and that I would still be welcomed into his department if it didn’t work out.

  “Thank you so much for the opportunity, sir, and if I cannot do the job for Catherine, I will indeed be pleased to work for you V.P. Siler. Please thank Christian for referring me. I really do appreciate it and was absolutely planning to work for you, sir. I really hate to have disappointed you, but Catherine was so nice to me, and from what she was saying she needs someone with specific abilities to replace her, and I hope that I can do the job, and not disappoint her”, I told him, and he nodded at me.

  “I believe that you are actually the person for the job, Cora. You are a strong, but soft-spoken person and I think that you will fit in here perfectly”, V.P. Siler tells me as he escorts us to the door.

  “If you ever need any help from me, and I am not swamped, just let me know. I would like to keep my skills sharp, and you can only do that when you use them. So, if your team ever needs any ideas, help, or an extra member for whatever reason, I am your girl. We all work here together, and I truly don’t mind helping anyone out”, I told him, and I turned to follow Catherine out of the office.

  “I appreciate that, my son says you have a gift. If we ever need an additional brain on something, I will be sure to see if you have some time to help us out. Thank you for the offer and I agree, if you don’t use your skills, they do tend to get dull. You only sharpen them with use, you are making me sadder and sadder to know I missed having such a smart young woman to fully be on my team. It was a pleasure to meet you, Cora, please dig in and tough it out. The first part is always the toughest, but I think you will be able to excel at your new job, Cora” V.P. Siler tells me and then goes back into his office.

  “Come with me my dear, the next stop is H.R. so we can get you situated. I am going to make sure your pay started an hour ago, but you will be getting a salary.” I told Cora and we headed down three floors to Human Resources.

  I approach the receptionist desk at H.R. and roll my eyes, great, Lyra James is at the front desk. I nod at her and head to the Director of Human Resources office, and as always, she comes out from behind the desk and starts following me down the hallway.

  “Mrs. Bradford, I would like to remind you that I would love the opportunity to train for your job. I have been here for three years, and I believe that I could do an excellent job at it. I love Lauder Financial and would be proud to try to take your place”, Lyra tells me.

  “Actually, Lyra, the position has been filled, I am taking care of that right now,” I tell her, and she looks surprised and then glances behind me before turning her lips up at Cora.

  “Um, I know it cannot be her, she is not even dressed professionally. Why in the world would you hire her?” Lyra said to me.

  “Excuse me, you know that I can hear you right, I don’t understand why you would be so rude to a new employee?” Cora says to her, and I am glad that she defended herself. She is going to need the backbone to replace me, and I was frankly glad to see her set Lyra straight.

  “Well Catherine, when she decides to quit like the last 4 people, just let me know, I want that position,” Lyra says and she gives another dismissive glance at Cora, before tossing her hair over her shoulder and walking back to her desk.

  I pat Cora’s hand gently and said “That one will never have my job. She has been trying for years to get on my floor, and I blocked it every time. She has put in for each of the P. A. jobs for all the V.P.’s on our floor trying to get to Collin. She just wants to sleep with him, and she thinks that just her being on our floor will make it happen. I pray it never does; she would be horrible to deal with if that ever happened”. Catherine shuddered before reaching up to knock on the H.R. Directors' door and waiting to hear him call out “Come in”.

  “Hamilton, I need you to start the paperwork for Cora here. She will be replacing me after I get her trained. I want her to start at $150,000 a year and she started this morning. I have just been busy and had to go to other places before we got here”, I told him.

  “Catherine, I am sorry, but that is $10,000 over the starting salary for the job. I will have to ask Collin for permission to do this”, Hamilton says as he picks up his phone.

  I pull my cell phone out and send Collin a text that I am hiring another woman for the job, and that I am upping the salary because he is so demanding.

  “ OK, I will sir, I didn’t know that you approved the salary increase. I will get the paperwork completed today. Thank you”. Hamilton hangs up the phone and tells me that he will get everything done as soon as possible. Cora spends the next two hours in H.R. getting everything done and then she comes back up to my floor for us to go to lunch. Coleman walks up behind us, and I see him checking Cora out as she is in front of me. I smile as I see she has a new admirer and know that he will not pressure her for a date, but he can be a huge help to her. I am so glad I found Cora. I am really glad I am finally going to be able to retire without worrying about Collin.