Chapter 2: Mistaken Identity

1267 Words
Helina took a deep breath as she opened the door. She'd dressed for a date, even though she hadn't been interested in Kurt, so at least she was presentable. Was that important? She knew so little about the human world. All she really knew was that she needed money for anything which she didn't have. A job would get her that. Hopefully, she wouldn't have any trouble finding one even though she didn't have any human skills as far as she knew. Up until recently, she'd spent most of her time in wolf form. The noise of the coffee shop hit her in the face. She'd been uncomfortable with the noise of the city and now this was that same sound only concentrated. Taking a moment, she tried to brush off her discomfort, but it was still there. She would have stepped back out of the place if she hadn't made eye contact with a very attractive man. He stood, almost towering over her even though she was feet from him. He had a slight tan, blond hair, and the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. It was a rare wolf that had blue eyes, so she hadn't seen them in years. He was a human. She had to remember that. “You must be her," he said. He looked down at a pile of papers on the table. “I don't remember your name." “Helina" she said, not sure why she was drawn to him. She'd never seen him before in her life. She didn't sense any danger from the situation, so she took a few steps closer to him, fascinated that he seemed to know who she was. “Helina, okay. I thought it was something else, but then again, it's been that kind of morning. Have a seat. Can I get you anything?" She was hungry from her run out of the woods. “Uh sure." “Go order something. They have my credit card." She didn't know what was happening or why this guy was being so nice. Was he expecting something of her? She eyed him then went to the counter to order. Despite her stomach being empty she only pointed to one thing and took it back to the table on a plate with a bottle of water. She'd never seen water in that form because in her world it came from the faucet or the stream. She sat across from the man. “I'm Chase Landford. The agency said you came highly recommended. That doesn't mean we won't talk a little first. I need to know that you can hit the ground running." She'd done that more than once when playing tag with her friends as a child. “Shifting on the fly is something we're taught early on." “Good. You'll have to be adaptable. My work is ever-changing." She nodded, not sure what her shifting into a wolf would have to do with his work, but she decided to go along with this. Chase had bought her food, so she'd humor him. “Okay." “Did the agency explain what I do?" Chase asked. Agency? He'd said that more than once. From what she could piece together he thought she'd been sent to him. She opened her mouth to tell him that she hadn't been sent to him then she realized that she had nowhere to sleep tonight and this man had provided her food. Maybe fate had stepped in to provide her with those. It might be a good idea to just go along until she couldn't anymore. “No. Tell me about it." He flashed her a smile. “I buy and sell companies. I search out companies, most of them ready to make a growth leap and I buy them, grow them then sell the companies for a profit. At any one time, I'm somewhere in that process with about twenty companies. I'll need an assistant who can keep track of the progress on all of them. You'll be doing some project management and personal management of my time." He wanted her to be his assistant. How hard could it be? “Okay." “You think you are capable? I know you've done this before, but not with someone who is as busy as I am. That's why I wanted someone to live in." Live in? He was offering her a place to live? This would be better than working at the coffee shop. “Yes." She didn't let on that she'd never done that before now. “Good. I'm moving at a fast pace, but I do stop my day at five, most days. No weekends. There will be some travel because I prefer to get the feel for a company before I buy it and you can't get that from a prospectus or a website." She nodded as if she knew what he was talking about. She ate her donut slowly, savoring it and trying not to drool over this hot guy who might end up as her boss. “Do you have a problem with any of that?" She swallowed the food in her mouth. “No." “Do you have any questions for me?" She couldn't think of any at first. “Salary?" He slid a piece of paper across the table, but she didn't know if this was a good number or a bad number written on the paper so she just nodded. She'd figure it all out if she had to. These were desperate times since she couldn't go back to her pack. Something buzzed in her head, but she thought it was the sugar in the donut. Then she caught a whiff of him. How hadn't she picked up his scent before now? Maybe it was because there were so many food smells in this place that she hadn't been able to discern what was his. Holy cow. He smelled great. She was a little turned on by it and that intrigued her. Her mother had taught her that she would only be attracted physically to her mate. Since Chase was a human, there was no reason he would be her mate, so she must just be confused because she was hungry. “Helina?" Chase said. She must have been distracted by his scent. “I'm sorry. What did you say?" “So that number is okay for you? No negotiation?" She glanced down at the paper again. She reached out for his pen. What did she have to lose? She wrote a slightly higher number on the paper then slid it back to him. At least she'd been fed if he chose not to hire her. He glanced down and then smiled at her, his eyes lighting up. He wrote another number that was between hers and his and then pushed the paper back to her. She studied it as if she were doing calculations in her head. “Okay." “That's good?" he asked. “Yes. I can work with that." “Okay. You need anything else before we head out?" Where were we going? “Uh, maybe another donut." He shrugged as she rose to get another one. They were addictive. As a wolf, she didn't eat much besides meat, so this delicious food was new to her. She finished up her donut then she followed him out of the coffee house to a car that was waiting at the curb. She blinked but decided that if he tried something she could shift into wolf form and defend herself. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.
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