Chapter One
Carmella stood like a statue, "How rude!" she mumbled to herself.
"What are you mumbling, Carmel?" Asked Nick Hartman as he entered the cafe. The attendants had cleaned up the mess and Carmella had already apologized for the spill.
"I just bumped into the biggest specimen in the history of mankind, " she muttered.
"Same here, " said Nick with an eye roll.
"What happened to your interview?" Asked Carmella. She and Nick were good friends, both in their last year studying together the Undergraduate Course in Fashion Designing and Technology from the University of Las Vegas. It was Nick who had insisted that they apply together at one of the biggest fashion houses in the country.
"Craddock only needs a PA, not a designer. He asked me to leave when I told him that I could handle both," sighed Nick. He was good at his work and needed the job to support his final year.
Carmella sighed too, "He didn't even test your capabilities?" She asked with disbelief.
"Nope. Just two sentences and he threw me out," he sighed, holding his head in his hands.
"That's bad. But what else to expect? These celebrity designers have eccentric characters," said Carmella. "Don't worry, there are plenty of other jobs."
They sipped their coffee and caught up with their college assignments. "What about you Carmel? What will you do if Craddock doesn't call you for an interview? Today at the interview, I saw only male candidates. I think he's into men," said Nick.
Carmella sighed, she knew she wouldn't even be shortlisted for an interview. Her dad was a billionaire hotelier and co-owner of the Staywell Group of Companies which owned the Parker Suites all over the world. Her dad, Ethan Parker, and her uncle Eric Parker had started their hotel business and now her older brother Tyler Parker who was seven years older looked into it. He was helped by her cousins Lucas Parker, Serenity Parker, and Liam Parker. She was the black sheep of the family with no interest whatsoever in their hotel business. As such her dad had given her a one-month ultimatum to get herself an internship in her chosen field else he would induct her into their family business. She had to prove herself within a month's time. She wouldn't look after their hotels all her life when she loved designing apparel and accessories.
"I'll look for other jobs too," she said, disappointed with everything. The two friends left the cafe to return home.
"Thanks for accompanying me to my first interview, Carmel. It gave me moral support, " said Nick, dropping her home.
"Anytime, Nick," she said and with a wave at him, went inside her house.
Jaxon strode back into his office, drenched in coffee and everyone gaped at him. He was in the foulest of moods and no one dared to cross his way. He strode into the room at the back of his office where he slept when he had loads of work. Quickly changing, he came out to get some work done. The whole day had been such a waste.
However, could he get any work done? No. When all he could sketch were beautiful jade green eyes instead of his latest designs for his upcoming Fall Winter Collection. He had always been a talented sketcher, painter, which was actually his favorite hobby, but he was disappointed with himself today. Sighing hopelessly, he stopped all work and sat watching the Las Vegas skyline from his huge floor-to-ceiling windows. Her innocent face, her soft creamy complexion, the hurt in her jade-green eyes at his sassy parting shot, all danced before his eyes, robbing him off his power to concentrate upon anything else.
He was angry at himself for thinking about her. What was it with Carmella Parker that he couldn't concentrate upon anything else? He summoned Ralph immediately. He had to get working and drive all thoughts of Carmella Parker out of his mind.
Ralph came in with a flustered expression on his face, "Yes Jaxon, did you need anything?" He asked with a sigh. He was tired of Jaxon's mood swings and prayed day and night that some woman would take pity on Jaxon and marry him. He needed a woman's love.
"Cancel all my meetings for the day. I'm going to get working on my Fall Winter Collection. No one will disturb me. Don't schedule any appointments or interviews without my permission," he growled. Ralph nodded.
"So when do I reschedule them?" He asked.
"Next week. Inform Francisca and Glenn to complete all the production work for the International Fashion Week by this Friday. I'll check out the collection, " Jaxon told him. Ralph knew that it was a gigantic task to be completed in just three days and the production team would protest. But Jaxon's word was the command and everyone had to abide by it.
"Yes, what about the interviews for your PA? Have you shortlisted yet?" Asked Ralph. He was tired of multitasking.
"Nope," answered Jaxon with a sigh. "I'll do it." He mumbled to himself, dismissing Ralph. He knew what he wanted. Maybe a good fuck was what he needed to get his shit together. He would go see Dana whom he always visited when he needed to relieve himself. It was no strings attached, just a physical relationship that they shared for the past three years. Dana, a pretty bartender at a night club was a thirty-year-old woman whose husband had left her. She needed the money and Jaxon offered good money for her services. It was enough to quieten her down and never open her mouth.
Jaxon concentrated hard on his work and by the end of the day, he was quite satisfied with the designs that he had come up with. He admired his work and then got up to visit his production team.
After being busy explaining the designs to his team, checking with the pending work, meeting the organizers of the International Fashion Week, he was exhausted. Going back to his office, he sipped the shitty coffee that Ralph made for him.
He really needed a PA badly. He opened his inbox and checked the resumes that had piled up. None of them caught his fancy. Scrolling back he pondered whether to open Carmella's resume or not. After all, she was a woman and he wasn't going to recruit a woman PA ever.
"What the hell! There's no harm in only checking out her resume," he reasoned to himself. He clicked on her resume and found out that she was a twenty-one-year-old student, in her final year of studies. He read about her interest in fashion designing, her hard-working nature, and her ability to learn quickly. She was a fresher yet Jaxon couldn't believe that he was liking her resume more than the thousands that he had scanned.
There was an innocent quality about her that forced him to search her name on the internet. The results that he found surprised him. So she was billionaire hotelier Ethan Parker's daughter. If she was born with a golden spoon, then why did she need a PA's job? It was clear that she wasn't after money. She had lots of money. Then what was she after? Him? Did she want him? He had to find out and there was only one way to find out. He had to call her for an interview.
He clicked on the reply button and answered her email.
Dear Ms. Parker,
Thank you for your application for the position of Personal Assistant to the CEO and Creative Director at Jaxon Craddock Group Inc.
We would like to meet with you to have a round of discussion.
Please come down to our office and appear for an interview at 9 a.m sharp.
We look forward to meeting you soon at our office.
Best Regards,
Jaxon Craddock
He sent the email and rested his head on his hands, deep in thought. Did he do the right thing? He didn't mention once in his email that he would recruit her. He would just talk to her and get her out of his system once and for all. When he wasn't impressed with thousands of experienced men, there was no way he would be impressed with a young college girl. Maybe he would somehow manage and then return to New York and hire a job consultancy firm to send him efficient personal assistants.
The decision somehow relieved him and he packed his stuff and left for the day.
Carmella checked her inbox before going to bed and her eyes popped out seeing an email from Jaxon Craddock himself. She knew he was an elusive celebrity designer and was hardly ever seen on magazine covers, although his designs did always make headlines. She had never expected him to personally email her since she didn't even fulfill the two criteria that he had mentioned in the advertisement. Firstly, the candidate had to be a male only and secondly, the candidate had to possess at least two years of work experience. Did he call her to insult her? Nick did mention that he was a tool!
She wouldn't be dissuaded easily from attending the interview. She would have to check out what was in store for her.
