Previously on Move– Read Chapter 5 HERE

Liam sits at his desk gazing out the window, the sky painted in orange and red amidst a setting sun. Lost in color, and fantasies of Aria.

Anne’s voice pops in on his phone intercom-

“Mr. Whitmore I have an Aria Lenz on line 1 for you.”

Liam jolts up knocking his pencil holder over spilling them onto his desk.

“Sir, are you alright?” Anne asks with concern.

Liam Whitmore is always the picture perfect display of poised and polished.  

“Yes, Anne, I am just fine, just a clumsy moment. Please put Ms. Lenz straight through.”

***

Aria stands in the middle of her bed room, phone to ear, pacing, as she bites on her nail.

 

***

“Yes, Sir.”

Liam clears his throat, loosening his tie, he gives himself a beat before pressing the button to answer line 1.

“Aria, I’m so glad you called, how are you?”

“Hi, I’m well thank you, and yourself?” she says rolling her eyes at herself for sounding like a child trying to play adult.

“I’m well thank you,” he says smirking, “So what can I do for you, love?”

“If you’re still looking for a temp, I would be interested in interviewing with you, if you have the time.”

“I am still looking for a temp, but there’s really no interview necessary. I trust that you can do the job just fine.”

“Oh, well are you sure? I mean I’ve had a lot of jobs since I moved to the city and secretary has never been one of them. I wouldn’t want you to take a chance on me and then regret it later.”

“Aria…I could never regret anything that concerns you. You will do just fine, I promise you.”

Aria’s heart begins to flutter.

Liam can sense Aria’s hesitation even over the phone.

“I’ll tell you what…why don’t you come in later today and we can go through what the position requires and then you can decide from there.”

“I don’t want to trouble you anymore than I already have.”

“Aria I offered, ok you do not need to worry, love. Is 3:30 ok for you?”

Aria checks the clock, 12:33, ok less than 3 hours to get cute, she thinks.

“Sure, that’s perfect, I will see you then.”

“Alright, see you soon, love.”

“Ok thank you, bye.”

“Bye,” he says hanging up, a smirk playing on his lips.

Aria squeals rushing into her room.

Liam presses a button on his phone, “Anne can you come in here for one moment, please?”

Anne walks in seconds later, “Mr. Whitmore,” she says with a smile.

“I think you need a vacation, don’t you?”

“I’m sorry?”

“You work too hard, tirelessly, really, you deserve a break. How about Paris, 2 weeks on me, you can bring anyone you want?”

“Sir all due respect, but are you kidding me?”

“I don’t kid about vacation,” he says with a smile.

“Are you sure you can afford me being away, the buyer’s market is hectic right now.”

“I’ll hire a temp while you’re away, not to worry.”

“Oh my gosh, well then yes! I would love to see Paris!” Anne says squealing.

“Good, better go home and pack! I’ll take care of the tickets.”

Anne looks at him in shock.

“Yes! Thank you sir, thank you!” she screams and rushes off.

Liam smiles as his plan begins to fall into place.

 

***

 

Aria looks at her reflection in the mirror, smoothing out her black pencil skirt.

She makes a face as she rips her blouse off her body, displaying her toned abs and lacey white bra. She tosses the blouse on her bed and shuffles through her closet.

“Ugh! (she huffs) Yolanda!” she yells.

Yolanda her cousin and second roommate strolls in eating the left over tacos from last night.

“Yea, babe?” she says in between bites.

“Good huh?” Aria says noticing.

“So good,” she mumbles. “So what’s with all the huffing,” she says wiping her mouth with a napkin.

“Do you have any cute-professional tops, I can borrow? I have an interview in like an hour and nothing in my closet is working!”

“Yea, I should have something, hang on,” she says walking back out.

A few minutes later she comes in with a cute fitted sleeveless silk blouse.

“Perfect! Thank you thank you, your the best!” Aria says taking the hanger and kissing her cousin on the cheek.

“No problem,” Yolanda says smiling, “So what’s the job?”

“Secretary…at this art buying company, or something like that?”

“Are you talking about Whitmore Ink?”

“Uh, yea, that sounds about right, (she says putting the blouse on over a tank top) I am interviewing with Liam Whitmore…so…”

“Ah, he’s a hottie.”

Aria looks at her cousin, with a puzzled expression.

“You know him?” she says feeling slightly territorial all of a sudden.

“Um no. I just know of him. He’s sponsored some of our hospital fundraisers in the past, and I’ve seen him at functions, he’s super cute, and seems really sweet.”

“Hmm.”

Yolanda looks at her cousin with suspicion.

Aria sits on her bed as she slips on her trusty black pumps.

She stands up and checks her reflection in the mirror once again.

“Do you know how old he is?” Aria asks trying to act nonchalant.

“30 ish,  (thinks for a beat) 32 actually. He usually has to give a speech at the events, and I remember someone mentioning his age in his introduction. Why?” she says smiling.

“No reason, just curious. That’s kinda young to be running an entire business.”

“It’s a family business, so…”

“Right…”

“What’s with you?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re acting funny?”

“No I’m not, I’m just nervous. You know I haven’t been on an interview in a while and I really need this job so…”

“You’re gonna be great!”

“Ok be honest, how do I look, professional enough?”

“Yes, you look great.” Yolanda says smiling.

Aria looks around and grabs a cardigan and throws it on.

“Are you insane it’s like 90 degrees out! You don’t need that.”

“Um, I just want to look polished,” she says buttoning it a bit.

“You look great, go kill it. We’ll celebrate later, I actually have the night off.”

“Oh, yes, Netflix and junk food?”

“Deal.” Yolanda smiles, smacking her cousin’s butt as she leaves for her interview. “Be careful!” she yells after her.

“You too! Love you!”

“Love you!” Yolanda yells back.

 

***

 

Liam sits at his desk, his eyes glued to the clock- 3:20 PM.

His heart begins to beat quickly, at just the idea of seeing her again.

Aria steps onto the elevator her nerves kicking in.

She fixes herself as the elevator climbs each floor.

The elevator doors open and she steps out onto a modernly dressed floor, brightly colored art pieces line the walls. Abstract pieces.

She smiles as Liam rounds the corner.

“Mr. Whitmore, hello.”

“Hi Aria, I was just coming to meet you. Follow me, my office is right this way,” he says with a bright smile.

Aria follows him as her heart begins to beat quicker.

Liam reaches his office door and opening the door he steps aside to let Aria in first.

Aria walks past him, and as she does, he gets hit with the scent of her perfume.

Easy Whitmore, keep it professional, he thinks.   

“Please have a seat,” he says rounding the corner of his desk and sitting opposite her.

Aria takes a seat.

He is gorgeous, she thinks. Letting her eyes drift to his lips as he smiles. I bet he’s a good kisser, she thinks. Whoa. Stay professional. Pay attention Aria!  Think non-flirtatious thoughts. Ok. Work. Money. Business. Bills. Many many bills. You have to pay your bills so you don’t get kicked out on your ass and watch your dream die.

“So…” Liam says with a smile, unbuttoning his suit jacket and folding his hands on top of his desk.

“So…” Aria replies with a little laugh still trying to shake the sexual tension she feels creeping in.

Aria begins to fidget as she pulls at the hem of her skirt. Why didn’t I just wear pants, she says kicking herself.

Liam notices her movements, as his eyes glance over her body, landing on her toned, tanned legs. Why couldn’t she wear pants? he thinks.

He shakes his thoughts as he realizes neither of them have spoken much.

“Let’s just jump into it, shall we?” he says smiling.

“Yes, of course.”

“Ok so basically what my secretary is in charge of doing is handling all calls and appointments that come through. There are at times, some paperwork regarding artists releasing their work and things like that. You can just forward that to me, and I’ll take care of it. You’ll get a company e-mail and password of course.”

“Ok, well how am I supposed to know whether or not you want to take the call or the appointment?”

Liam smiles.

“I’m sorry was that a stupid question?” she says mentally kicking herself.

“No, it’s not. Unfortunately there are times that I will neglect to take a call, on account of a conflicting commitment- or if I’m in a meeting, or if it’s a telemarketer trying to sell us something,” he says laughing, “trust me it’ll be easier once you are out there in the midst of it. Mostly the calls you get will be from people who have already done business with us, and if that’s the case, you can just put them through, or schedule an appointment.”

“Ok that sounds like something I can do.”

“I have no doubt that you’ll pick it up, in no time.”

“Ok well what if an artist calls, like someone new, unestablished.”

“Good question. We usually don’t take new clients right off the bat. We do schedule appointments with them, they should provide us with a resume and should come prepared with a portfolio. Those are my favorite meetings to take quite honestly. I really enjoy meeting the artists behind the paintings, or sculptures.”

“Okay, good to know. Sounds amazing.”

“It really is, I’d love to have you sit in on a meeting, if your ever interested.”

“That sounds great, I would like that.” Aria says with a smile.

“Sometimes the artists may e-mail you too, and in that case, you can just tell them what they need to provide and then forward that to me.”

“Okay, should I be aware of any fancy computer software?” Aria asks.

“There may be some data that needs to be put into our company data base,  but it’s a really easy software, that I will show you how to use, if need be.”

 “Okay, thank you,” she says smiling and looking around nervously.

Can I really work alongside this man everyday? And remain professional? Even if it is just for 2 weeks. I feel like I can’t breath, she thinks.

“Aria, I’m not worried, you shouldn’t be either.”

“I just don’t want to mess up, or stress you out even more. An assistant is supposed to make your life easier.”

He looks at her and smiles.

“I’m not like your old boss, I actually care about my employees. So listen I get that your new, and you’ve been completely honest about the fact that you’ve never been a secretary before, and I am still choosing to hire you. So don’t worry, ok, if your not sure about something, ask me, my door is always open.”

And so are my arms, he thinks.

Aria let’s out a sigh or relief.

“Wow, I didn’t know what it’d be like to actually have a boss that believes in me,” she says smiling and letting out a little laugh.

Liam smiles.

“So does that mean you’ll take the job?” he asks.

“Yes, I would love to,” Aria says smiling.

“Ok then, great, glad to have you on board,” he says standing and reaching out his hand to her.

“Thank you, Mr. Whitmore,” she says shaking his hand.

“Call me Li-“

“All due resect but I can’t call you Liam, here. I would just feel too weird. After all you are my boss, right?”

“I suppose so, but I try to keep things relaxed here,” he says mentally kicking himself for putting an ethical barrier between them.

“Ok well I will try then,” says smiling as they continue to shake hands.

Noticing, they both let go simultaneously with a laugh.

“Well it was a pleasure, I’ll notify HR that you’ll be joining us and they’ll be emailing you some forms to fill out, I’ll you see Monday?”

“Yes, absolutely, thank you so much.”

“Thank you.”

Aria smiles and turns to head out, “Here I’ll walk you out,” he says following her.

Aria passes the assistant desk and pauses.

“Will this be…”

“Yes, this will be your desk. On Monday I’ll show you how to work the phones, don’t worry,” he says smiling.

“Thank you, see you Monday,” she says waving as she steps into the elevator.

Liam waves as the elevator doors close.

Aria exhales as she leans against the wall, her heart pounding.

“Oh gosh, Aria what have you gotten yourself into?” she mumbles to herself.

Liam stares at the closed doors, his body tightening and breaking into a sweat.

Let’s see you pull this whole professional vibe off Whitmore, he thinks walking back to his office as he runs a hand through his hair, his heart beating quickly.

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

*I do not take credit for images used in my edits or otherwise.*

-<3-