Page 120 of From Rivals to I Do

I walk to the elevator and hop on, thankful I’m the only one on it. I try my breathing exercises again. They’ve never worked before, but I remain hopeful they

will someday. When the elevator opens, I quickly grab a seat. The waiting room is very lavish, all the furniture is soft dark green velvet, and the walls are slate

grey with several architectural blueprints framed. After a few minutes, a man walks through the glass doors with a smile on his face. I look up and nervously

laugh when I see it’s the man I bumped into and spilled coffee all over not ten minutes before.

Chapter six

Chapter Six

What are the odds? I have one meeting scheduled all day long to interview a new assistant, and just before the interview, she spills coffee all over me,

completely unaware it was her potential new employer.

“Rayne Stevens?” I ask with a laugh.

“Hi,” she answers, her voice sounding nervous. “Mr. Kapino?”

“You look familiar. Have we met before?” I joke, resting my hands on my hips and slightly pulling my jacket back to reveal the coffee stain.

“I just have one of those faces.” She laughs in response as she stands and follows me through the doors.

I lead her to my office, which is just at the end of the hall, and gesture for her to sit down across from me.

“I know you probably think this will go terribly because you spilled coffee all over me. But I’m delighted it is you because now I don’t have to worry about

someone else not believing me and just thinking I’m a slob,” I say jokingly to try and make her feel at ease.

When she bumped into me, I was startled and not too pleased about the burn, but it was an accident. I genuinely wasn’t upset about it now.

“Oh good, I’m glad that worked out for us both,” she replies.

I notice her eyes darting around the room and her hands shaking.

“So, what did the agency tell you about the position?” I ask, moving forward with the interview.

“They didn’t tell me much, just that it was an opportunity for a personal assistant position. They didn’t even tell me who it was for, which I thought was interesting,” she replies.

She has a good voice, which makes me think she’ll be great on the phone when clients and business partners call in. Though she’s nervous, I can tell she’s got a natural charm and charisma that would make her an excellent fit for this kind of role.

I looked over her resume before she arrived and saw that she worked for Leia Halloway, too. I knew Leia personally, so I immediately called for a recommendation. She had nothing but amazing things to say. I knew I would hire her even before Rayne Stevens walked in.

“Well, you know I’m Mr. Kapino. But call me Leonard,” I say, looking up for her reaction. “Are you familiar with Kapino Homes at all?”

She shakes her head, and I’m surprised. I rarely talk to someone in this town who doesn’t already know me.

“I’m sorry. If the recruiting agents had told me the name, I’d have researched the company before coming in. I just moved here from LA, and when I was growing up here, I didn’t pay much attention to the business side of the city,” she says.

I love that she doesn’t know anything about me or anything currently being posted in the papers.

“That’s completely fine. You can learn about the company as you go along when you start,” I say.

“I’m sorry, I’m just slightly confused by how you phrased that. You said, ‘when you start’?” she clarifies, and I nod my head. “As in, I already have the job?”

“Yes, your resume and recommendations were stellar, and you’re an excellent fit for the role,” I reply. “That is, if you want the job, of course.”

Definitely, thank you,” she says with a mixture of surprise and confusion on her face.

---