The Way to a Man's Heart

Chapter 6

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Tee's POV

"Of course, go and attend to your wife," I said to my manager Pond.

He had come rushing into my office without bothering to knock.

"Tee!" the panic was all over his face. "My wife has been rushed to the hospital! She has gone into labor!"

Fortunately the hospital wasn't too far from here so I was sure that he would be by his wife's side in a matter of minutes.

"Thank you, Tee," he said and was about to rush out of my office when suddenly he remembered something. "Oh, I'm expecting an applicant to come in for an interview this afternoon. He's probably on his way here now."

"Is it for the position of fashion designer?" I asked.

"Yes," Pond replied. "His resume is with Alice."

"Don't worry about it," I told him. "I will take care of it. Just tell Alice on your way out to bring over the resume to me.

=   =   =   =   =   =   =   =   =

I studied the resume that Alice placed on my desk.

Hmm ... nice profile pic ... very good looking ...

The samples of the designs attached to his CV were just as attractive as their owner. They would definitely be immediately snapped up by the most discriminating customers.

I went through the rest of his resume.

His name was Pavel. The reason he left his previous employer was because ... well actually according to his cover letter, his employer had offered him to join them in their move to Singapore but he had turned it down because he preferred to work on his home turf.

I wasn't to know until much later in our relationship that the real reason he had decided to stay here in Bangkok was because he did not want to be away from his boyfriend, the double dealing bastard.

I set the resume aside and went back to going through the contract with the fabric factory who supplied our materials.

I was reading carefully the shipping agreement details when I heard a soft knock on my door.

"Come in," I called out without taking my eyes off the document. I needed to sign it at the bottom before sending it back for Alice to take care of having it delivered to the factory.

I looked up from the papers when the person who knocked opened the door and walked in.

Whoa, did I just find myself face to face with the man of my dreams? Because lo and behold the most gorgeous creation of this planet so far.  Ecce homo!

I did my best to conceal my inner thoughts. I recognized him right away from his profile pic in his resume.

"I've been waiting for you," I said, holding out my hand to him, quelling the tremor in my voice that rose from nowhere.  I almost added, "Where have you been all my life?"

He gave me a smile that almost floored me.

"My name is Pavel, sir," he said. "I was directed to come to your office for an interview."

"Yes," I confirmed. "The manager who was supposed to conduct the interview had to leave for emergency reasons. I figured you were already on your way here and didn't want the receptionist to turn you away and have your trip wasted." I almost added, "I'm glad I made that decision because look at you, I want you to take me out on a dinner date this evening and feast on me."

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

"What are your expectations from our company?" I asked after I told him to take the seat right across from my desk.

"What do you have to offer?" he countered.

Very smart.

I enumerated to him the benefits that we gave to our employees which included paid vacation leave and paid sick leave. The most important topic of course boiled down to how much his hourly rate was going to be. I mentioned a figure which was higher than the one we gave to his predecessor.

He gave it careful thought before saying, "I was hoping it would be slightly higher than that."

Whoa, this guy was high maintenance. Fortunately I could afford him

"Name me a figure," I countered.

He told me. It was a stiff amount but I had braced myself for it.

"Very well," I said. "You got it. Can you start tomorrow?"

I saw the surprise on his face.

"Did you have previous plans?" I asked.

"Actually no," he replied. "So you can expect me to come in tomorrow. What are my work hours?"

"Eight to five," I informed him. "And beyond five if needed. You will be given overtime pay of course."

"Fine by me," he said.

"Great," I said, standing from my chair and extending my hand to him once more.

He took it. He had a strong grip. Oh to have my wrists pinned by this hand against a hard surface above my head.

"I will have my secretary Alice process your employment papers," I said, starting to sweat a little from the above imagery that ran across my head. "Stop by her desk on your way out so you can sign all the necessary paperwork."

"I will do that, sir," he said with a really attractive smile.

"Tee," I corrected him. "Nobody in this company calls me 'sir'.  I forbid it."

"Of course," he said. "Tee."

I walked him to the door, suppressing the sudden urge to pinch his well formed behind.