Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Evie Vaughn. The woman went through with marrying a guy just to blow up the wedding at the reception. It didn’t seem like she had a grip on managing her own stress too well. Not to mention, she also seemed like a real handful—bold, smart, the type of woman who called people out when she saw fit, whether that was her own wedding or in an interview with a prospective employer. She was sexy as shit, especially when she showed no fear. Yep, Dr. Vaughn was exactly the type of employee I didn’t need, even in a position I didn’t want. My company was filled with enough strong-willed people.
And yet I couldn’t seem to get her out of my head the last few days.
Which was dumb.
Just dumb.
I knew what I needed to do to nip this shit in the bud. So I called up the email HR had sent after they interviewed the final candidates and reread it before answering.
Mr. Crawford,
I met with the two candidates you selected to come in for a second interview. Both interviewed well, were able to share different stress-management techniques they might employ, and had clearly done their homework on the industry. However, Dr. Wexler has more one-on-one anxiety and stress counseling experience than Dr. Vaughn. Therefore, it is my recommendation that we extend an offer to Dr. Wexler.
Please let me know if you would like to discuss things further, or alternately, if you would prefer that we reopen the search to locate new potential candidates.
Sincerely,
Joan Davis
I sat for another twenty minutes, staring blankly at the screen. The list of reasons not to hire Evie Vaughn was endless. Even human resources recommended another candidate. Yet…
I was a man who often went with instinct over logic. It had mostly served me well. And for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that rejecting Evie Vaughn would be a mistake—and not just because my grandmother wouldn’t be happy. Though I couldn’t honestly say my leaning toward the less-qualified candidate was for entirely professional reasons. Something about the woman had gotten under my skin. Which is precisely the reason I should heed the advice of my HR director. Yet instead of writing back to HR, I clicked back to YouTube and hit play again. Twice.
Eventually, I shook my head. This is just stupid. Why the hell was I wasting time ruminating over who got hired for a position I didn’t even want in my company?
So I hit reply and started typing.
Joan,
Please extend an offer to Dr…
CHAPTER 4
Evie
“Holy shit,” I laughed and sipped my coffee. “Seriously?”
“What?”
I looked up from my laptop at Greer. “I just opened an email from that investment firm I interviewed at a couple of days ago, the one Kitty’s grandson owns. You know, the guy who basically told me I was incompetent.”
“The hot one whose sperm I want?”
I nodded. “That’s him.”
“What did the email say? Does he need me to drop off a sterile collection jar?”
“No, this is even crazier. They offered me the job.”
“Oh, wow! That’s great!”
I nibbled on my fingernail. “Is it? Do I really want to work somewhere that the big boss doesn’t believe the job needs to exist, or that I’m able to fill it properly?”
“That depends. What does it pay? And can you negotiate for extra vacation time and a side order of sperm?”
I turned back to my laptop. I’d only made it through the first few lines that said I’d been selected for the job. There was an attached employment contract. Scanning the nine-page document, I was surprised to find the salary was more than my last job—definitely not commensurate with the experience Merrick Crawford felt I had. And the vacation time was very generous, too, not to mention the potential for a hefty bonus.
“Ugh. It pays really well, has four weeks of vacation to start, and profit sharing after one year.”
“And you’re saying ugh because you’d rather have shitty pay, no time off, and zero cut of the profits?”
I shook my head. “It wouldn’t be so painful to turn down a shitty-paying position.”
“Why would you turn it down?”
“The owner only wants to hire me because he found me the least-competent candidate. He admitted that. He said his board is forcing him to create this position.”
“So? Who cares what he thinks? Do you think you could do the job?”
I considered it for a moment. “I’m sure there are more qualified people who know the industry and would be able to jump in and have no learning curve. But I’m good at my job, and I think I’d be fine after I understood more about what causes the stress at work. I mean, aside from the boss, who clearly has a unique management style.”
“What’s the problem then?”
“Did you miss the part where the owner thinks I’m incompetent?”
She shrugged. “Prove him wrong. What happened when Mom told you you’d never be able to play on the volleyball team because you were too short?”