At First Sight Read online

  At First Sight

  Katherine York

  At First Sight @ 2019. All rights reserved.

  Free or commercial reproduction of this work without the permission of the author is prohibited.

  Partial reproduction of the work, even free of charge, without proper credits is prohibited.

  “At First Sight” is a work of fiction, any resemblance to actual people or facts is purely coincidental.

  Plagiarism is CRIME.

  In love with a stranger?

  Sarah Hamilton has an addiction: spying on the beautiful stranger who takes the elevator every day at the same time as her. She knows he is too successful to note the glances of a simple secretary.

  She could not be more wrong.

  Matthew Hunt is the commercial director of Hunt Enterprise and has acquired a new obsession: finding out who is the blonde woman from the elevator. After two months fighting his curiosity, he makes a plan that will make him work side by side with the mysterious woman.

  A new relationship that can go far beyond the office and make Matthew break his one rule: never fall in love.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Sarah

  I'll tell you a secret: I've been a little obsessed with "Him" since I first saw him two months ago. I have no idea who "He" is, but I suspect he is someone far above me at Hunt Enterprise. Expensive suit, confident gestures and a stare that could take over the world.

  At 25, I thought I'd have a good job, maybe would be renting a decent place, a good wardrobe, and a lot of other things that didn't happen. What have I learned in recent years after graduating? Making coffee, going to the laundry, and having my ideas discarded because I was just a secretary. "He" was of another kind and seeing him going up to the executive floors is one explanation. He didn't look like he would go to the laundry room or make coffee. He would be the person on the other side, the one who tells others to do what he needs.

  I'll explain from the beginning: on my first week here, I arrived earlier than I officially should have, and I saw the elevator open its doors a few feet away and I didn't hesitate to run and shout:

  “Hold the elevator, please!”

  I shouldn't have shouted, but I was already making a big scene running down the hall of the building. It didn't make sense because I wasn't late, but at the same time, the elevator was a few steps away and I just rushed to catch it, as fate lured me into something I didn't even know what it would be.

  The first thing I saw was the hands holding the door. I have raved about his hands a few times.

  “Thank you.” I said breathlessly from the little run there still breathing badly. I should exercise more. I should do so many things, but between my job and the apartment I share, I already had a lot on my hands.

  Still tired and trying to calm down, I looked around to notice that it was just me and "him" inside the elevator. I stared at him and WOW.

  You might think about horny at first glance or something, but it was more than that. He was tall, over a foot taller than me, but somehow, I knew that if we got close, I would fit perfectly on his neck. I just knew it.

  His face was angular, with cheekbones and unshaven beard. He also had the most beautiful pair of eyes I've ever seen, a dark green, half olive that matched his olive skin and dark hair. With that perfect-fit suit and that smell of him that I couldn't identify what it was, he dominated my senses.

  No, I didn't spend our first encounter in the elevator staring at him and absorbing every detail. All this I noticed over time. That day I was breathless, and if he noticed my quick breathing and my shock for that sexual aura, I would be embarrassed. It took 30 torturous seconds to reach the 10th floor. And then it was over, and I continued day after day absorbing little things without ever hearing more than a simple greeting.

  With all the shame in the world, I confess, I was a little obsessed. He was all alpha male, exuding power while I was a simple secretary. A cliché ready to explode in my face at any moment. I started arriving early just for my private show of catching glances of him around or sharing a polite “Good Morning” in the elevator.

  It was all the affective life I had in the last few months, and in some ways, I felt that no reality could overcome my desire for him. Ellie, my best friend, thought it was all bullshit and wanted me to get a real guy. "Your imagination won't make your spider webs go away, Sarah, no matter how many times you use the vibrator thinking about him", she repeated over and over like a mantra.

  Here's the second confession: My heart was pounding, my legs turned to jelly, and my panties got wet every time I shared the elevator with "Him." It didn't take much more than touching me to reach orgasm or to have erotic dreams starring the stranger.

  I was a lost case.

  I thought about it while staring at my best friend at a bar later. I don't know why the hell I told Ellie about the stranger from the elevator. Since then, she has alternated between finding another guy to make me forget or how I should finally make some move to get his attention.

  “Any ideas on how to get the hottie from the elevator?”

  We were having a few drinks at a bar near work. Ellie was excited to know how things were going and to escape her study routine. I fidgeted my cosmopolitan awkwardly not knowing how to answer. I've been doing some research – which includes standing in the elevator door waiting for it to go up to find out which floor he goes in every day.

  Pathetic, I know.

  29th floor, where the executives and the CEO of the company work. I searched for some names I found on the internet, but none of them was my beautiful stranger.

  My. I had to laugh at how stupid I was.

  “I won't do anything, Ellie. I can't put my job at risk, God knows when Marisa will let me down and I'll lose the apartment. Every money counts.”

  “You can always live with me, girl. My couch will always be there, and it misses you.” she laughed.

  “I know.... It's just so hard to find a place. I was so long with you.... I don't want to bother you. You also need to deal with your spider webs too and your friend on the couch won't help.”

  I am not kidding. Ellie doesn't like to be attached to anyone, and the six months I spent at her apartment didn't do wonders for her sex life. It was about something she never wanted to tell me, but she knew it existed: Ellie never wanted to have relationships, and it seemed that this decision influenced every point of her life.

  I met her at the university, and we became friends. She was the reason I stayed in Los Angeles after I graduated. She and the offer from the bank, my biggest career mistake. I graduated in business and went after my dream, thinking about being someone's assistant until I learned to run my own business. My mother is an assistant, the type of assistant you can't live without. I was never ashamed to have gone the same way trying to achieve something bigger.

  I couldn't find a job, and when they called me to the bank, it paid ridiculously bad. That's when I begged Ellie for help, who now studied law and lived in her college flat. At work they were also bad, they shouted, they said that nothing I did was the way it was supposed to be done and they told me all the time to do things that
were not my responsibility: coffee, mail, laundry, delivery...

  Everything changed when I got a new job, I could get an apartment of my own and I fell in love with Marisa’s. She is an aspiring actress who looked super nice but ended up being the devil in the shape of a woman after I signed the contract. Parties, noise, mess and a lot of other things designed to get me out of there and Marisa to have the apartment just for her.

  I had a contract, if I left, I'd have to pay a fine, if I stayed and Marisa didn't honor her part of the rent, we'd be put on the street. I prayed every day that she would keep doing her hemorrhoid commercials and anything stupid I saw with her on television every once in a while.

  I settled for all of Marisa's bullshit and started saving all the money I could to buy a house. My belongings were no big deal, either, I had just enough to fit into a suitcase and get out quickly if I had to. My second-hand furniture could be left behind if necessary.

  In the meantime, the job at the accounting firm was getting worse and worse: the boss thought I was on the menu and took every opportunity to hump or rub his hands on his employees. Living like this sucked, and I was giving up when I applied for a job at Hunt Enterprise.

  A worse position than the previous ones, but infinitely better for me: I was a general assistant in various departments, a sort of do-it-all for the non-executive. It was the experience I needed to cheer me up and to get too busy to deal with Marisa's shit.

  “Well, it looks like someone is interested in taking off your spider webs.” Ellie said showing me discreetly a blond man on our left and taking me out of my thoughts. He caught my eye and nodded.

  “He is not dark haired.” I said still rambling about mine.

  “He is not what?”

  Speaking out loud it seemed ridiculous and ashamed I answered.

  “Dark”.

  “You need to do something about it, Sarah. This hot handsome guy wants your attention and you won't give it to him. The attention and the other stuff, because you're attracted to the elevator guy. You just said you won't do anything about the guy at work. What the hell!”

  Not even I understood why.

  “Okay, okay...” I said while getting up from the table with my glass and my bag slung over my shoulder.

  I walked over to him, put my glass on one of the empty tables near where the blonde guy was, and walked to the exit. I looked at Ellie and said goodbye from afar as I read her lips: You're hopeless.

  Chapter 2

  Sarah

  “Miss Hamilton? Diana White speaking, I'm Mr. Hunt's secretary. We need you urgently on the 29th floor.” said the person on the other end of the phone line without even saying “hello”.

  I was working quietly when my desk phone started ringing. It rarely rings because Camille often gives us the work. She gets the calls, not me.

  So, when the person on the other side of the line just started talking and said it was urgent, I froze and answered in a confusing way, looking in despair at the notes in front of me:

  “What? Why? I need to finish some things...”

  Most of the time, my work was peaceful, but the volume of people depending on five secretaries made my routine a little insane at times. Today was one of those days, and suddenly that? Who is Diana? Why do they want me on the 29th floor? It is the most important floor of the company, where all the management and the most important executives work.

  “It is an urgent matter in the presidency. Can you pass your task on to any of the other assistants? Come up immediately. Camille has already been warned.”

  The call was disconnected before I could answer anything, making me disconcerted. Even though I believed it could be a mistake, I went right away to not let anyone who asked for my presence wait.

  29th floor.

  It was his floor too. Maybe I would finally find out who he was and end this mystery for good.

  I walked to Camille's desk, the assistant coordinator, and quickly explained the situation, leaving also the pile of papers I would have to deal with if I had not been called to the 29th floor. She told me she had already been warned and I went ahead to the elevator.

  With a notepad and pen in hand, I got into the elevator and took a short trip up. As soon as the doors opened on the boardroom floor, I saw Diana waiting for me. She was an old lady, maybe 60 years and with a lot of white hair. She smiled at me angelically before speaking hurriedly as he led me down the hall, pulling me to walk fast.

  “In your resume it says you speak German fluently. For your sake, it better be true. Mr. Hunt is in an urgent videoconference and we have no interpreter. You just have to be aware that we just found out that the German executive doesn't speak English very well. It will not be too complicated.”

  And without further ado, she pushed me into a room.

  And then I saw him.

  Well, that wasn't fair, I thought.

  Sitting at one end of the room was the motive of all my wet dreams for the past two months. "He", my elevator stranger, was none other than one of the Hunt, the owners of that company.

  He is so handsome that it baffles me for a few seconds. This energy I always feel when facing him makes me speechless and I do the only thing I usually do: I stare at him. I feel my skin turn red like a tomato and decide I need to do something about it while his eyes stare sharply at me.

  “He..hello... I'm Sarah Hamilton.” I say choking and trying to introduce myself.

  “Have a seat, Miss Hamilton.” he told me with his deep voice making me feel an involuntary shudder “As I hope you know, we are a multi-format advertising company and we are trying to do more international business. Lukas Ledermueller owns a PR agency in Germany, and we will talk about some partnerships. We have an unexpected business chance and that's why we are having this urgent meeting. I ask questions, you translate them and the answer. No need for anything else, ok?”

  I nodded still a little dizzily at the change of direction in my morning. I just watch the walls until the Skype call begins. Without waiting too long, the executive appeared on the screen and Hunt announced my role at that meeting for Lukas. From the thick accent I realized my need there. It was a brief conversation until I realized that it clearly wasn't going anywhere.

  Ledermueller wanted to be the owner of the idea and the person who would lead the deal, and Hunt wouldn't give up. I remembered my grandmother talking about how Germans like security, facts, and clearly the businessman was doubting the efficiency of Hunt Enterprise. “Americans talk a lot and do little”, was what my grandmother loved to say and even today she still teases about that American who went there and did it: my father.

  I took a piece of paper and while translating from German to English, I quickly scribbled "I need a real proposal, numbers, data, security, anything". Hunt took my guess and started talking about what he needed, how much he needed, the money involved, and past experiences.

  Clearly Ledermueller relaxed to the point of asking to close the details with his assistant and submit a contract. It was more than half an hour of dialogue when I felt things calm down inside me as I did something I dreamed of doing: being among the big ones and working with interesting things.

  Before finishing he smiled and asked me what region of Munich I was from and told him that actually my grandmother was from the city. Hunt noticed the small wordless translation and looked confused and then smiled.

  “Well, this was impressive.” he said getting up and leaving the room without saying anything as the German's image faded from the screen.

  What the hell? I looked around wondering what to do next. I stayed there another couple of minutes when Hunt came back with two paper packages and started putting Chinese food on the table.

  “Hope you like Chinese food. It's late and I asked Diana while we were at the meeting.” I look at my watch and realize it's after 1pm. I get distracted between the notes and the call and only realize I'm hungry when I smell the food coming from the paper boxes.

  “Okay, I like it... quite a bi
t.” I said while taking one of the boxes and smiling half nervously. Kung Pao Chicken, one of my favorite dishes.

  “Help yourself,” he said while making a motion with his hands “We need to discuss some things before you return to your post. It's hard to find someone who speaks fluent German in such a short term. You impressed Ledermueller. Without you, this business would not happen today.”

  “My mother is German and only speaks German with me, she has a heavily accented English. My grandma calls me every week to talk. It's only natural. That's what he asked before we finished, what part of Germany I was from.”

  “Makes sense. You didn't translate that, and I was curious. Does your mother live here too?”

  “Yes. She met my dad in college and never went back. We went a few times to Germany, but she's currently more used to living in Massachusetts than Munich. They work at the university, they breathe campus life, they are comfortable.”

  He looks at me seriously and then grabs some food while talking changing the subject.

  “About this meeting, I don't need to tell you it's confidential, right? I need notes on what happened here, and I would like you to help Diana with the conduction of this business when she needs it.”

  “Will I need to come back here?”

  “No, we have translators, but it's good that you follow the progress. You can go back to your table when we're done, great job.”

  We fell silent, finishing eating, exchanging casual impressions about the meeting. As soon as I finish eating, I gather the things from the table and Hunt reaches for me and I respond without thinking. Seconds later I quickly released it, as if I was electrocuted. He seemed to feel the same, looking disconcerted at my fallen hand along my body. He made no move to catch it again. Looking me briefly between the eyes, he gave a slight nod and left the room, leaving me by myself.

  I finish throwing things away and return to my desk on automatic pilot without paying attention to my surroundings. After that, my day went by in a blur, trying to turn my mind to the documents I left behind before the meeting with Hunt.