Masquerade Excerpt

“Mr. McCray, I presume.” Samantha Skylar sat in the wing back chair and leaned back, resting her head in the headrest. “You have impressed my board of directors. However, I am not as easy as they are.”

“And, why is that?” Elijah said. His voice strong and powerful. His eyes never leaving hers. “Never have been, never will. Most people come in here thinking I am a man and then sit here, taking up my time, tongue tied and dumbfounded. So let us cut to the chase.”

Samantha turned to the day planner that lit up the computer screen to her right. Pausing, she leaned forward. “I have more important things to do than interviews and I don’t like my time wasted. You have three minutes to bore me, eight minutes to entice me and twenty minutes to convince me why I should give you a job with my company.”

She opened the top drawer of the desk and pulled out a small egg timer and sat it on the corner of the desk. Shaking his head from side to side Elijah cleared his throat and shifted his weight. “You are wasting my time, Mr. McCray. You have only two and a half minutes left. So far, I am not in the least bit impressed. I would suggest you get busy.”

She did not show the slightest twitch of compassion. But then again, why should she? She was all business and Elijah knew it, liked it and couldn’t wait to be a part of it. “You do that very well.” Elijah said with a smile warm enough to melt ice.

Tilting her head she asked, “And what is that?”

“Try to intimidate people.”

“Doesn’t seem to be working today.”

“Not in the least.” Elijah said.

His voice strong and husky. It wrapped around her like hot chocolate on a cold winter night. She took a quick deep breath and blew it out. Looking towards the egg timer she drew her hand up and tapped the top of it. “Your time is running out, Mr. McCray.”

A soft laugh escaped his throat. “If my memory serves me right, I did not look for you or your company. You came looking for me, and besides it will not take me three minutes to convince you.”

“Oh really,” Samantha said as she leaned forward in her chair crossing her arms on top of the desk. “I guess they forgot to tell you I am not interested in resumes, previous employment or alphabets behind your name.” Leaning to the right, she dropped his portfolio into the waste paper basket. “Now, your time is steadily ticking away. You did, however amuse me enough to surpass your three minute limit, but only because I like your ability to hold my attention. You haven’t told me yet why I should give you a job with my company.”

Smiling, Elijah said, “I grossed 1.25 mil last quarter in product development and sales.” Pulling a business card from his breast pocket he leaned forward and placed it on the desk in front of Samantha. “When you are ready to talk business have your people call me.” Slowly he pushed up from the chair. Reaching out his hand he waited for her to shake it. When she didn’t, he turned and walked towards the door.

Leaning back in her chair Samantha smiled, took a deep breath and said, “I like you, Mr. McCray. Not too many people have the balls to do what you just did.”

“I am not most people.”