Holding Out For Skye
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Authors: S.R. McKade
Holding Out For Skye
S.R. MCKADE
AuthorHouse™ UK Ltd.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
© 2014
. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
Published by AuthorHouse 01/29/2014
ISBN: 978-1-4918-9240-4 (e)
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Edited by Celine Black
CONTENTS
Things are finally starting to look up for Skye Fletcher. She’s got a new job with a great salary, she’s finally out of the rat-trap she used to live in and into a decent apartment. She couldn’t be happier. Except for the thorn in her side, a.k.a. Cian Hunter, her arrogant and too good-looking co-worker whom she has the misfortune of being stuck with.
In spite of himself, Cian Hunter fell hard for the surly, unfriendly woman who made no secret of her dislike for him. He knows he and Skye are meant to be. Convincing her of that fact seems like an impossible feat. However, he’s utterly confident he’s up to the task. His future and his happiness depend on it, after all.
When Skye’s one impulsive, uncharacteristic little act changes the status-quo between them, her life gets entangled with Cian’s way more than she’s comfortable with.
That’s when her life
really
turns upside down…
To my circle of honorary grandparents. People say blood
is thicker than water but it’s the people who are
truly there for you that are your family. I’ll forever
be grateful for your guidance in making me a better
person. You are the pillars of my life. If not
for you, I wouldn’t be standing where I am today.
Thank you for having taken me on and given me
so much that I could never repay it back.
To my
exceptional high school English tuition teacher for making English such
a fun subject to learn.
For the best friends I’ve ever
had—Zarah, Shirley, Jairaj, Belinda, Yaman, Madhuree, and Naz
B.M for your encouragement and your faith in me. You
make my life interesting and so much fun. My life
is richer with you in it.
A big thanks to Chris
Jones, Ressa and Chris Bryant, for being such wonderful friends
and for all their support and encouragement.
Thank you.
“My life has a superb cast, but I cannot figure out the plot.”
—Ashleigh Brilliant
Skye Fletcher twisted her fingers anxiously as she waited to be introduced to her new boss. Today was her first day of duty as a Trainee/Junior CPA at Grant and Dale Consulting. After an introductory meeting with the HR Manager, Mr. Linden, who had informed her she’d be assigned to Marina Blake, a senior CPA, she’d been told to wait in this sitting area before his secretary took her to her assigned supervising officer.
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she waited. Skye tugged at the collar of her dark blue suit jacket. She worried that the pale blue long-sleeved blouse, dark blue suit jacket and matching trousers wouldn’t look professional, that
she
would come up short. She had on minimum make-up and had worn her shoulder length straight brown hair loose.
At least she looked presentable and not all hot and sweaty from the constant humidity in Boston. With winter slowly fading away into spring, the humidity wasn’t so bad for a day in March. She wondered how some people looked spick and span in any kind of weather. Skye had never perfected that talent.
She nervously stood up when the door opened and Mr. Linden’s secretary, Mrs. Thompkins stepped inside. “Ms Fletcher, here is your company ID. You’ll need it to access the three office floors leased by our company and make your way around. Be careful not to lose it. If you do, please notify the office immediately. Do you have a car? Arrangements will have to be made for a parking space.”
Skye took her access card. It had her picture, name and designation on it. “Thank you. No, I don’t have a car.”
Skye didn’t own a car. In fact, she had yet to learn how to drive. She knew her driving ignorance was a handicap, especially in this day and age but she couldn’t afford a car so she figured taking driving lessons would be pointless.
So she took the bus. Skye supposed she could take the T but she avoided the train like it was a death trap. She only took it when she had no choice. Every time she got on it, the Keanu Reeves movie
Speed
flashed through her mind. Her best friend, Kiera called it one of her many quirks and often teased her about it. She said it was more logical for Skye to be afraid of getting into a bus than in a train, seeing as how the bus had been the one to explode in the movie whereas the train had just come to a stop, albeit in the middle of the town. But it
had
come to a stop. And no one had died.
Skye knew it was irrational but she couldn’t help it. She argued back that she wasn’t ‘afraid’ of getting on the train—she was just ‘uncomfortable’. Kiera usually burst out laughing at that point.
“Marina’s office is on the fourth floor. Now if you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to your reporting officer.” The secretary led her to the bank of elevators.
The carpeted corridor on the fourth floor was church silent, nary a soul in sight. It should have made Skye feel less nervous that she hadn’t seen any of the officers yet but she felt even more so inside. Everything just gave off a sense of elite work, good quality, and professionalism. This company was way more sophisticated that she could ever hope to be, she thought with dread. Self-doubt assailed her.
What am I doing here?
Mrs. Thompkins stopped at a door with the nameplate M. Blake, Senior CPA affixed over it and knocked. At the offer to come in, she opened the door and they entered inside.
“Good morning, Marina. I’ve got your new team member here, Ms Skye Fletcher. I called you earlier about her.”
“G—Good Morning,” Skye stammered.
Way to make a
first impression, Skye. Show the woman what a blabbering idiot
you are.
Marina Blake had stood up when they entered. She was about five foot five with a slender build and short reddish brown hair swept back from her elegant face. Intelligent blue eyes seemed to measure Skye’s worth in a matter of seconds. She had on one of those power suits with a white blouse and knee-length skirt that Skye’d always wished she could wear but thought would never look good on her. The suit was a pale pastel peach that made Miss Blake look both dignified and professional. Classy gold winked at her ears.
Miss Blake nodded at her. “Thanks for bringing her by, Janet. I’ll take it from here.”
As the secretary left, Skye turned to face her new boss, who swept a hand towards the chair in front of her desk. She swallowed and then took the seat after Miss Blake had sat down.
“You’ll be in a team of four and work closely with one of them for the first six months. But I’d better make some things clear,” Miss Blake said in a straight-to-business tone. “First of all, there is no place for chair-warmers in my team.”
Skye nodded again, nervously wishing she could speak up and tell her that she’d never been a chair-warmer in her life and had no intention of ever being one.
Marina frowned. This girl had yet to speak up for herself. Just her luck, she’d gotten one of the easily-intimidated, meek ones.
“I expect hard work, courteous and professional behavior from all of my team. Is that understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Just like Skye’d expected, Miss Blake didn’t seem impressed by her.
“You can call me Marina.” She glanced at the open file on her desk. “Skye, is it? We are on a first-name basis among teams except for the top executives and partners.”
“Yes, ma—I mean, Marina.”
“There is one more thing you should know.” Eyes narrowed in speculation, Marina considered what this girl’s reaction would be. In her opinion, it would determine whether she was going to have a place in her team or not. “The previous employee whose post you are now occupying was fired because gave away insider information.” Marina’s mouth tightened into a thin line, her stare like a laser beam.
“Grant and Dale Consulting’s reputation,
my
reputation, has suffered as a result of that
incident
. And I have no intention of that happening in my team. Ever. Again. I won’t have any tattletales in my team. So if you can’t keep your mouth shut about internal affairs, tell me now and avoid us the suing battles later on.”
So that was why there’d been a job vacancy here. Skye knew the value of having a good work reputation. Due to her predecessor’s actions, her loyalty to the company would be minutely scrutinized.
Skye’s spine went ramrod straight. To hell with a job where her loyalty would always be questioned. She tried to reign in her temper. Maybe she should have joined those anger-management courses Tyler kept telling her about, not that she had a problem with her temper. It wasn’t
her
fault people pissed her off so often.
“Miss Blake, I have never been a tattletale and I never will be. I understand after the last employee you may have doubts on my integrity.”
Like hell she
did!
“I signed a legally-binding agreement when I accepted this job and I intend to abide by it. I always honor my agreements. I don’t believe I will be comfortable working in a place where my loyalty will always be in question. It was nice meeting you. Thank you for your time.” That had gone well in her opinion. She hadn’t said
“Thank you for your freakin’ time”
had she?
Skye stood up to leave. She knew it wouldn’t sink in until later that she’d had just thrown away the biggest opportunity she’d ever gotten right out the window.
So
,
she wasn’t
so meek after all,
Marina thought with satisfaction. Skye Fletcher would do. She would do very well indeed.
“Excuse me. Where do you think you’re going?”
Skye froze at the words delivered politely but with an icy undertone. “I—I’m leaving b—because I just tossed away my job.”
“Oh, you did, did you? And how do you figure that?”
“I’m not fired?”
“I think this is the first time in history where an employee got fired without her boss
actually
firing her.”
Skye’s face heated. She was really giving her boss a wonderful impression of herself. “But I was disrespectful towards you.”
“Trust me, Skye, there was no disrespect involved. You didn’t use any swear words, did you?”
When Skye blanked her expression, Marina looked at her shrewdly. “So you thought of using them, uh? Good. A little fire’s good or the other CPAs will eat you alive. Oh, and you’re not fired,” she added as an afterthought.
Marina stood up and rounded her desk, a green file in her hand. “This is your copy of the rules and regulations of the company, the relevant Acts and a detailed description and schedule of your work. Be sure to memorize them.” She handed the file to Skye who took it with a bemused look on her face. “Welcome to the team.” Marina held out her hand in a handshake and Skye automatically clasped it.
Good, the girl had a
firm grip
, Marina noticed.
“Th—Thank you. I promise I won’t give you cause for any complaints.”
Marina gave her a sharp smile. “Be sure you don’t. Or you won’t be here long. I’ll introduce to your team and show you where you’ll be working.”
Skye followed her meekly, her heart hammering in her chest as she tried to grasp the fact that she still had a job.
Marina led her through a short hallway leading to the left of her office and stopped at the first door they came to. After a short firm knock, she opened it and stepped inside.
“If I could have your attention.” Marina didn’t have to raise her voice to be heard. Even at her normal tone, her voice carried authority. “This is Skye Fletcher, your new teammate.”
Skye had been one step behind Marina and it wasn’t until she stepped aside to let her in that she was able to see the room and the rest of her team.
Whom she’d met before. Whom she
unfortunately
knew.
Her polite smile froze on her lips. Maybe if she pretended she’d never seen them before in her life… .
“Well, well. If it isn’t the Ice Princess,” drawled Cian Hunter, her nemesis.
So much for that idea
, Skye thought sourly. That insufferable jerk. She would have to work with
him
?
She had heard somewhere that sins committed in previous lives colored your current life. She must have probably been an axe murderer in a past life to end up in
this
situation.
With. This. Guy.
Annoyance rippled through Skye. “If it isn’t the Flirt Prince.”
Marina stared from one to the other. “Do you two know each other?”
“No!” Skye denied at the same time that Cian replied, “Yes.” She inwardly groaned. She’d thought she’d never see him again. She’d been like
Good riddance!
But now here he was. There was no way she was getting out of this. Not without throwing away her job again.
She’d met Cian Hunter as well as his two friends, Nick Finnegan and Thea Chan, her two
other teammates,
about three years ago, in her last year at Johnson College. She glanced at the other two. They had all gotten up when Marina entered the room and were staring at her as if she were a specimen from a zoo, a very
foreign
specimen, make that downright alien.
Skye had been home-schooled as a kid, so when she had entered school, she’d been placed into first grade instead of kindergarten. So she had graduated from high school a year early. Hence, she had been a year younger than other college students, which had played in her favor as she’d been able to get her degree earlier.
Back then, her life had been pretty hectic. Studying and working a waitressing part-time job, she’d constantly lived at a stressed out pace. She had been taking as many of her classes as she could to get her degree fast.
Skye wasn’t very ambitious. She just wanted a good honest life, a good job where she could earn enough to be able to take care of herself, not to mention pay off her student loan.
She remembered the first time she’d seen them. She was startled how clear that memory was. They’d been with a group of their friends, laughing. She’d recognised one of the girls in their group, a tall slim brunette, who’d been in another class with her.
Skye’d remembered the brunette well because all through that one class, the girl had constantly disturbed everyone by yapping her mouth off with her friend. Short of telling them to get out of class, the professor had repeatedly told them in vain to be quiet. Because she hadn’t been able to hear his voice over the chatter of the girls, Skye had finally gotten fed up and told them both to shut the hell up. They’d sneered at her and whispered about her every time they saw her—as if Skye’d given a damn—but they’d stopped talking loudly and disturbing the class.
Nick, Cian and Thea had caught her attention instantly. Tall and lean Cian Hunter with his dark blond hair and the wicked glint in his pale gray eyes, so pale they seemed to leap out against his tan skin. Petite Thea with her silky black hair, heart-shaped face and her ebony Chinese eyes. Sturdy Nick with his tall and slightly muscular frame, wind-swept brown hair and blue eyes.
They’d made a pretty picture. Skye’d been tempted to whip out her phone and take their photo. Taking pictures was one of her weaknesses. But she’d abstained.
It hadn’t just been their good looks, it had been something else. Something
real
. Maybe it’d been how they’d fit together, as if they knew their place in this world and were sure of it.
Skye’d felt a pang watching how close they seemed to be, at how they seemed to
belong
. Even then, she hadn’t belonged anywhere. They’d made her wish she had that kind of friendship, too.
But friends were a luxury she couldn’t afford. Friends took time and effort. Skye had been so stressed out and tired all the time, trying to make ends meet and finish college as fast as she could that there hadn’t been any time or energy left in her for friends.
Oh, how she’d wished though. That she could just let loose and have some fun. Watching them had made her realize how truly alone she was.
True to her wary nature, Skye’d decided then and there that they were too much of a temptation and to avoid them like they were radioactive.
