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"Okay," I said.
He came one step closer, then another one. I sucked in a breath. Then he held out his hand.
"Welcome to Sterling Investments, Hannah. I think you’ll like it here."
I tried to brace myself for the contact and shook his hand, but it was useless. The second our hands touched, I was on fire from the tips of my fingers right down to my center.
Oh wow.I kept eye contact even though all I wanted was to look away. Was it my imagination, or had the tension around us increased tenfold?
He let me go a few seconds later, then glanced at the floor, drawing in a deep breath. I wondered if he had as much trouble as I did reining in his reactions.
Magda busted in the next second. "Chase, you're here. Good. I saw your brothers in here earlier too. You saw her test scores, right? We've never had such a high score.” She was smiling from ear to ear.
Chase looked at her, nodding. "She'll be a great asset," he said in a perfectly schooled voice.
Damn it, he's a good actor.I waited patiently.
"Ms. Levine, I hope you’ll take her offer," he said right before closing the door.
Magda was looking at me with warm eyes. Clearly she valued my test score a lot. "Okay, so I don't know what we have to do to keep you, but if I have to fight to convince you to take the offer, I will. And between you and me, the bosses don’t come to see all the applicants. I think they're even more impressed with your score than I am."
I had a feeling that the test had nothing to do with the visit they paid me, but it was best not to share it with Magda.
"You've printed out a contract?" I said, noticing the stack of papers in her arms.
She nodded. "I know we live in a digital era, but I would like us to go through it so I can answer any questions you might have. Then you can review the digital format."
"Okay, let's do that. I really appreciate the fact that the whole thing moved so fast."
She pushed her glasses up her nose. "I came to the company five years ago. I've made it my goal to make the hiring process as smooth as possible. Between you and me, the efficiency in HR increased by 50 percent since I took over, and our employee retention increased too."
"That's incredible," I said, partly because it was true, but also because Magda seemed to be fishing for compliments.
We sat down at the desk, and she walked me through the contract. The salary they were offering was very generous.
“There's also a bonus for staying with the company for longer than three years. I started it."
"I see. That’s very generous."
She smiled. "It's my secret sauce for keeping people from immediately running off to the competition."
"You’re very smart," I told her, and I meant every word.
Going through the contract took more than two hours.
"All right then, I think that will be all," she said finally. Thank heavens, because I was even more light-headed.
She rose from the desk. Just then, there was another knock at the door, and she opened it.
Griffin stood in the doorway, holding a bag with what could only be food, because it smelled delicious. "Magda, I heard through the grapevine that you’re still holding our top scorer hostage."
Magda grimaced. "No, I was just explaining the contract."
"I know you're always very thorough," Griffin said. "Well, I took the liberty of bringing her lunch."
"Very thoughtful of you," Magda said. "Hannah, this is—"
"Griffin Sterling," he finished for her, clearly pretending we hadn’t met before. He came inside just as Magda left. "It's nice to see you again, Hannah."