Page 12 of Pressure

I opened my text string with Joel.

Tristen: Hey, I’ll let you off the hook and will take the next interview. I’ll let Gabe know so he can email you the resume for the other candidate.

Joel: Sounds fine. Maybe we can wrap up the interviews quicker and can decide on which one to hire.

That would be awesome if we could finish this up early today. I went inside, and Joel was talking to Gabe.

“Why were you so eager to take the next interview?” Joel asked as soon as I was close enough to hear him and so he could make sure no one else did.

“No reason,” I said as Joel raised his eyebrow. He knew better. “No, I thought it would be good to wrap it all up before the weekend party starts.”

Joel grinned but kept his eyebrow arched, as if he hadn’t believed me. If he’d seen this guy, I was certain he’d hire him or make him his sex slave. Joel and I had similar tastes but the difference was that he seemed to make more sound decisions on who he banged than I did. I was turning over a new leaf and steering clear of the crazies. God knows I’d had my share of them.

I looked around the atrium and spotted the polo wearing guy in one of the seats near the fireplace. I looked down and straightened my tie and then slapped Joel on the shoulder. “Well, I shouldn’t keep the candidate waiting much longer. Good luck with yours,” I said and then headed in the direction of Cash Jameson.

This guy was fuckable in every which way and then some,I thought as I walked toward him. Our eyes met, and I felt an instant connection. Why did he look like he’d seen a ghost?

“Cash Jameson?” I asked and extended my hand for him to shake. He eagerly jumped up and quickly shifted the bottle of water from his right to left hand.

“Yes, hi. I’m Cash.”

“Tristen Elliot,” I introduced myself as our hands connected.

His handshake was firm, strong, and confident, yet cool and clammy. As our hands separated, I could tell he was on the nervous side because he seemed to fidget and move without purpose. He shifted his weight between his feet, set the bottle on the table, picked up a piece of paper, then picked up the bottle of water again. And he did it all while brandishing a set of pinkish red cheeks.

“Ready?” I asked. I stretched my arm out in the direction we’d be heading and took a step backward.

“Yes,” he replied and fell into step beside me.

“Did you find the resort okay?”

“Yes. My friend comes to Tahoe each summer and is familiar with the area.”

“Good to hear. Sometimes the online maps can send people to the resort on the other side of the main road. And with the median out there, they have to go ten minutes up the road for the first available place to turn around.”

“Yeah, that’d have pissed me off,” Cash commented.

His comment made me smile because so far he’d been the only candidate for the job to speak candidly. I liked his honesty and his fearless delivery of it.

“Is this your first time in Tahoe?”

“It is. I really like it,” Cash replied.

“What has caught your eye?” I asked.

A cocky smile began to appear on his face, but he brought his hand up as if to hide the grin. His answer was simple and he replied with, “I like the trees and leaves.”

I walked into one of the conference rooms Joel and I had been using for interviews and gestured toward a chair across from the one I’d been sitting in.

“Please have a seat,” I said as I closed the door and then sat across from him. While I opened my black portfolio to takenotes, he stretched his hand out and offered me the sheet of paper.

“This is my resume.”

“Thank you for bringing this in. I noticed you hadn’t uploaded one.”

“No.” He paused and glanced out the window as Joel walked by. The foot traffic outside the conference room seemed to really distract him.

“Not much into technology?” I asked mostly as a joke, but also to pull his attention back to me.