Chapter 1 - Warming Up

Cadence Granbury woke up in the usual fashion. That is, to say, with considerable effort. She hadn't always been this way, snoozing her alarm four or five times before reluctantly starting her day. In fact, she used to be quite the bright eyed morning person. So what had happened? Two words: James Oliver. She started working for Mr. Oliver two years ago as a highly replaceable administrative assistant, but managed to land a promotion as his primary personal assistant just six months into her employment. It was one of those rare moments in Cadence's life when hard work, good timing, and sheer luck combined to result in her actually getting what she wanted. "Be careful what you wish for" she mumbled to herself as she quickly washed up and made herself look professional. 

She still remembered the woman who previously held her position, Mary Henson. On her last day, Mary had given Cadence a big hug, looked her straight in the eyes and said "You're going to be great. Even better than I ever was, but…don't stay too long".  Cadence had initially laughed this advice off, but she now saw it for the bright red flag it was. A glance at the time on her phone stopped this depressing thought process, and propelled her to finish up quickly. 

She made herself stand in front of the full length mirror in her room and assess her appearance. Her dark brown curly hair had been pulled into a simple conservative bun at the nape of her neck. She used a bit of hair spray to tame the fly aways that already threatened to ruin the overall professionalism of her look. Her make-up was light and natural looking. She only used it to even out her skin tone and lessen the signs of exhaustion. Cadence was one of those women who couldn't go an hour out in public sans makeup without someone telling her how tired she looked or asking if she didn't feel well. She wore a solid, deep blue blouse with a conservative neckline tucked into a high waisted grey pencil skirt that went down to her knees. A glance at her backside told her that the skirt might be a bit too curve-hugging for the office. Cadence had an hour glass figure that she struggled to find office appropriate clothing for. She added a long black cardigan to her outfit, and was satisfied with the dampening effect it seemed to have on her overall sensuality. She finished off her look with black pumps and small pearl stud earrings before heading out the front door of her apartment. 

It wasn't that Cadence disliked male attention. It just made things more difficult at work. She had too much to do and focus on to entertain the flirtations of her coworkers, clients, or delivery men. It suddenly occurred to her that she couldn't remember that last time she had been on a date. Lost in thought on this topic, she suddenly found herself almost to the end of her commute. Oliver Enterprises was one of the tallest buildings in Austin, Texas and was situated along a portion of the Barton Creek Greenbelt. The Greenbelt (as locals called it) was a beautiful expanse of nature just a short distance from downtown. It included miles of trails, limestone bluffs, a creek, and several swimming holes. Cadence took a long look at the expanse of greenery until her eyes settled on her favorite trail entrance. She closed her eyes and took a silent walk down that trail in her mind, veering right at forks until coming to her favorite spot. It was a flat rock situated under a natural arch of branches with a serene view of the creek. She mentally took a seat on that rock, just for a moment, before the honk of a horn nearby shattered the illusion and she was brought back to the reality of the parking lot. Cadence couldn't tell who had honked and it didn't matter. She needed to get work. She glanced wistfully over her shoulder one last time before entering the cold steel building and resolved to spend at least one lunch break outside that week. 

Cadence's desk sat just outside of Mr. Oliver's large office within a spacious and elegant reception area at the top floor of the building. In addition, the top floor contained the shared office of the secondary personal assistant and two administrative assistants, several conference rooms, a few storage closets and an employee break lounge with kitchenette. Cadence's desk was situated too far from any windows for her to actually appreciate the impressive views of the city. Still, she had a large lovely desk all to herself. She settled in and began checking her emails before realizing that it felt too warm. Upon checking the thermostat, she confirmed that even though it was set to 68 degrees, the actual temperature of the room was 75. Not sweltering but concerning nonetheless.

A quick call to maintenance confirmed two things: 1) the air conditioning in the top few floors was not working properly and 2) the issue could not be solved internally. She made the appropriate calls to have the repairs handled as quickly as possible. Still, it was going to be a hot morning and possibly afternoon. It was Texas in July for heaven's sake! She rescheduled as many of Mr. Oliver's appointments as she could. As for the time sensitive meetings, Cadence reserved conference rooms in some of the lower floors, even having to pull rank a few times and ousting other employees out of spaces previously reserved. By the time she was done, the temperature had climbed to 79 degrees and she could feel herself beginning to perspire even though she was merely sitting. She realized she would have to decide between sporting a pit stained cardigan or leaving her curvy backside exposed in her too tight skirt. She let out a deep sigh and was removing her cardigan just as the elevator opened up to reveal her boss, James Oliver.