ALLURE

In all his life, Levi had never thought he'd find someone pouring wine for him, alluring it was just a normal thing, but why did it captivate him so much? All through the night, he had been typing away at his phone trying to get some things done at the office, but that moment he lifted his head he had seen the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on.

Her hair was in a low bun, all her curls were threatening to let loose from the bun and some stray hair framed her face, she had a small smile on her face and the light was on her face, her ginger hair, and her rosy cheeks. She had caught him off guard right there, but he quickly returned his eyes to his phone before she noticed him staring at her like a creep.

"How'd you meet her?" He asked Nate when they drove off after dropping her at the bus station.

"She uh…Why do you wanna know?" Nate asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"You seemed close, that's all."

"We're not; I met her at the hospital," Nate replied.

At the hospital, she was or is probably his patient or maybe she isn't, does he like her? Normally Nate is too nice but like, not to just anybody; and he just said they weren't close but the problem here is why he was thinking about it so much.

"How's Skylar, I haven't seen her for a while now?" Levi asked, trying to set on a new topic, it would be weird for him to keep asking questions about someone he just met and would likely never see again, and is of no value to him.

"You should come over sometime then."

"I would and about the other stuff, just leave it to me," Levi replied, and then he got out of the car and walked into the hotel after Nate drove off.

As soon as he walked into the building, his assistant Keith rushed to meet him and demanded that they have a meeting first before he proceeded to do anything else. He'd been away for a month now, and when he usually took breaks he went off the grid so no one knew where he was, what he was up to, and when he was going to return, that was what a real vacation looked like because if he ever did tell them he would spend his vacation days working which defeated the purpose.

The elevator doors opened and he continued walking towards his office while his assistant talked his ear off. He didn't need a debrief of everything that had been happening because he had eyes and ears everywhere but he was going to let the lady do her job.

"What are these applications and why are they on my desk? I thought I asked Mrs. Reyes to take care of all these things?" Levi asked, staring at the stack in front of his desk disapprovingly.

"She did take care of it and an interview was done today, I'm sure some rookie placed the files here instead of her office," Keith replied.

"So what is this meeting about then?" Levi asked impatiently, he purposely came back on a weekend so he could chill till Monday but Keith was no fun.

"I didn't say we had a meeting, I said you should talk with me first. Let me know your plans for the week and all of that. I need to arrange your calendar with you now, today, as soon as possible."

"I don't have any plans for now." He replied honestly.

"Well you do, there's a fundraiser for the renovation of the children's park next Thursday and then you have a board meeting on Monday around nine in the morning, and on Tuesday you have a meeting here with the staff concerning the annual winter soiree, and then…"

If she knew he had plans then why did she even bother to ask in the first place?

"I get it; I have a lot to do next week. But it's the weekend and it's fucking late Keith, don't you have anywhere else to be like your boyfriend's house or your parents or clubbing, anywhere but here?" Levi said cutting her off, all she ever did was work and nag him any chance she got.

"I'm boring, you don't need to remind me, but I'll let you be for now. Come on, I'll walk you to the penthouse and you can tell me about your vacation."

Keith has been Levi's assistant for five years now, she has been so efficient and she has seen past all his bullshit. It's why he liked her and refused to let her go, not like Keith wanted to quit or anything but if she ever wanted to, best believe that Levi was going to do everything he could to keep her around whatever it would cost him.

"Shit, I forgot to tell the cleaners to tidy the place up," Keith said when they opened the doors, the place was dusty.

"Nice going Keith, really nice so where do I sleep?"

"You can't blame me, you showed up today unannounced and then I thought you'd probably stay in the mansion but you decided to stay here. You are your problem, I'll have them prepare a suite for you tonight and I'll tell the cleaners that the room should be ready by morning."

"I need a personal cleaner or something; I don't want random people going in and out of my space all the time. Ask Mrs. Reyes to send the… no, as punishment you send me files of the new staff we were supposed to hire, I'd pick one from there." He said with a little smirk.

"I can find other ways to torment you so I'll do it," Keith replied.

"I'll see you in the morning."

"No you won't, I want to enjoy my weekend so don't call me or text me, I will see you on Monday except it's an emergency and I mean real emergencies, Levi."

"Like I want to listen to your nagging all weekend, I'll see you on Monday then."

Levi went to his bar and picked out a bottle of wine, Keith had gone to enjoy her weekend he might as well follow her lead and do the same. But there was hardly anything to enjoy, it was too quiet here and he could work but that is all he ever did and that couldn't happen now that he had sent Keith away.

Levi's parents died when he was eleven, in a car accident that could've killed him too but he was asleep in the back seat, and by the time they had found them his parents were dead due to internal bleeding. He lived with his grandma after his parents had passed away, it was less lonely with her around but his grandma too passed away three years ago. So now Levi was the only one left, of course, he had his other relatives but they didn't really care about him and they all silently held a grudge against him because his grandma had left everything to him.

He felt that the Late Mrs. Elsie Reynard had felt sorry for him and decided that if he couldn't have anyone by his side, he should at least have a lot of money to compensate for the loneliness of not having family around. It was too much compensation but managing the Reynard Empire took up all his time so he hardly ever had the time to feel lonely so Levi took it as a win.

Levi had never been so happy it was Monday; the weekend dragged on like it was never going to end and surprisingly Keith kept to her words and never even sent as little as a text to him, well he wasn't complaining but he was bored out of his mind.

"Is this everyone?" He asked, handing the files back to Keith.

"Well uhh, the other two were rejected for the position so I thought you wouldn't be interested." She replied.

"No, that's exactly what I wanted, the ones who didn't make the first interview."

"Alright, I'll send their files so you can see."

"Yeah please do that; I'll take a look after the board meeting. Shall we?" Levi said, standing up and picking up his jacket.

There was only one person Levi trusted among all the board members, it was Will Thompson. Putting him among the members of the board was a headache but then again when you are the owner of the company there's only little you can't do with that power. So, whoever he wanted stayed and whoever he wanted was gone.

So today he sat in the meeting and listened to their arrangements for the annual winter soiree which was usually held on Thanksgiving day. It was more of a media stunt to get the tabloids talking about them the whole season and to get publicity.

"There have been some problems at the factory, we had a lawsuit filed against us weeks ago while you were gone, the legal department handled it but you need to check it out yourself," Will stated and he nodded.

"There has been quite an amount of cases filed against the factory, should we be worried?" One of the men asked.

"I have it under control, Mr. Finn, there's no need for alarm and if I have to go down there myself I would. We can't have anything jeopardize the plans we've been making for the event. Keith, I want you to schedule a meeting with the legal department after this meeting and then we'll go on a little field trip to the factory after that." Levi said.

"The proposal for the resort was sent to your office. If you've had time to look at it, we will discuss it at the next board meeting and then the bidding for the project can begin also. We're going to unveil the project to the public during our winter party. That's why nothing can come our way." Will said.

"Okay, I think that should be all today, any other thing can be sent to my office or sent to my assistant," Levi replied, and then he went straight to his office.

"Scheduled that meeting yet?" He asked Keith.

"Yeah, the head of the legal department would see you in an hour. In the meantime, here's what you asked for in the morning." Levi scrolled through and then he handed her the tablet back.

"Just pick anyone I'm sure… wait can I have that back?" He said, maybe he was imagining it but he just saw a very familiar ginger head. "Jade Marie Hart, she applied here?" Levi said looking at the tab; it was like he had found out something so insightful.

"I want her here, call her and tell her she starts today… I don't know, just make her an offer she won't refuse no matter the cost go see her if you must. And I'll visit the department stores with Will so you don't have to come, just help me take care of matters here and please review the proposal and highlight the important parts, I'll have a look tonight."

"Seems like you won't be able to make it to the staff meeting today, should I handle that for you or do you want to cancel and reschedule."

"I'll be here after my time at the department stores; just push the meeting back a little bit."

"Okay sure, your car is ready, you leave at ten so you can catch lunch before your meeting. I made a reservation at that new restaurant with that female chef you flirt with a lot."

"There was no reason to point it out, thank you though, and don't miss me too much. You can go now, I need to make a quick phone call. I'll text you when I'm leaving."