Chapter One - Summoned

Carmella stood like a statue. "How rude!" she mumbled to herself, quite infuriated by the attitude of the man. He might be gorgeous, but he was the rudest and the most arrogant creature she had ever seen. Her whole body trembled with insult. Couldn't he see it was just an accident?

"What are you mumbling, Carmel?" Asked Nick Hartman, her friend as he entered the cafe. The attendants had cleaned up the mess and Carmella had already apologized for the spill, but stood there in a daze, his words echoing in her head. Why would she need his contact details? Wasn't he weird and too full of himself?

"I just bumped into the biggest specimen in the history of humankind, ," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Same here, " said Nick with an eye roll and they smiled at one another, relaxing a little.

"What happened at your interview?" Asked Carmella. She and Nick were good friends, both in their last year studying together the Undergraduate Course in Fashion Designing and technology at the University of Las Vegas. It was Nick who had insisted that they apply together at one of the biggest fashion houses in the country.

"Craddock only needs a PA, not a designer. He asked me to leave when I told him I could handle both," sighed Nick. He was good at his work and needed the job to support his final year. With his capabilities, Nick was more interested in the designer's job than the PA's.

Carmella sighed too, knowing how much he needed this job. "Didn't he even test your capabilities?" She asked in disbelief.

"Nope. Just two sentences and he threw me out," he sighed, holding his head in his hands, making her gape at him. What sort of employer was the man?

"That's bad. But what else to expect? These celebrity designers have eccentric characters," said Carmella. "Don't worry, there are plenty of other jobs." Nick agreed since it was better that he didn't have to work for such an eccentric man. His career would be ruined!

They sipped their coffee and caught up with their college assignments. "What about you Carmel? What will you do if Craddock doesn't call you for an interview? Today at the interview, I saw only male candidates. I think he's into men," said Nick, while Carmella's eyes widened at the information.

She sighed knowing she wouldn't even be shortlisted for an interview. Carmella's dad was a billionaire hotelier and co-owner of the Staywell Group of Companies, which owned the Parker Suites all over the world. Her dad, Ethan Parker, and her uncle Eric Parker had started their hotel business and now her older brother Tyler Parker, who was seven years older, looked into it. Her cousins, Lucas Parker, Serenity Parker, and Liam Parker helped him in the business while she was the black sheep of the family, with no interest in their hotel business. As such, her dad had given her a one-month ultimatum to get herself an internship in her chosen field, or else he would induct her into their family business. It brought her out of her dreamland with a jolt, and she applied for whatever job she could find. Her career depended upon this interview, but Nick's experience dashed all her hopes. She had to prove herself within a month's time, as she wouldn't look after their hotels all her life when she loved designing apparel and accessories.

"I'll look for other jobs too," she said, disappointed with everything. She hated job hunting and was pinning her hopes on this one but now things looked bleak. The two friends left the cafe to return home.

"Thanks for accompanying me to my first interview, Carmel. It gave me moral support," said Nick, dropping her home.

"Anytime, Nick," she said and with a wave at him, went inside her house.

Jaxon strode back into his office, drenched in coffee, and everyone gaped at him. He was in the foulest of moods, and no one dared to cross his way. He strode into the room at the back of his office, where he slept when he had loads of work. Quickly changing, he came out to get some work done. The entire morning had been such a waste, and he repented having gone to the cafe. If he wouldn't have seen Carmella, he would at least have some peace of mind.

However, could he get any work done? No, since all he could do was sketch beautiful jade green eyes instead of his latest designs for his upcoming Fall Winter Collection. He had always been a talented sketcher, and painter, which was actually his favorite hobby, but he felt disappointed with himself today. It seemed as if he had a mental block and couldn't produce any designs today.

Frustrated beyond words, he stared at the portrait of Carmella he had created and sighed, knowing that it was useless to try to do any work today. Sighing hopelessly again for the millionth time since he returned from the cafe, he stopped all work and sat watching the Las Vegas skyline from his huge floor-to-ceiling windows. Carmella's innocent face, her soft creamy complexion, and the hurt reflected in her jade-green eyes at his sassy parting shot, all danced before his eyes, robbing him of his power to concentrate on anything else.

He was angry at himself for thinking about her. What was it with Carmella Parker that he couldn't concentrate on his work? He summoned Ralph immediately. He had to get working and drive all thoughts of Carmella Parker out of his mind or he would go crazy.

Ralph came in with a flustered expression on his face, tired of his tantrums. "Yes, Jaxon, did you need anything?" With a sigh, he asked. He was tired of Jaxon's mood swings and prayed day and night that some woman would take pity on Jaxon and marry him. He needed a woman's love, although Jaxon would rather die than accept it.

"Cancel all my meetings for the day. I'm going to get working on my Fall Winter Collection. No one should disturb me. Don't schedule any appointments or interviews without my permission. I need to be alone," he growled and Ralph nodded meekly, although he wanted to punch his friend and send him on a vacation. Jaxon needed to meditate for ten days! However, he kept his thoughts to himself. The faster he wrapped up his work in Vegas, the better it would be. He could return to London as soon as possible.

"So, when do I reschedule them?" He asked.

"Next week. Inform Francisca and Glenn to complete all the production work for the International Fashion Week by this Friday. I'll check out the collection, " Jaxon told him. Ralph knew it was a gigantic task to be completed in just three days and the production team would protest, but Jaxon's word was the command and everyone had to abide by it.

"Yes, what about the interviews for your PA? Have you been shortlisted yet?" Asked Ralph. He was tired of multitasking.

"Nope," answered Jaxon with a sigh. "I'll do it." He mumbled to himself, and Ralph left him to figure it all out. Jaxon knew what he wanted. Maybe a good fu*k was what he needed to get his shit together. He would go see Dana, whom he always visited when he needed to relieve himself. It was no strings attached, just a physical relationship that they had shared for the past three years. Dana, a pretty bartender at a nightclub, was a thirty-year-old woman whose husband had left her. She needed the money, and Jaxon offered good money for her services. It was enough to quieten her down and never open her mouth.

Jaxon concentrated hard on his work, and by the end of the day, he was quite satisfied with the designs that he had come up with. He admired his work and then got up to visit his production team.

After being busy explaining the designs to his team, checking the pending work, and meeting the organizers of the International Fashion Week, he was exhausted. Going back to his office, he sipped the shitty coffee that Ralph made for him.

He really needed a PA badly. He opened his inbox and checked the resumes that had piled up. None of them caught his fancy. Scrolling back, he pondered whether to open Carmella's resume. After all, she was a woman, and he would not recruit a woman PA ever.

"What the hell! There's no harm in only checking out her resume," he reasoned to himself. He clicked on her resume and found out that she was a twenty-one-year-old student in her final year of studies. He read about her interest in fashion design, her hard-working nature, and her ability to learn quickly. She was a fresher yet Jaxon couldn't believe that he liked her resume more than the thousands that he had scanned and rejected. What was wrong with him? 'Remember, she spilled coffee all over you to get your attention!' reminded his inner voice, but it didn't stop him from checking her details.

There was an innocent quality about her that made him quieten his inner voice and forced him to search for her name on the internet. The results that he found surprised him. So she was billionaire hotelier Ethan Parker's only daughter! If she was born with a golden spoon, then why did she need a PA's job? It was clear that she wasn't after the money. She had lots of money. Then what was she after? Him? Did she want him? He had to find out, and there was only one way to find out. He had to call her for an interview.

He clicked on the reply button and answered her email.

Dear Ms. Parker,

Thank you for your application for the position of Personal Assistant to the CEO and Creative Director at Jaxon Craddock Group Inc.

We would like to meet with you to have a round of discussion.

Please come down to our office and appear for an interview at 9 a.m sharp.

We look forward to meeting you soon at our office.

Best Regards,

Jaxon Craddock

He emailed her and rested his head on his hands, deep in thought. He wondered if he did he do the right thing in summoning her for the interview. In his email, he didn't mention that he would recruit her. He would just talk to her and get her out of his system once and for all. He needed to know just what compelled her to seek this job. Just an interview would hardly affect him in anyway. When he wasn't impressed with thousands of experienced men, there was no way he would be impressed with a young college girl. Maybe he would somehow manage and then return to New York and hire a job consultancy firm to send him efficient personal assistants.

The decision somehow relieved him, and he packed his stuff and left for the day in a better frame of mind. Everyone relaxed seeing him go, especially Ralph.

Carmella checked her inbox before going to bed and her eyes popped out, seeing an email from Jaxon Craddock himself. She knew he was an elusive celebrity designer and was hardly ever seen on magazine covers, although his designs did always make headlines. She had never expected him to email her since she didn't even fulfill the two criteria that he had mentioned in the advertisement. First, the candidate had to be male-only, and second, the candidate had to possess at least two years of work experience. Did he call her to insult her? Nick did mention that he was a tool!

She knew he would insult her because she didn't match the criteria but she wouldn't be dissuaded easily from attending the interview. She would face him bravely, even if he didn't recruit her. Tomorrow, she would have to check out what was in store for her.