For the second time that morning, the bottom dropped out from under my feet. “You’re firing me?” I asked in a faint voice, unable to believe my own words. Anger bubbled up at the unfairness of my life. “Is this because we…”

Jeremiah held up a hand to stop my words and shook his head. “The decision on the layoffs has been planned for a week now, we no longer need most of the temps in your department.” His eyes narrowed as he added, more to himself, “I signed the directive earlier this week before I knew who you were.”

“Nobody’s hiring right now,” I whispered, forgetting my looking for another job was supposed to be secret. No reason to hide that now. The anger was difficult to sustain as I realized I’d have to weather another blow after so many in my life recently.

“I looked at your file and you did good work,” Jeremiah continued as I stared, numb, at the top of his desk. “We would give have an excellent recommendation for any future job inquiries.”

At a loss for words, unable to think what to say, I looked up and stared at the CEO. “Why did you tell me this?” I mumbled. “Why bring me up here?”

“Because I have another offer for you, a job if you’re interested. I’m in need of a personal assistant.”

I blinked several times, taken by surprise by the offer. I peered into his face but it was like granite; I couldn’t tell at all what he was thinking. Suspicion curled in my belly as I asked, “What kind of personal assistance?”

“Anything I want.”

I took a deep breath at the words, my mind taking me to all sorts of places within that phrase. He couldn’t mean, surely he’s not implying what I think. But something in his eyes, despite the relaxed business demeanor, implied it was exactly what I was imagining. His gaze promised all sorts of wicked things – or maybe it was my mind trying to make my fantasies a reality. I needed to be sure. “About yesterday, when we, um…”