Hunter never thought he would be a personal assistant. He never thought he would even work in a office. It was too routine for him; he liked spontaneity.
His dream was to “make it” in the music industry. He played guitar and sang in his band, Define Normal, which he started with a few friends in high school. Music was his passion. It was an escape from reality, something he desperately needed in his past.
He went to a local community college but dropped out before he had even decided on a major. College wasn’t for him. Still, he needed a job somewhere.
It was with great hesitation that he applied for a job as a personal assistant. But it paid well, and he figured it would be a decent job to have while he worked on furthering his musical career. In all honesty, Hunter never thought he would be hired. He had almost no qualifications. But, only hours after his interview with Jan, she called him and said it would be a pleasure to have him work for her. Even now he wasn’t sure why he got the job. He often thought he might have been the only applicant for the job.
Whatever the reason, Hunter was now a PA at the corporate offices of a deteriorating mid-sized paper company. And he couldn’t have been happier - the job led him to her.
The first time he saw Grace Lupin was the first day of his new job. She was sitting at the reception desk when he walked in juggling Jan’s coffee, his new professional-and-completely-not-him messenger bag, and his own cup of French vanilla coffee.
It was like something out of a movie - when she looked up at him and smiled, their eyes locked for a brief but intense second, and he felt his heart skip a beat.
Then he completely ruined the moment by dropping one of the steaming coffees.
God, I can not believe that just happened. He immediately bent over to start cleaning it up, glad that the receptionist desk was pretty tall and enabled him to hide his embarrassment from her beautiful brown eyes.
As Hunter frantically snatched the now almost-empty cup off the floor, he heard her speak. Predictably, he found her voice to be just as breathtaking as her appearance.
“Let me help you with that.” He looked up at her. She had the most gorgeous smile, and her kind demeanor immediately alleviated his mortification.
She grabbed the box of tissues from her desk and joined him on the floor.
It was silent for a moment while they both worked to clean up the mess. He was about to thank her when he noticed she was smiling to herself.
He couldn’t help but smile in response to her smile. She spoke before he had the chance.
“Is this French vanilla coffee? I thought I was the only one who still drank that stuff.”
“Well, it was French vanilla coffee. I’m just glad I spilled mine and not Jan’s. That would have been a great move on the first day.”
They stood up and she walked to the other side of her desk. “You must be Hunter Black.” She smiled and held her hand out to him. “I’m Grace, the receptionist of this fascinating office. I’m sure you’ll love it here.”
Hunter smiled as he shook her hand, noticing the sarcasm in her voice. He leaned closer to her and quietly asked, “Is it that bad here?”
“As long as you keep spilling your own coffees and not Jan’s, I think you’ll be fine.”
He felt his cheeks slightly burning, but her smile was still genuine and her eyes were still kind.
“Follow me, I’ll take you to Jan.”
Grace led him to an office he assumed was Jan’s. “She’s expecting you, so you can just walk in.” She turned to leave, looked over her shoulder and added, “Good luck, and welcome to Dunder Mifflin.” Grace flashed another beautiful smile, and once again Hunter felt his heart palpitate.
He gave a weak smile back and turned his attention towards the closed door in front of him. He stood there for a few seconds, trying to regain his composure. A woman had never had such an effect on him.
As he knocked and heard Jan welcome him inside, he thought to himself, If all the women here are like Grace, I might not make it through the day...
