Chapter 1

Jenny was lying on her sofa, aimlessly flicking through the job description for what seemed like the millionth time. No matter how many times she read it, it failed to seem any less vague. All she could really conclude about this job was that it offered a hefty pay rise and involved some sort of 'public liaison' for a sector of the government that she had never heard of before . . . The ARC . . .

She had no clue as to why this job appealed to her so much; it was defiantly not the money, as her old job didn't exactly pay pittance. And anyway, she had never had money worries in her life; daddy's money had supported her until she had gotten her first real job, and since then she had never wanted for anything. No, it was100% not the money . . . maybe it was the fact that she had been head hunted for it? She had received a call from some rather blabbering man called Leek informing her that she had been short-listed for a position within a government facility, and he had laughed slightly when she told him she had applied for no such thing.

"This isn't the sort of job you can apply for, Miss Lewis," he chortled. "You were recommended for the position by . . . well lets just say you are highly sort after."

She had to admit, it had sparked her interest. So she had attended the interview with a panel of five people where she was asked everything from the names and occupations of her extended family, to the date of birth of her fiancee. Every time she tried to ask what the job entailed, they avoided answering by changing the subject to salary or simply stating that she would get faxed the details in due course. After about an hour of what seemed like an interrogation, Jenny was told there and then that she had been successful in the application, much to her confusion. Didn't they have other people to interview? But she had nodded graciously, before shaking their hands and leaving. She had a strange feeling that she had just landed the job of a life time, and she didn't want to jeopardize it by asking too many questions. She was sure that they would fax her over the full picture. The full picture turned out to not be quite that . . . a few lines about public relations, the address of the facility she would be working at, and the time and date she was expected to start.

Jenny hated being kept in the dark about things, and this was no exception. She had given up a good steady job for this opportunity, and now she was worried that it might have not been worth it. She could imagine turning up the next day to find that she would be shut up in an office doing paper work until retirement. The thought made her sigh deeply and sink lower into her sofa. Why hadn't she just stayed in her old job?!

"You coming to bed, babe?" Mark said, poking his head around the door.

"In a second," she replied, not looking up from her job description. He walked in and sank into the sofa next to her curled up legs.

"How many times are you going to read that?" he smiled as he stroked her leg casually. "I don't think that you're going to get any more information out of it."

"I know," she sighed, flicking over the page. "I just hate not knowing what I'm in for tomorrow."

"Oh, is it tomorrow you're starting?" Mark asked, sounding surprised.

Jenny looked up at him in disbelief. She had only mentioned it to him about five hundred times! Why was he never interested in anything she was doing? Unless in benefitted him in some way of course . . . However, she was in no mood to argue as she wanted to be in the right frame of mind for work the next day, so with difficulty, she refrained from snapping at him.

Later that night in bed, Mark breathed heavily beside Jenny, but she couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned for hours, before giving up and turning on her bedside light. She again pulled out the job details and flicked through them. She had to admit - she was nervous. More nervous than she had ever been for anything in her life. This struck her as rather odd, as she was not the sort of woman to be easily intimidated, but everything about this new job seemed to fill her with a mixture of dread and excitement.

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Jenny woke up from what seemed like a half an hour sleep feeling the familiar tingling sensation in her stomach. She remembered with a jolt why - today was the day! She turned off her alarm and, ignoring Mark's grumbling at the earliness of the wake-up call, she got up and showered.

For what seemed like the first time in her life, she was rather unsure of what she should wear. Her first instinct was to go with her black silk dress and red heels, but she found herself questioning her choice. What if it looked too . . . forceful? She eventually decided to go with her instinct; she wasn't about to go changing everything about herself for a job. And besides - she liked to look forceful. She liked that people's first impression of her would be that she was not someone who could be pushed around. She made her make-up match the look she was going for . . . now for the hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed. She knew that her hair looked much better down as it was now, but in her opinion, it made her face look too soft. As she wanted to look sharp, she brushed her curls up into a tight bun.

She scrutinized herself in the mirror for a minute. Considering that she had no clue what she was in for today, she was sure that the way she looked wouldn't betray that.

"Here goes," she whispered to herself as she tried to ignore the knot in her stomach.

She lent over the bed and kissed her sleeping fiancee on the cheek, leaving a bright red mark there as a souvenir. Then she straightened up, and made her way to her car, attempting to steady her hands as she went.

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Couldn't resist writing another story now that my uni work is out of the way for the time being!

Hope you enjoy, as it's a tad different from my previous stories.

Also . . . reviews make me smile like this :-)