Page 70 of Don't Quit the Day Job

I look down at her lips. I just want to pull her into my arms. Instead, I open the beer and take a chug. It's cold, but it's not my favorite.

"So, like I was saying before you tried to distract me, you did it because you need furniture. You did it because you need a paycheck."

She blinks for a couple of seconds and shrugs.

"I mean, am I being responsible? Yes, but that's not the only reason why I didn't go to the audition. I just didn't think that I would get it and I couldn't cry on cue and well, I've just been a little bit stressed out, you know?"

"Why have you been stressed out?" I ask her. "Is it money?" I sigh. "That's why you took the job, isn't it? Because I offered you a shit ton of money and you couldn't walk away from it."

"You do remember that I decided to go for a job before I even met you. You do remember that, right? I had already decided not to take the audition before we met in the lobby."

"We met before you got to the lobby," I say, chuckling. "Or do you not remember that?"

"Oh yeah, we met outside." She shrugs. "Why?"

"I was just thinking about it." I run my finger down the side of her face and tug on her hair. "You never know. You may have gotten the role."

"It was unlikely. Anyway, I have a question for you."

"Go ahead. What is it?"

"Why did you hire me?"

"Huh?" I say, surprised at her question.

"Why?" she says, slowly. "Did you hire me?"

"Because I needed an assistant. What sort of question is that?"

"You are a named partner at a top law firm. You work on million-dollar cases and you hired me. I mean, I know I'm great, but you didn't really know I was great. So I want to know why you hired me." She grins. "And if you tell me that it was because you wanted me to sign a contract to be your sex slave for a billion dollars, you will owe me a million."

"Unfortunately, Lila," I say as I pull her toward me and kiss her forehead. "I did not hire you for a contract, no matter what your romantic brain may want you to believe. I hired you because of a bet."

"A bet?" She blinks as she looks up at me.

I kiss the tip of her nose.

"Yes, a bet."

"But—" she starts.

But before she can continue, I press my lips against hers and run my fingers down her back. She moans against me as she presses herself into me and I feel her arms around my neck, on my shoulders, squeezing. I run my finger down and up under her shirt until I reach the side of her bra. I go to pull her top up, but she pushes me away, blushing slightly.

"You need to tell me more about this bet. Is it something that I should be offended by?"

"No. Kingston just bet me that my next assistant wouldn't last a month."

"But that doesn't explain why you hired me."

"Well, I told him that I could make any assistant last for longer than a month. He challenged me, I pushed back, then he said I had to hire the first person that applied for the job, threw some money in the mix, and well, there you were."

"But I didn't go in specifically to work for you."

"I know," I say. "But maybe, just maybe when I saw you with your big blue eyes and your beautiful blonde hair in that very short skirt, my mind was a little bit captivated."

"So you did want me," she says, grinning.

"I think we can both admit that we wanted each other, right?" I say as I pull her top off and stare at her in her bra.

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