The Assistant
An Older Man Younger Woman Romance
Lust. Lies.Power.
For Brock Gordon, the biggest playboy billionaire in the entire country, it’s just another day. When he sees something he wants, he gets it, no matter what—or who—it is. Life has always been one big game for Brock, and he knows he can have anything in the world if he waits forit.
Until he meets a young girl who is fresh out ofcollege.
She is everything Brock never knew he wanted. She is young, she is fresh, she is so innocent to the ways of the world of men. And she hasspirit.
From the moment he lays his eyes on her, he knows that he has to have her. But this prey is proving much harder to catch, and for the first time in his life, Brock must come to terms that he doesn’t get everything hewants.
Or doeshe?
* * *
Chapter1
“Saywhat?”
The meeting room, previously full of light chatter as the various executives waited to get things underway, wentsilent.
Brock met Jennie Gray’s eyes, the woman looking more defiant than contrite. “What do you mean, Andrew Vetter isn’t phoning into themeeting?”
Jennie, a temp worker hired specifically to help out with such matters, shrugged. “It means he’s not phoning in. Is that aproblem?”
“Uh … yeah,” Brock said dryly. “He’s the whole point behind this meeting. We literally have nothing to do here without hisinput.”
For the first time, Jennie looked flustered. “Um. Oh. Ididn’t—”
“I’m aware. I probably didn’t make it clear.” It was all Brock could do not to yell in frustration, but it really wasn’t the woman’s fault. She was being asked to hold together all the various pieces of his business life, without the benefit of a title, a commensurate salary, or even any kind of training. Maybe someone with the right kind of mentality could have run with the job as a temp and landed a good position with Brock in the long-term. Jennie, however, clearly wasn’tinterested.
He directed his look at the silent executives. “Sorry for wasting your time, folks. I’ll call another meeting in a few days, as soon as I coordinate a day withVetter.”
The chatter started up again as people stood and began to gather their papers, coffee, and donuts. Jennie had at least coordinated those three things well, including the agenda. Of course, the agenda clearly read Edward Vetter Meeting, so you’d figure she might haveguessed…
Brock stifled a sigh and turned to Jennie, who had resumed her defiant stance in the seat beside his. “We need totalk.”
Thirty acrimonious minutes later, Jennie was headed back to the temp agency with a generous stipend to make up for the days on her contract she wouldn’t complete. Brock hadn’t gotten where he was by walking all over people. Be good to them, they’d be good to you down the road, he’dlearned.
And as she left the building, he entered his office and rolled his shoulders. Jennie had offered some good partingadvice.
Hire a personal assistant. Some young kid who you train to your managerial style. A coffee getter, paper pusher, meeting scheduler,whatever.
But who? Brock wondered as he took a seat at his vast desk, pushing aside the stacks of paper that seemed to multiply in his absence. Bitcoins were the new thing, which was proving to be both a curse and a blessing. All the young kids wanted to get in on them, but no one understood how they worked. It was a perfect storm of the greatest idea on the planet, combined with roadblock afterroadblock.
For a time, he’d managed to do it all, minus outside assistance. But with the sudden surge in interest, all the balls he was juggling were about to come crashing down unless he got a second pair of hands to help him manage the back end ofthings.
Irritated, Brock grabbed the laptop that was sitting in front of him and opened it, pulling up the biggest job service site in the city. It wasn’t how he usually found his employees, but there was no time to waste on extended interviews at this stage. He needed someone,yesterday.
“Erica, it just makes sense,”Meagan began, gesturing in the direction of the In and Out around the corner, the one they both spent way too much time at. Now Meagan was suggesting Erica spend even more time there, wearing auniform.
“Shut up! I’m not going to work fast food! I didn’t go thousands of dollars into debt to dish up fries!” Erica Samson rolled hereyes.
Meagan crossed her arms. “You’re thousands of dollars in debt. Dishing up fries at least also dishes up somemoney...”
The words stung, but Erica brushed them off. “If I try to pay off my college debt by working at a fast food joint, I’ll be dead before my loans arepaid.”
