The man lifted one broad shoulder and flashed her a melting grin. “The interview went so well that we decided we’d upgrade the job, and thesalary.”
That gave Erica pause. “Okay … I guess. The day just hasn’t gone well,” she blurted. “Atall.”
“I don’t expect you to be perfect on your first day,” he said with suddenly raisedeyebrows.
“Neither do I, and I thought she was doing great. She’s just being too hard on herself,” Angie cut in before Erica was able to reply. Erica looked over at her and was about to say something when Angie added, “Don’t worry, Mr. Gordon, she’s going to be ready for anything by the time I’m done withher.”
She smiled over her shoulder at Erica, and Erica’s mouth droppedopen.
Saywhat?!
Mr. Handsome himself was Brock Gordon? Billionaire and Internet genius Brock Gordon had been the one to interviewher??
“You could’ve told me,” she began, trying to steady herself from the shock and, remembering how snarky she’d been yesterday, her cheeksflamed.
“I didn’t want to intimidate you,” Brock said cheerfully. “You’re fine. I only hire the best. Angie will show you theropes.”
“I—uh—yeah,” Erica muttered totallyinarticulately.
“See? Intimidation,” he pointed out, and she thought she detected an amused smile hidden behind his serious face. She felt like the world’s biggest idiot, but he didn’t give her a chance to say anythingelse.
“Give yourself some time to adapt. But don’t be late again,” Brock warned, and with that, and a smile that took the sting off his mild rebuke, he turned to go back to his office, leaving both women to watch him as he walkedaway.
Erica looked over at Angie, who avoided making eye contact with her, and decided not to say anything. Nothing about this situation was making much sense to her, but she also didn’t care. She didn’t know what it was that had prompted him to hire her with so little experience, and she also didn’t know why he hadn’t told her the day before that she was going to be his personalassistant.
But, whatever his reasons, she was working for one of the richest men in the entire country, if not the entire world. Suddenly, it didn’t matter how hard her day had been going sofar.
She was Brock Gordon’s personal assistant, and Erica decided in that moment, she was going to be thebest.
Chapter4
Brock lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, wide awake. It was a Friday, and he knew he wasn’t going to see Erica again until Monday, something that made him less than happy. She had been working at the company for nearly three weeks, and he felt that he had done an excellent job of behaving himself around her, however hard it had been. Hard being the operativeword.
He was a playboy, no denying it. Work hard, play hard, love harder yet. He was honest about it, never leading women on about his lack of interest in anything but some time between thesheets.
But he couldn’t get Erica off his mind. The outfits she wore were almost more than he could bear, especially when he was in his office and she would come and lean over his desk. It wasn’t like she was slutty; that might’ve been better. It was just that slight hint of demure cleavage, the curve of her tight backside in her nicely fitted slacks or dresses … More than once he had imagined throwing her down over his paperwork and fucking her from behind, imagining how she would moan and writhe from the pleasure of itall.
Yet he also knew that he had to keep things professional with her. It could quickly turn into such a scandal if he didn’t play his cards right. Not to mention, there was something different about Erica. There was an innocence about her that he couldn’t seem to break through. The confidence she’d displayed in the interview had fallen by the wayside when it became clear he was the Big Billionaire Boss. Her cheeks would flush when he was around; she would stumble over her words and become visibly agitated; and he enjoyed every minute of it. His alpha tendencies made him enjoy when she was clearly feeling uncomfortable, though he wished she would cut loose and be freer with herself in hispresence.
She was so innocent, but he could sense that there was something under that innocence that would come out if he could just awaken it inside her. But how to do that in the workplace? That was the one domain where Brock had never made any conquests, with one exception that he now regretted. He kept his sex life strictly beyond the walls of theoffice.
And yet, Erica ran through his head every morning, afternoon, and worst of all, night, to the point where he was becoming seriously sleep deprived from all his lonely fantasizing. Ordinarily he would have sought another woman to relieve his need, but he suddenly wasn’tinterested.
In frustration, he sat up on the end of his bed, swinging his feet to the floor and running his hands through his thick black hair. Who was he kidding? He couldn’t say that he was looking for the touch of any woman; he was looking for the touch of just one, the one whom he would see again bright and early Monday morning. The one whom he couldn’t get off his mind right now. The one whom he would give anything just to have to himself for even half anhour.
He picked up his phone, tempted to text her. They had exchanged phone numbers, of course, since she was his personal assistant and at his beck and call. Of course, that was supposed to be strictly at work, and so far he’d held tothat.
But the temptation to text was growing stronger, and with the glass of whiskey causing his brain to swim around, he didn’t know if he had the willpower to say no. Setting the phone back down on the nightstand, he closed his eyes and tried tosleep.
But with noluck.
Another hour ticked by, and he looked down at his phone once more. He sighed, agitated. As a sudden impulse overtook him, he grabbed his phone and quickly typed the message before he allowed himself to think about it anyfurther.
Great work this week. I really appreciateit!
He hit send, then looked at the clock once more and kicked himself. Talk about a lame text. And who sent something like that at one in the morning? She’d assume he was drunk,undoubtedly.
His phone chirped and he quickly grabbed it, suddenlyhopeful.
