Page 3 of Snowed in With Daddy

“Sir,” Mallory my assistant, says as she rises to her feet. “Ms. Carter is waiting for you.”

I nod my head in thanks. “Can you please bring us some coffees.”

She smiles. “Certainly, I have Tara in HR sorting out Ms. Carter’s access.”

“What would I do without you?” I ask her, knowing damn well that the woman deserves a raise.

She laughs. “You’ll never have to find out.” The phone rings, and she reaches for it while I move toward my office. The moment I enter, I feel sucker punched. The woman sitting on the chair waiting for me is beyond gorgeous. Her jet-black hair is tied up in a sleek style, and her make up is minimal, but it showcases her beauty. Christ, the pictures that I’ve seen of her haven’t done her justice.

“Hi,” Cassie says breathlessly as she rises to her feet. “I’m Cassie, it’s a pleasure to meet you, I can’t thank you enough for giving me this opportunity.” She reaches out her hand for me to shake.

I don’t hesitate in taking it, the second my hand encases hers, a warmth spreads across my chest, and my cock tightens. Fuck. This isn’t good. There’s no way in hell that I can go there. I’ve never been a man that goes for younger women. Usually, I have dated older women. I’m thirty-seven, and Beth is forty-two, but fuck, I’ve never had such a physical reaction to a woman either. Seeing Cassie has stirred something in me and it’s going to be hard to try and ignore, especially when all I want to do is rip that tight dress from her body.

I’m so fucking screwed.

“You show a lot of promise,” I say, easily knowing that as long as she puts in the work, she’ll go far. “This internship is going to be grueling. You’ll be shadowing me,” I tell her, something that I regret right now. I should have passed her off to someone else. Being with her all day everyday, is going to be hard.

She nods enthusiastically. “I’m here to learn,” she replies instantly. “I’m excited.” She smiles brightly and bounces on the balls of her feet slightly making her breast jiggle.

I grit my teeth. Christ, it’s going to be a long holiday season.

“Mallory has a desk already set up for you,” I say, indicating the smaller desk in the corner not far from my own, it has a laptop along with notebooks and everything else that Cassie could need.

“Perfect. Again, I’m so very grateful for you taking a chance on me and giving me this opportunity.”

“Don’t blow it,” I warn her. I’m a hard ass when it comes to work. A perfectionist. I expect the best and for you to be the best. I don’t tolerate anything that’s subpar. I have high expectations, and if you can’t keep up with the pressure, then you don’t belong at my company.

While my employees work hard, they’re compensated for it. I treat them well and ensure that they earn what they deserve, as well as the best benefits I can give them.

We take a seat at our desks, and I go through my daily meetings and what I need from her. She listens intently, making notes, pausing slightly when she hears names of some of the people that I’ll be meeting. Seems as though she does in fact, know her shit.

“Mr. Greenwood,” Mallory says as she steps into my office at almost five o’clock. It’s almost clocking off time, and Cassie is deep in concentration as she works on a project, her teeth biting into her lip as she works on the project. I’ve noticed she does that when she’s deep in concentration. We took on a new client, he wasn’t happy with his current company and came to us. Cassie said she had a few ideas that could work for his business so I’ve let her have free reign today to see what she’s got.

“Yes, Mallory?” I answer as I finish replying to my attorney’s email.

“I have Mr. Lucan on the phone, he’s demanding to speak to you.”

I inwardly groan. Graham Lucan is a fucking menace and is a demanding prick, he wants things done, and he wants them done right now. He’s also one of my biggest clients, having us on retainer for whenever he needs us. The last three campaigns we helped him with he paid us over ten million for each one. “Put him through,” I say, knowing that he’s probably wanting a last minute project.

“Mr. Lucan, how can I help,” I say with a trace of annoyance. It’s almost the end of the work day, and this asshole always manages to catch me at the wrong time.

“I apologize for the time, Lucas, but I’m in a bind, and you’re the only one that can fix this.”

I sigh, sounds about right. Graham has incompetent staff—staff that believe they are able to create a full advertising campaign and run it themselves, then we end up in this situation where he’s calling me with a rush job.

“What do you need, Graham?”

“I need a campaign done before Christmas.”

I blink and then laugh. He can’t be fucking serious. It’s less than ten days away.

“I’ll pay you twenty million if you can get here and do this before Christmas Eve.”

Holy fucking shit. This man always manages to make me an offer that I can’t refuse. I get to my feet and start to pace. “Twenty million,” I say carefully. “You’re asking the impossible, Graham, there’s barely enough time to come up with a campaign let alone have one completed for you.”

He releases a growl. “Fine, I know I’m a pain in the ass, but you are the only man that I trust for the job,” he pauses as though he’s talking to someone else.

I glance over at Cassie and catch a glimpse of the campaign that she’s working on and see that she indeed did have some ideas, the client is going to love them, and I have no doubt will be choosing one.

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