Page 78 of Assistant to the Billionaire CEO

But eventually, Mrs. Mills popped into my office to say goodbye for the day. She was typically the last person to go home (excluding Ace, of course), so I knew that her departure meant the rest of the office building was empty too.

My feet heavy as lead, I snuck out of my office and trotted down the empty hallway to make sure there was no one lurking about. The floor was truly empty. Good. With a horrible feeling and a heartbeat that was dangerously close to race speed, I opened Ace’s office door and slid inside, just one step. The scent of coffee and Ace’s cologne hit me like a truck. It smelled like I imagined a forest would when it rained. The scent was enough to cause the longing sensation to return. It was as if my body had learned to react to the mere suggestion of Ace’s presence.

Why am I doing this again?I wondered as the guilt of being in here hit me. How had I even gotten into this mess in the first place? I was bare-bottomed, with a racing heart, about to snoop around in my boss’s office for material to incriminate him, while having a tingly clit. How had I ended up here like this? I kept playing with fire, that was how.

I already saw myself in all of New York City’s gossip papers.

Billionaire CEO Ace Windsor Catches

New Assistant Stella Copeland (a Princeton Graduate)

Rummaging Through His Office

Bare-Bottomed in the Middle of the Night

Nobody would hire me again. Ever.

This had to be the last time I snuck into my boss’s office. Anybody’s really. I couldn’t make a career out of it. I couldn’t afford more near heart attacks by nearly getting caught like I had been in the copy room.

Carefully, and with shaky hands, I closed the door behind me. The room was dark, but I didn’t turn on the light. Ace’s large desk stood almost menacingly near the back of the room. The city’s evening lights that slipped through the cracks of his closed blinds cast bright white stripes on it. An open file lay on top of his desk, nestled between two crumpled-up pieces of paper, a pen holder, and his keyboard.

A clock mounted on the wall above the door ticked loudly, counting down the seconds menacingly (had it always been that loud?), as I made my way toward the desk with slow and silent steps. For the first time, I was incredibly thankful that Glenda had advised me to be more aware of my loud footwear. I felt like a thief. My knees were shaking, and my heart was still racing, and it was starting to cause my ears to ring. I could feel a trail of sweat running down nearlyevery singlepart of my body. This wasseriouslybecoming a daily issue—a highly uncomfortable one. Oh, my goodness. I felt like a lamb being led to slaughter, and I was almost certain I’d get caught. No way this would go over well. Not in a hundred years.

I would end up in jail. I wouldn’t last half asecondin jail. Oh, this could end so badly… I wasn’t just a terrible detective, I realized—I was the worst ever. You’d think I would have gotten used to “the excitement” of it by now, but no. I sucked at this in the worst possible way, and if I got caught again, Ace would never ever give me the benefit of the doubt.

The file on top of Ace’s desk was the E.C. file I’d seen him with in the supply room.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.

My pulse was audible to me. A bead of sweat rolled down my butt—not stopped by panties—and right into my butt crack.Just…eww. I can’t think about that right now. I’m showering as soon as I get the hell out of here. Curse you, Damon.

I took my cell phone out of my jacket pocket (almost dropping it, twice, with my freaking sweaty hands) and used the light from its screen to illuminate the file’s contents. A list of ongoing construction and architectural projects was roughly scribbled down under the page’s heading. The page was titled “East Cleveland.”

Oh. So, that’s what E.C. stood for.

It wasn’t Ecclestone Construction after all.

Thank goodness. I put the file back down, making sure to leave it as I had found it.

The crumpled papers contained uninteresting scribbles. I crumpled them up again.

My eyes were drawn to the ornate golden handles attached to the desk drawers. There were tiny wild animals intricately carved into the beautiful wood of the drawer, and none of them resembled each other. It was clear they’d been hand carved. The top one stood slightly open. Wait, what? No way! He must have forgotten to lock it. Bonnie’s theory about him keeping his dark and dirty secrets in there came to mind.

My boss must have been in a real rush before he’d left for his off-site meeting. It was the chance of a lifetime.

No. I would not go through his drawer.

That was out of the question. Damon would probably want me to open it. I could almost hear him say, “Just take a quick peek.”

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I could not and would not violate Ace’s trust or privacy like that. A folder lying on top of his desk for the world to see was one thing, but looking inside drawers that he usually kept locked was a different story. Those were my exact thoughts while still staring at the glistening handles.

Enough. I couldn’t do this anymore. I had to leave. The feelings I had for Ace… It wasn’t right for me to snoop on him.

Yes, I was more certain than ever that I had developed feelings for my grumpy boss—and what was worse, theyalmostfelt like love. Consequently, I didn’t want a hand in betraying his faith in me. I bent down to close the open drawer. My index finger ran over one of the handles. What a nice antique. Ace liked beautiful things. Did he think I was beautiful too?

I would never even glance at something of his again unless he asked me to. I needed to trust him as much as he trusted me.

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