Page 2 of Strictly Business

“Fine,” I say with a sigh. “Tell her to be here at nine o’clock sharp Monday morning.”

“Thanks Wyatt, you’re the man,” Craig says happily.

“Make sure she understands this though – knowing the right person got her in the door, but only performing in her role will keep her on this side of it,” I say.

“Got it. Thanks again. Catch you later man,” Craig says.

He ends the call before I can speak, probably to make sure I can’t change my mind. Should I change my mind? Probably, but I won’t. I’ve said I’ll give Serena a chance and I will, and I just have to trust that Craig is mature enough to not sever our friendship if Serena working here doesn’t work out.

CHAPTER2

Wyatt

Monday Morning

Nine o’clock sharp

Itake a sip of my hot then quickly scan over my schedule for the day. The next hour or so is the only time I have to return emails and phone calls because my day is completely full of meetings from around eleven o’clock. I could move a meeting or two if I have to, but I’m hoping that won’t be the case because truth be told, I’d like to get these meetings done and out of the way. I put my hand on the receiver of my phone, ready to pick it up and call one of my clients, when there is a knock on my door. It can only be Ruth, my personal assistant.

“Come in,” I call.

I look up as the door opens. Ruth is tall and very thin, to my mind to the point of being scrawny, but she considers herself to be fashionably slim. I can see the bones at the top of her chest in the skintight black dress she’s wearing. The blunt bob she wears her sleek black hair in hangs close to her jaw, showing off her best feature, a swan-line graceful neck. I guess she wouldn’t look out of place in the offices of Vogue.

“What’s up?”

“It’s kind of a strange one,” she says. “There’s a young woman here to see you. She says she’s your new associate...”

“My new …” I start and then stop when I remember I told Craig to tell Serena to come in today at nine and it’s now, I glance at my watch, eight fifty-five. Good. At least she knows how to keep time. “Ok, send her in please.”

“Wait, you mean it’s true?” Ruth says, her eyes widening.

“Yes,” I reply. “Sorry Ruth, I forgot all about it or I would have told you.”

“Oh, that’s ok,” she says with a slight frown. “What about HR and stuff?”

“Yeah, I know. She’s the daughter of a friend. You sort everything out with her later, won’t you?”

“Right. Of course. I’ll send her in now.”

I nod and turn to my computer. Knowing I won’t have time to do everything I wanted to do now, I decide that the phone calls can wait. I will catch a cab to my first offsite meeting later on today rather than driving and get caught up on my way there and for now, I’ll start on my most important emails.

I open the most important one and start typing my response. I’m almost done when there’s another knock on my office door.

“Come in,” I call. When the door opens, I don’t look up. “Take a seat Serena, I will be with you in two minutes. I just need to send this email.”

“Ok,” she says.

I sense her moving towards my desk and sitting down opposite me as I finish up the email. Her scent wafts towards me – vanilla and something else I can’t place, maybe orange? Whatever it is, it smells good, and I find myself taking longer, deeper breaths to breathe it in. I finish the email and hit send with a bit of a flourish and then I look up and smile at Serena. She smiles back and for a second, I feel like everything stops.

This beautiful woman in front of me is not the Serena I remember. Where the old Serena was plump, this Serena is voluptuous, with curves in all the right places. Her breasts are big but pert and I can’t wait for her to stand up so I can check out her ass. Where the old Serena wore glasses that dwarfed her face, the new Serena wears sexy, black framed rectangular shaped glasses that fit her face properly and draw attention to her huge, bright green eyes. Her hair is still curly, but it’s a few shades darker and the frizz that used to sort of float all around her head has been tamed and her hair frames her face nicely.

In short, I might as well just say it. Serena got hot. Like really fucking hot. She has left behind that awkward teenage phase and turned into a beautiful young woman. It’s a good job I don’t mix business and pleasure and it’s a really good job I don’t go around fucking anyone that’s related to my best friend, because if I didn’t have those rules in place, I think I could be in real trouble with this one.

I realize I’m staring at her, and I force myself to smile and act like everything is normal.

“How are you, Serena? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you,” I say.

“I’m good thank you,” she replies. “It’s been ages, hasn’t it? I guess between my studies and your work it makes sense we’d keep missing each other. How are you?”

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