HIS BRANDED BRIDE: Steel Devils MC

by Sophia Gray

  Pepped looked up at me with affection in her eyes, and I closed my eyes and hugged her tight. I’d only had Pepper for two years, but we were closer than ever. I still hadn’t made any friends in Chicago, and I didn’t mind as much as I would have thought.

  “You’re all I need, Pep,” I told the dog as I poured a mixture of chicken and rice into her bowl.

  Pepper eagerly dug in, pushing the bowl across the floor with her nose as her toes wiggled and pranced.

  I rolled my eyes. Dogs. They didn’t need much, just food, love, and a warm place to sleep. I envied Pepper her delight with the morning as I trudged back to my bedroom and put on my work clothes—a black knee-length skirt with a turtleneck and a blazer. The blazer had been my mom’s back in the eighties. She’d only had one professional job before she met my dad. When I graduated from college, she’d given me her old jacket.

  “This is for you now, Audrey,” Mom had told me.

  We’d hugged, and I’d appreciated the gift even though I’d felt awkward about it. Mom and Dad and I weren’t really all that close, and I didn’t even know how to think about approaching them. They were still in Wisconsin, living in the same trailer park I’d grown up in. It looked exactly the same as it had when I’d been a little kid, except even more depressing.

  I stared in the mirror, trying to find fault with myself. I looked okay—professional enough. I knew that there was something, well, just a little off about my appearance. But I’d never known what to do about it, and all of my girlfriends had always been as disinterested in fashion as me. Now I just wished that I had a girlfriend at all.

  It was still dark by the time I left my apartment for LennoxCo. I still couldn’t believe I’d gotten the job there. It was probably the thing that I was proudest of in my adult life. Ever since I’d graduated college a year and a half ago, I’d only been able to find work in restaurants and retail.

  This was my first adult job—the first job with a salary and benefits. I grinned as I braced myself against the icy, winter chill of the Chicago January morning. You have something to be proud of for once, I thought with a grin as I pushed my way into the “L” station. Just don’t let it go to your head.

  The train was more crowded than expected. I was crammed in with a ton of other people, all wearing bulky winter parkas and bouncing off of each other like ping-pong balls. I began sweating almost instantly, but there wasn’t enough room on the train for me to yank off my jacket.

  Sweat beaded up on my forehead and at the back of my neck, and I could tell that my hair was going to be a sweaty mess by the time I got to work. It didn’t matter—it was only back in a ponytail—but I hated the idea of looking too unkempt on my first day.

  There was a problem with the train, and the cars ground to a halt. The other people around me were muttering and groaning with frustration. My stomach flipped and folded over itself until I was a nervous wreck. I can’t be late on the first day, I thought as tears welled up in my eyes. Maybe I should call and tell them that I’m going to be late?

  But when I managed to dig my phone out from the bottom of my cavernous bag, I realized that I didn’t have reception. The subway was underground, and I watched as No Service blinked in the upper-left corner of my phone display.

  “Great,” I said sharply under my breath. “That’s just fucking awesome. Way to go, Audrey.”

  The woman who was standing directly across the aisle from me met my eyes and shook her head dismissively before laughing. I swallowed hard. She was one of the most beautiful women that I’d ever seen. Tall, slim, and blonde—she looked like she was barely affected by the icy day outside.

  Her cheeks were perfectly blushed, and her sharp green eyes glittered, even in the dull light of the subway. Her feet were shoved into black patent heels that looked precariously high, and somehow, she’d managed to walk to the train without getting even a single crumb of salt on her shoes.

  I had to look away. I knew what she was thinking when she looked at me: nerd. Dork. Loser. But I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around my body and hugged. I was starting a new job today, and I was going to finally become a successful adult.

  Inside the lobby of LennoxCo, I wasn’t quite so confident. The company was in one of the huge skyscrapers downtown, and I had to wait at the concierge desk to get a temporary pass that would let me onto the elevators. I couldn’t believe all of the people rushing and swarming around me; if I took one step out of line, I was worried that I’d be crushed.

  The lobby itself was hugely impressive, all marble and tasteful lighting, with a giant fountain in the center. The fountain was glowing blue and green, and I shivered again, imagining what it would feel like to fall into the icy water.

  “Miss?” The concierge looked at me with a bored expression on her face. “Miss, here’s your pass.” She put a white sticker on the front of my blazer before I even had time to realize what she was doing. “You can’t lose this,” she added with grim sincerity. “We take security very seriously here at LennoxCo.”

  I nodded, swallowing hard. “Got it, thanks,” I muttered as I stepped away and shoved my hands into my pockets.

  Getting in line for the elevator, my sense of dread came back. More than anything, I wished I was at home, snuggling with Pepper and watching reruns of cooking shows. Smile, Audrey, I told myself. Today’s only going to go well if you’re the one who takes charge. Remember, you got this job. They liked you. They wouldn’t have hired you just to laugh at you.

  Standing straight and tall with my chin raised into the air, I walked into LennoxCo for the very first time.

  The office was so big that it had three floors all to itself. The floors were interconnected with a series of floating stairways in the middle of the office, and I swallowed hard as I watched the burst of activity. The décor matched that of the lobby: high ceilings, lots of natural lighting, lots of glass-paned walls. There was an enormous front desk where a younger girl sat, playing on her phone.

  “Hi,” I said. She didn’t look up. I cleared my throat. “Hi,” I repeated, my voice quaking with nervousness.

  The girl finally glanced up at me with a smirk on her pretty face. “Can I help you?” Her tone made it very clear that she didn’t actually give a shit about helping me.

  “Yes,” I replied. “Today’s my first day. I’m Enzo’s, um, Mr. Lennox’s new secretary.”

  The girl’s eyes bulged, and she snickered, barely covering her mouth with her thin hand. “Sorry,” she said. “You’re just, well, you don’t really look like the other secretaries. Come with me.”

  She stood up from her desk and smoothed out the tight, gray pencil skirt that she was wearing. I noticed her heels were incredibly tall. She sashayed down a side hallway, then led me to an open area. It wasn’t as crowded as the main part of the office, and it was flanked with black leather couches. A glass door with the nameplate Enzo Lennox loomed large in front of us.

  “Here you go,” the girl said with a smirk. “Why not go in and introduce yourself?” She turned on her heel and walked away before I could question her further.

  Shit. Did she mean that I should just barge in without knocking? Or should I knock first? Or… I glanced around, seeing for the first time a desk with a computer and phone that sat almost directly in front of the door. Maybe I should call? Or email? But stepping closer, I saw that the computer was locked. There was no note on the desk.

  You can do this, Audrey, I told myself. Wiping my damp hands on my skirt, I stood up straight and barged through the door.

  “Oh my God,” I cried out as I opened my eyes.

  The most beautiful man I’d ever seen was naked from the waist down. He was thrusting in and out of a gorgeous woman who was splayed across the desk, her long legs wrapped around his muscular torso. Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I covered my face with my hands.

  “I’m so sorry!” I said, stepping backward to leave the office. But my heel caught on something, and I went falling through the air, flailing my arms and l
egs before landing in a heap on the richly carpeted floor.

  The man turned to face me with a glint in his eye. “Hi there,” he said.

  I stared in shock. I couldn’t even tell how he was feeling. He pulled out of the woman and pulled his trousers up. She was beet-red with embarrassment and trying to fumble with her own clothes, but not before I got a glimpse of her body.

  “Who are you?”

  I swallowed hard. “I’m your new secretary,” I said in a soft voice. “I’ll just go now,” I added quickly as I got to my feet and straightened my skirt.

  The man shook his head briskly. “Don’t,” he said quickly. “Stay.” The woman—she looked a lot like the blonde from the train—was glancing at me with a look that bordered on hatred.

  “Enzo,” she said, but he raised a hand in the air to silence her.

  “You may go,” he told her curtly.

  She turned the hateful glare on him and then stalked out of the office, the top of her dress still unzipped.

  “Now,” he said with a lazy grin on his face.

  Enzo leaned against the desk and stared at me. I was captivated by his beauty. He had amazing light gray eyes and dark hair, all with a dark tan that spoke of weekend trips to the tropics. He was muscular but lean, like he worked out all the time and his clothes clung to his perfect frame.

  “I’m sorry,” I said in a rush. “The girl who showed me here, she, um, well, she told me to come in and introduce myself.” I glanced down.

  Enzo was still staring at me, and a shiver crawled down my spine. “You’ll want to learn how to knock,” he said in a soft, silky voice. “As my secretary, I expect a certain level of discretion.”

  The blush on my cheeks reddened, if that was possible. I’d never been so embarrassed in my entire life. The way that Enzo was acting was completely new to me. I’d never caught anyone in the throes of passion before, but I would have imagined him to act just like the girl: embarrassed, blushing, mortified. Instead, Enzo was acting as though I’d merely inconvenienced him.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard, glancing down at the toes of my scuffed shoes. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Lennox. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  Enzo smirked at me. He stepped closer and eyed me from head to toe. No one had ever looked at me like that before, and I felt caught off guard, like he could suddenly see through my layers of clothing. I was still wearing my coat, and I felt flushed and sweaty from being inside the heated building.

  Should I quit? Should I just run away? I bit my lip as I worked the thought over and over in my head. I didn’t want to give up such an amazing job on the first day, but I couldn’t believe that I’d already seen my boss’s ass.

  “Audrey,” Enzo said in his disaffected, smooth voice. “I’ll be needing some coffee now.”

  Chapter Two

  Enzo

  I stood and watched as Audrey shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She was wearing about a hundred layers of clothing—a frumpy, baggy skirt that looked like something a grandmother would pick for church bingo, a lumpy, loose turtleneck, a dated blazer, and a big puffy marshmallow parka that was bright pink. She had brown hair and blue eyes and a pretty enough face, but not the kind of woman that I liked.

  I wondered why HR had hired her. I smirked as I pondered the truth: was I being punished? For sleeping all of my previous secretaries? Did they really think that sending me a little mouse in drab clothing would diminish my sexual appetite? I scowled.

  “Mr. Lennox?” Audrey’s voice was quiet and soft, almost like a mouse. I laughed as I imagined what she’d look like with whiskers and little gray ears on the top of her head. She frowned. “What’s funny?”

  “Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “And please, call me Enzo.” I flashed my most charming grin at the bewildered girl. “My father is Mr. Lennox,” I added smoothly.

  Audrey blushed again, almost as hard as before. I couldn’t stop staring at her. For all of her little church mouse ways, she was actually adorable. I had a feeling that she’d never felt sexy, or maybe she didn’t even care about being seen that way. That was going to be a big change around here; my usual secretaries were complete glamazons, always staring in the mirror or fixing their bright lipstick. Audrey wasn’t wearing a trace of makeup, only a swipe of Chap Stick. Her eyebrows were bushy and ungroomed, and I could tell that her upper lip needed a wax.

  “How do you take your coffee?” Audrey asked. “Enzo.” She emphasized my first name, blushing. “Black? Or with cream and sugar? Or just milk?”

  “Cream and sugar,” I replied, my tone lascivious. “And please hurry, Audrey, we have a long day ahead of us.”

  Audrey spun on her heel and clomped out of my office. I clearly saw that the heel on one of her orthopedic shoes was crudely glued back on as there was white stuff caked on it. I frowned. Maybe with the salary I was giving her, she’d be able to afford some better shoes.

  Audrey darted back in only a few minutes later, carefully carrying a hot mug of coffee with her hand cupped around the lip so it wouldn’t spill. I took a deep breath—it smelled amazing—and watched as she set it down on my desk, her gaze frantically darting around for a coaster.

  Audrey smiled at me and stood there, her nostrils flared and her face still pink from earlier. The overwhelming desire to pull her close and kiss her came over me. I frowned; it wasn’t like my cock to want a woman like Audrey, especially not so soon after fucking someone much more in line with my preferences.

  “Enzo?” Audrey’s voice was tentative and soft. “Are you alright? Is there anything else I can get for you?”

  I shook my head. I was too busy trying to figure out how she’d landed a job here at LennoxCo. I had to admit that I respected how she hadn’t gone into hysterics. I grinned as I thought about the scene Audrey had walked in on earlier—a lot of girls probably would have started crying, or worse. But she’d held it together, even though she was clearly mortified.

  “You can sit down at the desk,” I said in a smooth tone. “There’s a slip of paper in the top drawer with your log-in information. You’ll want to change your password immediately,” I added. “And in your email, there should be a very detailed write-up of your daily tasks. I had your predecessor type it up for me.” I didn’t add the detail of how I’d had my last girl type up the document: with my cock slamming in and out of her pussy. But I figured Audrey didn’t need to hear any more details about my ravenous appetites today. After all, she’d already had the shock of a lifetime.

  Audrey backed out of my office and closed the door. She didn’t say anything else and kept her gaze glued to the floor. Through the small partition in the door, I watched as she sat down in the office chair and removed her pink parka. Even without the big marshmallow jacket, I couldn’t tell what her body looked like. I shook my head and laughed as I realized she could have any body type under all of that clothing.

  I decided that I was going to keep her around, maybe on a trial basis. I hated to admit it, but maybe it was a good thing that HR hired a different kind of girl. After all, I’d gone through six secretaries in less than six months. Each of them had been delicious in her own way, but I was starting to feel… well, rather bored with the whole process of that.

  Sleeping with hot girls at work was definitely a perk of being a hot, young CEO. But I was starting to wonder if perhaps it wasn’t beginning to affect my actual performance. Maybe Audrey was exactly who I needed: a polite little mouse who could keep me on track. Financials for the last two quarters had been dismal, and I was going to have to keep my head in the game if I wanted to turn things around.

  Chapter Three

  Audrey

  I couldn’t believe that I’d made it through my first week of work. “Only fifty-one more to go before the end of the year,” I said to my reflection at the end of the day on Friday. I winced. I could have gotten through fifty-one more weeks of intense rock climbing, or cave diving more easily than I could have gotten thr
ough that same amount of time as Enzo Lennox’s secretary.

  It wasn’t that the work was hard, exactly. But Enzo was always watching me. He’d taken to leaving his door open and calling out for coffee or a salad throughout the day, and if I didn’t drop immediately what I was doing and go out, he’d come storming through the doorway like a bull.

  I shivered. It was intimidating, that was all. I wasn’t used to that kind of work environment. Hell, I wasn’t really used to any work environment that put such a high importance on physical appearance. Working at LennoxCo definitely made me realize that I looked like an outsider.

  I wasn’t a clotheshorse like a lot of the women there, but I always tried to look professional. I knew that the girls were sneering about me behind my back, but I didn’t care; I was Enzo’s employee, not theirs.

  Still, it was a relief to have a day to myself. Ever since I moved to Chicago, I’d spent Saturdays volunteering at a food bank and soup kitchen downtown. It was the kind of thing that I enjoyed more than almost anything else, except for snuggling with Pepper on the couch and watching TV. After a week of walking on eggshells around Enzo, I was relieved to have someplace to go where the regulars liked me.