The Billionaire Affair

by Parker, Ali

  I thought back to the interviews I endured after she left. Candidate after candidate left me questioning what little faith I had in humanity. Across the board, they were more interested in me, my family, press coverage and events than they were about the job they were here to interview for.

  One guy seemed promising until I had him type up some memos I had sitting on my desk. I thought a practical test would be the quickest way to determine if he really was up to the task after he answered my questions relatively to my satisfaction.

  Then he typed “whorehouse” instead of “warehouse” and despite my giving him three chances to catch his mistake before sending the memo off, he failed to see the problem. Thankfully, I’d given him my email address to send the thing too. Else I would’ve had some explaining to do.

  “Jeremiah Williams.” I pulled my shoulders back and stood up straighter. “Thank you for coming back in. We’re going to work well together.”

  Stop being so fucking forward. I just couldn’t help it. There was this need clawing at me to let her know that in the end, she was going to be mine, my secretary.

  The bathroom door banged open, the sound traveling around the empty stalls. Neil strode in. His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed in confusion when he saw me standing there. “Dude? What are you doing?”

  “Fuck knows,” I admitted.

  He came to stand next to me, turning to face me and resting his hip on the counter, arms crossed. “What’s going on with you?”

  “I fucked up.”

  His head tilted questioningly. He always had been a good listener. “How?”

  “That girl from yesterday, I’ve seen her before. I went out with Tanner and the guys on Friday, and she was there. We danced. It was fucking hot. I wanted to take her home, but she ran off. When I saw her again, she was waving at me from the back of a cab.”

  Nodding slowly as he processed what I said, he shrugged. “Right. Well, I get wanting to take her home. If I met her in a club, I probably would’ve wanted the same thing.”

  There wasn’t a doubt in my mind he would’ve gone after her too. The thought made shards of jealousy prick my gut. If anyone here was getting her under him, it was me. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a pissing contest to see who had dibs on the sexy girl. That, I would’ve won hands down.

  This was business… and Neil was the one with the fancy degree and actual experience. “I’m sensing a but coming.”

  He snorted a laugh under his breath. “But your dick isn’t what’s up right now. At least, I hope not.”

  I smirked but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t right now, but it certainly had been a few times for this girl over the course of the last few days.

  Neil rolled his eyes and turned to the mirror to straighten his tie, keeping his gaze on mine. “What’s up right now is that she has a solid resume and a great sense of humor. She didn’t freak out when she met you at the club or saw you yesterday, which means that unlike at least half the other candidates, she was here for the job and not for you. What she lacks in secretarial experience she makes up for with a business degree from NYU and great recommendations from previous employers.”

  “And she’s sexy as fuck,” I pointed out, unable to help myself. Damn it. I really had to get it together.

  Neil’s jaw clenched, and he gave me a pointed look in the mirror. “This is business, not personal. You need a secretary, and you need one urgently. We should’ve kicked off on that mall project on Saturday. Instead, we’ve been busy with this shit.”

  “Dad fired Jannie, not me.” Not that I was absolved from responsibility, but surely, he could cut me some slack. I wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger on her just before dumping this massive project into my lap.

  Neil lifted a brow. “So? The replacement process has already taken a day longer than it had to have. I could’ve had one of our regular temps over by Saturday morning no problem.”

  “Then why didn’t you?” This was the first I was hearing of it.

  “Because it’s better for you to start someone fresh at the beginning of this project than having to train someone to take over halfway through. We could’ve done it, but I thought we’d be done with hiring a new permanent secretary yesterday afternoon.”

  “All the nutjobs in the city showed up,” I grumbled.

  Neil nodded. “We got rid of most of them before the second round. The nutjobs that were left over showed some potential, yet the one girl who really could’ve worked, you insulted and scared away.”

  “But you got her to come back, right?”

  “Yes.” He glanced down at his watch. “She should be here within the next few minutes or so.”

  “Good, then send her in when she gets here.” Mild amount of regret over how I’d treated her yesterday aside, wallowing wasn’t me. Neither was standing around bathrooms and practicing introductions in the mirror.

  Now that I thought about it, it was downright ridiculous. Yes, I was a dick to this girl, and yes, my dick wanted inside her, but I couldn’t let that distract from my more pressing need: a decent fucking secretary who wouldn’t book whorehouses instead of warehouses on my first official own project.

  I had to get my head back in the game. Brother.

  I turned away from the mirror and stalked out of the bathroom. Neil would do as I asked and send her to me when she arrived, that much I was sure of.

  Clicking my office door shut behind me, I dropped down in my chair and massaged my temples. Three years and I was still trying to adjust to this new life. I wanted to be better, and I knew I would have to work at it, but holy fuck… I heaved a sigh and swiveled my chair around to look out the window as I waited for her to arrive.

  Neil ushered her in a few minutes later, the sound of my door opening and the murmur of their voices interrupting my brief reverie. Shutting the door on that line of thought, I stood up and turned to greet them.

  Neil made the introductions. “Stephanie Donavan, this is Jeremiah Williams. Jeremiah, meet Stephanie.”

  I stepped forward to shake her hand. “Thank you for taking the time to come in this morning, Ms. Donavan. Please, have a seat. Would you like something to drink?”

  Skepticism clear in her eyes and practically painted onto each of her features, she took my hand and gave it a firm shake, maintaining eye contact at all times. Someone taught her well.

  “A coffee would be great, thank you,” she replied, dropping my hand and smoothing her skirt as she stepped back.

  God, she looked good. Just because I’d solemnly sworn to myself to keep things professional and convince her to come on board despite showing her my mile-wide asshole streak didn’t mean I was blind.

  Dressed in a pale blue pencil skirt with a matching short jacket and a white ruffled blouse, her eyes popped like lapis lazuli in the sun. Her long, smooth neck was exposed with her dark hair pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck.

  The skirt showed off the curve of her hip to her thigh, and the jacket accentuated her full breasts, one button fastened right underneath them. Working with her without ogling her or giving in to my baser instincts and pursuing her was going to be a challenge. But I could handle it.

  “Coffee it is.” I looked to Neil, who scowled but nodded and said goodbye before closing the door behind him. “It will be right in.”

  “Figures you wouldn’t make your own coffee,” she mused under her breath, so softly I almost missed it. She smiled sweetly and lowered herself into the chair I offered, crossing her legs at the ankles.

  I ignored her comment, though it nearly killed me to do it. Professional, Jer. Don’t get sucked in.

  Resting my ass on my desk, I reached over and opened the file Neil gave me earlier with her application in it. “I see you have a business degree from NYU. Why are you applying for a secretarial position?”

  Her chin lifted slightly like she was summoning the strength to answer the question. “Positions in your company are difficult to come by. I think I could learn a lot from being he
re, and I’m willing to work my way up.”

  “Is it your intention to resign as my secretary, if you get the job, as soon as something else in the company opens up?” I knew I was being strong with her instead of easing her into the interview, but at least I was totally professional at the same time.

  I wanted her to go through the interview, even if she made the alpha in my chest rouse to sit up and take notice. Something about her brought it out in me.

  She studied me carefully, seeming to be weighing me up as I was doing to her. “No. I’m a loyal employee. I believe I would be able to put my degree to good use working for you, and if something else eventually comes my way, I wouldn’t simply up and leave.”

  Good answer. I guarded my expression, however. Couldn’t have her thinking she had this job in the bag already. We were just getting started. “You may be required to work long hours here. Come in early, stay late. That kind of thing. Is that something you’d be willing to do?”

  “Yes. Working late is better than hanging out in clubs at night. You wouldn’t believe the kind of characters you come across in those places nowadays. They turn out so differently than what one might expect.”

  My lips wanted so badly to hike up. A little sarcastic, but funny and so beautiful it hurt. Even if I couldn’t have her, I still wanted to be around her. She would be a breath of fresh air around this stuffy office. Maybe that was why we met at that club—because it was meant to be.

  She waited for me to react, gently biting the inside of her lower lip. I could only just see it from the tiny indent it made under the corner of her mouth.

  Just looking at her mouth threatened to distract me from my being on my best behavior. She seemed totally oblivious to the effect she had on me, how hard she made it for me to concentrate on work. It didn’t look like she had any damn clue how beautiful she was.

  It was a shame. If no man had ever made that startlingly clear to her, I should drop to my knees and grovel for her forgiveness on behalf of the male species. Of course, I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t get to be the man who showed her once and for all how incredibly gorgeous she was.

  I could be the man she worked for though if I played my cards right. I just had to keep from saying the things sitting right on the tip of my tongue.

  “Yes, people you meet in clubs do tend to surprise you in the stark light of day, don’t they? Moving on, what are your expectations for this job?”

  Chapter 13

  STEPHANIE

  “My expectations?” I repeated, blinking hard to swallow the answer I wanted to give him. I doubted he wanted to hear what I expected from him with the way he was looking at me.

  His demeanor was entirely cool and professional, the exact opposite from the heat of Friday and the cocky bastard from lunch. His eyes though, they gave him away. They were hungry on mine, starving even. It looked like he wanted to eat me.

  How a good-looking, rich man like him was turned on by me, I didn’t know. What I did know was that I was turned on by him too, which wasn’t a good sign.

  Maybe I should convince Neil to hire me as his secretary instead. Now that would work. Neil looked like someone I could learn a lot from. We got on well, and he hadn’t once looked at me like he wanted me for dessert.

  But Neil wasn’t hiring. Bummer.

  Jeremiah smirked knowingly like he could hear the thoughts running through my mind. “Yes. I’d like to see whether what you are looking for out of this job is what it’s offering. Wouldn’t want you resigning in a week because it doesn’t live up to your expectations.”

  I lifted a brow, choosing not to focus on thinking what I wished he was offering. “Does that mean I’ve got the job if my expectations line up?”

  “Not so fast.” Another line I wouldn’t mind hearing from him under totally different circumstances. Sigh. If I did get the job, I was going to have to buy new batteries for my vibrator before I started and possibly spend the weekend getting him out of my system. No way would I be able to concentrate on work with this persistent need between my legs. “Let’s get through the rest of the interview first, how’s that?”

  Stupid hormones. I hadn’t felt this affected by a man in years, if ever. My body just had to go and choose this dick, both literally and figuratively, to be attracted to. Figured.

  I nodded. “In that case, I expect this job will challenge me. At least at the beginning. I welcome that about it. I also expect to work hard in a professional, fast-paced environment, and I expect respect from my colleagues.”

  “It will be all that and more.” His eyes slid to a mountain of papers on his desk. “My office is starting a new project. This week, actually. There won’t be any time for myself or anyone else here to hold your hand or ease you into anything.”

  “I’m not interested in hand-holding.”

  One of his brows started lifting suggestively, but he caught it and schooled his expression. I recalled reading once how tall, dark and mysterious he was. He wasn’t that mysterious to me. I didn’t know what it was, but I could read him somewhat. Somehow.

  “Good,” he said, leaning back on his desk and sliding his fingers into his pockets, thumbs hooked on the outside. It caused the front panel of his trousers to stretch a little tighter. I tried not to look, but it was right there. He was standing, and I was sitting, I couldn’t not see the bulge right in front of me.

  It didn’t look like he was hard or anything, just well-endowed or hiding a roll of his cash in his pants. My tongue darted out without my say so, wetting my lips.

  A rush of heat bloomed between my legs. I wanted that. Too bad it was attached to a man like him, who also happened to be my boss potentially.

  “Because the long hours I mentioned earlier are likely to start immediately. Basically, you’d be required to be at my beck and call at all times. Especially in the next few months.”

  Like a cartoon devil on the run only to notice he was headed for a cliff, my mind screeched to a halt at his words. I could practically taste the trail of dust being kicked up by my thoughts or hear the cartoon train hit the wall. “Wait a second. Let’s just back up. I’m nobody’s beck and call girl.”

  Specifically, not the call girl part. I wanted this job. Well, a job at this company, but not like that. There were plenty of bimbos around yesterday who happily would’ve complied with that requirement. I wasn’t one of them.

  As I was about to continue my rebuttal, he told me what the salary would be to ensure I was properly compensated for my trouble. He cocked his head, dark eyes intent on mine. “We take good care of our employees. It’s one of my father’s philosophies and why there generally aren’t so many positions available with the company for one its size. That’s the cash component, there are benefits as well that human resources will discuss with you.”

  And just like that, I shut up. That kind of money would change a lot of things for me. Surely, he didn’t mean beck and call girl in the real call girl kind of way. There were laws against that, right?

  “If you think it’ll work, I’m in,” I told him, a part of me already starting to wonder if it would be worth getting Herbie fixed or if it was time to invest in a new car. And my student loans, I would be able to—

  “Excellent.” He interrupted my spending of the money I hadn’t earned yet. “Have dinner with me tonight, we’ll continue to talk then.”

  “No.” The word jumped out of my mouth. He looked taken aback but then gave me a swift nod to continue. “I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

  “Well, what if they could be one and the same?” Jeremiah asked after pausing for a minute, curiosity in his eyes.

  I got up to go. There was nothing for me here. Okay, a very generous salary. But it looked like my first instincts about him and the call girl he was looking for were right. And I wouldn’t be that for anyone. Not even for him.

  I laughed, shaking my head at myself. People didn’t pay straight-up secretaries that kind of money. “You’re looking for a slut, not a secretary.” I walk
ed to the door, looking back at him over my shoulder. “Good luck with that. Please ask Neil not to call me again. Unless he’s looking for someone new, that is.”

  He crossed his office in a few long strides, placing his palm on the door to keep it shut before I even realized what was happening. My hand stilled on the doorjamb. Jeremiah was a foot away from me, maybe two.

  This close up and in the light, I could see the different shards of gold and chocolate flecks that made up his expressive eyes. They weren’t merely dark or brown, they were a myriad of different shades—like a makeup artist’s natural palette.

  He seemed bigger now too, taller. Wider. More like the sculpted, muscular man I’d danced with on Friday night than the handsome playboy of the last two days.

  The scent I remembered from when I was pressed against him at the club lingered around him now. Stronger and not diluted by the faint hint of tequila as it had been, catching a whiff of it was like being injected by the world’s most powerful aphrodisiac. It triggered all those memories for me of how I’d felt in his arms, what his thigh felt like pressed against my center.

  I took a small step back. Being that close to him was only going to get me in trouble. As I stepped back, Jeremiah gave his head a subtle, almost imperceptible shake and a determined edge crept into his eyes.

  “Forget I said anything, okay Stephanie?” His voice was rougher now, more compelling. Power and control radiated from him in a way it only could if that kind of thing was your birthright, as it was his.

  Shit. I should’ve bolted when I had the chance. Now, my feet were rooted to his plush carpet, and my fingers refused to tighten around the doorjamb. I was going to hear him out.

  “Forget you said what?” I said, summoning every ounce of inner nonchalance I could. Do not give in to him.

  “You’ve got the skills I’m interested in, for my secretary.” He emphasized the last word, then shifted so his arm grazed mine and his body faced mine directly. Caging me in effortlessly and without having to raise so much as a finger. He didn’t have to. I was held in place by the sudden dominance in his stance.