by Paige Cooper
Stop it, Nicole, you’re here to work.
I ignored the racing of my pulse. I didn’t know why my body reacted this way to him, but I couldn’t stop staring at Mark. Maybe this was why the other secretaries hadn’t worked out.
“I highly doubt you’ll be able to withstand the environment here. The work is heavy, and the hours are long. There are deadlines to meet, and I’m not forgiving at all with missed deadlines,” Mark’s voice rang out, and he looked up from his papers. His eyes narrowed as he glanced at me.
“I can keep up with it.” I shrugged, pulling out a pen and paper as I waited for his first instructions.
My legs felt like jelly, but there was no way in hell I was going to let him think he intimidated me. The minute I showed weakness, I knew he would chew me up. I’d dealt with men like him before.
Why was it always the handsome men in suits who had to be assholes? I suppressed my eye roll and plastered a smile on my lips.
“From the looks of you, I doubt you can keep up with the weather, much less my schedule,” Mark scoffed.
“I’m a hard worker.”
His gray eyes hardened for a minute before he pushed himself off his chair and made his way over to me. I thought he might fire me on the spot.
I held my breath firmly, my heart hammering in my chest. I wasn’t going to show weakness, no matter what he did.
Surprise—and something else, something dizzying—filled my body as Mark’s fingers lightly brushed over my cheek. I looked up to find his gaze locked on me.
“Maybe we can add dinner tonight onto our schedule,” he murmured against my ear, his breath caressing my earlobe.
I felt a tug in my abdomen, and the butterflies that had shown up when I first saw him fluttered harder in my belly. I wanted to melt against his chest and forget the outside world.
But I had a job to do. One that didn’t include letting my asshole boss seduce me.
I pushed him back and shot him a look of contempt as I pulled myself back together.
“I don’t know what kind of relationship you had with your other secretaries, but it’s not happening here. I am your assistant. I will go ahead and double-check your calendar. If there’s anything you need me to do for you, let me know.”
I turned on my heels, irritation swelling up in my chest along with the lingering desire for the pompous man I had left gaping in my wake.
“Make me coffee,” his voice called out before I shut the office door behind me.
I didn’t understand the reasoning behind his murky personality changes, but maybe he was stressed. I chalked his callous behavior up to stress, ignoring the heat that crept through my body.
I slapped my pad onto my desk and made my way to the kitchen Ella had led me through earlier.
I might not have been prepared to deal with such a mercurial boss, but at least I’d had the sense to ask John and David how their brother liked his coffee. If I got this right, maybe he would see that I was more than a pretty face.
I pulled the coffee beans out from a cabinet, grabbing his specific mug from the dishrack. It was a paycheck. That was all I was here for. I’d do my job and get out.
With any hope, I’d have minimal interaction with Mark Allen.
Chapter 2: Mark
B loody hell, another one.
I wanted to throw the nearest object against the wall, but that wouldn’t exactly raise my esteem with anyone in the office. Not that I particularly cared what they thought.
This one, though, she was different from the others. I pulled the personnel file John had dumped on my desk earlier that morning and glowered as I opened it to the pages that held all her relevant information.
Nicole Reed.
An unpleasant sensation tugged in the depths of my belly, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
I didn’t care how good-looking she was—and fuck! she looked like a million bucks—I didn’t want another damn secretary.
The office admin pool was enough to handle all of my tasks. It seemed unnecessary for me to waste my time getting to know someone and inviting them into the personal areas of my life.
A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I leaned back in my chair, throwing Nicole’s file down onto the desk.
She’d seemed completely unbothered by me. Nothing I said or did made her flinch. She had smelled so good when I stood next to her, I could almost imagine the taste of her skin under my tongue. Yet, she didn’t even lean into my advances.
No woman had ever rejected me that way. A wry smile made its way onto my lips as I stood and paced in my office. Nicole was the first woman to look truly insulted that I would make a pass at her. Most other women would act offended but secretly wink at me or make reciprocal passes at me later on.
They made it easy to find fault with their work. Most of them quit before I managed to fire them, but a few had made it my absolute pleasure to remove them from their high horse.
The women were worse than the men. The men knew when to concede, but some of the women who traipsed through my office had aspirations of being the next Mrs. Mark Allen.
If only they knew I had no interest in marriage or relationships. Ever.
It was fine dating here and there, satisfying the primal urges every man had—but beyond that, I wasn’t interested.
I pushed my chair back and stalked over to my mirror, double-checking my appearance. A stray hair fell over my forehead, and I gently pushed it back into the rest of my perfectly combed hair.
Why did I care? I only ever worried about how I looked before I had to appear in court or attend important meetings. Never for a secretary.
My chest swelled up as I huffed out in annoyance, my brow furrowing together in the middle of my forehead. I pulled my brow apart with my fingers, willing the lines on my face to straighten out.
My brothers’ incessant need to find me a secretary was proving to be more tiresome than the job itself. I wanted to be left in peace. I did my work best when I wasn’t disturbed by someone right outside my office.
I wanted to hate Nicole. I wanted to push her away with every fiber of my being. She wasn’t daunted by my advance or my rude manner, but there had to be some way to get her out of this office.
If she failed at making a simple cup of coffee, that was it. A wicked smile crept up onto my face, and suddenly, I felt satisfied with myself.
This was usually the first downfall of anyone who bothered to try and apply for the job. I was very specific on the way I enjoyed my coffee, and if a secretary couldn’t be bothered to do it right, then they didn’t belong in this office.
My thoughts wandered over to Megan, my last secretary. She hadn’t even lasted a day before I’d had her running out of the office in tears. I couldn’t help it. Being an ass gave me some sort of perverted sense of joy.
Besides, Megan had used her long legs and false eyelashes in an attempt to ensnare me into something I didn’t want. She’d thought she was different. If only she knew the truth—that she was exactly like every other woman who draped themselves in front of me. I hated it.
It wasn’t that I was opposed to a fling with a secretary, but I was opposed to flings with women who wanted more.
I pushed Nicole and all the others from my mind. She wouldn’t last long, so there was no need to dedicate any headspace to her.
The caseload I had to deal with was astronomical. The quicker I fired this latest airhead hire, the faster I could get on with my actual job.
Most people would claim they became lawyers so they could help the world, save the innocent, and all that humanitarian jazz. Sure, that held some of the appeal, even for me, but that wasn’t what kept me in this job.
I loved the way my blood pumped when I knew I was on the verge of winning. I loved closing a case, and I particularly enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to apologize to anybody for my cutthroat tactics. That was simply the way this world worked.
I hated clutter, but things had become disorganized in the last few months. My de
sk was littered with case files, and it took me a few minutes to sort through the mess of files before I found the ones I needed to review.
I sat back down in the comfortable leather chair I had bought myself as a gift for winning my last high-profile case and pulled the files in front of me. Three cases were due to appear in court soon, and I couldn't afford to lose a single one.
Being the youngest brother at the firm had its downfall, and at 35, I still feel like I had a lot to prove. My brothers had put in their time and proved their worth to the company; I still had a long way to go.
The words on the pages began to swirl in front of me as my mind wandered back over to Nicole and her kitten heels. They weren’t obnoxiously tall heels, and they accentuated the curves of her legs.
I shook my head abruptly, forcing the thoughts of her away. Why the hell did they have to hire such a good-looking secretary? I needed to concentrate, and having someone around who distracted me wouldn’t do.
Annoyance seeped up inside my body, and I felt my blood boil. There had to be a way to get rid of her. Nicole apparently didn’t care about my charms and wouldn’t quit if I made passes on her, so I’d have to do it the old-fashioned way. The first time she messed up, I would be there—and I would be ready to fire her.
A knock resonated in the air, and I looked up from my files to see Nicole walking into my office.
My heart raced as the urge to walk over and brush my lips against hers overwhelmed me.
“I have your coffee for you,” she said simply. She kept her head down as she walked deeper into the room, and I shook my head. Looking weak and vulnerable, she placed the coffee down on the desk in front of me.
I fought back the desire to kiss her lips and slip my fingers into that beautiful auburn hair.
What the hell was going on with me today? It was like she’d infected the air with a pheromone that made me crave the knowledge of what she tasted like.
Nicole’s head bent as she dropped off the coffee cup, and the subtle scent of magnolia filled the air around me. Images of burying my face against her smooth, bronzed skin entered my mind.
Stop it. She’s an employee you’re about to fire, I reminded myself strictly as I pulled the coffee closer to me, focusing on giving her a stern frown. I didn’t need her knowing that I was undressing her in my mind.
It wasn’t my fault her clothes left everything to the imagination. The only bits of her exposed skin that I could see held a golden sheen to them, and I wondered if she tanned or it was a natural gift bestowed to her.
Her body wasn’t stick-straight like most of the other high-profile models and small-time actresses I dated here and there. In fact, she was completely opposite to every other woman I’d ever pursued. This only irritated me further. Why was I attracted to her and her curvy hips?
I tried not to stare at Nicole, but my eyes had other ideas. I wanted to drink in the rounding of her hips that dipped out toward her thighs. She had an hourglass figure, despite being so short. I guessed at best she was probably five-foot-three.
I pulled the coffee cup closer, busying myself with taking the first step. Anticipation at firing Nicole began to creep up in my blood, and I could feel the thrill of the win bubbling inside of me.
This was it. One taste was all I would need to fire her for incompetence. My lips broke out into a grin. There was nothing she could have done to prevent this.
“Do you like it?” Nicole asked as the first hints of almond and cinnamon touched my tongue.
The grin disappeared from my face, and my lips pulled downward in a frown.
The coffee was perfect. The exact way I loved it. I could tell she had used the Brazillian coffee beans that were kept up in the kitchen. How did she know? They didn’t have my name on them, but everyone else in the office knew enough to leave them alone.
There were hints of honey in the coffee, which I preferred over sugar as a sweetener. Cinnamon swirled in the cup, and the almond milk had been frothed before she’d mixed it all together.
“Impossible,” I whispered under my breath as I took another sip. There was nothing negative I could say about this cup of coffee. It might even have been better than any cup I had made myself in the past.
“I’m sorry, is something wrong?” Nicole raised her perfectly trimmed brows at me. Her soft, full lips held a knowing smile, and I felt annoyance at her satisfaction.
I wanted to pull her to me and wipe that smirk off her lips, replacing it with my name. Instead, I cleared my throat and faced her with as stern a gaze as I could muster at the moment.
“Thank you,” I blurted out, unable to show more gratitude in the face of my loss. I hated losing. She’d proved me wrong somehow, and that meant I had to find another way to fire her.
“You’re absolutely welcome, Mr. Allen.” She smiled, her notepad at the ready for any other tasks I wanted to give her.
For some reason, the way she said my last name had me wanting to correct her by bending her over my desk.
My irritation rose as I found myself wanting to know more about Nicole. This felt different from the other flings I’d had in the past. I needed to get her out of my system, but I didn’t have time to win her over and seduce her. These cases needed to be my priority.
I put the coffee cup down, the disdain for her perfection evident on my face. There was no way she’d gotten that right without asking questions around the office. I wanted to throttle the person who’d helped her survive the additional hour at this job.
“Well, since you say you’re up for the task, I hope you’re prepared,” I said firmly as I rose up in my seat, taking up more space in the room than I needed to.
Nicole nodded her head and focused her eyes on me. They were a beautiful hazel color that shone gold in the natural light that filtered in from the open windows. I stifled the urge to move closer to her, concentrating instead on a painting behind her head.
If I didn’t look at her, then I wouldn’t be as distracted. Right?
“There are filing cabinets of older and new files that need to be added into the new system, and then those paper files need to go to the archives. Every detail and every document needs to be scanned and not missed out on. Answer all calls, but don’t let them through unless it's someone called Peter Daniels. I’m prepping for his case. Take messages from them all and schedule appointments as necessary; you have access to my calendar already. Pull a copy of Daniels’ files and make sure you get all the documents I need for court ready. I also need you to search up Daniels’ case and make sure that the arguments I’m going to court for will help him win this claim against his insurance company. Pull the insurance records and search them with a fine-tooth comb. We need to make sure there are no loopholes they can use to get out of paying this client.”
“Anything else?’ Nicole asked, her voice cheery even as she struggled to keep up with the list of jobs I had handed her.
The addition of the old files into the new system was probably a three-day job on its own, nevermind every other task I’d given her. Something about her bubbly determination brought a surge of annoyance—and something else, something that felt like attraction—to the surface.
“I want it all done by 5 pm today, or you’re fired.”
The threat hung in the air between the two of us, and the tension grew thick when she didn’t say anything for a few minutes.
Nicole’s stance was one of determination. She didn’t cower or bow down at my look. Instead, her jawline tightened and she squared her back up.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Get to work!” I barked at her for good measure.
Her body flinched at the volume of my voice before she turned on her heels and marched out of my office. The satisfaction I felt with myself soon gave way to guilt. I shouldn’t have scared her that way.
Whatever. She’ll be gone soon.
The files in front of me called my attention. I could do this. I’d never been the type of person to be swayed by a pretty face, and I wouldn’t
start now.
With all my effort, I pushed Nicole out of my mind and focused on work. Hopefully, by the end of the day, I would be able to take care of this secretary problem once and for all.
Chapter 3: Nicole
W hat was I thinking when I accepted this job? Mark Allen wasn’t merely hard to work for, he was a tyrant. That was the only word that came to mind when I thought of the man enclosed in the office behind me.
My eyes scanned the list I had hurriedly scribbled on the pad I’d brought in with me, despair sinking into my heart.
Maybe I’d been brash. They had told me he was difficult to work for, but I hadn’t expected this. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I’d really expected. Part of me had hoped that everyone else exaggerated Mark’s behaviors.
I loved a good challenge—not an impossible-to-climb mountain.
A quick glance at the clock on the wall told me it was 9:15 am. Then, my gaze shifted to the files piled up around the cabinet behind me, and my heart sunk further in my chest. He’d given me a week’s worth of work to complete in less than eight hours.
I closed my eyes and willed away the doubts. There wasn’t much I could do about it now. I had accepted the job, walked into the building, and now I had to put my head down and figure out a way to cope. Besides, the rent that was due next month was a powerful motivator for me to keep this job.
I pushed Mark out of my mind, trying not to worry about his apparent displeasure with me. Maybe if I impressed him enough, he wouldn’t be so upset with me.
A girl could dream. But something told me this was who he was and had been for a long time.
I pulled out the top ten files closest to me and started looking through them. The file system was helpful with new cases, but it was easier to store them on the company database—particularly for performing searches.
I remembered John and David mentioning that the company had integrated this software over a year ago. The backlog in files told me that whatever system Mark worked with, it simply wasn’t keeping up with the workload.