by Lucia Jordan
“He can’t do that,” she fumed. “Alright, I know, as the owner he can. I’m sorry, Mr. Glover, but I’m not going to change my mind.” She stood up. “I’ll just go work for another temp agency.”
“I’m afraid you can’t do that, either, Lacey,” Mr. Glover said uneasily. “You’re still under contract with Anytime for another year. As long as you’re being offered regular work here — whether you choose to accept assignments or not — you can’t work for another agency.”
“What if I buy myself out of my contract?”
“As long as the agency is fairly compensated, it shouldn’t be a problem. Let me see what your current rate is.” He clicked a few buttons and his eyes bulged before he glanced at her. “Are you quite certain you can’t take this assignment? Mr. Wolfe spoke so very highly of you. I think he’s determined to have you back.”
The pleading tone in the manager’s voice made Lacey close her eyes briefly. “What did he change my billing rate to?”
“It’s currently at four hundred thirty dollars an hour, which works out to, uh—”
“Over a million dollars a year.” She could only buy out her contract by paying Christopher Wolfe a hundred thousand dollars. “I’m a secretary, Mr. Glover, not a nuclear physicist. He can’t charge that much for me. No one will pay it.”
“I think that’s the point, Lacey,” the manager said. “He must really want you for this position.”
“If he can’t have me, no one can.” Arguing with the manager would do no good. She’d have to go to the source of all her troubles. “Alright. I’ll take the assignment. Where do I report?”
“It says the penthouse suite.” Glover looked relieved now. “You know, Mr. Wolfe is a powerful man. Once you take the position, I’m sure it’ll everything will work out fine.”
Lacey remembered only too well the last position she’d taken for Christopher Wolfe: tied up in the back of his limo, his big frame pinning her to the leather seat as he worked his heavy, swollen penis in and out of her body. “I’m sure it will.”
*
“Mr. Wolfe, Miss Easton is here,” Sarah Tate, the secretary on loan from Accounting, said over the intercom.
Christopher slowly smiled. “Have her take a seat, Miss Tate, and I’ll be with her in a few minutes.”
He accessed the outer office video feed. After discovering his former assistant, Nora Bonner, had bugged his private line as part of her failed blackmail plot, he’d instructed his chief of security to perform a complete sweep of the penthouse offices. He’d also ordered the installation of swipe card locks as well as private surveillance cameras that only he could monitor throughout the penthouse suite, but not because of Nora’s scheming.
On the wall an image of the outer office appeared. Sarah Tate worked at her desk and Lacey Easton sat in the waiting area. Lacey had dressed in one of her conservative work outfits, her silky red hair up in her usual French twist.
The two women were chatting quietly, and Christopher enabled the audio to listen in.
“— been great, but Mr. Wilkes has been calling every day to find out if I’m coming back,” Sarah was saying. “He says he doesn’t have time to train a new girl. I think it’s really because no one else can make coffee the way he likes it.”
“I’m sure it’s more than that,” Lacey said. Her smile faltered. “Are you and Mr. Wolfe getting along okay?”
“I’ve made a couple mistakes but he never complains.” Sarah glanced at the door to his office before she added in a lower voice. “It doesn’t help that he’s so gorgeous. I get so flustered around him.”
Christopher zoomed in on Lacey’s face in time to see her cheeks flush. Her pretty blue eyes seemed darker, until he panned in enough to see her pupils had dilated. He adjusted the camera angle down to the base of her throat. A tiny rapid flutter just above her collarbones told him just how fast her heart was beating.
“Yes, Lacey,” he murmured, feeling his cock twitch in response. “I’m excited, too.”
He switched off the wall screen and returned to his desk, taking a minute to clear his thoughts before he buzzed Sarah’s intercom. “Send in Miss Easton now, please.”
Lacey came through the door a moment later and closed it behind her. “Mr. Wolfe.”
“Welcome back.” Christopher gestured to the chair by his desk. “Sit down, please. I’m sorry I kept you waiting.”
“No, you’re not.” She took the seat in front of him and folded her arms. “But you’ve won, and I’m here. What should I do first? Take your morning dictation or bend over the desk?”
So she’s here to do battle. He breathed in her faint vanilla scent and studied her face before he smiled. “I hate to voice a cliché but you’re beautiful when you’re angry.”
“Then grab your sunglasses, sir,” she said. “Because I’ll likely be blindingly gorgeous by lunchtime.”
Pleased with how passionately she was reacting to his machinations, Christopher leaned back in his chair. “Why are you really angry with me,?”
“When I refused your job offer, you bought my temp agency. You manipulated my billing rate so no one would hire me and I couldn’t buy my way out of the contract. For the last two weeks I’ve been living on ramen noodles so I can pay my rent this month. Next month — unless I go to work for you — I start living under a bridge.” She smiled at him. “But hey, who doesn’t like camping?”
He frowned. “I assumed you had some savings you could live on.”
“I did, until I got pneumonia last summer and had to spend two weeks in the hospital.” She glared at him. “I know that wouldn’t constitute a blip on a billionaire’s expense account, but it pretty much wiped me out, savings-wise.”
Christopher suddenly realized he had misread the source of her hostility. She had no financial safety net, and felt genuinely threatened by him. He’d have to deal with that first. “I’ll reimburse you for the wages you’ve lost.”
“No, thank you. I earn my living. Now.” She rose to her feet. “What’ll it be? Dictation or desk?”
“That will be enough of that.” He came around to stand in front of her and had to resist an urge to pull her into his arms. Defuse her anger, develop trust, then move in when she least expects it. “All I expect from you is to work in a strictly professional capacity as my assistant. Nothing more.”
“What about after hours? When I’m supposed to be on call as your submissive plaything?”
“I did want that, very much. I thought you did as well. Obviously, I was wrong.” He held out his hand. “I apologize, Miss Easton.”
She gave him a long, suspicious look before she shook his hand. “Alright. I’m sorry, too. And since I really need a job, I’ll take the position on one condition: I stay with the agency. If this doesn’t work out, you let me go back to temping at my old billing rate.”
He’d like to keep her locked up in his bedroom for a month, Christopher thought idly. “If it doesn’t work out,” he agreed but when she tried to take her hand away he held onto it. “I have one condition as well. You’re to clock out and leave at five p.m. every day. No exceptions.”
She blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“You’ll never be expected to work overtime.” Christopher bent his head to put his mouth next to her ear. “If you choose to stay after hours, that means you’re here for me, willingly. After five you give me carte blanche. I will do whatever I like to you.”
Instead of arguing or refusing Lacey took in a sharp breath. “That’s crazy. I’ll never stay.”
“That’s your choice. It always has been.” He straightened and released her hand. “Agreed?”
She hesitated. He thought she might walk out on him again. But then, very slowly, she nodded.
“Excellent.” He returned to his side of the desk and pressed the intercom. “Miss Tate, I’m sending Miss Easton out to you. She will be working as my personal assistant, effective immediately. Before you return to Accounting, would you be kind enough to bring her
up to speed?”
“Yes, sir,” Sarah replied.
Lacey nodded to him before she left, her shoulders square and her step brisk.
Christopher sat down and folded his hands behind his head, feeling better than he had in weeks. “Oh, now you are mine,.”
*
Going over her job responsibilities with Sarah Tate gave Lacey an hour to silently reconsider what was possibly the most reckless decision she’d ever made. She’d not only had wild and crazy sex with Christopher Wolfe, she’d been fired — twice — because of his scandalous private life. Now she’d caved into his strong-arm tactics to become his assistant. She would be working more closely with him than anyone else in the company. If she didn’t clock out on time she’d be giving him permission to do anything he wanted to her after hours.
I know what it is, Lacey thought. I’ve lost my mind.
“Don’t look so worried,” Sarah said as she gave her the swipe card to access the office entry. “Mr. Wolfe is really patient. He hasn’t said a single unkind word to me — even when I crashed the computer four times in a row.”
“The man is a saint.” Lacey eyed Christopher’s door before she sat down behind the desk. “Thanks for everything, Sarah, you’ve been wonderful. When we go for coffee, I’m buying.”
“Oh, well, then I want a Danish, too,” Sarah said with a grin. “Now I think I’ll go make Mr. Wilkes some coffee. When he stops sobbing with joy, he might just give me a raise.”
Lacey spent another half hour arranging the desk to her taste and going over the items on her day planner. Sarah had finished all of her work and had even rescheduled all of Christopher’s appointments that morning to clear his day for a new project. Aside from answering the phone and some filing Lacey found she had very little to do.
The intercom icon on her monitor chimed, and Lacey pressed it and answered, “Yes, Mr. Wolfe?”
“Would you bring in the Denver Convention Center file and take some notes for me?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.” She collected her tablet and the file he needed, and walked into his office. “Should I transcribe right… away…”
Christopher stood, barechested, in the doorway of the bath adjoining his office, and had a towel slung around his neck. “I spilled some coffee on my shirt and jacket,” he explained as he went to the desk.
I just bet you did, Lacey thought, but kept her expression bland. “I can run them over to your dry-cleaners at lunch, if you like.”
He smiled at her. “I can handle my laundry, thanks. I need letters typed up and sent out today for all four principal groups involved in the convention center project. Word them differently but they should all cover these budget adjustments, as follows.”
At first Lacey kept her head down while Christopher talked and she made notes but his woodsy scent kept teasing her nose. She began glancing up whenever he paused in order to discreetly admire his bare chest, which was wide and solidly paved in trim muscle, and a healthy golden-brown under a light, v-shaped mat of silky, curly white-blond hairs.
“Finish with a polite reminder on the bid deadline. Tell them to direct any and all questions to Dan Stevens in Property Development or Jack Wilkes in Accounting.” Christopher removed a brand-new folded white dress shirt from his desk drawer. “Will you going out for lunch? Miss Easton?”
She realized she was staring at his small, flat brown nipples, and shook her head. “I hadn’t planned to, sir.”
“Neither have I. Would you mind having a working lunch with me? I’ll order in Chinese, and we can talk over what I’m doing this month.”
As he pulled on the new shirt, Lacey was surprised to feel a pang of disappointment as he covered up all that gorgeous tanned skin. Of course she was attracted to her new boss. She’d already had sex with him. For the first time since that shocking night she wished she’d been less passive. Even with her hands bound, she might have put her mouth on him in the same way he’d used his on her…
You’re as bad as he is — stop thinking about sucking his nipples. “That’s fine,” she said, rising. “Anything else, sir?”
“You needn’t jump every time I look at you,” he chided. “I meant what I said this morning.”
“That might sound more believable if you weren’t half-naked. I’ll go get started on these letters.”
*
After the shirt-changing incident Lacey braced herself for more of the same but Christopher left her alone for the rest of the morning. He emerged only when their Chinese takeout lunch was delivered. He sat beside her desk to dine with her while they discussed all of his pending projects.
“All of my department managers are extremely competent. There’s no need to bring every problem to me,” Christopher said as he offered her a container of noodles. “I believe more in trusting my people than micro-managing them. I’m better held in reserve, in the event they can’t make any headway on their own. When they need some CEO-style shock and awe.”
“You are pretty awesome,” Lacey said without thinking, and then laughed at herself. “What I meant is, everyone respects you here. I’ve never heard one employee grumble about you — not that I’d tell you if I had.” She handed him an egg roll and refilled his tea cup.
“I despise tattle-tails.” He bit off the end of the egg roll.
Once they had demolished the Chinese and reviewed everything pending, Lacey tidied up while Christopher looked over her letters.
“These are excellent,” he told her, setting the stack down on her desk to sign each one. “Copy to the archives, everyone on the convention center project, and Wilkes in Accounting. Wait.” He thought for a moment. “You’ll need to hand-carry the copies to Accounting today; Jack will need the new figures for the budget report he’s sending to the client in the morning.”
“I’ll do that first,” Lacey said, and when he nodded she rose from her desk. “Should I forward your phone line to the switchboard?”
“I’ll watch them while you’re gone.” He grinned at her raised brows. “Yes, Miss Easton, even a CEO can answer a phone by himself now and then.”
Once Lacey made the copies for Accounting she bound them in a file and took the elevator down to the ninth floor, which appeared to be deserted.
Everyone is probably still at lunch, she thought as she peeked inside Sarah’s empty office. She heard a strange sound coming from down the hall and followed it to the executive section.
The corner office door stood half open. As Lacey approached it she heard Sarah’s voice begging and rushed toward it, only to skid to a halt when she saw what was happening inside.
A heavyset man sat and the end of a couch with his back to the door and Sarah kneeling over his lap. The secretary had her eyes closed and her mouth open; she was nude to the waist. Her skirt was bunched up around her hips. She was moving up and down slowly as the man’s huge hands squeezed her breasts.
Oh my God, they’re having sex. Lacey wanted to run but she couldn’t seem to move.
“Jack, that feels good,” Sarah moaned, shuddering as she bore down on him. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“You don’t know how many times I wanted to come up there and drag you back down here by your hair,” Jack told her in a deep, gruff tone before he kissed her shoulder and neck. “Bring those pretty tits here so I can taste them.”
Sarah braced her hands on the end of the sofa so Jack could fasten his mouth on her breast, and moaning as he went from one nipple to the other, licking and sucking on them.
“Plan on fucking me on your lunch hour every day until we both retire, babe,” Jack growled. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
“Oh!” Sarah squealed as he tugged hard on her nipple and at the same time opened her eyes to see Lacey standing in the doorway.
Before her friend could react Lacey turned and hurried away as silently as she could, ducking into Sarah’s office. She could feel her entire face burning. She sat in the nearest chair to try to collect herself.
How could Sarah be having sex with her boss — in his office — where anyone could see them? Was he forcing her? Should she tell Christopher? The moment she thought of her own boss, Lacey instantly imagined herself on top of him in his office. She covered her face with her hands. Why can’t I stop thinking about him that way?
A few minutes later a fully-dressed, very subdued Sarah slipped into the office. “Hi.” She closed the door and leaned back against it. “So I guess you know it’s not really my coffee Mr. Wilkes loves.”
“I guessed that much. Sarah, what if you gotten caught by someone besides me?”
“We’ve never done that here at work before today.” Sarah sighed. “I’m lying. We did it the first time when we got stuck together in the elevator. One minute I’m freaking out because I’m claustrophobic. The next he’s got his hands under my blouse and his tongue in my mouth.”
“It’s really none of my business,” Lacey said.
“Well, you just saw all of my business. It shouldn’t have happened. Usually we go to my place or a hotel, but today, well, we just couldn’t wait.”
Her friend looked flushed and embarrassed but her bright eyes and sexy smile made her feelings about Jack Wilkes clear. “Is he married?”
“He’s separated. Not because of me,” Sarah added hastily. “She left him for a younger guy. It’s just taking a while because his ex wants everything he owns, too. As soon as it’s final we won’t have to sneak around anymore.” She gave her a beseeching look. “But until then… would you mind not telling anyone about us?”
“I can keep a secret.” Just ask Christopher, Lacey added silently as she held out the copies she’d brought. “Would you deliver these to Mr. Wilkes for me? I need to get back upstairs now.”
“Sure.” Sarah took the papers and peered at her. “Are you okay with this, really? I know you’d never do anything like this — not that I think you’re a prude or anything.”