Of course, he wouldn’t want someone like me, I thought as I twisted my hands together, keeping them far away from the burned tissue of my thighs. He could have any woman he wants – why would he want some crazy girl he met on vacation who lied about her name?
At least, that’s what I kept telling myself over and over as I sat in the tiny room, waiting for the doctor to come back and check up on me.
Two hours later, I walked out of the emergency room, still wincing, but carrying a prescription for some burn cream and painkillers. It was depressing: I recognized most of the people in the waiting room as people who had been there when James and I had first arrived. Was it possible that I was already benefitting from his impossible privilege and wealth?
“Hanna.”
The sound of my name made me jump. When I turned around, I saw James standing there with his hands shoved in his pockets. His coat was draped over his shoulder, along with mine – in the shock of pain, I’d forgotten to grab it from my desk.
I frowned. “What are you still doing here?”
James narrowed his eyes. “What, you really expected me to leave?” He snorted and shook his head. “No way, Hanna. I’m taking you home – you’ve had quite a day.”
“Am I…am I fired?”
James chuckled, but he didn’t reply. Suddenly, I felt a horrible pang swell up inside of my chest. Oh, no, I thought. He’s going to wait to get me alone, out of the room, and then tell me that he can’t work with someone so dishonest. Stupid, stupid! Why did I ever have to lie like that?
To my surprise, James led me out to the curb. There was a smiling, uniformed chauffeur standing in front of a long, black town car.
“I thought I could have Nick give you a ride home before he takes me back to the office,” James said. “Nick is my driver.”
He has a driver? I thought, forcing myself not to look astonished. I’d always known that there were a lot of rich people in Boston…but somehow I’d pictured them as uniformly old and stuffy. James was neither old, nor stuffy…and yet, he had enough money for a driver?
Suddenly, I wondered what his house looked like.
“Hanna?”
I glanced up. James was still standing there, waiting patiently for my response. It had begun to snow outside and I shivered. James put his coat around my shoulders as Nick opened the back doors of the town car for us. After helping me inside, James crawled in and settled next to me. He reached into a mini fridge and took out a bottle of sparkling mineral water.
“You want?”
I bit my lip. I felt guilty accepting anything – even a stupid bottle of water – from James West, but I couldn’t deny that I was thirsty.
“Yeah,” I said softly. “Sure. Thanks.”
James opened another bottle and passed it over. I closed my eyes, enjoying the cool sensation of water in my mouth.
“Thanks,” I said, this time with more gratitude. “I didn’t even know how thirsty I was until now.”
James eyed me closely. “Your lips are dry,” he said. “I could tell that you were getting dehydrated.”
The knowledge that he’d been staring at my mouth made me flush. In the dim light of the backseat, I felt closer to him than I had inside of the crowded, fluorescent hospital. He smelled amazing – a blend of spice and musk – and his dark, unruly hair was practically begging for me to run my hands through it and gently tug.
No, Hanna, I told myself. You can’t do that with him – not today, not ever.
“So, Hanna, there’s something I want to talk to you about,” James said. He reclined against the leather seat and took another sip of mineral water.
“What?” My voice came out as a squeak and I cleared my throat. “I mean, sorry. What is it?”
“Well, for one thing, I can’t imagine that someone with a degree like yours would be happy as an administrative assistant for too long,” James said.
I frowned. “How do you know anything about my degree?” I racked my brain, trying to remember our conversations in Jamaica, almost a year ago.
James chuckled “I called into work when I was waiting for you,” he said. “And I found out that you specialize in media and development.”
“I did major in that,” I said, my cheeks pinking. “But, um…you know what, nevermind.”
James gave me an odd look. “No, tell me,” he said.
“It’s just, I feel stupid telling someone like you that I really needed this job,” I said. Embarrassment and shame flooded my body and I had to resist the urge to sink into the floorboards.
“Don’t,” James said firmly. “We all have to do things we don’t want to do for work.”
I blinked. It wasn’t exactly the response I’d been expecting.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“And don’t be sorry, either,” James said. He narrowed his eyes at me. “Hanna, believe me when I say I want to help you. I know it sounds crazy – we don’t really know each other at all, do we? But I look at you and I see someone special, someone important.”
I bit my lip, unsure of where he was going. I could feel the intimacy and tension between us growing by the second, but I felt helpless and frozen in place. I’d even forgotten about the painful burning sensation that still lingered on my thighs despite the painkillers I’d taken at the hospital.
“Okay,” I said nervously.
“And I want you to know that I think you’d be perfect for another job with Magnate Group, something perhaps a little more suited to your talents.”
I frowned.
“What?” James asked. “I thought you’d be pleased.”
“I don’t want you pawning me off on someone else, just because you want to sleep with me,” I said with a surprising amount of anger. I couldn’t believe that James thought I could be bought like this!
“Hanna, that’s not what I’m trying to do, not at all,” James said. “If you’d just listen, just for a minute—“
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t accept your charity, James.”
“This isn’t charity,” James said, clenching his teeth. “This is me trying to help you succeed. And Hanna, what’s so wrong with that, if I may ask?”
The town car was slowing to a stop and I saw my apartment building when I looked out the window. Before Nick could slow the car to a stop, I grabbed the handle and shoved it open.
“Hanna! Where are you going?” James peered up at me with his eyebrows knitted together. “What the hell is going on?”
“I’m going home,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll be in the office tomorrow.”
The look on James’s face was both stunned and sympathetic, and for a moment I had the most intense urge to throw myself into his arms, apologize, and kiss him.
But I couldn’t do that. Not now, not ever.
Gritting my teeth, I slammed the door of the town car and stalked through the swirling snow to my apartment.
Chapter Six
James
It was torture.
Every day, going into Magnate Group, and seeing her there, sitting at her desk looking innocuous. After the burn incident, Hanna cooled toward me…and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why she’d changed. I wasn’t sure why she’d automatically assumed the worst, either – it wasn’t like I’d fallen on top of her and tried to rip her clothes off in the back of my limo.
But her behavior was puzzling.
And it was driving me wild.
It snowed the whole week, great blustery gusts of snow that swirled against the windows. Most of my employees came in bundled from head to toe, but not Hanna. Every day I saw her, she was wearing a stylish-yet-short skirt with tights, boots, and some kind of sweater that made her tits look fantastic. I wanted nothing more than to grab her, kiss her, and take her into my office for another passionate encounter. But day by day, she made it increasingly clear that she wasn’t interested in me. Even Linda, the head of Human Resources, noticed that something had changed around the office.
“I think I finally hired the right girl for you, Mr. West,” she said one morning as she stopped by my office to pick up a large pile of reports from Hanna.
I frowned. “I don’t know. I think she might be happier somewhere else in the company. She’s much smarter than most of the admins, you know?”
Linda clucked her tongue against her teeth. “Has she expressed interest in moving?”
“No,” I said sourly. “She hasn’t.”
Linda frowned. “Well, as you know, I wouldn’t be able to move her without her own consent,” she said. “That is, unless she’s done something to displease you.”
I glanced out my office window at Hanna sitting there, at her desk, typing away.
“No,” I said. “She hasn’t done anything wrong. In fact, she’s the best secretary I’ve ever had.”
Linda gave me an odd look. “Well, then I’m not quite sure why you’re in a hurry to get rid of her,” she said lightly, but I knew she was confused.
I shrugged. “No reason,” I lied. “Anyway, here are the reports.”
I passed them over and Linda left my office, closing the door behind her. I watched Hanna through the window for what felt like far too long – it was impossible not to stare at her beautiful features, the way her slim hands moved quickly over the keyboard. And I couldn’t look at her without thinking of the passionate night we’d shared in my hotel room, almost a year ago.
I barely worked that day. In the afternoon, I decided to go out for coffee despite the blustering storm. I stopped by Hanna’s desk on the way out.
“I’m going out for a latte – can I get you something?”
Hanna didn’t look up from her keyboard. She kept typing away, her fingers clacking against the keys.
“Hanna?”
Hanna finally glanced up. She blushed crimson red when she saw me and my cock twitched in my pants.
“Yes?” Her voice was low and breathy. Somehow, I wondered if she’d just been thinking about me, too.
“I said, I’m going out for coffee. Can I get you anything?”
“You shouldn’t do that,” Hanna said. She licked her lips. “It’s snowing out there – why not let me go for you?”
“I feel like some fresh air,” I said drily. “So, are you sure I can’t get you anything?”
Hanna shook her head. She pointed to a bottle of water on her desk. “I’m fine,” she said. She looked out the window again and shivered. As I watched her, I noticed the faint heartbeat pulsing at the side of her neck. I remembered how she smelled – warm and clean and almost like vanilla – and for a moment, I thought I was going to come in my pants.
“James?”
My head snapped up. “Yeah?”
Hanna giggled. “I said I’m fine,” she said. “But you probably want to wear a hat.” She sat back down at her desk, shivering again. “It really does look cold.”
The rest of the day crawled by. I spent most of it staring at my computer, ignoring emails from my shareholders, and wondering what the fuck I had to do to get back into Hanna’s good graces. At five o’clock on the dot, I grabbed my coat and shoved my laptop into my briefcase. I’d called Harry and made plans to meet with him at a bar – there was just no way I could stand being around Hanna without obsessing over her any more for one day.
On my way out, Hanna looked up. “Is there anything else you want me to wrap up for the day?”
“No,” I said. “Just go home, Hanna. Get some rest. How is your burn, by the way?”
Hanna bit her lip and winced. “Better,” she said. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” I said. Thinking about her burn got me thinking about her magnificent, long legs and I had to shake my head to clear the image from my brain. Jesus, James, I thought as I stormed out of the office. There’s something really wrong with you today.
Thankfully, Harry was waiting for me at our usual meeting place – the bar in the hotel across the street from Magnate’s offices. He’d already ordered a scotch-and-soda for me, and he passed it to me without saying a word. I took a long, grateful sip before putting it back down on the bar and sighing.
“You look like hell,” Harry said cheerfully. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I muttered. As soon as I’d “found” Hanna again, I’d told Harry everything. To my annoyance, he’d been amused…and surprised that I hadn’t asked her out again. Since then, I’d avoided talking about the subject. But I knew it was going to be hard to keep my mouth shut today.
“Nothing, my ass,” Harry said. He took a long swig of his drink and belched loudly. “Something’s up, West. And you’ve got to spill.”
“I just don’t know what to do about this girl,” I said, shaking my head. I took another long drink, enjoying the familiar burn of the scotch as it traveled down my throat. “She’s driving me crazy. She’s so close, and yet totally out of reach.”
Harry whistled. “She’s not out of reach,” he said derisively. “You’re just being a pussy, James. You need to go and get her.”
“That’s the problem,” I said. “She won’t have anything to do with me.”
Harry shrugged. “Find her another job,” he said. “Or get her off your desk. It doesn’t really matter what happens if she doesn’t report to you, does it?”
I frowned. Harry’s words put a bad taste in my mouth. “It does matter,” I said. “I tried offering her another job…but she wouldn’t accept it. And now she just acts so professionally, all the time.”
Harry narrowed his eyes and clapped his hand on the bar. When the bartender appeared, he ordered two double shots of whiskey for both of us. The shots appeared and we clinked our glasses together before downing them.
“Well, you’ve got to figure something out, or just go fuck someone else to get her out of your system,” Harry said in a matter-of-fact voice. “In fact, I know a girl you’d love. She’s single, blonde – totally fuckable.”
“Don’t bother,” I replied. “I’m not interested.”
“You’re kidding,” Harry said. He narrowed his eyes, toying with his empty shot glass. “This girl must be like, a complete ten or something. Why the fuck are you so hung up on her?”
“Because we had a perfect night together, and then I chased her for a year,” I said. “And I know it doesn’t sound like much to you, but I felt a real connection with her.”
“I think you’re just projecting,” Harry said. “Go find some other girl and fuck her. Wait a few months. I’m sure you won’t even be thinking about Hillary anymore.”
“Hanna,” I corrected automatically. “Her name is Hanna.”
“You sure about that, man? I mean, she did lie,” Harry said with a shrug. “Who knows what else she’s lying about?”
“I can say for sure that she’s not lied about anything else,” I said. “Magnate runs a strict background check on all potential employees, and she passed with flying colors.”
“Well, then, I don’t really know what you want me to say,” Harry said. “But you’re a charming man, you can figure it out.”
I frowned.
“You know it’s true,” Harry continued. “You could fuck any woman you want.”
I shrugged. “I don’t want any woman,” I said. “I want her.”
Harry winked at me. “You’ll find a way to make it happen,” he said. “If I know anything about you.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. “That’s a real confidence boost.”
The rest of the week didn’t go much better. I was basically useless – I almost fell asleep in a meeting with my shareholders – and I was more obsessed with Hanna than ever. I’d even begun dreaming about her. By Friday, I knew something had to change. There was no way I was going to put Hanna in a bad position – or risk putting myself in danger of harassing her – and I vowed to get her out of my head, once and for all. I spent all weekend working out: running in the park near my condo, swimming at the indoor gym, and lifting weights until my arms were so sore I could barely type. I vowed that this wo
uld be the beginning of something new.
After all, it had been a year.
It was time to move on.
The following Monday, Magnate Group entertained one of the clients I’d picked up for us in London. I was in all-day meetings, which didn’t even stop for our catered lunch, and by the time I got out of the conference room, it was dark outside. Most of my employees had left, but Hanna was sitting there in near-darkness, illuminated by the glow of the green banker’s lamp she kept on her desk. Something about the way she was quietly working touched me. She really is something, I thought. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had an assistant who stayed late voluntarily.
“Hey,” I said, coming up from behind Hanna. “Working hard?”
Hanna looked up from her screen and yawned, then rubbed both of her eyes with her fists. “Yeah,” she said. “I just wanted to wrap this up before the end of the day, I know you need it for tomorrow.” She pointed at her screen and I saw it was a list of all action items for the following day’s meetings.
“That looks almost done,” I said. Impulsively, I added: “We should get dinner. You feel like going out?”
Hanna’s face fell and I knew I’d made a mistake.
“You know what, forget that,” I said hastily. “It’s freezing outside, and I know you won’t feel like coming back to the office. Let me order something in. You like Indian food?”
The Xmas Conquest Page 5