by Gold, Bella
“I didn’t know what you were going to do.”
“I love you too Tinaya. That is all that matters. Whatever happens, all that matters is that we are together. Everything else is just noise.”
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Chance with an Asian Billionaire
By Keisha Walker
Copyright © 2016
Chapter 1
Cassidy sat back down. She had to or she was going to fall down where she stood. The judgment had just been read from her divorce and she had nothing left. The marriage had dissolved and somehow her ex-husband got everything. The business that they started together was now his, the house, everything. Mario had been planning the divorce for months and he had promised her that she would get nothing if she ever left him. He was right.
“I am so sorry Cassy. I am not sure how this has happened.”
Her lawyer Tonya Green looked as shocked as she felt, but at the end of the day, it was Cassie that had to figure out what she was going to do next. They had a son together who was seven and he didn’t understand the divorce. Now she had to go and pull him from the only home that he had ever known too.
She felt numb and looked over at Mario one last time. He was smiling with that smirk she had come to hate in their eight years of marriage. Cassidy looked away, trying not to let the bitterness flood into her. There had always been a part of her that had known the marriage would end, but she had not thought that it would leave her destitute in such a way.
“Cassie, are you okay?”
She nodded her head that she was, though she didn’t feel okay. She felt like she was going to lose it and standing up and walking out of the courtroom didn’t seem to be possible. Cassidy had to, though, if not to show Mario that he hadn’t broke her. It was the final straw in their marriage and she refused to lose it. So she stood up and squared her shoulders as much as she could and made her way out of the courtroom. It wasn’t until she was in her car and going to pick up her son that she let a tear slip. But only one, she didn’t want him to see her upset.
The weekend was used to pull out what little personal property that she had left and figure out what she was going to do. Her family lived on the other side of the country and save a few hundred dollars for a hotel for the week, they couldn’t help her much.
At twenty-nine years old, Cassidy had never expected her life to turn out like it had. It was late one evening and she was looking through the want-ads in the paper. She hadn’t had an official job since she had been married years before, but she knew she had to find one. Time was running out and if she didn’t find a job, there was no telling what she would do. The last thing that she wanted to do was go home, back to the small town out west where she had grown up. It had felt suffocating back then and she knew it would be much of the same if she went back.
Her eyes fell on a listing that seemed to be right up her alley. It was a company looking for a secretary. While Cassy hadn’t had a proper job in some time, she had done all of the paperwork and bookkeeping for her husband’s company for years. Cassy was well adjusted to business life. All she had to do was convince the company to hire her. She didn’t want to seem desperate when she called to set up the interview, but Cassy knew that she needed the job. Her mind didn’t even want to process what would happen if she didn’t get it. She just had to.
The next day while her son Shaun was in school, Cassy was getting ready for her interview. She was standing in front of the mirror, fixing her curly, black hair into an up-do when she stopped and really looked at herself. She was going to be thirty soon, but she didn’t feel old. Her almond-shaped brown eyes were tired and Cassy had a look on her face that was hard to fathom. Taking a deep breath, she smiled back at herself. “You have gotten through worse.”
***
The wait for her name to be called was the worst. Cassy had such a feeling about the job that she seemed to know that it was for her. She hadn’t even scheduled any more interviews because she was so sure. When her name was finally called, Cassy almost jumped where she was.
“Cassidy Barnes?”
She nodded her head, still trying to get used to the maiden name she didn’t think she would have again. It was still strange to hear it said out loud, but Cassy pushed that from her mind and followed the young brunette back to an office. It was bigger than all of the rest that she had passed and Cassy had a feeling she was about to meet the boss.
The room itself was empty and she was told to take a seat to wait. It gave time for Cassie to look around and get a feel for the person that worked there. While there were no pictures around, the space had a certain feel to it. All of the materials were almost opulent in an unstated way, like the beauty of a vase from the feel of the crystal. She knew that whoever was there in the office, commanded power in the company. If he wasn’t the boss, he was not far from the top.
“Ah, Miss. Barnes. Thank you for waiting for me.”
She was not expecting the clear, deep voice behind her with a touch of accent. Standing up, she turned to see the man that worked in such a place. Like the room, the man seemed made of a more sturdy material than she was used to.
He was taller than her by several inches and when he moved to shake her hand, his grip was firm and she felt a tingle with the contact. His dark eyes were slightly slanted and smiling at her, while his face stayed so serious that she wondered if she was, in fact, reading him wrong.
“Sir, thank you for meeting with me.”
“Please, call me William.”
Cassy nodded her head and smiled back at him. There was something about the way he looked at her that had her face feeling hot. Cassidy was glad for her dark chocolate skin to hide the flush on her face. It made her uncomfortable to even be sitting in front of him. Why was she feeling so self-conscious all of a sudden? His dark gaze slid over her body and it was almost like she could feel it touch her.
“So I have looked over your resume that you sent in and I see that you don’t really have any working experience in the last ten years. Can you tell me about that?”
The question threw her off and she tried to formulate in her mind a way to say it delicately. There was a moment that she felt emotions overwhelming her, the court hearing from the week before still fresh in her mind.
“Well I was married quite young and my ex-husband didn’t want me working outside of the house. Though, I do have years of experience running his business, answering calls, payroll, presentations, bookkeeping, that kind of thing. I just wasn’t paid for it.”
“I see.”
William already knew everything there was to know about her. He had her name and background ran when he set up the appointment. William never left himself out of the loop and he found himself rather enjoying her bluntness of the matter. Many would have glossed over much of it, but Cassidy didn’t seem to be that way. He respected honesty more than anything from his employees and he found himself settling into a decision that he had already made, though William wouldn’t admit that he was smitten from the first moment he had seen a picture of the dark beauty.
He had told himself if she looked as good in person, as she did on the several pictures pulled up from her record, he was going to hire her. The job he needed was not a typical secretary job. He traveled a lot and an assistant to him had to have many charms and William had found a beautiful assistant could melt even the coldest client’s moods during business agreements.
“What kind of availability do you see yourself having as a single mother for this job? My travel and needs may be demanding. How would you be able to work when I needed you to?”
“I didn’t say I had a child.” Cassy was starting to feel more than a little unnerved. He looked at her as if he knew her more than she knew herself and Cassie was starting to wonder if there was any truth to that.
“Ms. Barnes, I did a full background check on you. Your son was one of the things that came up. I never go into business with anyone without knowing who they are. My
assistant will be privy to information that cannot be leaked. I have to know who I am talking to.”
She nodded her head, trying not to show offense, but feeling it nonetheless. “I have a friend that watches my son when I need her to. I would think that would be sufficient.”
He noticed the change in her voice and was rather surprised that she was showing her irritation to him. She was definitely not like the other women he had interviewed that day. Cassidy was fiery, not at all what he had expected. William also wasn’t expecting to be so immediately taken with her.
“I think it will be. You can start tomorrow. Francis will leave you with the hiring package and make sure that you sign the non-disclosure before you leave.”
With that, the rather short interview was over and she was still sitting down as he made his way to the door. “So, I got the job?”
“Yes. I will see you tomorrow at eight o’ clock.”
Cassy nodded her head and it still took her a moment to get up. Relief was present with confusion, but he was gone and she was left staring at the empty doorway. Cassidy had to ask herself, what just happened?
Chapter 2
“So what kind of job is it going to be?”
“I don’t know. It was listed as a secretary, but he was talking about travel. Probably more like an assistant or something. I am not sure what kind of job it is, but the amount of money that they are going to pay, it really doesn’t matter.”
“What was his name?”
“William I think. I am not sure who he is in the company, but he seems to be pretty high up.”
Kathleen was giving her friend a skeptical look. It didn’t make sense to her. “So what did he look like? Was he at least cute?”
“What an odd thing to ask.”
“Not really. You are divorced now. You have to think about moving on.”
Cassy wasn’t so sure that she even wanted to think about moving on. Nothing good had come of her last relationship and she certainly wasn’t willing to start another one. She would have been lying if she didn’t think about it, but there was no way that she could. He was her boss and miles out of her league anyways.
“He was cute, but not my type.”
Kathleen just shook her head. “You don’t have a type. So what is his name again?”
“William.”
“And he is from Wo Enterprises?”
“Yeah, that’s the place that I interviewed at today.”
Her friend was snooping as she always did and was more than a little shocked when the search engine came up with many links. “Um, is it this guy?”
She showed Cassidy a picture and she shook her head. “Yeah, that is the guy I seen today. He is the one that needs an assistant. How did you get his picture?”
“He owns that place and a whole lot more all over the world. Are you sure this was him?”
Cassidy took a closer look at the dark eyes laughing in the picture and the broad shoulders underneath his tailored suit. Yes, that was definitely him and she realized then that he was more than a little cute. He was rather handsome but so different than what she was used to.
Shaking her head of such silly thoughts she went back to fixing some dinner. “See, he is not my type at all.”
“He could be. I think he is any girl’s type. It says here that he is single.”
Cassy rolled her eyes at her friend’s comment. Obviously, nothing like that would ever happen. How could it? He was a billionaire, literally, and she had just lost everything that she owned, which wasn’t much to begin with in a divorce where her husband had slandered her. William would never see her as anything else, she was sure of it. But she needed the money more than anything, so all she had to do was a good job. Cassy would just have to keep her little fantasies to herself.
“I am sure he is not looking at me like that. He wasn’t like most guys that check you out. He was, I don’t know, different.”
Kathleen had a look on her face and her friend was quickly realizing that she was trying to live precariously through her again. “How is Marcus?”
It was Kathleen’s turn to look aggravated. “Why did you have to go and remind me that I had a husband?”
Cassy just smiled and looked back down at the picture on her friend’s phone. “He is quite handsome, isn’t he?”
“Uh huh. You should see if he likes a little dark chocolate.”
Cassidy blushed with the idea of it and just shook her head. It would never be like that, she thought to herself. Besides, she wasn’t looking for a man anyways.
***
The next day was even more nerve-racking for Cassy. Now that she had the job and her friend had looked the man up, Cassy had spent her night learning about the billionaire from Japan. He had dual citizenship in America and had been there for several years. He was like Kathleen had said, single and it seemed that the man rather liked it that way, though he was noted as a recluse in several newspaper reports. Cassidy didn’t know what was right and what was made up, but she had a feeling that he was untouchable. The idea of working for a man like that was hard to swallow.
After she dropped her son off at her friend’s to catch the bus, Cassidy was ready for her first day of work in years. Her mind went to what he would ask of her and she cursed her friend for putting such ideas in her head about what could be. He wasn’t her type, Cassy kept reminding herself. She couldn’t even imagine being with a guy like him, so sure and confident while the rest of the world wanted a piece of him. It was all rather overwhelming and when she realized that she was going to be working in his office, it was somehow even worse.
“Will this be good for you?”
She was off to the side and since the room was big enough, it was plenty of room for them both. But she hadn’t anticipated being so close to him all of the time.
“Yes Sir, this is fine. What would you like me to do?”
“Didn’t Francis tell you about the job yesterday?”
She nodded but pressed on. “She did Sir, but there was a lot open to interpretation.”
He smiled and nodded, but didn’t say anything else for a time. William seemed to be collecting himself and she was left to wait for him to speak. Finally, she sat down when he nodded at her. She did and felt a strange tension in the room. After everything that she had read about the man in front of her, it was painfully clear to her that she didn’t know him at all and certainly didn’t even know what to say.
“I will need you to assist me in many things, mainly for meetings with clients. They like to see a pretty face and I think you have an open personality that is expected there. There will be regular secretarial duties, typing and such, but it will be your hostess skills that I need the most.”
She tried to act like she knew what he was talking about. Hostess skills. She could do that. If she could pretend to like Mario and all of his stupid friends that were always at the house, Cassy was sure that she could entertain and be nice to William’s kind of friends too.
He went on a little about what was expected of her and it didn’t seem all that bad at all. Halfway through the conversation, she was sidetracked by him taking his jacket off and hanging it on the back of his chair. Muscles rippled as he moved. He was not built like a high-powered businessman.
“Miss Barnes?”
“Yes, sorry.” Her face got hot as she realized that she was staring at him with a strange look in her eyes. He seemed amused, or his eyes did anyways as he waited for her to try to figure out what it was that he asked.
“Did you sign the disclosure paperwork?”
She nodded, afraid that she would mumble about like an idiot or even worse, her voice would shake.
“Good. I need some copies of these papers made. Now make sure that you use the copier on this floor and nowhere else. Never leave any of the paperwork in the machine. It always comes back to this office. You understand this?”
Cassidy shook her head again that she understood what he was saying. She looked down at the stack of papers and t
hen away, sure that he wouldn’t want her being nosy, but with all of the hoopla over the non-disclosure paperwork, she couldn’t help but be curious as to what secrets he was afraid of others finding out.
When she got down to the copy room down the hall, she looked at some of the papers, but it was all chemistry formulas and math equations. She had no real idea what it was, but it didn’t really matter. Cassidy got back to the office and sat down at her new desk. There was a list of things to do on her desk, scrawled in neat, semi-slanted letters, while the man that had written it was gone.
His list kept her busy the rest of the day and it was only at the end of it that she saw him come in. He smiled at her, but she noticed him jerk a little when he saw her. It was clear to her that he was not used to having someone in his office.
“Didn’t mean to startle you, Sir.”
Chapter 3
William was having more than a little trouble adjusting to his new assistant. After a week, it was obvious that she was not as professional as he would have liked and she had a lot to learn. But the hardest part was his decision to have her in his office with him.
Before, his assistants got the office next to his or down the hall. However, the last assistant had found a way to get some of the research information out to his competitors. One of the more lucrative sides of his companies was the pharma division. His assistant was sent in through a temp service and he hadn’t done his own vetting. For months he had done without any assistant, but now that he had to have one, William made sure that he kept the information close, as well as searched well into each applicant’s past.
He had picked Cassidy on a whim and she had been hard to ignore. When he needed a few moments alone to reflect, she was at her desk doing something. The skirts were short and by the end of the week, he was finding it almost impossible to concentrate. Cassidy was looking for something in the small filing cabinet and he was unable to keep his eyes off of her round backside. He wondered if she realized that she was driving him insane or if she was just naturally enticing.