Is Mr. Fuckable back from his trip yet? Should we get drinks at 5?

Bria checked the text from Kassidy and smiled to herself.

Her best friend worked in the editorial department on the floor below hers at the headquarters of Carter Media Group, Inc., and they got together once a week to decompress and sometimes bitch about their lives, their jobs, and the lack of eligible men in a city the size of Boston.

And of course, gossip about the scary hot Ashton Carter, who Bria worked directly under.

Mr. Carter, had been gone for the past eight days on business, and he’d given her pages and pages of notes that he needed organized as soon as he got in.

“Texting during company time?” a cool voice asked from just over her shoulder.

Bria turned and saw that Ashton Carter was standing there watching her with an enigmatic look on his face.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were already back from your trip,” she said, putting her phone down.

She was always startled by Mr. Carter, though, even when he wasn’t surprising her by coming up behind her.

His very presence had an effect on her like nothing else—made her feel tongue tied and young and incompetent.

“I’m back and there’s lots still to do,” Ashton said. “So I hope you weren’t counting on leaving anytime soon.”

It was as if he’d somehow been reading her texts with Kassidy.

Or her mind.

Either way, she was blushing now with embarrassment. “I’m here as long as you need me,” Bria replied. Even that seemed to come out wrong.

All Ashton Carter did was nod his head once, turn on his heel, and retreat to his office. Bria watched his broad back as he walked away from her in his expensive, perfectly tailored suit.

When his office door slammed shut, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Bria typed into her phone.

Can’t make it till 8 at the earliest…Boss says lots to do still

Kassidy replied with a sad face emoji.

It seemed like all Bria did was sleep, work and then sleep again. Not that she could complain. This job gave her enough money to pay for her sister’s medical treatment, which was all Bria really cared about.

Who needed a social life? It wasn’t like she had time for anything or anyone else right now.

Not that any of that mattered to her boss, the Ashton Carter of Carter Media Group, Inc.

His social life was just fine, judging by the number of phone calls from women that Bria forwarded to his voicemail every day. She’d gotten good at heading them off before they got too pushy. Not an easy task when they seemed to appear and disappear faster than she could keep up.

Stephanie Seymour in legal wore fuck me heels whenever she came up to meet with Ashton, which seemed to be quite often lately.

Even if she didn’t have the firsthand knowledge of the way women wanted him, Bria would still have known he was a player. The tabloids loved him. Loved to speculate about the women on his arm, always a different one, wherever he went.

Yet Bria had never seen more than a polite indifferent smile on his face in any of the photos.

It was almost as if he did it specifically for the publicity, because in every article and blurb, they mentioned his company name. Ashton Carter, Media mogul, President of Carter Media Group. A self made billionaire. Eligible bachelor.

The press loved him and so did most women.

When she’d first started working for him, she’d noticed that the women in the office building tended to wear their tops a little tighter on the days there were department meetings.

But Bria couldn’t fault a single one of them.

Every time Ashton sent her an email, her pulse leapt to life.

God help her when he would come out of his office and walk to her desk to personally deliver notes that needed to be typed up. His dark hair always look tousled, like someone had just been running their fingers through it, and it framed a chiseled face that made her breath catch every time she looked at him.

With the bluest of blue eyes and lips that looked like they could kiss the hell out of a woman, he was pretty much a walking orgasm.

And he had a body straight out of Men’s Health, which you could see even when he wore his trademark suit.

More times than not he’d take off the suit jacket and roll his sleeves up to his elbows, and his forearms were tan and smooth and firmly muscled.

It was insane the way her blood pounded in her chest when she caught a glance of him as he strode past her desk.

Every once in awhile, she thought she caught him staring at her with this look in his eyes. Like he wanted to know what was under her conservative blouse and pencil skirt. Not that she really found it remotely possible that he felt any interest in her. She knew this fantasy was all in her head.

He could have any woman—literally, almost any woman—that he wanted.

She might have given more than a passing thought about what would happen if he turned just a little and in that deep voice of his, demanded that she unzip his pants and take his cock out.

But she was twenty-one, inexperienced and the last woman a sexy man like Ashton would notice. She took good enough care of herself that her curves looked good on her five-five frame and the dozens of pencil skirts and colorful blouses highlighted that fact.

So no, she was pretty sure she never even crossed Ashton’s radar as a possible conquest. Because Ashton Carter definitely had a preferred type of woman; namely tall leggy gorgeous supermodel types like the ones that were draped on his arm every week.

Tall and leggy Bria was not.

She was just his assistant and that was that.

And besides—she’d done something quite scandalous to get this job. She was lucky enough to have gotten away with her crazy stunt, and now she just wanted to keep her head down and cash those checks.

But a smile still lifted her lips when she glanced at Ashton’s closed door.

If nothing else, he fueled her daydreams and made her job that much more exciting, even if he did intimidate her to no end. Who wouldn’t love to come to work every day for a sexy man like Ashton Carter?

Bria forced herself to focus again and take a deep breath. Her work was not going to do itself and she never went home until all if it was done.

She gave her job everything she had and refused to slack on a single detail.

And right now, Bria was translating Ashton’s notes into coherent sentences for the proposal he was working on.

There would be more rounds of edits after this, but he liked to see a draft of his organized thoughts before he went any further. Bria had learned quickly that Ashton was meticulous about his business. It showed and was why Carter Media was the largest news outlet in the country.

“Ms. Long, a moment please.”

She looked up and saw Ashton standing at the threshold to his office as if he’d just appeared there by magic. His lips were tight and he didn’t wait for her to answer before ducking back inside and leaving the door open.

Apprehension made her muscles tight. She didn’t know if she should grab her notebook or not, but at the last second, she did just in case he needed her to jot anything down.

“Close the door and sit,” he said as soon as soon she walked through the door.

Her feet froze at his request. Never before had he asked for a closed door meeting. Trepidation crawled over her as she did as he asked and then moved into his office.

“The notes you needed will be ready in about an hour,” she said. “It seems like your meeting this week was a good one? Adding another radio station to your portfolio?”

Bria took the seat across from him and waited for him to answer.

Occasionally, they talked about various companies he wanted her to research, and she would put together comprehensive packages on the state of their finances, demographics, and sometimes, pertinent information that would help Ashton make an offer if he decided to.

She loved that part of her job most. Digging deep to find an advantage, however small it may be. She was ready to get the details for the next one.

Today however, Mr. Carter studied her over steepled fingers and it felt as though he could see right down inside her. She shifted in her seat. There was always a vibe of barely restrained intensity surrounding her boss, and she’d been on the receiving end of his soul-freezing stare before.

But this felt different.

“Do you know how I became successful, Ms. Long?”

Of course she did. Everyone in the greater Boston area knew about Ashton Carter. She nodded. The stories about his success were everywhere and she knew them by heart.

“You bought out a struggling newspaper Atlanta when you were nineteen and then…”

“I’m well aware of the technical parts of my success,” he said, cutting her off. “I’ve turned that initial investment into a very high net worth, but again, do you know how?”

This time she shook her head. Clearly he didn’t need a rundown of his own accomplishments. “Hard work?”

“By surrounding myself with people I can trust. Who value my company as much as I do. I only hire the best of the best and in turn, I expect the best. And where do the very best people come from, Ms. Long?”

Bria swallowed the unease that clogged in her throat. The air between them vibrated with tension. The edge of the notebook dug into her gut. “I…I don’t know,” she murmured.

“People such as yourself. A graduate of Brown if I remember correctly.” He lifted one eyebrow and her unease turned to full blown panic. Something about the way he asked made her blood run cold. “Top of your class, right?”

She was a deer caught in headlights. It was as if he were daring her to answer his questions.

Did he know?

Her pulse hammered in her ears. Technically she had graduated top of her class, just not at Brown like she said on her resume.

Slowly, she nodded.

He narrowed his eyes his lips went tight. When he laid his hands on his desk and leaned forward, she automatically sat back.

His gaze pinned her in place as he waited.

“So is it true that you graduated top of your class from Brown University, Ms. Long?” The way he said her name, his voice deep and low, sent shivers along her arms. “You choose to continue this charade?”

He knew.

Bria dropped her head and refused to look at him.

“Do you know what I value most in all of my employees?” he asked too softly. There was a steely undertone that demanded she answer his question. She felt herself being backed into a corner which only kicked her fight or flight response into overdrive.

She couldn't run.

All she had left was to fight.

What kind of person expected all his employees to be Ivy League graduates for crying out loud? Did the mailroom guy have a degree from Harvard? The receptionist from Yale?

Bria had obviously done her job well despite the fact that her degree had the name of a state university. She was a damned good assistant despite that fact.

“I’ve done an exceptional job here,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t wobble.

“I value honesty above all else,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I demand it from everyone who works for me. Integrity, Ms. Long, is the number one attribute I expect, especially from someone who works with me as personally as you do. I have to trust my employees to treat this company as I would. So imagine my surprise when I sat down in my office after a long and tiring trip, and upon checking my email, see that I’ve received an anonymous tip from someone claiming you lied on your resume. That you did not graduate from Brown, as you stated you had when you applied for this position.”

Every word was spoken with tightly controlled emotion.

She could see the way his jaw kept clenching, the way his fingers pressed down into the desk. There was accusation all over his face, but it was the disappointment in his eyes that made her stomach drop.

Heat climbed into her cheeks. She couldn’t seem to find her voice.

“One phone call was all it took to find out the truth,” he told her. “Clean out your desk, Ms. Long. You’re no longer needed at Carter Media, effective immediately.” The cold, clipped tone of his voice made her cringe.

The bottom dropped out of her stomach. Any fight she had in her sank with it as she was filled with pure white-hot panic.

She couldn’t lose this job, not when her sister was counting on her.

Failure was simply not an option.

“Please, I need this job.”

“Something you should have considered before lying,” he said coldly.

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him about Shana, about why she had to lie, but it was too painful. And besides, something told her that any emotional appeal wouldn’t matter to a man like Ashton Carter.

She needed to give him facts that he couldn’t dispute. She had to prove how indispensable she was and how much he needed her here.

“I’ve been here early every day for the past month,” she said in a rush. “I stay late. I always finish whatever you need done before I leave and have even gone above and beyond making sure your proposals were perfect. I’ve scheduled your travel details, made sure that your dry cleaning was ready before you needed it, and I even made sure that Joan Bickford had an appropriate retirement gift from you last week when you missed her going away party.”

Ashton leaned forward, his sharp gaze focused on her mouth. She knew she was word vomiting and that her face was covered in a sheen of sweat, but she had to make him reconsider.

She sucked in a breath and kept going before he could stop her. “I am a damned good assistant and the fact that I don’t have an Ivy League degree shouldn’t matter. Yes, I made a terrible mistake when I lied about the school I graduated from. But I’ve proven myself since I began working for you, and I’ll continue to prove myself if you’ll just give me another chance. I’m here now and I like working for you and I can do the job you need.”

Her voice broke and she clasped her hands in her lap. Tears burned the back of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. She would not cry in front of her boss, though she was sure he didn’t miss how glassy they were when she finally dared to look up at him.

His expression had not changed, but the lines on his face weren’t so hard now. His gaze held hers, demanded that she not look away, and she didn’t dare. Not even when he broke away first. She watched as he looked over her body without apology and when he lifted his stare again, his eyes were darker.

A different part of her body reacted to that look.

Unconsciously she licked her dry lips and his gaze dropped to her mouth. His shoulders tensed and she swore he sucked in a breath before releasing it and sitting back.

“Tell me something about you. A painful truth that you don’t want anyone to know,” he barked, his stare pinning her to the chair once again. “And it has to be something important, something meaningful…or we’re done here.”

She wanted to look away, wanted to get up and run out of his office. But another part of her was willing to do as he asked. There was something in his eyes that excited her, made her want to give into this strange request.

The timing could not be worse, but she couldn’t seem to stop staring at his lips.

“If you can’t even come up with one thing…” he said.

“I’m a virgin,” she blurted out. “And I’ve never had a real kiss from a man before.”

His entire body went rigid and her breath stalled in her lungs.

If possible his eyes went even darker. She knew he was trying to figure out if she really had been telling the truth, and it should be obvious to him by how red her cheeks were right now.

Why had she told him she’d never really been kissed? She knew why, because his lips had mesmerized her and all she’d been thinking about was what they would feel against hers.

And because it was the embarrassing, humiliating truth.

The air between them thickened and it took all her willpower not to run away.

When he met her eyes again, she swore she could see the blazing hunger in them. Her nipples drew tight and they had to be pressing against the thin material of her blouse.

“I will carefully consider my final decision.” His voice had gone a little deeper, hoarser and thick. “I will let you know tomorrow what I’ve decided, and that will be the last time we discuss this matter, Ms. Long.”

She felt herself nodding, but all the blood in her body seemed to be pulsing between her legs. “Thank you for considering,” she said breathlessly.

His shoulders went rigid and air hissed out from between his teeth. “You may go home now. We’re finished here.”

The words left unspoken were what worried her most as she made her way out of his office, her pulse thundering in her ears. She glanced back once, right before she stepped out of his office, but he had turned the chair around and all she could see was the back of his head.

Her mind and body ached for entirely different reasons but it didn’t change the fact that in less than a day, her entire world might come crumbling down around her and there was nothing she could do about it.

Her future was in the hands of a man that Bria knew could so easily destroy her, both professionally and personally, if he that was what he so chose.