Jada

The rest of the day followed the same pattern. I tried my damnedest to keep my mind on work and not think about the way Ivan’s lips felt against mine. No matter how hard I tried, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to forget about what happened.

Ivan must have taken my hint because he didn’t mention anything about our kiss for the rest of the day, but that didn’t stop him from looking at me with his sexy stare and making my body respond in ways I had no control over.

He’d call me into his office for something, and I’d lean over his desk, only for him to reach up and brush my hair behind my ear because it was falling over the papers we were looking at. Or later, in the copy room, when he just had to squeeze past me in the tiny space to get to an old archived record. His hands slid over my hips just barely, a whisper of a touch, and I could have sworn I felt his bulge teasing my ass as he flattened his body to get through the space that was hardly big enough for one person, let alone two.

It seemed he was teasing me as much as I was him. And it was a fun game, but it was also frustrating. I wanted something—someone—I couldn’t have. Suddenly, I understood where he was coming from. When we were together, we hardly got any work done. We were pretending to be productive, but we were only fooling ourselves. And just like that I agreed. I was over-qualified for the position he hired me for. After understanding each other and this strange relationship between us, we seemed to work together with ease. But our attraction to each other had become a major distraction.

The innocent touches. The gentle brushes of his fingers against my arm. The way he looked at me from across the room whenever I came into his office. All of it affected me on a deep level.

By the time the late afternoon had rolled around, I was one hot mess of emotions. I couldn’t remember the last time I was hot for a man. Actually, I’d never wanted a man this much. I had married my first husband for love. But looking back on it now, I realized that it wasn’t the kind of love that swept me off my feet.

After setting up everything that Ivan needed for a late afternoon conference call, I went out into the receptionist area to take some outgoing mail to Rachel. As expected, she was routing calls to Vetrov Corporation’s numerous divisions.

“Hi Rachel,” I greeted, placing a small stack of envelopes on her desk. “The mail clerk hasn’t been by yet, has he?”

“No, not yet. Last pickup is around four. How’s it going back there? Are you and Ivan all caught up?”

“We got a lot of work in for a Friday, I think.”

“Good, I think you’re going to be a good asset here. Ivan needed all the help he could get. It’s too bad your assignment is only temporary,” Rachel said.

“Yeah, that’s too bad.”

“Hey, don’t look so sad. The way he walked around with a sad puppy-dog face yesterday all day yesterday was very telling. I’m sure he’ll ask you to stick around here permanently.”

“I hope so.”

“You’ll probably meet everyone before your time is up. Some of the execs work from home several times a week, others travel all over the world and work from satellite offices, and others just don’t like to be seen very much at all and they hide out in their offices like hermit crabs,” she exclaimed.

“I understand. It was like that at my old job too. I met Johnathan this morning.”

“Oh boy. That guy…” Rachel rolled her eyes.

“He seems nice.”

“He’s my cousin, and he’s a pain in the ass. I’ve known him all my life.”

“Oh…are you um…?”

Rachel burst out laughing when I failed to complete my question. “You think I’m like Ivan and Johnathan. No. I’m not. We share the same blood, but both my parents are human.”

“This is all so new to me.”

“You’ll get used to it. Just don’t go around asking everyone that question,” she warned.

“I won’t.”

The elevator door opened and out walked the most extravagantly dressed woman I’d seen in a long time. She looked like a celebrity straight off the set of a movie set.

The woman smiled smugly, her gaze trailing between the both of us.

“Hello ladies,” she said, sweetly. The diamonds on her watch gleamed as she rested her hands on the receptionist’s counter.

“Gina,” Rachel greeted with a sour expression on her face.

“Rachel, I had no idea you were still working here. I thought after that little incident last month that they let you go.”

Rachel cleared her throat and frowned. “What can we do for you, Gina? Do you need another notary public seal or something?” Rachel held up a seal with an unamused look on her face.

Gina waved her hand. “No. Someone else handles that for me now. I need to see Ivan.”

“Do you have an appointment?” Rachel asked.

“No,” she huffed. “But I tried calling his direct line, and I kept going straight to voicemail. Something must be up with the phone lines here or maybe you’re just not routing the calls correctly.”

“I no longer route Ivan’s calls, Gina.”

“Well, who does? Whoever it is has been doing a lousy job,” Gina exclaimed.

I nearly chocked on my own breath at the insult.

“Gina, you’re looking right at her. Jada is Ivan’s new personal assistant.”

Gina’s gaze shot to me. “Personal assistant?” she exclaimed as if she had a bad taste in her mouth.

I decided to maintain a professional composure even though I’d just been insulted by the woman.

“Ivan’s in a meeting, so he can’t be disturbed right now. Leave a name and number on this paper and I’ll get it to him,” I told her, sliding a pad and pen onto the counter in front of her.

Gina looked down at it like I was handing her yesterday’s rotten trash.

“I’d like to see him now,” she said.

“I’m not sure you got my message the first time around. Ivan is in a meeting. He’s not taking any more calls today. You don’t have an appointment. If you have a message for him, use the notepad, and I’ll get it to him.”

Gina scowled once more. “Since when does Ivan have humans assisting him?”

I smiled back. “Since I applied for the job and he called me back to work for him.”

Gina rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m not leaving here until I hear from Ivan. I’ll wait until his conference is over.”

Seeing where this was headed, I told Rachel that I was going back to my office. I had officially cleaned my hands of the matter. The woman seemed adamant about speaking to Ivan. It was clear that she was something other than some random person or client. I most certainly wasn’t the jealous type, and I definitely wasn’t going to start today.

Less than thirty minutes later, Ivan re-opened his office door which meant that he had finished his conference call. Gina must have convinced Rachel to alert Ivan that she was hear because I heard him speaking in an aggressive tone on the phone line.

Rachel showed up at my desk not too long after that with a note in her hand.

“She’s finally gone,” she said.

“Who was that?” I asked.

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Ivan’s ex-girlfriend.”

“Oh.”

“She’s a hot mess. Her daddy used to run the company with Ivan’s dad, but somehow she still thinks she’s entitled to come in here any time she wants.”

“What did she want?”

Rachel pointed to the note. I glanced down at it to see something about a loan for a new start-up company.

“He didn’t want to talk to her or see her, but nothing’s new about that. Give the note to Ivan when he’s not busy.”

Rachel raced back to the phone lines after leaving me with the note.

So, Ivan Vetrov had ex-girlfriend drama. That didn’t surprise me. The man was irresistible. The appearance of an ex-girlfriend also told me that he had something his ex-girlfriend couldn’t bear to let go of.

Was it his money or something else?

I waited until almost close of business to take the note to Ivan. Like before, he had mounds of paperwork strewn across his desk.

I placed the note in his tray. “Wow,” I exclaimed. “Do you need me to stay overtime to help you with any of this?”

Ivan smiled. “Nah. You take the day off. Just enjoy your weekend.”

“Are you sure?” It wasn’t like I had anything better to do.

“I’m very sure. We just signed a new client this afternoon, so I thought I’d go over some things before handing out assignments,” he said.

I nodded. “Okay.”

Ivan studied me, his eyes lingering on my body before his attention dropped to my bags. The day had been eventful, and I was ready to go home to the seclusion of my apartment. Between us making up, the kiss, and the snotty ex-girlfriend, I’d had enough.

“You impressed me this week,” he said.

“I’m glad. Maybe you can put in a good word for me at my employment agency. I know this isn’t permanent and all and I’m going to need a good reference or two.”

“Sure. About earlier…?”

“Your ex-girlfriend? No need to explain. I’ve seen it all,” I said, reminiscing on all the types of situations I’d been in at my previous employers. Envious colleagues. Jealous wives and girlfriends. Raging mad customers. You name it. I’d seen it.

“Gina’s just an ex,” he said.

“Is that all she is?” I asked before I could stop myself.

“Yep, that’s all. My working relationship ended with her dad right around the time I split off from her. I was supposed to marry her, but she wasn’t what I thought she was. I could’ve married her for the good of our pack to join two prominent family names, but I decided I didn’t want to live a make-believe fantasy.”

“Does she still like you?” I already knew the answer to that question.

“She still likes my money, yes,” Ivan replied, plucking the note from the Inbox on his desk and skimming it. “Just as I thought. She wants my company to supply one of her start-ups with another loan. Her dad believed in investing and she still thinks she’s entitled the funds for anything.”

“I’m sure you’ll make the right decision about that,” I said.

He crumbled up the note and threw it in the waste basket. “I’ve already made it.”

“Well…” I started to back out. “I hope you have a great weekend.”

“Jada?”

I stopped mid-stride and turned to face him again. “Yes, Ivan?”

“About earlier…I wasn’t talking about Gina. What I was actually talking about was when we kissed.”

“Oh…” I blushed and diverted my attention to the floor.

“That wasn’t a mistake.”

“No,” I said, quietly. “I knew it was intentional.”

“Yes, I intended to kiss you. You kissed me back.”

“I did,” I replied.

“We can’t have both, you know? You working for me while I want you the way I do.”

“I know. I’m just not sure about all of this. You have so much going on.”

“You don’t have to worry about Gina. That’s over,” he said.

“I wasn’t worried about her. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not the jealous type. That’s a waste of energy.”

Ivan smiled. “You’re perfect, Jada. You know that, right?”

“To you, maybe.”

“Yes, you are perfect for me.”

“What do you want most, Ivan? A personal assistant, a maid, or…me?”

“You.”

“Let’s see what happens next week. You might change your mind.”

“I promised to be straightforward with you. I’m not an indecisive man. I know what I want once I see it. And I’ve wanted you from day one.”

“Everyone wants something, Ivan. Doesn’t mean we have to have it. See you on Monday, Ivan.”

He didn’t reply, but he made his intentions known when he cast me an ambitious glare.

With that, I backed out of the room and closed the door behind me. I grinned, ear to ear, all the way to my car.