Chapter 5

Emma

It was a miracle I made it back to my desk without collapsing into a wiggling pile of goo on the office floor. The moment Haddie turned me back over to the computer, I practically fell into the office chair and had to take a moment to regain my composure without her seeing what had gotten me so frazzled.

“So, these are the email folders I have set up,” Haddie was saying, giving me a tour of her inbox. “Obviously you’ll have to set up your own with your email, but a lot of the things we do are pretty regular, so it’s good to have an organizational system in place.”

I nodded, trying to soak up what she was saying, even though my mind kept straying to the dark-haired god seated only a couple dozen feet away from me.

I couldn’t believe that the hot guy I ran into last week was now my boss. Talk about a cruel twist of fate. The worst part? He was even hotter to me now that I knew he was my boss. Suddenly he’d been labeled ‘forbidden fruit,’ yet he was within arm’s reach at all times. It wasn’t fair.

“Should we move on to daily tasks?” Haddie asked.

Crap. I’d completely zoned out.

“Yeah, sounds good.” I smiled weakly, though she seemed pretty focused on the screen in front of her and didn’t seem to notice.

I was good at picking things up, and had no doubt in my mind that I’d be fine at this job once I got the hang of it. So far it was pretty straightforward, though Haddie said the duties would layer as I got more accustomed to them. That was fine. I was just happy to be out of my old job and the old rut I used to call my life. I was out on my own—sorta—and taking the business world by storm—a little anyway.

Remembering my purpose for taking this job, I felt stupid for letting my mind wander about the hot boss. I refocused, and by the end of the day Haddie thought I was ready to be left alone for a bit. I wasn’t so sure.

“It’s just half an hour,” she said, grabbing her coat from the chair. “Nothing ever happens in the last half hour of the shift anyway, unless Max needs something, and he’s not going to give you anything too stressful to do on your first day.”

“Thanks, Haddie.” I didn’t want her to see how much I was freaking out inside. I could handle this. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes you will!” she said. “Have a good night.”

With that, Haddie was gone. I watched her swagger through the rows of cubicles toward the elevator, then turned to my computer. For the first time all day I was alone at my desk. It was a strange sensation. I’d never had a desk at work before.

I started clicking through emails, which Haddie said would help familiarize me with the way things worked around here. I was barely finished reading the second one when my intercom buzzed.

Crap. Crap! What was I supposed to say again?

My hands started to sweat. I reached out and pressed the button, cringing as I spoke. “Hello?”

There was a deep chuckle from the other end of the line. “Hi.”

I blanched. Why had I answered the damn thing like a telephone? I already knew who was calling.

“Uh, hey Mr. Westfield. I haven’t quite figured everything here out yet,” I replied. “Are you looking for Haddie? She left already.”

My heart was racing and I felt completely ridiculous. It was just a conversation. Just a normal conversation with my boss. My hot boss. My incredibly hot boss.

No big deal.

“I was looking for you, actually,” he replied smoothly. “Would you mind coming into my office?”

“Not at all,” I gulped. “I’ll be right in.”

“Great.”

I sucked down a mouthful of air as I pulled my hand from the button, wondering if I was in trouble already. What could I have possibly done wrong on my first day?

Straightening my skirt, I rose onto wobbly feet and did my best, most confident walk to his office door. Luckily, it was a short walk.

I knocked, listening for his reply.

“Come in.”

Max grinned at me when I entered. “We just talked, you know. You don’t have to knock as well.”

I closed the door behind me, smiling nervously. “Noted. What can I do for you?”

Maybe he just wanted me to fetch him a coffee or something. It was a bit late in the day for one, but at least that was something I could do pretty easily.

Max gestured for the seat in front of his desk. “Please. Take a seat.”

I didn’t like the way this was going. I hated suspense. I once tried to get into reading thrillers, but I’d always get too antsy and read ahead to see what happened. Apparently I was just one of those people who preferred things at face value. Books and people.

I sat and waited to hear what he’d called me in for.

Max’s office was gorgeous. It had all the elegant fixings and finishes you’d expect for a man in his position—a polished oak desk, grand bookcases stuffed with hard-backed tomes, a chrome-finished wall clock perfectly centered on the wall. There were few personal touches, though I saw a picture of him and his father hanging on the wall by the bookcases. Haddie had told me earlier that Max’s father died a few years ago of heart failure. Apparently Max had taken it pretty hard, and since then he’d been intent on continuing his father’s legacy.

“I just called you in because I think we should get to know each other a little better,” Max said. “We’re going to be working closely, so it doesn’t make sense for us to be strangers. You can call me Max, by the way. You only need to do the whole Mr. Westfield thing around clients, or in more formal settings. You’ll soon see and will be able to adjust without a thought.”

“Thanks,” I said. I recalled Haddie’s interaction with Max and his friend earlier, and wondered if I could expect to get that close to him. I’d been shocked by the way she spoke to the two men, but also a little jealous. “What do you want to know?”

His lip curled a little at the corner, giving the impression that he was amused. “Well, to start with, maybe tell me a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up?”

“Springfield, Illinois,” I answered. “I moved to New York after high school.”

“Seems a little young to be traipsing off to the big city,” he observed.

“It’s all relative,” I replied, with maybe a little hint of irritation creeping into my voice. I didn’t like thinking about the town I’d grown up in, nor did I like it when people questioned my decision to leave when I did.

“Fair enough, I didn’t mean to speak out of turn.” He raised his hands in a show of backing off, and I immediately felt a wave of regret.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

Max smiled, “No, you definitely should have. I need somebody with backbone in your position, especially when it comes to me. I’ve had weak assistants before and it’s always turned out poorly.”

“Why is that?”

He shrugged. “I can be quite demanding, but I try to always be respectful. If I overstep, I need to know. Otherwise I’ll keep doing it without meaning to.”

“Good to know.”

“Indeed. Have you had a good first day so far?”

“Yeah,” I replied. “Lots of learning. Everything’s still very new to me though, so if it takes me a little longer than usual to get the hang of things, I apologize.”

“That’s quite alright,” he said. “I’d rather you take the time to get things right than rush through and make mistakes.”

Max leaned forward in his chair suddenly, so that he was over the top of the desk and seemed practically in my face, though he really wasn’t. I inhaled sharply and hoped he didn’t notice. I was trying hard to play it cool and act like being close to him didn’t frazzle every nerve I had, but inside I felt like the physical equivalent of television static. I didn’t know how successful I was being from an outsider’s perspective, but my heart felt like it was in my throat.

“I find it very interesting that Haddie hired someone with such a lack of experience.”

“She must have thought I was qualified enough. I might not have experience in business, but I’ve got tons of experience with people.”

“I’m sensing that about you. What did you do before this?”

Had he even bothered to read my resume at all, or did he just give Haddie carte blanche to hire whomever she wanted? Was that smart? What if I wasn’t qualified at all and she’d made the wrong call?

No. I was meant to be here. This was part of my self-improvement strategy and I deserved to be here. I could do this. I could handle all aspects of this job, including my enigmatic and slightly confusing boss.

“I was a waitress,” I answered, keeping my head high.

“A waitress?” A smile curved lazily on his lips. “Maybe Haddie thinks that’s what I need.”

“What do you think you need?”

The question was out before I had time to think about how it would sound. It was a mistake, especially since the way I said it made it sexually charged somehow, and the glint in Max’s eye told me he’d gotten that impression too. I gulped, throat dry, and decided to stick it out and wait for his response.

“What don’t I think I need?” he replied, leaning back and casually folding his arms behind his head. His shirt was rolled to the elbows after a long day of work, and his tie was a little looser than it had been earlier, giving him the overall impression of being finished work for the day. This conversation felt more casual than it should have been. And definitely more sexual.

Maybe it was just me. Maybe Max thought we were having a completely normal employer/employee chat and wasn’t thinking twice about it. But something about the energy of the room, the way his words tumbled smoothly over seductive lips, made it more than a casual conversation for me. It was tense, but in a different way than I’d ever get reading a thriller. I didn’t want to flip to the end to see how this ended because I was caught up in the rush of the moment. I didn’t want to read ahead only to find out that this delicious tension had been in my head the whole time.

“I can’t say I know you well enough to speculate,” I replied, even though I wasn’t sure if his question was rhetorical or not.

“And that brings us back to square one. Getting to know each other.” Max took a breath, studying me. “Why New York?”

I shrugged. “I liked the idea of becoming submerged in a sea of people.”

That piqued his interest. He grinned slyly. “You hiding from someone?”

“Just one or two members of the mob,” I deadpanned. I didn’t want to admit how close he’d gotten to the mark. “But isn’t everybody hiding from someone?”

Max let his arms drop, sitting up straighter in his chair. His expression had grown sharper. More interested. “I’m not hiding from anybody. What do you say to that?”

“I say you’re either lucky or lying.”

I watched his eyes fall from my eyes to my mouth, and was suddenly so desperate to know what he was thinking about that I would have traded my entire savings account to find out.

“I must be lucky,” he said. “Looks like I’ve got a whip smart new assistant.”

“That’s not luck. You’ve got your old whip smart assistant to thank for that.”

He was clearly amused by this answer, which was a relief. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing in this new world, but so far muddling my way through was working wonders. If only there were an easy solution for dealing my unfortunate attraction to my new boss.

“We’re done for the day. Why don’t you go home a little early, Emma.” The way he said my name sent tingles down my spine. “I’ve enjoyed our little chat.”

“Me too.” I smiled and rose from my chair, feeling oddly like I should be bowing or something. The concept of corporate hierarchies was going to take a lot more getting used to. “I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it.”

I felt his eyes searing into my back as I walked to the door, and it wasn’t until I was outside that I could breathe again.

I hoped I looked like I had it together on the outside, at least partially, because it felt like I was falling apart. Had he felt that too? The thrumming sexual energy in the air? Was I ridiculous for thinking it had to be more than me and my overactive imagination?

I just hoped that being around Max would get easier, and it wouldn’t always feel like this.