On Monday morning when I walked into the office, everything was different. I felt like a legend. I was still a billionaire, I still owned a publishing company and I still had everyone ready to obey my every command.

But I’d also taken Harper’s virginity. I’d gotten what I’d set out to do. I’d fucked her on the beach, making her mine in a way that no man had before and no man could ever do so again. Mission accomplished.

And yet, it felt like so much more than that. Watching her orgasm the way she had left me bent over in need for the rest of the fucking weekend. I wanted to give her pleasure over and over again. To slide my tongue, my fingers, my cock deep inside of her. I wanted to buy a bag of toys, tie her up and work both of her holes open real good before fucking her for the rest of the night.

She had me needing things I’d never needed before.

When I walked into the office I felt like I could conquer the world. Which was good because I still had the Turner situation to deal with.

“Call Reggie in for me, will you?” I asked Sarah after she gave me all my messages and I told her what I needed from her for the day. She nodded and disappeared. A few minutes later, Reggie walked through my door. He was tall and lanky with dark rimmed glasses and a nervous attitude.

“Let’s talk about Lisa Turner,” I said to him, pointing at a chair opposite me so that he could sit down. “Tell me your side.”

“She’s stealing work,” Reggie said.

I raised my eyebrows at him. “That’s a big allegation,” I said.

“It’s not an allegation,” Reggie said and he sounded confident. “I have proof.” He reached into his bag and produced a manuscript.

“This is the O’Hare book we accepted last month,” I said.

Reggie nodded. “I’ve highlighted a few things on page twenty-five,” he said. “And I have this. It’s something Lisa turned in last week. I highlighted the relevant pages, too. When I did a fact check it looked so familiar.”

I turned to the right pages and read the highlighted passages. They were identical.

“Thank you, Reggie,” I said. “For bringing this to me and for keeping it quiet.”

When Reggie left my office, I swiveled my chair to my window and thought about it for a moment. Lisa Turner had had warnings, before. She was on her final warning as it was, but this was grounds for immediate action, anyway.

I got up and walked out of the office, the papers tucked under my arm. I rode the elevator down to the third floor.

When I walked through the door, the open plan floor with its cubicles fell quiet. I never visited the editorial floor. Everyone knew I was here for a reason and it couldn’t be a good one.

“I’m looking for Lisa Turner,” I said to the person closest me to me. She pointed at a row of offices.

“The second one,” she said.

I nodded and walked through the cubicles to the offices behind them. Whispers followed me and the news that I was here about Turner had spread across the entire floor before I’d reached the row of offices. I was just about to knock on the door when it opened and a woman rushed out, bumping right into me.

“Oh, God,” she said and a wave of blond hair covered her face. “I’m so sorry, Mr… Liam?” She asked, looking at me and I looked into Harper’s bright blue eyes. “I mean... ugh, Mister Big Stuff. I’m so sorry.”

I blinked. She was blushing bright red, scrambling for the books she’d dropped.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“I’m Ms. Turner’s assistant,” she said. She looked as confused as I was. I racked my mind. Her new job, I suddenly realized. It was for me. Harper effectively worked for me.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, returning the question.

I blinked at her. She didn’t know what I did for living. I hadn’t known what she did, either. We hadn’t talked about work at all, not more than that she’d moved to LA recently to pursue her career. I hadn’t wanted to talk about work with her. I’d wanted to stay in the surreal bubble that I entered every time I was with her. I’d wanted to stay as far away from work and all the responsibilities of real life with her.

“I’m the CEO, here,” I said. Harper blinked at me, the information sinking in. She shook her head as if she was trying to clear it, as if she was trying to figure out how the hell this was possible. I was stumped, too.

Apart for the work event – that she hadn’t shown up to – my work had been so far away. I would have found out that night, had she come with me. It was something I couldn’t focus on, now. I had to take care of business, first.

“I’ll deal with this later,” I said. It was too much to take in. “I have to speak to Turner.”

Harper nodded and stepped out of the way. I walked in through the open door and closed it behind me. Lisa Turner looked up, surprised.

“Was it you, talking to my assistant out there?” she asked. “I hope she didn’t do something foolish. She’s very new.”

“She was fine, Ms. Turner,” I said. “I want to talk to you about your work.”

Turner nodded, her face open. She looked so damn innocent, if I didn’t have the evidence under my arm I would have thought she hadn’t done anything.

“Care to explain this?” I asked, putting the papers in front of her. She read through it. I watched her as she took it in, her face going ashen the further she read.

“I don’t have to tell you that copyright infringement is a serious crime. We can be sued for this.”

Turner swallowed hard. “Are you going to press charges?” she asked.

I shook my head. “And jeopardize the company? No. I’m going to tell you to clear your office out by lunch and to never show your face here again.”

She blinked at me. “And my assistant?” she asked.

“It’s nice of you to think about others now, when you seemed to only care for yourself before. I will take care of Miss Peterson. Pack your things, Ms. Turner. I don’t want to have to call security to escort you out.”

Turner hung her head in what I hoped was shame. Not only had she killed her own career but she’d nearly taken my company down with her. If this had come out, if the wrong person had noticed, it would have been impossible to bounce back. Thank God for people like Reggie who had the mind to do the right thing.

I turned around and walked out of the office again. I looked around, searching for Harper but she was nowhere to be seen. No matter, there wasn’t much I could say here. Everyone was still staring at me. No doubt, the news had already spread that I’d just fired Turner.

“Back to work,” I said, marching through the cubicles again. Everyone around me scrambled to do as I’d said and it was good to know that I commanded that kind of authority in my own place. A king had to know that his subjects were still serious about following him.