At first I thought I’d strayed into a dream.

Or possibly that I was experiencing some sort of delayed reaction from the drink last night.

A hallucination.

Had to be that because this couldn’t be real.

The handsome blonde haired man I was looking at couldn’t be the same Alex I spent the night with last night.

Alex Sullivan.

That was his name and I’d commit the name to memory because I never ever wanted to forget, so I knew I couldn’t have gotten the name wrong.

Alex… Sullivan.

Sullivan, as in …Sullivan’s?

Shit. No way, No way at all.

My heart stopped beating in the cavity of my chest and I was pretty certain all the air whooshed out of me as realization dawned.

It couldn’t be him, but it was.

But it couldn’t be.

If it truly was then God and the universe were having a real good joke at my expense, and I didn’t know why.

I’d followed Kayla in here with my brightest smile, ready to start the day, ready to start the rest of my life.

This was supposed to be the first step towards doing something just for me. My fresh start.

Then I saw him.

Alex.

He was here, and he looked even better in a suit.

His eyes were glued to me.

The man who I presumed was Bradford Sullivan stood on the opposite side of the desk looking well and truly annoyed. Alex had been sitting but rose when he saw me.

I didn’t fail to notice that the more he looked the more annoyed Bradford appeared to be, and I didn’t know why.

Several things dashed through my mind, right now it was the fact that Alex looked a lot like Bradford. Like he could be the younger version of the man, except that Alex had silver gray eyes and Bradford had bright blue eyes. Alex also had really light blonde hair, and Bradford a sort of dirty blonde hair speckled with gray.

“Guys this is Summer Daniels.” Kayla introduced me against the weird tension that filled the room. There was a questioning look in her eyes when she looked back to me and saw my expression. “Summer, this is Bradford Sullivan and his son, your new boss Alex Sullivan.” She continued.

I looked at her then when she said Alex was my new boss and my poor heart nearly completely stopped in my chest. My breathing had already ceased.

There I was contemplating their relation only to be shocked that Bradford Sullivan was Alex’s father and then double shocked to hear that Alex was my new boss.

What sort of madness had I just walked into?

Or, alternate dimension.

When I didn’t say anything and they didn’t say anything she raised her eyebrows.

“Okay… I’m leaving now.” Kayla stepped backwards. “You guys can get acquainted and talk to each other. It’s kind of normal to talk when you first meet. Helps the meeting.”

On that note Kayla left us.

Alex was still just looking at me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. His father looked from me to him, focused on Alex like he wanted to say something then looked back at me.

He made his way over to me, hands out stretched but still with that look of uncertainty on his face.

“Miss Daniels, pleasure to meet you,” Bradford said.

I had the good sense to snap out of my shock and take his hand, giving it a firm shake.

“Great to meet you too.” I must have been on auto-pilot because I didn’t know how I was able to form the words that came out of my mouth.

“You too, we’re just a little thrown because Eilesh was supposed to be sending someone else.”

Talk Summer. Hold it together. Don’t flake out. If only for Eilesh’s sake.

I couldn’t make her look bad because she’d really looked out for me and contacted me straight away when this position came up. The woman who was supposed to be here instead of me found her dream job and went after it.

Eilesh ran the recruitment agency that supplied a lot of the top law firms their support staff.

That was what brought me to Chicago to kick start my fresh start.

“Oh I think she took another assignment.” I managed, and was able to keep the quiver out of my voice. “I was told this was a last minute opportunity.”

That was what Eilesh told me to say. How I remembered anything right now was a mystery to me, but at least I was talking.

“Not to worry. Eilesh only sends the best. I may however have to place you with one of the other lawyers though.”

“No.” Alex interrupted quickly from across the room, cutting in before his father could say another word.

That wicked smile from last night was plastered on his face. It brought back the craziness of the situation to my mind and I could no longer focus.

“There’s no time for messing around like that. I need a PA today and you need me to get on to Devon’s case.” He added but my ears were ringing and I could barely hear him.

Bradford turned to face Alex, eyes blazing.

At that moment Kayla came back in the room. “Sorry to disturb you. I have Devon in reception. He needs to see you urgently.” She said to Bradford.

Bradford narrowed his eyes at Alex. “We’ll talk later.”

“Can’t wait,” Alex answered, that wicked smile turning menacing.

“We’ll catch up later.” Bradford said to me and then left with Kayla, leaving me with Alex and the true essence of my shock.

What now?

Alex was looking at me, and now he was coming over.

It was hard to look at him and not remember everything about last night.

How he touched me, how he kissed me, how he devoured me. There wasn’t a place on my body that this man hadn’t touched.

I wondered if I would feel differently if I’d only slept with him once, instead of so many times that I’d lost count.

Of course because I was thinking of sex, my damn face felt hot, and my skin prickled with the heat from the memory. I didn’t need to guess if I was blushing because I knew I was and I’d now lost the ability to think of anything else besides him.

He stopped just before me with those amazing eyes, now dark liquid silver, which I’d come to know meant he was turned on.

And, I shouldn’t have known that because he was my new boss.

I had a one night stand with him and now I was here at the place that was supposed to give me that fresh start.

“Angel,” he said with that smooth voice that filled my ears with pleasure only hours ago. God, it was only about three hours ago since I last kissed him. “We could have had a much better day if you’d stayed with me.”

I watched the slow easy smile inch across his face and my breathing constricted even more.

Taking the ends of my ponytail he curled it around his thumb and beamed down at me causing something I didn’t want to flicker in my heart.

It was then that I realized that I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t work here. It didn’t matter what working here would do for me.

I stepped back and the curl unfurled itself from his thumb.

“I can’t.” Was all I could say.

Confusion filled his handsome features, but I didn’t stay to hear his next words.

I rushed away, going back through the door.

I couldn’t do it, work here.

My luck was absolute shit.

Who went to a club to blow off steam after finding out that their ex best friend and ex-boyfriend were getting married only to land themselves in bed with a man comparable to a god, then find out that the godlike man was their new boss?

I didn’t know anyone that had ever happened to, and all practically in one day.

Only me.

“Eilesh, I need another job.” That was the first thing I blurted when she answered her phone.

“What!” Eilesh shrieked. “Are you kidding me? Summer this is the job that will put you back on the market, the ladder. Damn it why do you need another job?”

How did I say this? I was on the verge of another bout of tears and I didn’t want to beat about the bush trying to find an excuse that she’d accept.

I was so embarrassed to tell her what happened though. But I had to.

“I slept with my boss,” I replied.

“Holy shit!” Eilesh cried and then started coughing like she was choking. There were a few seconds when her coughs sounded far away so I assumed she’d moved the phone away from her ear.

“Eilesh, are you okay?” I didn’t want her to choke to death. “Eilesh.” I sat up and rested against the head board of my bed. The thing creaked and something shuffled underneath.

I had this worry ever since I’d moved in that the apartment may have … ugh, I dreaded to even think the word.

Mice…

Thinking it sent shivers down my spine. Back home when we had mice my dad used to take care of that situation before it could enter my mind. We had them when we lived in the farm house.

“Damn it woman, you’re going to kill me.” Eilesh came back on the phone, voice sounding gravelly. “You’re supposed to be the friend who does everything sane, and right. No shocks.”

“I hear you, and that was the very problem. For one night I just decided that I didn’t want to be old fucking reliable Summer.”

“Summer, what the hell? Okay, talk to me. Which boss did you sleep with? I wasn’t told which brother you’d be working for. Please tell me it was Alex, because Preston is a prick.”

My shoulders slumped at the sound of his name. Alex.

“It was Alex.”

“Yassssssss.” She shrieked. “Summer, that guy is hot, as in smoking hot, hot damn hot, hawwwwwt.”

I stifled a groan. “I’m aware of that, Eilesh. Honestly I am. But please come back to reality. I’m a mess here.”

If I knew nothing else it was that Alex Sullivan was most likely the hottest man alive, and God knew exactly what he was doing when he made him. In fact, hold that thought. I would go out on the limb and bet my last dollar — which I was nearly at— that God reserved him, slotting in some extra time just for Alex so he could create a masterpiece.

I’d never seen anyone alive look like him, and that unearthly look was probably a thing. Just thinking of his eyes confirmed it.

Silver gray wasn’t an adequate description of the color, especially when he was turned on. Something like maybe slate, or gunmetal went in a little deeper for description.

“Oh honey, I’m sorry. Right, start from the top. Tell me what happened.” Eilesh sounded more like her usual self now. The friend who was my listening ear, and my comfort.

I told her what happened. All that happened . So that included telling her what happened with Becca and the wedding invitation.

“Tom, that fucking evil son of a bitch.” She cursed. “Did Becca even call you?”

“No. We haven’t spoken in months.”

I almost laughed. Becca and I hadn’t spoken on the phone as friends since the week of my father’s funeral. That last call must have been a way of testing the waters to see when it would be best to tell me the wonderful news about her and Tom.

“Months? Summer, those people were never friends.”

I could have laughed at the situation. Better to do that than to cry. Nothing was truer than what Eilesh just said. I just never saw it.

“No, they never were.”

“You should have called me.” Eilesh snapped. “Look, I can come back early and see you. They don’t need me here. Also sweetie, you still haven’t told me where you live.”

I shook my head. No way was she going to see where I lived. I couldn’t allow anyone who knew me to see this dump. No way.

I felt bad enough about myself as it was. I didn’t need to feel worse with people pitying me. This place highlighted the depth of how bad things had become.

And, I’d just hit a stumbling block again.

“Thank you, but I’d rather you didn’t.” A tear ran down my cheek.

“Why?”

“It’s just this place. I’ll get a better apartment soon. Then you can visit.”

“Jesus, Summer you’ve been through so much. Do you really think I’d make any kind of judgement of you if I went to your house? Plus I told you, you could stay with us.”

I didn’t want to impose on her and Cody that way. “You’re helping me enough as it is.”

“It’s what friends do.”

“I won’t be here for long.” I think that was more for my benefit. I had to tell myself that because thinking anything else would be a disaster.

I’d gone from earning six figures a year to having nothing.

My father never told me how bad things were until it was too late.

He kept everything from me, including the fact that he had lung cancer and was terminal.

He never told me he had to close down his restaurant because he was too sick to run it. He never told me he had to take loans to pay for his extensive medical bills insurance wouldn’t cover, and run the home we ended up losing.

He was still trying to protect me from pain, and overcompensate by being both father and mother. Just like he always had.

There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t have done for me, and I would have traded all that I had when I had it to help him.

I just never had the chance to know.

“You sound terrible, I should be there with you. Someone should be there with you.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“Are you though? What are you feeling about Tom?”

“I don’t know if there’s a word to describe it.” Saying I was hurt opened the floor for me to wonder if I was still hung up on losing him, and I didn’t want to be.

“Do you still feel for him? What you’ve done so far is classic for someone who just broke up with their boyfriend. Although you guys haven’t been together for a while.”

“It’s the shock. In my head they’ve only been together for four months and their getting married. I was with Tom for eleven years and …”

I didn’t want to go down this road again because it was painful.

“And marriage was never in the cards for you guys.” Eilesh filled in.

“Yeah, exactly. But… I don’t feel the way I used to about him. I haven’t had time to recover from one thing before another happens. I’m hurt.”

It was the hurt that I couldn’t quite describe to anyone, and just as my delicate heart started to function again it got hit with this news to worsen the wounds.

“Of course.” She sympathized, her voice soft.

“As for feeling for him… I don’t know. I don’t think I can just switch off that way. But, I’m not pining over him. He was bad for me, and I want to get to that stage where I can let it all go and snap out of this gloom.”

“Summer, the best thing you can do is keep busy. Even better if you’re working on something positive. Take the job. This is like a golden egg being handed to you. Bradford never even bothered to contact my office for your résumé because he knew I sent you. That’s how much I’m trusted in these parts.”

“He told me you only send the best.” I was impressed with how quickly he’d accepted me, without asking any further questions.

“I do. You loved being a lawyer.” She reminded me. “This is the way back to that.”

My skin tingled. I’d absolutely love to go back to what I loved, but that had been tainted too. It would have been so nice if I was going to work as an associate, not a PA.

I knew sometimes life dealt you a bad deal and you had to take a step back to move forward, but this just felt like I was living in a perpetual nightmare where things kept going wrong.

The job should have been the simple part of this equation but, even that had gone to hell. I slept with my boss.

Me.

“I can’t do it.” I winced.

“Summer, seriously. I feel like I should tell you to suck it up. People sleep with their bosses all the time and knowing Alex maybe he’s already forgotten you.”

Great…

I knew that was supposed to make me feel better, and give me some encouragement but I didn’t want him to forget me. I didn’t want him to remember me either, which was just ridiculous because I couldn’t have both.

“Yes, maybe he has forgotten me. I can imagine him picking up women in clubs on a daily basis. While poor me, he’s the second man I’ve ever slept with in my life.”

More coughs sounded on the line and a few curses. “Damn it Summer, will you stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Shocking me. You can’t seriously tell me that Alex Sullivan is the second man you’ve ever slept with.”

I didn’t know why that surprised her. “You know I’ve always been with Tom.”

“Sure, but I kind of thought that in college you might have played around. You two had a long distance relationship. Those don’t tend to last or work especially during college, and damn working in LA too.”

“I know.” I breathed.

A few months back I would have said all sorts of positive things about long distance relationships and how Tom and I made it work for us because we loved each other, but no way was I saying that now.

Instincts were a powerful thing. They were innate warnings, and I’d categorize them as a sense like a sixth sense, to forewarn you of bad things.

In college while I remained loyal to Tom, despite the numerous guys who hit on me daily, I felt that he’d cheated on me. I never accused him of doing so. It was just something I felt.

When he came to me with Becca to tell me they’d been seeing each other for awhile I had the feeling that that awhile hadn’t been a recent thing. Neither went away to college. They went straight into work after high school.

I’d felt they’d been together at various points in our lives.

“Okay so this has a little more meaning then.” There was a playful tone in her voice.

“No, there is no meaning, I shouldn’t have slept with him. Damn, I shouldn’t have gone home with him.”

“Wait, you left that part out. He took you home?” She giggled.

I didn’t see what relevance that was. “Yes, does it matter?”

“Okay honey, let’s just put it this way. Let me give you the four one, one on Alex Sullivan. Yes he’s the hottest man alive, and a playboy but even I know that the word on the street is that he practically never takes women back to his house. Five star hotels we’d have to spend our yearly salary on for sure, but no not his home. It’s just a thing he has about himself.”

I didn’t know how to interpret that.

The fact that Eilesh knew his bedroom rules, or whatever they could be classed as wasn’t exactly a good thing, and didn’t make me feel comfortable one bit.

On the other hand I remembered how easy it was for him to ask me to go home with him.

If he didn’t take women back to his home then how could he have asked me so effortlessly.

On the other, other, hand did the fact that asking, and taking me mean there was something special about me?

I was going to definitely doubt that. After all I’d been through it would have been foolish for me to even contemplate that.

“I feel really awkward about this.” It was bad enough that I felt like I had to watch myself with the whole Ashfords situation. There wasn’t a firm around that didn’t know what happened. I was just hoping that being in a new state would help.

Eilesh sighed. “Summer, I’m your friend and I’m going to be real with you. Things move fast in the legal world. You know this. It’s tough to get back in after you’ve been out of the game. You have been out of the game for over a year.”

God, had it been that long?

Had it really been that long since I did what I loved so much. Standing in a courtroom, armed with knowledge and flair stating my client’s case.

I missed that. I missed helping people who really needed me. I’d helped so many with all sorts of problems.

“I’d feel more comfortable trying to get something else,” I winced.

“You know I’ll do whatever makes you feel comfortable. So I’ll help you find something else. It’s my job as your friend though to tell you the stuff you might not like. Ashfords left a huge black mark on the legal world and I’ve told you that there are a lot of firms who have specifically said they don’t want anyone from there.”

It made my heart ache every time I heard something like that. It really did.

“I know.” I could barely talk, barely breathe.

Weeks ago when this job came about I didn’t like the idea of it because it wasn’t what I wanted, but I saw the opportunity it would give me. The idea was to work for Sullivan’s for six months to a year. Then apply for an associate position at another firm.

Having them on my résumé meant that a top firm, of great prestige, had trusted me and let me back in.

“What if you can’t find an associate job for months? Or even another PA job. This was sort of a done deal and what brought you to Chicago. And then there’s your finances…”

Her voice trailed off because she knew I hated talking about money.

The thing was, both of us knew that at the moment I didn’t have the luxury of picking and refusing jobs. Everything Eilesh said was right and truth be told if I turned this job down I would be digging a deeper hole for myself.

When the world found out that Ashfords was in league with Philiopolis Inc. the investment company that was guilty of stealing millions from their clients, and securities fraud I didn’t know that I would go down with them as well.

I’d worked for Ashfords for two years and saw myself staying for a while. Just until I’d had enough experience and backing to start my own firm.

I’d dreamed big of having my own firm one day, right there in LA too.

Things were going so well until that disaster.

It was in the height of that that I found out that my father was dying.

Then a spell of bad things all happened at once and my world changed.

“My finances are bad, but please, I don’t think I could work for a man I slept with. Eilesh I didn’t think I’d ever see him again.” Sure I would admit that I would have stayed with him today when he asked me to this morning, but I knew that at some point I’d have to leave and leave the fun I had with him too.

“Okay, honey. I’ll look and see what we have. Can I please ask you to keep an open mind though? I’m going to have to find Alex a replacement. I’d hate to have to give someone else the position when I know you’re desperate.”

I pulled in a deep, deep breath.

I was desperate.

All I needed to do was look around at the horrible apartment I was staying in to confirm my desperation.

“ I need a day.” I breathed, rubbing my forehead. “Maybe two. Could you give me that before you send someone else?” At least that showed I was considering it on some level.

Just as a backup. My plan was to glue my ass to my laptop and apply for as many jobs as I could find.

“Have it, and Summer I’m here if you need me. I’ll be back in two weeks but if you need me please call. We can have a nice girlie night when I’m home and a Brad Pitt fest.”

That made me smile. We loved Brad Pitt.

It would be nice to go to her place and have a long bath, then curl up on her sofa and indulge myself in a bunch of movies I loved.

I longed for those days.

I’d only seen Eilesh for dinner when I got here two weeks ago. Then she left that weekend for San Francisco.

“I’d like that.” I smiled.

“Good. Summer, can you please promise me that you’ll really use the next two days wisely? Sullivan’s would be a good move for you. I’m telling you this as your friend and as a recruiter.”

“I promise.” I could do that. I could think.

“Cool, luv yah.”

“Right back at you.”

We hung up and once again the silence of this dank, little apartment engulfed me.

I straightened out my legs on the bed and looked around the box room. The room I had when I was ten was bigger than this. And this here was my whole apartment.

A unit with a stove top for cooking was by the window. A microwave sat next to it on a slim, shaky counter. The sink was next and had a mere basin with a cupboard under it.

A breath away was a curtain that separated the shower and toilet from the rest of the place. There was hardly any point to the curtain because it was poorly hung and the broken window next to the shower that overlooked the street displayed everything I had inside. I had to hang a towel up at it when I used the shower that ran ice cold water.

The place was horrible, really horrible. And there was that skitter again.

God, if the place had mice I didn’t know what I’d do.

I could be this no nonsense woman in court but put me in a room with a mouse and I would lose my mind.

The skitter sounded again and my stomach tightened, but then there was a knock at the door.

The buildings super had come up a few times during my days here to check on me.

She was a sweet elderly lady. She said she would do her best to get someone to look at the window for me.

I got off the bed, guessing it could only be her since no one else came to visit.

It would be good to have the window fixed because it also brought in the cold at night, and I’d ask her if she could get someone to check if there were mice.

I opened the door and forced myself to look at least pleasant, but froze as the door swung open.

Before me was not Susana, the sweet elderly lady.

It was Alex.

Standing before me was Alex Sullivan, looking better than ever.

He slid down the Oakleys he was wearing and that wicked smile filled with sin lifted the corners of his sensual mouth.

“Hello angel,” he said.

That deep voice of his working its way inside me, making my skin tingle.