Chapter5
Ethan stepped into his office and looked around; it had been hurriedly refurbished for him to his specifications starting from the moment that he’d initially put in his bid to buy the company, and the contractors had finished the day he’d signed the paperwork to complete it—the same day that he’d met Brianna. But he hadn’t inspected it yet.
There was a big, broad desk: stained oak, refinished from an antique. Behind it was a large office chair, the best of ergonomic comfort, upholstered in real leather. The wall behind the desk was dominated by windows, looking out over Manhattan. The office’s location was not prime real estate, precisely—but he could just make out Washington Square Park if he looked for it.
The office had been soundproofed already, but Ethan had requested further privacy improvements: a door-command system that he could operate from his phone, and only from his phone, along with tinting on the windows so that while he could look out, no one would be able to look into the building—even pesky paparazzi in helicopters. There was a private bathroom, complete with a shower, and an enclosed patio that was only accessible from inside the office.
He also had had the company install a small, entertainment-quality bar, and new furniture for associates and other guests that would visit him. All in all, it was an office that Ethan could be proud of; one where he could take meetings of all kinds. He smiled slightly to himself as the door locked behind him and strode to his desk. Yes...guests of all kinds.
He thought of Brianna, who was—he hoped—at that moment, on the way to the office to present him with the signed paperwork accepting her new position. He hadn’t bothered to check the transactions on his supplementary card the night before, after he’d finished up business at other locations in the city; he hadn’t wanted to spoil the surprise of finding out what she’d gotten, if she’d decided to accept his offer. He had also wanted to extend the anticipation of waiting to find out.
He thought she would probably be pleasantly surprised at his requirements. He wasn’t interested in having some kind of office slut—but he did have a penchant for lingerie on the women he slept with, and he was more than happy to pay for them to cater to his preferences. Knowing that Brianna would be sitting outside of his office, alongside Jennifer and Cassidy, with stockings and maybe a bustier underneath her conservative outerwear, was enough almost to start getting him turned on. The knowledge that—assuming she didn’t call his bluff—Brianna would be there every weekday, available to him whenever he wanted to toy with her for a while, was gratifying.
It was the first arrangement of its kind that Ethan had attempted; he’d been inspired by one of his friends, who had made a similar arrangement and told Ethan about it six months before, during a dinner meeting to discuss a business opportunity. The friend had created a new position at the company he’d built, and sought out a woman specifically to fill it, but Ethan had thought that it was gratuitous—and maybe abusive—to interview women for the job of being office-hours sexual gratification. He’d also been more than a little skeptical of the type of women that a job posting of that nature would attract.
Far better, Ethan had thought, to find a woman he had sexual chemistry with, whom he could enjoy talking to, and then propose terms to her. So he’d slowly begun to put the pieces into place to make that idea a reality, and he’d been seeking the right candidate for a few weeks, by the time he’d met Brianna, the night before.
So everything had been—more or less—in place, ready to be put in action. She would be receiving a gracious paycheck, and he would make sure that she had enough legitimate work during the day to justify her being on payroll as his personal assistant; but just like he didn’t spend his entire workday actually working, neither would she.
It was particularly lucky, Ethan thought, that Brianna was new in the city. It had been easy for him to have her employment transferred to his office from her old position; he had someone in another company he owned who could take her place, at least for a month—that smoothed over the business end—and he had justified the change with the board by telling them that the position he needed required her expertise. Besides, with her being brand-new, her department couldn’t possibly miss her very much.
He checked the time again; Brianna had less than ten minutes to report to him with either her acceptance or her refusal. Ethan sat back slightly in his chair, trying not to anticipate too much. He was fairly certain the odds were in his favor—but he knew that Brianna was likely to drive a hard bargain, and demand respect from him, not just the terms he’d put forward for her.
Three minutes before the time when Ethan had told her to report to him, the buzzer on his desk went off. Ethan tapped the button on the console that went with it. “Yes?” On the other end of the two-way line, Cassidy—one of his existing assistants—spoke.
“A Brianna Evers is here for you, Mr. Hale,” she said. Ethan smiled.
“Yes—I’m expecting her,” he said. He opened up the app on his phone and unlocked the door to his office. “Tell her to come in.”
Brianna stepped into his office holding the file folder he had given her the previous day. Her hair was styled differently, falling straight down to her shoulders in medium-width braids that framed her face. She wore a skirt and a cardigan, and Ethan’s gaze slid down to her legs to see that they were covered—though the length of the skirt made it hard to tell if she was wearing stockings or pantyhose. Sensible heels on her feet tap-tap-tapped on the floor as she strode to his desk.
“Well?” Ethan raised an eyebrow as Brianna sat down, looking utterly composed.
“I accept. With conditions,” Brianna said.
“I expected you would have some of those,” Ethan said with a smile. He held out his hand for the file.
“I get to choose where our outings will be every third time,” Brianna told him, as she extended the file for him to take. “And I will not be asked to work overtime more than two nights per week.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Ethan said, nodding. He saw that Brianna had clipped the supplementary card onto the inside of the folder as he opened it. He read through the paperwork; she’d signed everywhere she was supposed to, and had typed up and signed a list of her own requirements. She wasn’t asking for too much—Ethan was pleased to see—but she was definitely making it clear that the arrangement was going to be a give-and-take. She wasn’t simply accepting his proposition.
“I also want to make it clear that any sex between us—individual acts, or just whether or not we have sex—has to be agreed on by us both,” Brianna said. “I know you told me you would never force me, but I want it to be officially stated.”
“Very fair,” Ethan agreed. “And I like the diplomacy in you saying ‘both of us.’” He grinned at her. “Because as we all know there’s a very strong risk that you’ll want me to fuck your brains out, but I just won’t be in the mood.” He saw a slight darkening of the color on Brianna’s face and knew that she was blushing at his use of the word ‘fuck’.
“At the end of my tenure, no matter how or when it ends, you will provide me with an exemplary and very professional reference,” Brianna continued.
“I will be happy to,” Ethan said. He raised a hand to gesture for her to stop talking for a moment. “If you’ll let me read through this list you provided, I think that will save us some time—unless there’s something you haven’t included here?” Brianna shook her head. Ethan looked over the list, taking his time. It wasn’t too substantial, and everything Brianna had included made sense.
But he had been right: she wasn’t about to just submit to him completely, in spite of his leverage over her. She hadn’t tried to get more money out of him, and she hadn’t tried to argue for any kind of additional compensation—he’d been willing to shell out for an apartment closer to the office, but that hadn’t come up, and he supposed she wanted to live in Brooklyn, far enough away to have some space from her work.
“Is there anything you want to take issue with?” Ethan shook his head.
“Not at all,” he told her. He unclipped the card and slid it back in Brianna’s direction. “You should hold onto this—you’re the authorized user and you’ll continue to be, as long as the arrangement continues. We’ll evaluate in a month and decide what we both want to do.” He closed the file folder and opened a drawer in his desk, putting the folder inside it.
“Okay,” Brianna said, nodding. “I guess I should go back to my desk?” Ethan smiled and shook his head slowly.
“I’d like to see if you’ve made good use of your spending capabilities, before I dismiss you to your desk,” he said. He gave her a meaningful look. “What kind of purchases did you make yesterday?”