Grumpy Boss

I sank into a chair and did my best to project confidence. I pretended like I was one of those immaculate women from the waiting room: straight back, powerful smile. I could totally do this.

“Ms. Drake,” Jack said, “you went to UPenn’s law school. That’s impressive.”

“Thank you,” I said. “But call me Millie, please.”

“Millie, of course.” He looked through the resume. “You do realize this is for an assistant job, correct?”

I locked the smile down tight. I didn’t say, oh, yes, I know that, but I’m trying to put off taking the bar exam and moving on with my life because I’m afraid that I’ll fail and all my hard work will be for nothing, and I’m a total loser, so yeah, there you go—even though that was all more or less true. Instead, I only nodded my head once, and glanced at Rees, hoping that he wouldn’t somehow see through my thin veneer of competence.

He was the reason I was there. Lori was his cousin, and although I hadn’t heard much about him in all the time that we’d been friends, I knew the basics.

Reese Court was rich as hell. Like, could buy the Empire State Building from his petty cash account, sort of rich. He got his start young, skipped college and opened a cloud computing company before that was really a thing. Ever since then, he’d been running an investment firm that all but printed money, and he was considered one of the golden boys of computers and finance.

And he had a terrible reputation. Not in terms of sleeping around with various women, although probably that, too. No, mostly people thought he was a total asshole.

I could see why. He glared at me like he wanted me to get up and get out—like I was the one wasting his time. Even though he was the one trying to hire an assistant, and I was there as a favor to his cousin.

If I weren’t actively trying to avoid becoming a real person and passing the bar, I’d never have agreed to this, but Lori knew I was looking for something temporary and said this would be a great opportunity. I never wanted to get involved with a guy like Rees, and there were was a very loud, and very intense voice in the back of my skull that thought I should flip him off and run away.

Apparently, running away was my move these days.

“Yes, of course,” I said. “I’m in between school and taking the bar exam, and I really need to pay the rent.”

Jack chuckled and I gave him my best, winning smile. “We can certainly help with that,” he said. “How about we—“

“Lori sent you,” Rees said suddenly, cutting his lawyer off. If it bothered Jack, he didn’t show it. I guessed he was used to being interrupted, working for a guy like Rees.

Rees’s intense blue eyes stared at me and he leaned forward slightly. His suit was simple, a plain black, the fabric nothing special, but it was cut like he’d been born in the thing. His arms were muscular, his chest pressed against the crisp white shirt, and I had the stupid, impulsive urge to run my fingers through his thick, chestnut hair.

Instead, I returned his gaze, and tilted my head. “Yes, she did,” I said. “She thought I’d be good for this.”

“Do you know what we’re really hiring for?” he asked.

“Rees—“ Jack started, his lips pulled into a frown, but Rees held up a hand.

“Did she tell you?” Rees pressed.

For a second, I felt uncomfortable, and glanced at Jack. I didn’t know what Rees meant. “She just said it’s an assistant job,” I said, looking between the two men. I genuinely didn’t know what he was talking about. Lori had warned me that Rees was kind of a dick, but she said he paid well, the hours would be flexible, the work would be easy, and having him as a refence would be good for whatever I decided to do in the future. She had me at “paid well,” but the other stuff was fine too. I had no clue what he was talking about, beyond all that.

He leaned back in his chair, still studying me, and I felt like I was pinned up against the wall, a butterfly with my wings spread out. He ran a finger down his chin, then up to the crease beneath his lower tip, and rubbed at it. I stared at his mouth and felt an odd jolt in my chest, and had to look away, toward his eyes—which wasn’t much better, as it turned out.

“I’ve gotten some bad press lately,” he said, glancing at Jack, who openly groaned and rubbed his face with both hands. “Apparently, I was spotted with a young Italian pop star. Did you read about this?”