The Billionaire and the Assistant (The Billionaires 3)

So that was where it had begun. The stupid wager. And what had happened? Aidan had won. Found a woman who was more than happy with his businesses. Lori was an amazing woman who knew her own mind and would keep Aidan on his toes. So that left me with my end of the bargain to fulfill. I had to ask out my assistant Alexandra on a date.

Why did I feel like I’d gone back to being fourteen years old and trying to work up the nerve to ask Sherry Carmichael, my first ever date, to the movies?

I’d been putting this off for two years and could put it off no longer. Especially since I’d agreed I’d ask Alex out the very next day after losing the bet.

The truth was I really did like Alexandra. She was kind, caring, fantastic at her job and boy, was she hot. Something I tried and failed not to notice on a daily basis.

But I was busy today. Wall to wall meetings. So, maybe I’d ask her tomorrow. Maybe…

Chapter 1

Alex

I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep working for King’s Enterprises. Being in such close proximity to Eli every day was killing me. I’d worked for him for four years now and let’s just get to the point, if he’d been interested in me in that way, something would have happened by now. He saw me as a friend. That was all.

I’d been attracted to him from the get-go. From the moment I’d attended the interview and seen the man I would be working for. The fact he was years older than me didn’t bother me one iota. My relationships with my peers had not worked out. I’d found them juvenile jerks. Not that there was much time for me to meet and date other guys, anyway. Eli was mega busy, and we often ended up working sixteen hour days. For that my pay was extremely generous. Far more than PA’s usually received, so I didn’t mind working the extra hours. My mom suffered with a bad knee and so I contributed to her ongoing medical bills and it afforded me a nice apartment in Manhattan though it was heavily subsidized and owned by the man himself. I also had some savings put aside for something that might never happen for me. Something I hoped would happen one day soon. I was desperate to have a baby.

I know, it was difficult to have one when you didn’t even have a man. I was almost thirty years old, and I didn’t want to be a geriatric mother. If I’d not met anyone in another year I was going to look into artificial insemination. Not having a partner or husband didn’t bother me as much as my fear that I might never become a mother.

The door opened, and I sighed before pasting a smile on my face ready to meet whoever had walked through the door to my office.

It was the man himself.

Even though I’d seen him for all those hours and all those days for all those years, I still felt my breath hitch whenever he walked in the room. My eyes swept over him in a much practiced quick glance, taking in the salt and pepper hair that he wore spiked on top then onto his gym-honed body that his button down hugged just right. I kept my eyes to the top part of his

body. Well, until he turned to walk into his own office, then I couldn’t help myself from checking out that ass. Jesus. I was like a sex-crazed stalker.

“Good Morning, Alex.”

“Morning, Eli.”

He stared at me for just a fraction longer than usual. I wiped across my face figuring something must be there. I hoped to God my mascara hadn’t run down my cheek. Then he seemed to check himself, coughed and began to walk away.

“So, if you can just give me five minutes to get settled, we can go through my messages.”

“Yes, Sir.”

He fixed me with a look. He hated me calling him Sir, but it was how I’d always been at work. It was a sign of respect I couldn’t stop. It was bad enough he insisted on me calling him Eli instead of Mr. King.

Our relationship was a strange one. Our working relationship that was. We chatted quite amiably at times like friends. We were often out on business dinners and ended up alone at times while we waited for clients, and he’d started this strange text thing where I had to tell him when I was home safe each evening. That had been cruel. For a moment I’d thought that he had started to develop feelings for me. Yet, nothing had happened. The texts were impersonal.

Anyway, today was turning out weird. I’d always followed Eli straight into his office with his messages and now today he wanted time to get settled. What was with him? Then I had a thought that made me feel sick to my stomach. Maybe he was going to fire me and he was in there now getting prepared? Oh fuck. I was going to get fired. But why? What had I done? I tried thinking back through the last few days but I couldn’t recall anything I’d done wrong. I was innocent. Whatever he thought I’d done, I hadn’t done it.

He buzzed for me to come through. As I walked towards his office which was adjacent to mine and through a door to my right, my legs wobbled. My heart thudded through my chest.

I opened the door and stepped inside. Eli was fixing himself a coffee from the machine. Mine was already on his desk near the chair I always sat in. I hovered in the doorway. I couldn’t seem to get my legs to walk the short distance to the chair. He sat down at his desk and then saw I was still standing in the doorway.

“Is everything okay, Alex?” He asked me.

“I don’t know.” I replied. “You tell me.”

At this he started scratching around the edge of his collar and then he pulled at it as if it was strangling him. Something was definitely going on.

“Er, tell you what? What have you heard?”

Ah, so there was something because he was worried I’d heard it. Maybe I wasn’t getting sacked. Maybe there was a merger, or Eli was retiring like Henry Carter had done. That meant I might not see him again. I felt my lip wobble. For fuck’s sake Alex, get a grip.

Eli jumped out of his seat and bolted over towards me. He placed an arm around me and steered me to the dreaded ‘might be fired’ chair. I had no choice but to sit in it.