“Are you ready?” The man of the hour jars me from my naughty thoughts. I don’t respond right away, regaining my composure because I’ll be honest, no man has ever rattled me quite like my new boss does.
“Yes, I have it all set up for you. I’m assuming you have your own computer, but if not, you can take over mine and I’ll use my laptop. And you can take over my desk until things are handled to your liking,” I suggest. It’s better to fight fire with water instead of fuel.
“This will work. Let me go over a few things, then we can discuss what I can expect and how our daily meetings will go and so forth.” Mr. Maxwell takes his seat. As tempting as it is to roll my eyes, I refrain. Barely. Instead of acknowledging him, it’s time for me to get my work started. The thought of actually listening to Priscilla is now plaguing me, and how I probably should have questioned her and where her source of information came from. Not to mention how she probably knows all of the ‘tea’ on our new boss. Too bad I shooed her away. To be fair, there’s no telling what Mr. Maxwell would have done if he walked in on the two of us talking about him.
I no sooner sit at my desk than my email is pinging one after another, the phone is ringing off the hook, and I still have four meetings to reschedule to next week. At the rate this God-awful Monday morning is going, I’ll be here till well after eight o’clock tonight, but I guess that just goes with the territory. I silence my computer so the noise doesn’t interrupt Mr. Grumpy-Pants. The phone, on the other hand, he’ll have to deal with or move into the empty conference room across the hall.
“Maxwell Enterprises, this is Dylan Thorne. How may I help you?” I answer the phone, having just read a company-wide message that we have now completely been taken over, Space Coast Holdings is no longer our company, and the IT department is in the process of transferring things over.
“Hello, dear, is my son sitting near you?” a gentleman on the other end asks.
“May I ask who this is?” I reply, my eyes shooting to Mr. I-clearly-don’t-answer-my-phone. I swear, by the end of the day, I’ll have nine thousand obnoxious names for him.
“This is his father. Tell him if he doesn’t answer my calls, he’ll lose his favorite-son status,” the man on the phone jokes.
“Of course, Mr. Maxwell.” He looks at me, eyebrows quirked up at the name. I cover the receiver with the palm of my hand and say, “Your father is on the line, and he said you’ll no longer be the favorite son if you don’t stop ignoring his calls.”
“Funny guy. Too bad I’m the only son he has. I’ll take his call. Do you mind going downstairs and grabbing us both some lunch while I see what he needs?” I’m taken aback. This man is full of surprises.
“Sure.” I stand up, holding the phone out to him until he takes it from me. Our fingers meet, and I swear his gaze lingers on mine.
“Thanks, tell them to bill it to my account. Make sure you get something for yourself. We may be working through lunch today.” Just like that, I know I’m going to hate every bit of today. Lunch was the one thing I was looking forward to—grabbing a sandwich, reading the latest paperback I picked up from the library, and enjoying the outdoor patio the building has set up outside. Too bad Mr. Jerk-C.E.O. is ruining that too.
Four
Wesley
If today is anything to go by, I’ll be screwed for all eternity when it comes to none other than my assistant, Dylan Thorne. A body with an hourglass figure, breasts that would overfill my palms, a slim waist, and hips that I can imagine sinking my hands into while taking her from behind.
“Damn it.” I toss back the rest of my bourbon that I have in my etched crystal low ball glass. A gift from my father when I bought my first struggling company and turned a profit within the first year. The bite that I swallow down doesn’t stop the lingering thoughts of Dylan and all the scenarios I have rolling in my head on how to put her mouth to work besides talking.
I get up from my place on the couch in my high-rise condominium on the lower east side of the city, mere streets away from where Maxwell Enterprises has taken over. That was another win in my book, it being close to where I live and being another challenging investment, but this one I think I’ll stay with. My other companies, as soon as I get them up off the ground running and firmly in the black, I’m on to the next city to take over another business.