The Assistant(24)
Author: Elle Brace

“Are you doing to wear this for me?”

“What the hell are you doing?” I shrieked, my voice coming out high pitched from embarrassment. I did not put that in my bag. I didn’t even own anything like that! I desperately raked my memory to see who went near my work bag recently, and instantly glared at the painting Adrian had in his office across from the sofa as I remembered Molly giggling hysterically on the Sunday they were all over. So this was why.

“They’re not mine,” I stated, the heat just burning in my cheeks.

“Are you sure about that? You don’t have to hide it from me. In fact, it kind of makes me wonder what you’re wearing underneath that sexy skirt of yours right now…” He trailed off and leaned in so that his face was inches away from mine. His infamous smirk never left his lips and my breathing hitched in my throat from the close proximity.

I felt one of his hands on my thigh and I instantly stiffened at the contact, unsure of how to react. I thought of my best friend, who was currently enjoying herself at a club. If this was Amy, she’d jump him. But I wasn’t Amy.

My shocked expression turned into a frown as my common sense came back to me like an invisible slap to the face. I glared into his hazel eyes before I placed my hand over his to stop it from going any further. “Mr. Kingston,” I told him in a cool voice while I held his gaze steadily. “I’d appreciate it if we focused solely on the work in front of us.”

The smug expression never left his face as he stared back at me for a few moments, before he nodded and turned his attention back to the draft planner. He removed his warm hand from my thigh, instantly making the area cold from the sudden exposure.

“Of course, Ms. Johnson,” he said. As he studied his schedule more closely, his smug expression turned into a frown.

“I need to host a charity dinner next Saturday, so put that in and tell Suzie to organise it. Tell her I want it to be like an auction, where 10 of my female workers are put in front of the audience and auctioned off for the night. Tell her to put the ones she knows to be gold diggers, or just plain easy. You’ll also have to be put in, I’m sorry.” He saw me grimace at the idea and explained, “They’ll get suspicious if I don’t involve my assistant.”

“What do you mean ‘auctioned off for the night’?” I asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

“Do you remember David Walter?” I cringed as the mental image of the middle-aged man wrapping an arm around my waist resurfaced in my mind. I nodded at him to continue.

“Well,” he explained, “he, along with a lot of other men, come to these things. Their wallets are fat and they tend to think with their male region more than their brains.”

“You mean like you do?” I raised my eyebrows as a slight sneer pulled at my lips.

Adrian glared. “Ha-ha. If we prep you all up professionally, they’ll pay a lot of money to take you home for the night where they can do what they like. The girls are cooperative.”

My expression turned disgusted. “The girls may be cooperative but I sure as hell am not! I don’t want to go home with some pervert stranger for the night just because ‘they’ll get suspicious’ if I’m not an option! That’s disgusting.” I scrunched my nose up as I imaged David Walter smiling at me smugly. I shuddered in fear before looking back up at Adrian. “Please, Adrian,” I begged, “Don’t make me do this.”

He gave me an apologetic look before his expression turned hard. “I don’t like the idea of anyone taking you home either. I’ll take care of it, don’t worry. For the time being, you’re one of the candidates.” His tone closed off the topic, so I sighed and finished writing the rest of the information down before Adrian’s work phone shrilled with a ring.

He got up from his position beside me and answered it swiftly. “Yes.” There was a pause before Adrian spoke up again. “Let him up,” he ordered, before putting the phone back in its position and looking at me. “Pizza’s here,” he announced, taking his seat beside me again. I nodded and began to move all the stray papers around the table to make enough room for the box. Just as I finished, there was a knock at the door.

Adrian got up instantly and pulled out his wallet.

“That’ll be $14.50,” I heard someone say. I saw Adrian pull out a $50 note and hand it over to the delivery boy.

“Keep the change,” he said dismissively, waving the boy off before shutting the door. The smell of the cheesy food hit me like a shock wave, and my stomach grumbled loudly before I could try and stop it from happening.

I began blushing furiously as Adrian looked over at me in surprise. He chuckled, placing the box of pizza and the bottle of drink on the table. “Should I have ordered another box?” he teased.

“Shut up,” I muttered, avoiding his gaze as my blush deepened.

He walked over to his office and opened a side draw, pulling out two coffee mugs and taking his original position on the sofa. “They’re clean,” he assured me as I glanced at the cups with a cautious expression.

I took out my pocket tissues and gave them both a wipe over – just in case – before we dug in. By the time we had finished the pizza, we had the whole of next week sorted to Adrian’s satisfaction and I had a rough overview of what he wanted for the week after. We discarded the empty pizza box and drink bottle to the side of the sofa before Adrian took a sip from his cup and spoke up.

“I’m going to give you $6,000 for your dress and shoes this time. You can keep the rest if you don’t spend it all. I’ll also get Rita to do your hair again, and you’re makeup-”

“Will be done by me,” I cut him off. “I’m not a fan of makeup, Adrian. I prefer to do it myself.”

“You look sexy either way – I was just trying to make less of a workload for you.”

I blushed and smiled slightly. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be more than fine, shortcake, believe me.” His eyes raked over the length of my body, and he licked his lips and smirked.

I rolled my eyes and shoved his arm playfully, before focusing my attention back on the planner. “So for the conference next Wednesday, do you need me there?” I asked, picking up my pen again to write any additional notes down.

I felt his arm wrap around my waist and I let out a surprise gasp as he pulled me into his solid torso. He looked down at me with a rakish grin. “I need you everywhere, shortcake. Especially in my bedroom where we can have-”