Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 91480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
But Mr. Stone let go of my arm suddenly and glared at the wall instead of smiling.
I stole a look in his direction and saw the dark bags under his eyes. Of course, he was hot enough that even being as tired as a corpse just gave him a kind of hot CEO vampire vibe. “Trouble sleeping?”
He twitched, then jerked his head toward me with a glare. “What I do in my bed is not your concern.”
I pursed my lips and smiled. “You made that sound way dirtier than it needed to.”
I watched the muscles in his jaw tick several times, but he said nothing. What did he do in his bed, anyway? Sacrifice virgins? Host orgies? Maybe being so gorgeous meant he had insomnia caused by excessive amounts of sex with supermodels.
I took the seat in front of his desk and waited while he stormed around to his chair, sat, angrily tapped some papers into order, and finally looked at me. “It is critical that my staff believes you are my executive assistant.”
“Okay,” I said. “Should we get me a name tag? I feel like that would make things look pretty official. Or I could help you write a memo. This guy I used to work with named Dave always said my memos were super official and informative, so…” I let my words fade when I saw the look on his face.
His jaw was doing that ticking thing again. Apparently, he didn’t find me as amusing as most people did. “Every morning you’ll receive my itinerary via email and text. I’ve also sent you a packet of former itineraries prepared by my last executive assistant. You’ll take careful note of which tasks were assigned down the food chain and which were handled directly by her. Are you understanding me, Miss Thorn?”
I was actually just watching the way his neck even had muscles and how they moved hypnotically when he talked. But I nodded quickly, smiling. “Tasks and food chains. Got it.”
He paused a few beats before continuing. “You’ll need to spend some time on the fifty-fourth floor putting in appearances as well. Make sure you’re seen doing your work. And stay away from Chase.”
I narrowed my eyes. “The nice guy who was giving me a tour yesterday?”
“I’m not paying you to flirt, Miss Thorn.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but all I could do was laugh. “Excuse me?”
Mr. Stone waved away my outrage as if he could swipe it off some digital screen. “I’m not interested in excuses. You will stay away from Chase, and you will avoid any more unprofessional flirtation while you’re working for me.”
“I did not flirt. I barely talked to the guy before you creepily sent someone to break us up.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t have time for this. Just go down to the fifty-fourth floor, ask for Paisley, and she will help you get started.”
I smiled, but it was my “fuck you very much” smile and not my usual sweet smile. “And let me guess, you’ll be watching? Because you don’t have time to defend your creepy comments, but you do have time to watch me on your security cameras, right?”
My heart was pounding. I wasn’t exactly the type to talk back, and I definitely wasn’t the type to start shit with my bosses. But the way he was acting had me pissed beyond good sense. Flirting? Even if I had been, it frankly wouldn’t have been any of his damn business.
“I have work to do, Miss Thorn.”
And just like that, he turned to his computer screen and started typing like I’d already left the room. I stood, pushed one of his stupid paperweights over on his desk, and stormed out of his office. It was only when I made it to the elevator that I thought about how much I could seriously use that bonus if I lasted a month. I needed to get it together. So what if my boss was a disgustingly gorgeous grouchy asshole with boundary issues? I just had to do my job and life-changing money would start raining from the sky.
I’d already set one former life on fire back in New York. I hadn’t been in Fairhope long enough to set anything on fire.
I took a few deep breaths and talked to myself to try to find some calm. “So you don’t like your boss. Big deal. Most people hate their bosses. Yours may be an egotistical jerkwad, but at least he’s fun to look at.” I smiled to myself, fiddled with my hair, and then pressed the button for the fifty-fourth floor.
* * *
“Does that make sense?” Chase asked.
I nodded. I’d spent the last hour getting a one-on-one rundown of the basics of working for Stone Financial by the person Mr. Stone had specifically asked me to avoid. In my defense, Paisley had been busy on a call, Cassie looked like she had a hangover or maybe a bad cold, and Chase seemed to be scared to death of me after my first day. All the easy smiles and friendliness had been replaced with an aggressive, business-only attitude.