Chapter 3 Grayson
GRAYSON
Well, that was unexpected.
I’d only stopped by the shopping center to pick up a birthday present for my sister.
I despised shopping, but gift for a family member was the one thing I refused to palm off on my assistant.
It occurred to me I should go after Rowan, reassure her that there was no need for embarrassment, but she scarpered so fast, I lost her in the crowds.
Rowan. I almost sighed her name. Five months since she’d started working for me, and in that time, my obsession with her had grown like a weed fed the perfect amount of sun and rain.
Initially, I’d dealt with my attraction to her like a complete jerk.
Cold, offhand, pushing her harder than I did with many of my other employees.
Early starts, late finishes, demanding, overbearing.
Downright rude on occasion, almost as if I subconsciously wanted her to quit as a way to solve my little fixation problem.
When my unreasonable behavior didn’t quash the burn inside me, I’d changed tactics, dating multiple women, all of whom made me feel hollow inside and proved how special Rowan was.
The issue I had was that I needed her to make the first move.
As CEO and owner of the company, for me to make a pass at my executive assistant was a dumb fuck thing to do.
The power imbalance alone is tantamount to coercion.
Although I was pretty damn sure she had the hots for me—her covert shy glances and slight tremble whenever our arms or fingers brushed had showed as much—it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility to have read the signs wrong.
If I went for it and I was mistaken about a mutual attraction, she could hit me with a sexual harassment suit, and my reputation, as well as that of my company, would lay in tatters.
I’d worked too damn hard to allow that to happen over a woman, no matter how much I wanted her.
And by God, I wanted her. More than I’d ever wanted any woman in the thirty-two years I’d spent on this planet.
I still remembered her interview, and how I’d struggled to concentrate with a dick as stiff as a cricket bat.
I prided myself on my professionalism, and I took employee hiring seriously.
Recruit someone unsuitable, and with employee rights as tight as they were in the UK, you were in for a whole world of pain.
Yet with Rowan, I’d spectacularly failed to pay proper attention to her answers, and in the end, I’d asked my COO, Charlotte, to interview her as well.
To say Charlotte had thought my request an odd one was an understatement, but luckily, she’d given Rowan the thumbs-up, and two weeks later, the object of my obsession had joined the company on a six-month probationary period.
Turned out she was the best damn assistant I’d ever had. Hard-working, conscientious, great attention to detail. A real asset to my company, which was another reason I was reticent to ask her out. What if she quit? I’d found a rare gem in her, and I didn’t want to lose her.
And just think of the fun we could have with that vibrator.
A tremor ricocheted up my spine. Good God. I couldn’t carry on like this. The time had come to drop a few carefully placed hints and hope she found the courage to act first.