Chapter 65
Liam
“Get this sorted within the next two weeks, and we have a deal.”
“This is going to be more complicated than I thought.” A slight wave of anxiety hits me as I stare at the email on my phone and ponder if I should respond. I don’t know how to respond to the message, so I decide to head to the breakroom to grab a coffee before sending anything I regret.
I feel as if I’ve made a big mistake here, and I’m not really sure what I’m going to do. Elisabetta is not the coy, coquettish woman I initially thought she was, and while I don’t hate the fact that she’s very clear about her feelings, it does make me pause.
I didn’t anticipate being attracted to her or that she is enjoyable to be around.
I’ve barely spent any time with her, yet I can’t stop thinking about her.
She’s the sort of woman who’s confident in her beauty and loves to give as good as she gets, and, unfortunately for me, I find that a turn-on.
Which is not how I want to react to her in this situation.
“Hey. Good morning, Liam. How's it going?” Remington strides into the break room with a stack of folders in his hands. I give him a small nod, hoping to avoid conversation with him. I just want to be alone in my thoughts right now.
“Just grabbing some coffee. How are you this morning?”
“I’m good,” he says. He looks me deep in the eyes, and I can tell he wants to ask me something, but I don’t make it easy for him. I grab a cup and hold it up to him. “Would you like one?”
“Thanks.” He takes it from me, and then I grab another cup. He clears his throat, and I look over at him again.
“You want to say something, Remington?”
“No, I guess I just wanted to wish you good luck.”
“Good luck?” I raise a single eyebrow at him, wondering what he’s talking about. “What do I need luck for? Am I in a race today or something?”
He chuckles and shakes his head. “No, but I did hear that Elisabetta Franco is starting today.”
“Oh, yes, that’s today.”
“Don’t tell me you forgot,” he says, smirking, knowing full well that I didn’t forget.
“No.” I look at my watch. “In fact, I’m about to call her because she’s running late.”
“She is?” He looks at his watch.
“It’s seven a.m. You know I like my assistants to start early.”
Remington presses his lips together. “I guess that is true.”
I smirk. "If you want to tell me off for how hard I worked Juniper, now would be the time to do it.”
“I didn’t say any such thing,” he says.
“You and I both know that Juniper was not happy working for me.”
He shakes his head. "Let’s be real. None of them were happy working for you, not Juniper, not Skye, and not Lila, so what makes you think that Elisabetta is going to be any different?”
“I don’t,” I say shrugging, “and maybe that’s why I want her to work for me.”
“What?” He looks confused. “That makes no sense.”
“I mean, it makes sense if you were playing with the deck of cards I’m playing with.”
“What are you talking about, Liam?”
“Nothing that you need to know about,” I say, smiling. “Anyway, we should talk about my Mediterranean deal.”
“The Mediterranean deal?” He frowns and scratches his head. “Which one was that again?”
“The hotels that I want to buy in Greece and Italy.”
“Oh, yeah, the resorts. You said you were going to set one up in Turks and Caicos, as well, right?”
“I will, but I have to ensure that this deal goes through before I invest in the Caribbean. You understand that, right?”
“I mean, of course, I understand that you’re not going to put good money into bad, so how can we help you? I haven’t seen any more information from Franco Delorean about the deal. Should I be giving him a call?”
“No, not yet,” I say, shaking my head. I want to tell him more, but I know that I can’t, not with him being so close to everything. “The lead person on the other side won’t be Franco Delorean,” I say with a smooth face, “but I’ll let you know who to contact.”
“You’re making me nervous here, Liam. What’s going on?”
“Just the deal of a lifetime,” I say, smirking. “You know I love those.”
“Well, you do know the saying, right, Liam?”
“What saying?” I stare at him for a couple of seconds.
“If something sounds and looks too good to be true, it probably is.”
“Oh, trust me,” I say, shaking my head. “This is not too good to be true. It’s a very complicated situation, maybe even more complicated by what I have to do to ensure that it goes through.”
“You’re not going to do anything illegal, are you, Liam? You know we here at the firm don’t advocate for any—”
“Don’t worry. Have I ever done anything illegal?”
He presses his lips together. "Well, no, but you’ve definitely walked close to the line.”
“But that’s because I’m like Johnny Cash.”
“What?” He stares at me blankly.
“Come on now, you know the song.”
“Um, what song?”
“Think about it,” I say, grinning. “Anyway, let me get back to the office and see if Elisabetta is here.”
“Okay,” he says. “I hope you know what you’re doing,”
“So do I,” I say as I walk away with a hot cup of dark coffee.
I’m really not sure that I’m doing the right thing.
Ethically, I know that I’m not. Ethically, I know that I shouldn’t have hired Elisabetta.
She will be trash as an assistant. I know that.
She knows that. I also know she will be dynamite in bed, but I have to resist. I can't complicate the situation even more.
I smell her perfume before I see her. It’s a subtle, rosy smell that delights my senses. I head into the office. “What time do you call this?” I say sharply, wanting her to know that I’m going to be a no-nonsense boss.
“I call it the time that I get to work,” she says, turning to look at me, a defiant expression on her face.
She’s beautiful, even more beautiful than when I last saw her, which is pretty amazing because every time I’ve seen her, she’s looked stunning.
She’s wearing an inappropriate outfit, a very short navy blue skirt and a tight white shirt.
I lick my lips. She’s not going to make this easy on me.
She plays with her hair idly and gives me a winning smile.
“So, how are we starting this morning?” She sits at the edge of my desk and crosses her legs.
I stare at her heels and then her long, slender legs.
I try not to picture them wrapped around my face or my cock.
“Hello, Liam? I’m here at the time you asked me to be, so what are we working on? ”
“Well, I figure you could start with a typing test.” I try to hide my smirk as her face reddens and she shifts in discomfort.
“What?” She blinks at me slowly. I know I’ve taken her aback.
“I think we should start with a typing test,” I say. “I want to ensure that you’re a fast typer before I take you to any meetings with me.”
“A typing test? Like, a typewriting test?”
“You know, a keyboard-type writing test? If you’d ever had a job before, especially as an assistant, you would know it matters how many words per minute you can get.”
“Oh, I mean I can get loads of words per minute.”
“You think you can get one hundred?”
“Oh, I’m sure I can get two hundred. I’m fast.”
“Really?” I try not to laugh. I’d bet a million dollars that she couldn’t even get fifty words per minute. “You can get over two hundred words per minute and a hundred percent accuracy?” I ask her. Moving closer to her, I can see that she’s slightly nervous as she licks her lips.
“What do you mean by a hundred percent accuracy?”
“I mean that every single word you type will be correct and so will the grammar.”
“Well, of course, I do have a bachelor's degree.”
“That has nothing to do with your typing speed, my dear, or how well you transcribe.”
“Well, I'm telling you now that—”
“Why don’t you get off my desk and take a seat there”—I nod toward the seat—“and I’ll give you a test right now.”
“Fine,” she says. “I’m ready and willing.” She blinks as I sit behind my desk. “Wait, what am I going to type on?”
“Yes, I forgot we have to get you a laptop.”
“And where am I going to be sitting? I can’t type with the laptop on my lap.”
“You’ll be sitting at that desk right outside the office,” I say as she licks her lips nervously.
“What?” I ask her as she frowns. I can tell she's not happy by my answer.
“I thought I would be in a room with other people, not just sitting outside your glass window for you to stare at me all day.”
“Why? Do you not want me to stare at you all day?”
“No, I mean, I know you’re a creeper and all, but I'd rather not have a creeper staring at me all day and night.”
“All day and night?” I chuckle. “So, are you saying you want to stay here all night, as well?”
“Not at all. I’m just saying that—”
“You’re just saying what?”
“I’m just saying that I don't want to be around a creeper twenty-four seven.”
“Yet, you’re the one who volunteered for the job. So am I the creeper, or are you the creeper?”
“What? How does that even make sense?”
“You know, I mean, we both know that you want me.”
“No, I never said that I want you. I said that I do think you’re attractive, and if this was a different circumstance, I may or may not have taken you for a ride for one night, but I'm almost confident that I wouldn’t have given you more than one night because you look like the sort of man who looks prettier than he actually is. ”
“What does that mean?” I stand up and head towards her. I kneel down and look up into her eyes. “What do you mean I look prettier than I actually am?”
“I think you’re the sort of man with a good body”—she looks me up and down—“but you’re probably so used to women fawning all over you and wanting to be with you that you don’t really please them.
” She grabs my hand and pulls me up. "Stand up.
You're making me nervous kneeling on the ground.
I'm not hoping for an engagement from you, thank you very much. "
“You don't think that I can please a woman?” I say as I grab her wrist. She blinks at me, and I press my lips against her soft skin and breathe her in.