Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
ARIANA
A t two minutes to six, I arrive in Obsidian’s office, and I’m not at all surprised to find that I’m alone.
When he told me what time to be here, I fully suspected he might be setting me up to run me ragged every day. But what he doesn’t know is that I’m determined to stay in his house for as long as possible. At least long enough to steal enough things to pay off my father’s debt to Uma.
I’ve thought about what might happen if I’m caught and decided I don’t care. What will these brothers do? Fire me? A much better option than what Uma will do. I just have to make sure if I get caught, it’s not until after I’ve paid off the debt. If I have to go to jail in order to ensure that my dad, my brother, and I can keep breathing, it will suck, but it’s worth it.
What Obsidian didn’t realize was that leaving me alone gives me time to snoop. I take the opportunity to study everything in the office. It would be stupid to steal something from this room, though. Given all the time Obsidian probably spends here, he’d be more likely to notice. So far. I’m surprised I haven’t seen any cameras.
But after a few minutes of studying, it’s apparent that my instinct to come here was right—the manor is filled with expensive items. I’ll have to go exploring whenever I’m done with work for the day.
I never did get a tour yesterday. My mind was preoccupied with whether Obsidian would recognize me from the beach. A part of me was disappointed he didn’t. It would have made all of this easier if I’d been able to say, “Yes, it was me who saved you, can I have a few million as a reward?”
Not wanting to venture out into the intimidating manor by myself last night, I remained in my room and watched a few shows on my laptop, then read. Thankfully, Marcel showed up and informed me that my meals would be delivered to my room. I have no idea whether everyone who resides here eats in their room, but I was happy to eat in solace.
A tour would have been useful, but I wanted the excuse to say I’m trying to figure out how to navigate the place if anyone found me skulking around while I was looking for things to steal.
In my short time in Obsidian’s presence yesterday, he made it clear that Asher was correct, he’s definitely going to do his best to make me quit. It was also obvious that I am going to have to watch myself around Obsidian. Intelligence and challenge gleam behind his dark eyes, and if I’m not careful, he’ll figure out there’s more to me than just a young woman who’s eager to do a good job for the billionaire brothers who hired her.
Then you add on his incredibly good looks, and it’s just another layer that makes him so dangerous. His suit fit him perfectly, showcasing his fit body. The way his dark wavy hair hung off to one side over the short hair on the side of his head made him look as though he was ready to step onto a runway in Milan. His entire presence is intense and dominating, as though he’s assessing everything around him at all times.
I give my head a shake. Enough of thinking about how my new boss is hot as hell. I need to prove to him that I belong here, that I can be a help to him. Doing so will only make things easier for me while I’m here.
So I get to work. I haven’t really been told what my daily tasks involve, but I open the laptop on my desk and use the password I set up with Voss Enterprises to log in, finding Obsidian’s email as well as one for me.
Obviously part of my job will be sorting through his emails, so I get to work. Once I’ve flagged everything that looks like something he should deal with directly, I print them and put them in descending order of urgency and set them on his desk. It’s obvious that he prefers hard copies of the things he’s working on. Then I forward any emails I can deal with to my email address, write down a list of questions I have about them, and forward them to my contact at Voss Enterprises.
Brynne is Obsidian’s main go-to at the head office. I have no idea how she feels about me being hired to assist him day-to-day in his home office, but she’s the contact HR gave me.
I’m just finishing when Obsidian decides to grace me with his presence.
“Good morning,” I say in a cheery voice, giving him no insight into whether or not I’m agitated that he’s showing up so late after instructing me to be here at six.
Today he’s wearing a black three-piece suit with a cream shirt and a red tie. I spot the tattoo on his neck as he walks past, and I suppress the urge to lick my lips when my mind conjures up an image of me running my tongue over it.
Jesus, get a grip, Ari.
“Have you been waiting long?” He takes a seat at his desk with a small grin.
What an ass.
I stand and walk toward him. “No problem at all. It gave me some time to get the lay of the land. I’ve gone through your email and printed off what you need to respond to yourself, then sent the rest to my email. I’ll take care of those for you, and I can cc you on them if you like.” I sit in the chair across from his desk.
He actually looks surprised, but he nods in agreement, then his face goes blank.
“Wonderful. Would you like to dictate to me your responses to those emails on your desk”—I nod toward the pile—“or do you prefer to respond to them yourself?”
“Quite the waste of resources to print all of these off when they’re readily available on the computer, don’t you think?” There’s disdain in his features as he arches a dark eyebrow.
I smile sweetly. “I assumed you weren’t concerned with that when I saw the state of your desk.” I motion to the stacks of papers that very clearly could have been read on the computer.
He grumbles something under his breath.
“What was that?” I ask.
“I said grab your computer, and I’ll dictate my responses to you.” He picks up the first piece of paper to read.
I get up from the chair and walk back over to my desk, positive I feel his gaze on me the entire way. But when I grab the laptop and turn back around, he’s looking at the paper in his hand. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, which is beyond ridiculous. I’m here to accomplish one thing, and it does not involve crushing on a hot older man who’s so far out of my reach that it isn’t funny.
I sit and set the laptop on his desk. “Which one would you like to respond to first?”
By six that night, I’m dying to get out of these heels, and my stomach is growling. I’ve been working for twelve hours, and it’s not that I’m not accustomed to it—I’ve worked two jobs for a while now—but being in Obsidian’s presence all day and pretending not to be affected is sucking up my energy. Every time his ebony eyes land on me, it feels like a whisper of a touch, and I’m dying to know what he’s thinking. Every time he makes some snide comment or acts like a dick, the effort it takes not to come back at him is immense. I need a break—from him, not necessarily the work.
But I’ll be damned if I ask him if I can leave first. No, he’ll have to tell me we’re done for the day. I’ll play this all day.
“Damn it.” His voice travels across the room.
I glance over to see him hitting a button on his keyboard over and over, frustration etched along his mouth. “Can I help you with something?”
He flicks his gaze in my direction. “Not unless you’re an IT expert,” he practically growls.
I walk over to his desk and stand beside him. This is the closest I’ve been to him today, and the scent of his expensive cologne—leather and brandy—is almost edible.
“What seems to be the problem?”
He gestures to the computer with the flick of his wrist. “You tell me.”
I bend toward his screen, reaching for his keyboard. The spinning beach ball that only means trouble rolls in a circle in the middle of his screen. I hit a few keys, and nothing happens.
“It’s fucked.”
I turn to look at him and realize how close we are. His face can’t be more than six inches from mine. Our gazes lock and hold before I blink and spin back to the computer, swallowing hard.
“Let me try something. Were you working on something that needs to be saved?”
“No.” The one word comes out gravelly compared to his normal voice. Is it possible he’s as affected as I am by our close proximity?
I close out of what programs I can and hit a few more keys, waiting patiently until the window comes up asking whether I want to force a shutdown. Every one of my breaths is shallower than the last, and I’m hyper aware that all he has to do is flick his gaze to his left, and he’ll be staring at my ass.
I force the shutdown and stay in place to see if it worked. When a large hand cups my left hip, I still before I find Obsidian’s hand there, expensive watch gleaming under the lights. The heat from his hand seeps through the fabric of my skirt, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he just branded me.
The computer sounds, and I turn to see the start-up screen waiting for a sign-in. “That should do it.” I straighten, and his hand falls.
He clears his throat as I step away. “Great, that should be it for today. You don’t need to come in until seven tomorrow morning.”
I turn to face him, but he’s not looking at me. His fingers are poised on the keyboard, and he’s signing back into his computer, paying me no mind.
“See you then.” I scurry back to my desk to sign out of my computer before bolting from the room.
As soon as I reach my bedroom, I swing the door closed and collapse back against it.
What was that? Is he trying to freak me out and make me uncomfortable so I’ll quit? Or is he attracted to me too?
What does it even matter if he is? Getting involved with him will only make things more complicated for me. I’m here to steal from this man, not fall for him.
Under no circumstances can I get involved with Obsidian Voss.
He’s the kind of man who would chew me up and spit me out. I do not need more problems in my life, only solutions. So I can look, but I cannot touch. No matter what.