Chapter 19
Damien
Idon’t even like red.
I’ve always been a fan of the color black.
It’s sleek, sexy, professional, and timeless.
Red is too attention catching. Too overdone.
Too pick-me. But my fucking God, the moment that shimmery green dress hit the floor in my office, revealing the cherry-colored lace beneath it, my opinion was swayed.
Of course, I could probably be swayed by any color if it were on her body.
And now, I can’t get it out of my head. I am having a hard time getting any part of that night out of my head. As I make my way into the office, I can’t think about anything other than tight little body dressed up like a fucking Christmas present in that lingerie.
I’m not happy about it.
I’ve never enjoyed anything or anyone consuming my mind like this, making my thoughts fuzzy and my focus dull. Half of the point of having the kind of personal assistant that I do is that she will help me to relax a little, think less. And here I am, unable to think about anything because of her.
I march into my office the next day, and there she is, waiting with a steaming cup of coffee ready to hand it off to me.
She’s wearing red. This woman has the audacity to show up to work wearing red after a night like that?
A night where I asked, no, demanded she wear nothing but red lingerie!
It’s a short, tailored dress that flares around her ass, showing off her perfectly smooth and toned thighs.
It doesn’t have a plunging neckline, but it doesn’t have to.
The cut is enough to set me off on its own.
“Good morning, Mr. Graves,” she purrs. I take my coffee from her and can’t help but notice the smirk on her perfectly plump lips, glossed to match the goddamned dress.
I don’t say anything, at least not in response to that. Instead, I glower down at her. “What are you wearing?” I inquire.
“A dress,” she answers sarcastically. “That you bought for me.”
Suddenly, I’m remembering the faults in my shopping choices. I picked the style of things, yes. When the girl at the shop asked about color, I told her anything but orange. I guess I didn’t have an aversion to red at the time. But that was before last night.
“I don’t like it,” I tell her flatly as I walk over to my desk. “Don’t wear it again.”
“But sir,” she says, and there is a playful lilt in her tone. “You picked it out. I’m only doing as I am told by wearing all these things.”
I scowl at her from across my office. “And I told you not to wear it again.”
We have a stare off for a couple of seconds before her lips curl further. Not enough to actually smile, just enough to be cheeky. “Well, I think it looks nice. It’s not breaking any rules.”
With that, I round the desk back over to her. “I think you are forgetting your place, Miss Bates.”
“You reminded me of my place last night, Mr. Graves. And if I remember correctly, I was a very good girl.”
Hearing those words come out of her mouth makes my blood boil and makes that same hot blood rush to my dick.
I take a step forward. “In your position, it is important you remember, Miss Bates, that you are to remain in your place at all times. Both shifts. Publicly and privately.” I drill the words into the air between us, assuming that Little Miss Mouthy will realize the weight of them.
I am not playing games, and I am not an elusive person.
She should know that well enough by now.
To my surprise, because again, this girl gets away with shit no one ever has before, Annelise actually laughs.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Graves, but nowhere in the contract that I signed did it say that I have to mind my P’s and Q’s in private. And right now we are in private.”
“No. We are not in private, Annelise. We are at work. In my office. And you will behave.”
“Or what?” she asks.
No fucking way she just said that to me.
My scowl deepens, and I actually growl at her in response. “Or there will be consequences.”
“I am literally doing everything you ask all the time. It’s not my fault you are fucking Jekyll and Hyde over here.
No pants. Dresses only. Not that dress; it’s too tight.
Lingerie at all times. But not red lingerie, even though you chose it.
It’s not my fault that you picked out things that make your dick hard and your mood harder, Mr. Graves.
Because, at the end of the day, I am doing everything I was told. ”
“Not everything, Miss Bates. You’re not respecting me right now, and it is part of your role as my personal assistant,” I tell her, my voice dangerously low.
“And you’re not respecting me either, as your most important employee.”
“I could easily replace you,” I bark out.
“Really? Because I personally find that hard to believe considering your turnover rate.”
Before I can say anything else, she turns on her heel to stalk out. But before she reaches the door, I move in front of her, bracing the doorjamb and barring her path. She looks up at me, then her eyes shoot behind me.
“Did I come at a bad time?” Diego asks. My jaw clenches as my hands slide down the jam. Then I step to the side with a harsh sniff.
“No. Miss Bates was just getting back to her job,” I say. With that, Annelise tosses me the tiniest, spiciest smile, like one of those little chili peppers that looks innocent at first, but packs a gut-wrenching punch.
Diego lets out a low whistle after she walks off. “What the hell was that?”
“That,” I say as I march back into my office. “Was my new assistant forgetting who’s boss!”
“Ah, let me guess,” Diego says as he follows me. “She feels liberated after her night of ecstasy in the Velvet Lounge, and now she thinks she’s queen of the world.”
“Something like that,” I mutter while clicking through emails that I’m not actually paying attention to. My irritation is running so high I can’t even think straight, which only irritates me more.
Diego takes a seat in front of me. “Sounds to me like you’ve met your match,” he says with a snicker, and I shoot a laser glare at him.
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
But Diego knows me well. “Come on, brother. We both know that personal assistants mean more to you than just a glorified secretary.”
“She has two jobs,” I grit out as I lean forward to get in his face as much as my giant desk will allow. “To make my day to day run smoothly, all while making me look good in front of everyone else and to meet my other needs in the after hours.”
“And from the looks of it, she’s doing both. And well, from what I’ve heard.”
My eyes widen, flaring around the edges. “From what you’ve heard?”
“Calm down, boss. You know people talk about you. They’re supposed to. And the word right now is that your new AIPA is hot. The hottest yet. Which is only a flex for you. I actually came in here to congratulate you because I think you finally nailed it.”
“Okay, first off,” I start in. I’ve been winding up my pitching arm since Diego opened his mouth, and I’m ready to level him.
“You and everyone else here should know better than to be talking about me behind my back. And second…” I pause.
I actually stumble over my words because I suddenly find myself tongue-tied when I try to talk about her.
Diego arches an eyebrow and waits for me to continue.
It’s a challenge that pisses me off, and I gladly accept.
“She might be hot, and good at her job; every part of her job. But she’s mouthy as fuck and spicy as hell. ”
“Sounds fun,” he says with a shit-eating grin. “I’d love to have an assistant with that kind of moxie. If mine are smart, they’re boring. If they are hot, they break the rules. I feel like you’ve got the whole package here. It’s hard finding a woman who will follow all the rules.”
“Yeah, well, this one likes to bend them all. She’s gotten a little liberated since last night, and that’s not going to fly,” I say, biting my lips as I squint out the window.
“Is it finally happening?” he asks, adding another layer of annoyance to my already sour mood.
“Is what finally happening?” I ask.
“Did you find someone who might have you breaking your own rules?” he asks.
“The rule that you never have and never will let emotions get involved.”
That snaps my attention back over to him. “The only emotion involved is fury that this woman has the audacity to think she’s special.”
“So she’s not,” he says.
“Not what?”
“Special. Different. Doing something inside you no one else has before. Something you’ve never allowed before and now…have no say in the matter because that’s what women do.”
“Not to me, they don’t,” I say with solidity. “I’m not looking for…that.”
I can’t even say the words. Relationships, love, something serious. I won’t say any of those words because they aren’t in my vocabulary as far as I am concerned. I’ve never felt any of those things, and I never will. But obviously, as a man, I have needs. Which is why I have rules.
“I might be going out on a limb here,” Diego says.
“Limbs break,” I remind him. But he goes on, as Diego does.
“Have you ever considered why you have a personal assistant?”
My face screws into a look of confusion and annoyance. “Because I am running one of the most elite hotels in the fucking state, and I require employees to meet my needs?”
“You have multiple secretaries. Accountants. HR. Me. Not to mention Jocelyn, who pretty much covers all the things those people don’t, from events to aesthetics to advertising,” Diego presses, and I’m not loving it.
“You know as well as I do that having a personal assistant is detrimental to my appearance and reputation,” I say sharply.
“Nothing else? Not emotional support of any kind? Needs met perhaps?”
“You know as well as I do that needs being met are half the job.”
“Physical needs and emotional ones go hand in hand, boss. Just saying.”
For a man who is stomping haphazardly around in what he knows full well is a no trespassing zone, Diego sure is being casual right now.
“Not for me,” I answer because I’m done with this conversation. “Because unlike most of the weak ass men of this world who believe that getting caught up in the myth that is love, I actually have some control over how my feelings affect my decision making.”
“So you’re saying you do in fact have feelings,” he asks. How he got that out of what I very clearly just said is beyond comprehension.
“I am saying that I’ve made the rules and expectations of this job very clear. And if Annelise Bates can’t abide by those rules and submit to the expectations, there are going to be repercussions.”