Chapter 19
Harper
Apersonal assistant does whatever the boss wants done.
But here’s the real catch.
The part of the job that, while I should have known it came with the description but didn’t actually think about it until I’d already accepted the job, bought a business casual wardrobe, and even a couple of desk decorations for my new office?
Being a personal assistant means being with your boss…
All.
The.
Time.
I know I should have known, but I didn’t actually think about it until after I accepted the job.
I was too busy falling back into my normal life.
I need to sell my wedding dress or attempt to.
The amount people are willing to pay for a tainted dress is pathetic.
I’d get more satisfaction from burning the thing.
I need to schedule an oil change because apparently, it’s overdue, and I’m still learning the ins and outs of my new job.
When he offered me the job, I didn’t really have time to stop and think about what it actually means to be someone’s personal assistant. The reality of my job is that I will be spending an enormous amount of time with Ash.
Essentially, I went from being stolen from my wedding to trapped with my brother’s best friend to now working with my brother’s best friend. I’m now doing a job that forces more proximity than the post-wedding vacay did.
Since my brother works at the office too, any and all tensions between Ash and I have to be masked. He has no idea what happened between us in Costa Rica. Now he’s just found out that I work here too, as Ash’s shadow.
If the universe really does have a hand in my fate, I am sure it’s laughing its ass off right now.
By the time the first Friday rolls around, I am practically crawling out of my skin for the week to be over so I can spend the weekend alone in my apartment. I need to take a breather from the rollercoaster that is my life.
It’s just gonna be me, my books, and my fantasies. It’s much safer than being around the man who seems to constantly try to get me to make the steamy scenes I read a reality.
It started earlier this week when he was giving me a tour of the office. Despite my brother working here too, I’d never been in the actual office building. There was never a reason to go before, and I worked for Daniel.
As Ash showed me around, it was almost as if he was making a point to avoid places we would run into Jaylen.
If Jaylen was in his office, which is across from Ash’s, we’d go to the break room.
If Jaylen was in the break room for a cup of coffee and a cookie baked fresh by Nina, the receptionist, he was showing me the front desk.
If Jaylen happened to be near the front desk flirting with Nina about how good the cookies are, we went to Ash’s office.
It was like a game of Pac-Man that left my head spinning and kept me wondering what the real objective was.
Maybe he’s been trying to get you alone…I think.
My brain liked to come up with all these internal thoughts, thoughts that I would wave away just as quickly as they appeared.
I kept catching him smiling at me and looking away slowly every time I caught him in the act.
Wiping the smile away without shame. Every time he walked past me, some part of him touched some part of me.
It was the brush of a shoulder, the caress of his hip against mine, or even his fingers teasing mine without lifting an arm.
I make my way into his office at the end of the shift and stand in front of his desk.
“Is there anything else I can do for you before I leave today, Mr. Levine?”
Asher insisted I don’t need to address him as Mr. Levine unless someone other than he or Jaylen is in the room.
But I’ve noticed that when I call him that, it makes him swallow hard.
It makes his eyes flash three shades darker, from an off-bluish hazel to a gun-metal gray.
Considering how often he makes my skin tingle with his secret touches and smirks, I think he deserves it.
Most days, the answer is no. He doesn’t need anything else. But today, Ash lifts his chin with a single nod. “Yes. Actually. There is just one more thing.”
“Oh. Okay.” I am lost as he stands up and rounds the desk. I am frozen as he closes the space between us, his eyes locked on mine. Eyes that remind me of the night we were lying in bed together and kissed.
Ash stops right in front of me. His eyes dart over my shoulder, out the door, looking for any trace of Jaylen, if I had to be presumptuous. When his gaze comes back to mine, I assume the coast is clear.
He steps closer, close enough that his body is against mine.
I stand still, but allow my back to arch in response to him.
Not that I think I could stop that if I tried.
When it comes to Asher Levine these days, I don’t seem to have a lot of control of what my body does.
Including the wetness I feel in my panties just from the way he is looking at me.
“I can’t stop thinking about Costa Rica,” he says, bringing his hand up to my face.
“I can’t either,” I admit, closing my eyes and leaning my cheek against his palm. “But we have to.”
“Have to what? Stop thinking about it? Never.”
“Jaylen can’t know. Any of it, Ash.”
“I know,” he says, tipping my face up so that I will look at him. “And he won’t. I will make sure he doesn’t know a damn thing that happened. Or any of the things that are going to keep happening.”
Against his better judgement, Ash covers my mouth with his. And against my better judgement, I lean into the kiss, looping my arms around his neck.
“Ash,” I murmur, my chin quivering as his tongue traces my bottom lip before nibbling on it. “We can’t get caught.”
“We won’t,” he says. “But I have gone long enough thinking about kissing you and not actually kissing you.”
Ash spins me around, moving me toward the wall on the far end of his office. We are out of sight now, but problematically, if Jaylen does happen to come in, they will see us before we see them.
But as Asher’s lips crash into mine again, pressing me hard against the wall, I forget about the logistics of it all.
His hand comes up to my neck, caressing my collarbones, then sliding down until his fingers run right over the top of my nipple, which is shielded only by my blouse and the lace of a bralette underneath.
I moan into his mouth at the delicious touch and the heat that it produces. My nipples are so sensitive when they are hard.
“Ash…” I whisper.
“I want you,” he grits back.
“Ash…we shouldn’t…” I say while still kissing him, silently pleading his hand will make another lap over my nipple. As if he can read my mind, he cups my breast in his hand, his fingers finding my nipples and fluttering over it, making me squirm under him.
“Fuck, Harper…” he smirks. “You like that?”
I nod.
“You want more?” he asks.
I nod again.
Then a voice comes from down the hall, right outside the door.
“Brother, are you still here?”
We jump apart in a frenzy just as Jaylen comes into sight. He stops, his grins fading ever so slightly.
“Oh. You’re both still here.”
“Yeah,” he says.
“We were just going over some of the–” I scramble for an answer, but Jaylen just smiles again.
“Actually, I was hoping I’d catch you both,” he says.
“Catch us?” I ask, and if I had to guess, I look mortified right now.
“Yeah. I want to know what happened in Costa Rica.”
We both look at each other.
“What happened…” Ash starts, and I nod, praying he has a story ready to go.
“Yeah, I mean you stopped my little sister from marrying the world’s biggest asshole. I have been dying to hear all about it! Come on. This calls for sushi.”
Jaylen heads for the door, and Ash and I look at each other again. I let out a breath of relief, and Ash rakes his hand through his hair.
That was close. Too close, and it cannot happen again.