Chapter 4
Chester
As I closed the office door behind me, I fought back a smile desperate to play out on my lips.
Just as desperate as the laugh that wanted to escape my throat as I left a dumbfounded Juliet alone at her desk.
The look on her face had been priceless when I hinted at the fact her new boss had seen her completely naked this morning.
And by new boss, I didn’t mean Mike, whom she irritatingly mistook me for.
Did I look like the head of accounting? I could just picture his receding hairline and gold, wire-rimmed glasses. She knew now, though.
I thought she had been sexy on my phone with her legs splayed open for all the world’s eyes to see, but I was surprised to see she was just as sexy fully clothed.
That cream skirt hugged her hips and ass like a glove, and the matching blazer was cut just so that it hung open enough for me to see the ample cleavage above her white blouse underneath.
It was almost unfair that I already knew how perfect her breasts were and to have them covered up by layers of clothing was a torturous tease.
And if memories of her wet, glistening body weren’t enough to make me rock-hard, her face just added to her appeal.
Her icy blue eyes were only brought out further by her pale blonde hair that hung in loose curls down her back.
The little beauty mark that hung just above her rosy pink lips was the icing on the cake, and it was a struggle to tear my eyes away from her mouth back there.
Her attraction would pose a problem, especially since I already knew what she looked like naked.
I wanted to see more of it, and that want was an unwelcome distraction to the start of my day.
I stepped inside the elevator and pressed the button for a few floors up where my office was, and just getting off the seventeenth floor and away from that blonde distraction made me breathe a little easier. My head a little clearer.
A little.
I strode into my office expecting to find my assistant there, as it was now just after seven, but I found it empty.
Frustrated, I let out a sigh and ran a hand through my hair as I peered out at the rest of the floor for any sign of her.
But she, along with the rest of the office, was taking her sweet time to get here.
Granted, their start time wasn’t until eight, but my assistant had an earlier start time, so she could help me prepare for the day.
Going over our shared calendars of meetings and appointments, tasks, and a to-do list that seemed to grow longer by the day, no matter how much I check off of it. And today, of all days, I needed her.
I sat down at my desk with a harumph and reached for the phone on my desk, punching in my assistant’s number with an irritated force that made the buttons click loudly.
The phone rang and rang, and eventually went to her voicemail.
I placed the phone back in the receiver hastily and rolled my eyes.
You really couldn’t rely on anyone but yourself.
My phone blinked up at me with a red glare, indicating there were messages to be heard, which was something my assistant did for me.
She screened the calls to get through the bullshit, and handed me what really mattered on a notepad.
I would have to wade through the messages myself, but as I attempted various passcodes and was met with a harsh trill that I couldn’t be granted access, I could feel my impatience growing thin.
Finally, I tried one last passcode and was met with fifteen messages.
I groaned. The business day hadn’t even started.
I went through and deleted half that were either telemarketers or people pitching business ideas and wanting a backer, as if I had the time to help someone with their start-up for their moronic ideas.
Finally, I heard a familiar voice on the other end of the line.
It was my assistant, and she was informing me that she was quitting.
I played it back in disbelief, and then checked the time of when she had left it.
It had been at three that morning, the blaring sound of techno music playing behind her slurred words.
What an unprofessional pain in my ass. I slammed down the phone and cursed out loud.
Taking a deep breath, I loosened my tie slightly because it felt like it was beginning to suffocate me.
I knew it wasn’t the tie. It was the stress.
I was taking over an entire company today without my right hand, and there was a woman who had flooded this entire building with a sexual tension that had me in a chokehold no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door and I half expected my now former assistant to be standing in the doorway hungover with runny mascara, begging for her job back.
But no. To my surprise it was Will. He stood leaning against the doorframe in a baseball tee and dark, faded jeans.
His five o’clock shadow confirmed he had been out all night, and probably the night before.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, my mood immediately lightening.
“I figured I would come by before the rest of the office. Couldn’t sleep anyway. Still on a high from last night.” He smiled as he walked in, set his guitar case down, and made himself comfortable in the plush tweed armchair across from my desk.
“I just talked to you, you know,” I said, raising a brow, even though I was glad for the company.
“I know, I know. It was on the way home.” He waved me off with an easy smile, leaning back in the chair. How he was still awake after a night of music and debauchery was beyond me. He looked around the room, moving his dark hair from his eyes, a mild look of confusion on his face.
“Where is your assistant?” he asked, looking back to me expectantly.
“Is that why you are here?” I chuckled, putting two and two together. Will had a hard time resisting a pretty face.
“Can’t a guy just visit his best friend at work?” he asked, feigning a hurt expression.
“Mhmm. Sure. Sorry to disappoint, but she quit,” I muttered.
“Tired of the early mornings and the demands of her asshole boss, I assume?” chided Will with a smirk.
I gave him a vulgar gesture and slumped back in my chair.
“That or she’s twenty-three and enjoying the New York party scene…” I said, bringing my fingers to the bridge of my nose.
“Shit. I thought she was at least twenty-seven,” said Will in awe, rubbing at the stubble on his cheeks.
“However old she is, she’s really screwed me.”
“Not the best day to cut and run, huh? Do you need anything? I look okay in a pencil skirt,” said Will.
I waved him off, sitting straighter in my chair as if to stop feeling sorry for myself. I had handled much worse. I was a billionaire CEO, for God’s sake. I could navigate the world of business with my damn eyes closed.
“Nah. I’m good. Thanks. Though the idea of you in a dress has me both mildly intrigued and disgusted.”
Will laughed out loud as he batted his eyelashes at me.
“How about you come out tonight?” he offered, his eyes dancing slightly.
“What do you have in mind?” I asked curiously.
“I actually have another gig tonight. It’s at a club uptown.”
“I don’t know…” I said, shaking my head. I wasn’t too big on going out on a Monday night, especially with a crowd of strangers, being pushed around as they swayed to the music.
“Come on, man. Let loose every once in a while. It would be good for you. A little bourbon. Some kickass music from yours truly…”
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s a small venue. Intimate really. You can just hang out backstage,” continued Will, set on convincing me to come.
“Fine. Fine.” I put my hands up in surrender. “I’ll go.”
Will slapped his knee loudly and leaned forward in his chair with a victory grin. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
“Let me just add it to my calendar.”
Will scoffed slightly and I shot him a look.
He found it amusing that I scheduled every little thing in my life, from my workouts to what time I ate dinner.
I swiped up on my phone and the first thing that popped up on the screen was Juliet’s profile that I had been looking at earlier.
Will, not to miss an opportunity to pry, or miss ogling a hot woman, perked up.
“Who is that?” he asked.
“Some girl who was livestreaming this morning…” I said nonchalantly. “Naked.” I added with a tight smirk.
“Whoa. What?” asked Will, his curiosity piqued even more.
“I think it was on accident, but yeah, she was showering and I got quite an eyeful.”
“How the hell did you get so lucky?” asked Will, shaking his head.
“I just stumbled upon it.” I shrugged.
Will shook his head, dumbfounded, before running a hand through his shaggy hair. “You’re one lucky son of a bitch, you know that?” He laughed.
“Yeah…the thing is…” I started, thinking about how Juliet was just a few floors down from us right at this very moment.
“What?” asked Will, leaning in intrigued.
“She actually works here.”
“Wait. What?” he asked, eyes widening.
“Yep. I found out when I looked up her profile this morning. Her name is Juliet.”
“In what world…” said Will in disbelief.
“I paid her a little visit this morning.”
“She’s here? Now?” His eyes practically bulged out of his head.
“Yeah. I assume she wanted to make a good impression.”
“Boy, did she.” Will chuckled.
I chuckled along with him. “She’s a ten, man. Clothed. Unclothed. I’ve never seen an accountant look like that.”
“Did you tell her you tuned in this morning?”
“Not outright, but it was fun to see her squirm when I danced around the topic.”
“What are you going to do?”
“About?”
“A naked live-streamer working at your company…” replied Will, sitting back in his chair and studying me. “Might not be the best look on your first day taking over.”
I pondered about it for a second. I hadn’t even thought of that.
What my employees do in their free time is their business.
Then again, what they did was also a reflection of me.
My empire. There were around a quarter of a million people who watched, and probably more now that the video was most likely floating around the internet somewhere. Still, it had been an accident…
“I don’t know,” I mused, running a finger under my chin as I ran through the different scenarios playing out before me. “I don’t really like firing people on my first day…”
A bald-faced lie.
“Oh suuuure,” said Will sarcastically. “They don’t call you the ‘hatchet man’ for nothing.”
I shot him a look, to which he put his hands up in defense.
“Your call,” he said. “Hey, do you have time for breakfast before the madness begins? I’m starved.”
I glanced at the time on my phone. “We could order in,” I suggested. I didn’t want to leave the office when the rest of the employees were supposed to be there in less than an hour.
I picked up my phone and called the breakfast place on the corner, placing an order for scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, and a side of pancakes.
As soon as I hung up, the phone trilled loudly.
I stared at it like it was some sort of foreign thing, and Will looked on amused as I debated answering.
This was so unprofessional for a CEO of a major company—companies—to be answering his own phone.
“Brandfield Enterprises,” I answered in the chirpiest mutter I could muster.
I sighed in frustration as a telemarketer began pitching to me about faster internet.
I hung up without a word, but then the phone rang again.
I picked it up more hastily this time, barking “Brandfield Enterprises” into the mouthpiece.
Will stifled a laugh. Whoever was on the other line must have been turned off by my greeting, that they hung up almost immediately.
I sighed and placed the phone back on the desk, willing it to stay silent.
“I don’t think answering phones is your forte,” said Will, biting back a smile.
“It’s not my job,” I said pointedly.
“Looks like you’re going to need to hire a new assistant. And fast.”
I pressed at my temples. Going through interviews and résumés was the last thing I had time for today, or any other day.
I could pawn it off on Human Resources, but they hardly got anything right.
Not when it came to finding me an assistant.
I was particular about who worked for me.
They needed to be up to the challenge. Clearly, they failed with this last assistant. And the one before that…
“You know anyone?” I asked desperately.
“Who will put up with you?” asked Will with a small laugh.
I gave him the second vulgar gesture of the day. A record for it not being 8 a.m. yet.
“Hey, I have an idea…” he said, a sly smile slowly spreading across his lips.
“What?” I asked, not sure I wanted to hear what his mind had drummed up.
“You could hire that girl, Juliet, to be your assistant.”