Sweet Karma

by Amara Kent

  “Arrogance will get you nowhere, Miss Dunlop,” he drawls.

  “With all due respect, Mr. Lukas, it’s not arrogance, it’s confidence,” I reply while reining in the urge to smack him over the head.

  Remain calm, Taylor. You need this job, remember? Sweet and bubbly Tiffany Dunlop.

  “Miss Dunlop, they are one in the same. The only difference between the two are the letters contained in the words.”

  So are the words douche and dickhead.

  “Say I were to hire you. I need someone that is not only able to handle simple tasks, like getting my coffee in the morning and my lunch, you will be required to be placed on call outside of work hours. Also, I’ll need you to pick up any dry cleaning. To become my PA, you will not only complete the tasks I give you within the deadline I set out for you, but you will be required to assist the other departments within his company. Do you think you can handle that? This isn’t small-time business in in middle America. New York is the big leagues, and I’m up at the top. I need you to be able to keep up,” he states dryly.

  Someone needs to inform him that he epitomizes arrogance. Hell, the word was created because of him. Ass face.

  “Yes. I have no doubt, and you will come to see that I am worth my words.”

  “Very well. That is all then. Nancy will contact you within twenty-four hours to inform you of whether you were successful or not. I do have more interviews to get through today. Return your visitor’s pass at the front desk on your way out.”

  He doesn’t stand, doesn’t shake my hand like others would. He remains seated and dismisses me with a simple head down. I stand up, thank him for his time, which of course goes unacknowledged, and I leave, making sure to thank Nancy and return the visitor’s pass at the front desk as requested from his highness.

  When I’m safely outside the building, I call Kerri’s number. A ring doesn’t even come when she answers the phone, as if she’s been waiting for me to call her. “That didn’t take very long. How’d it go?” she asks.

  “I hope I get it, because I would bathe in the satisfaction of seeing him fall to his knees,” I seethe.

  “That bad, huh?”

  “That good. He’s the perfect guy for the job.”

  Dean Lukas is going to get what’s coming to him, and I’m going to make sure that he’s on his knees, begging and crying for mercy.

  A knock comes at my office door and I see Nancy’s stylishly gray hair poke in through the gap.

  “Mr. Lukas, I have Tiffany here for her first day,” she announces warmly.

  Nancy has been with me from day one. She, along with my mother, encouraged me to start this business. I wasn’t so sure that it was a good idea. I didn’t know how to run a business. I was just a marketing and advertising major in college. They saw something in me that I hadn’t, and I’m grateful and appreciative of their guidance. Were it not for them, I wouldn’t be sitting here. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to give my mother the life she deserves. After my father left her while she was pregnant, she had nothing. Well, she had me… she only had me. We grew up poor. She worked three jobs to afford to send me to school. It didn’t have a great rating, yet it was all she could afford. We lived the best we could. Christmas was a scarcity, and birthdays even more so. Yet, she always did what she could to ensure that I was loved. During my high school years, I worked my ass off in order to receive a scholarship to NYU, and it was from there that I pursued my dream. Luck found me once more, and I was able to get a job at one of the finest marketing companies in the city. I’m convinced that all the luck was really for her, not for me. She was able to have the life she should have had without doing the work. She’d done her time. It was her moment to bask in the freedom and relax. Now she plays grandmother to my beautiful little girl, Chloe.

  I motion for her to come in. Tiffany Dunlop. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her ever since I saw her for her interview. She was sweet and alluring, and to any other guy she would be the perfect woman. For me? I wanted and craved more than she gave. She was nowhere near the acceptable level of a woman for me. She was too kind, too much of a pleaser. She gave a stellar performance at her interview. Gave me what she knew I wanted from her, but deep down, she was a Goody Two-shoes, and there’s only one good use for people like them. Someone to push around and mess around with when you crave it.

  She was the perfect person to become my assistant, and it was the first thing Nancy and I have agreed on in a long time. Did the other applicants boast more experience… yes. But Tiffany has one thing that the others didn’t have. She was the complete opposite of the type of person I am attracted to. I don’t want people talking to me as if I’m the ray of sunshine in their bleak world. I want someone willing to use the darkness and manipulate it to their will. Tiffany is the kind of woman you fucked once and never saw again, not the kind of woman you entered into a relationship with. I need someone I’m not going to get attached to. After the last dangerous fiasco, I was never going to do that again. It’s why I gave myself the strict “no banging or having a relationship of any kind with my employees” rule. I don’t care what other people do, as long as it doesn’t fuck with my business, I was fine. Unfortunately for me, becoming too intimate with my staff members is dangerous.

  I lift my head up to find Tiffany standing there. My cock twitches with excitement, as if alerting me to the stunner in the room. I mentally yell at him to calm the fuck down, but he doesn’t seem to have heard me, and I feel myself become more aroused by the second. What she’s wearing is a sheer contrast from her outfit at the interview. Then, she was playing it safe and wearing clothes that didn’t show who she was underneath the pieces of material. Today, well, today is a new day. With a black tight skirt that shows the contours of her waist and legs, sitting just above her knee, the blouse she’s matched with it is light burnt orange in color and satin. The thing about satin, is that it begs you to touch it. Beckons you with its silkiness. The top two buttons of said blouse are undone, and I get the slightest view of her alluring cleavage. Her hair is curly and down, sitting nicely on her breasts. She looks stunning with her black-framed glasses that sit neatly on her little nose. She has that innocent librarian look that has most guys jacking off to as if their life literally depended on it.

  Notwithstanding the physical attraction felt, it’s still not enough to have me breaking my own rule. It’s too important for me to ever jeopardize it again.

  “Thank you so much for this opportunity, Mr. Lukas. I’m so excited to be working with you,” she chirps a little too brightly for my liking.

  “Welcome to Lukas Marketing and PR,” I begin, not responding to her admiration. “This isn’t going to be an easy job. If it is, then I either need to work you harder, or you’re not doing your job right. You will need to get yourself acquainted with the many facets of this company because you will be required to liaise with all the teams. I have many events I attend, and sometimes you will be required to attend with me as well.” She places the little notebook I hadn’t realized she had brought with her on her thigh, waiting for instruction. She’s organized. Got to give her that. “You will be shown the various departments in the company by Nancy. She will be training you how to do the job she’s done perfectly for many years. I expect you to be as good as you claim to be, and to be as good, if not better, than Nancy. Failure to do so will result in termination. Am I understood?” I ask. She nods her head. “Good. You can go. Once Nancy shows you around, I will advise you of your tasks for the day.”

  Tiffany opens the door to leave and stops, making room to allow my COO and friend, Donald (Don) Masterson to enter the room.

  “Tiffany, is it?” he asks, flashing her his perfect set of teeth.

  I roll my eyes at the display. I’ve been dubbed a player by most of New York. Willing to sleep around with anyone to satiate my cravings to get my dick wet. I guess in the eyes of the city that would be correct. I never set out to become one, but this job comes
with responsibility and with responsibility comes sacrifice. One I’m willing to make. Relationships are meaningless to me. They hold an expiration date. There’s no point in hoping for something where there isn’t one. This company is my baby, and it’s something I’ve nurtured and grown over the years. No woman will ever come between me and my baby… Ever.

  “Leave her alone, Don,” I groan.

  “Just being nice and hospitable. Nice to meet you, Tiffany. I’ll be seeing you around.”

  Tiffany politely nods her head and smiles, closing the door behind her.

  “How are you going to work with a sweet little piece like that working for you?” he asks, flopping down on the chair across from me and propping his feet up on my desk.

  “She’s not a sweet little piece, she’s my PA.”

  I may sleep around with multiple women in the city, but I’m above treating them as if they’re prizes, or mountains to conquer. Don has always had a more relaxed outlook on women and is happy to treat them however he sees fit in order to get what he wants. Sex.

  “So you’re not going to sleep with her then?” he asks.

  “And neither are you!” I snap at him.

  He holds his hands up in surrender. “Kidding. Kidding, Dean. She’s done a number on you already,” he comments.

  “How so?” I ask, leaning back in my chair. This should be rather interesting.

  “I’ve joked about women lots of times, but as soon as she comes along, you bite my head off as if I announced I was going to kill your family.” He chuckles.

  “I don’t like her, if that’s what you think,” I correct his assumption. And it would be the truth. I don’t like her. She’s coy and meek and that’s not the kind of woman I like in my life. I’ve always been surrounded by strong, independent women and that’s the kind I’m attracted to.

  “So, you’re not going to fuck her like you did the other one? Multiple times.”

  I scrub my hand over my face and sigh. Her. She was a mistake and a half. “No. Never.”

  “We’ll see about that.” He smirks.

  “What’s that mean?” I frown, unimpressed with the insinuation.

  “It means, my friend, that your dick has a healthy appetite for the ladies and a slight sex problem. You may have enforced this rule on yourself to not go screwing around with people who work for you, but having her work closely with you is a whole different story. Good luck with that. I’ll bet that you cave and end up fucking her. Right in this office.” He waves his hand around the room for emphasis.

  “It won’t happen. She’s not my type,” I retort.

  “Are you kidding me? She’s my dog’s type. Of course, she’s your type. Tall, leggy, blond with the most piercing green eyes I’ve ever come across, and those damn lips of hers. You’re telling me you can’t picture her kneeling down looking up at you with your dick in her mouth?”

  I can now, dickhead. I need to get him out of this damn room, before he causes an unwanted reaction from my dick.

  “Is there a reason you came in here, Don? I’m not above firing you,” I grunt out.

  “You wouldn’t fire me. I’d sic my mom on you.”

  “Hmm.” I bend down, peeking under my desk.

  “What?”

  “Oh, nothing. Just checking to see if you still have your damn fucking balls. Because it’s one thing to have a missus fight for you, but your own mother?” I tease.

  He opens his mouth to say something, but then closes it and shrugs. “Okay, I’ll give you that one. It was good. It was good.”

  “What did you come in here for, Don?” I ask again.

  “I have a meeting today with the heads of each department. We’re going over the big end-of-year Perry Media event. Will you be attending?”

  “No. Chloe has a performance at school. I promised I would be there for it since I missed the last two.”

  “Right. Will your assistant be in the meeting, or just Mom?”

  “I will expect both Nancy and Tiffany to be present at the time. Nancy will be taking the notes on the meeting. I just want Tiffany observing to see what’s happening.”

  “Okay, cool. That’s it. I’ll leave you to it, boss man. Try not to get whipped for that ass though, huh?” he says with a wink.

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “I saw you take a glimpse at her ass. Don’t be ashamed, I did too. It’s a nice ass. I’d love to take a bite of it.” He chuckles.

  “Get the fuck out of here, Don, before I fire you for real,” I groan.

  “How was your tour?” I ask, not really caring. It could have been the worst experience in the world and it won’t matter to me.

  “It was good, thank you. Really interesting to know the various facets of the business. I didn’t realize the little nuances that help to keep a company like this running,” she responds with wide-eyed exuberance.

  Her voice is sweet, which is a turn off, yet her appearance is damn incredible, making me think the kind of thoughts I shouldn’t be thinking about, like fucking her on my desk. I curse Don for putting ill thoughts in my head. I will not submit to my id for a possibly horrible lay.

  “Good. At two this afternoon there is a meeting with Donald Masterson and the heads of each department in this company. We have a big event coming up at the end of the year which is being held for Perry Media. You do know who that is don’t you?” I ask.

  “Perry Media is the leading media company in the United States and Canada. They also have a massive reach in Australia and England. They specialize in—”

  I put my hand up and cut her off. I didn’t need an “About Us” description of the company. I know who they are and what they do.

  “Don’t regurgitate what you read about them on their website to me. I know who they are and what they do. We are running their annual Christmas Party, which we do every year. You are required to attend the meeting with Nancy. She will be taking notes. You are only there to observe and see how we do things here.”

  She nods her head respectfully and scribbles down in her little notebook.

  “I have a meeting with the board. I need you to set up food for breakfast, lunch, and some snacks. Nancy knows the company we go through for those things. Ensure that we have a carton of Organi Soy Milk. This needs to be set up for next Thursday. A reminder email needs to be sent to all departments. Make sure that the boardroom hasn’t been double booked. If it has, advise the team who has it booked to go elsewhere. Send a company-wide email to remind that we have the board members attending and therefore they need to make sure that they are dressed appropriately and that their stations are neat and presentable. The team leader of that department will need to ensure that the desks of absent people are presentable as well.”

  I watch as she writes it down. Her hand writing is damn near illegible and I start to wonder how this woman can have worse hand writing than a doctor’s.

  “How can you understand that?” I ask.

  She looks down at her note pad and then back up at me. “It’s shorthand writing, Mr. Lukas. It’s a lot easier for me to keep up with what you are saying this way.”

  “Right then, that is all.” I press the intercom system on my phone which leads to Nancy. “Nancy, can you please walk through today’s tasks with Tiffany, please?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Tiffany stands up, leaning over to brush something off her skirt, and I get a clear view of her ample breasts. I dig my fingers into my leg to stop from sporting a hard-on around this girl. The last thing I need is to forget the damn rules I put in place for myself regarding office fraternization. As soon as she stands up I pretend to work on my computer.

  I look at my daughter on stage. She’s in the front row of her class, singing brightly and loudly. The voice of an angel, just like her mother. She’s a spitting image of her as well, with her light brown hair, big expressive blue eyes and her heart-shaped face. The memory of Melinda tugs at my heart. It’s been years since that fateful day, however, it still creat
es a hole in my heart whenever I think of her. She’ll always be a part of me, no matter what happens. Chloe spots me sitting in the front row and does a quick little wave. They’re singing “How Much is That Doggie in the Window,” and when it comes to the barking, she does it so loud, you can hear her above everyone else. When they’re finished, I jump up and clap my hands and whistle. I’m making a fool of myself, but the bright smile painted on her face makes the humility all worth it.

  “I’m so glad you could be here for this,” my mother says, next to me.

  “There’s not much that could ever take me away from her,” I admit with sincerity .

  Apart from my mother, she is my life. I’ve been a bad father to Chloe in the past, putting myself in front of her needs, and I swore that I would never do that again. She is always going to come first.

  “What’s your new PA like?”

  “This isn’t going to be like before, if that’s what you’re worried about,” I say, attempting to nip the conversation about my runaway dick in the bud, before it can be brought up.

  “I’m not thinking that. I know you won’t make the same mistake again.”

  “I’d be stupid if—” I’m interrupted by my little girl sprinting toward me. I kneel down and she throws herself on me. I stand up with her clinging onto me like a monkey.

  “Daddy!” she screams right into my ear. I take it without complaint, no matter how much it pierces straight through my eardrums.

  “Hello, sweetheart.” I look down at her gleaming face, placing kisses all over her forehead and cheeks.

  She laughs. “Stop it, Daddy. We’re in public!”

  I laugh. She’s got that little bit of sass, just like her mother.