The Billionaire From New York City: A Steamy BWWM Billionaire Romance (UNITED STATES OF BILLIONAIRES Book 4)

by Simply BWWM

  “I have a new position in mind for you,” Ethan said. “You will be my personal assistant—one of three working for me directly in the company. But your role will be a little different.” Brianna felt her face settling into a scowl as her mind leaped ahead to figure out what Ethan was going to suggest as her role.

  “You’re sick,” she said firmly, before Ethan could even reveal the differences between herself and his two other assistants.

  “You didn’t think so last night,” Ethan pointed out. “You slept with me pretty willingly last night.”

  “I didn’t know it was going to be a setup to turn me into some kind of prostitute,” Brianna countered, her voice sharp.

  “You’re not going to be a prostitute,” Ethan said patiently. “You will have legitimate work to do. I just will expect you to also continue to be willing to be available to me during the day.” He held her gaze and smiled slowly. “I plan to make it very much worth your while.”

  “You realize that just makes it sound more like you want me to be a whore for you,” Brianna pointed out.

  “You’re new to this city, Brianna,” Ethan said. “As my personal assistant—under the terms of the contract I have for you here—you’ll have lots of opportunities for actually enjoying the city, and not just on weekends. I don’t work all the time, you know.”

  “Obviously, since you have time to schedule an office-hours sex slave,” Brianna interjected sourly.

  “You would not be a sex slave,” Ethan said, his voice sharpening a little. “What’s your current salary, Brianna?”

  “Fifty thousand,” she said. It had seemed like a generous amount—the job she’d left, in Florida, had only gotten her up to forty thousand when she’d taken the offer with her new company.

  “Under your new position you’ll be making double that,” Ethan told her. “In addition, you’ll have flexible vacation time, overtime pay…” he smiled at her again, and Brianna knew she wasn’t imagining the little gleam in his bright eyes, “and of course full benefits. 401K contribution, all that. You’ll have access to a private driver—you’ll need it—who will take you to and from work daily, as well as any trips we make away from the office during the day.”

  “So I’m guessing that you’re going to expect me to be on call at all times for you to fuck me?” Ethan shook his head.

  “No—if you see me outside of work hours, it will be at your discretion—and you’ll be paid overtime for it. You can always turn it down. And I will never force you to have sex with me.” Brianna looked at him skeptically.

  “It kind of sounds like you’re trying to do that right now,” she pointed out.

  “You had sex with me willingly last night,” Ethan reminded her. “I think we both enjoyed that a lot.” Brianna felt her cheeks burning and felt glad that her skin was dark enough that it wasn’t quite as obvious as it would be otherwise.

  “That doesn’t mean I want to have sex with you all the time, at your command,” she said.

  “I just want you to make yourself available to me for sex,” Ethan said. “And being my personal assistant is the easiest way to enable that.”

  “What happens if I turn you down? You going to fire me?” Ethan shook his head.

  “Your job is safe,” he told her. “I’m not a monster. But I do have to make decisions in regard to some excess personnel throughout the company as I take control of it. You would have your job—but there might be two or three people in your department with you who would lose theirs.”

  “You’re blackmailing me with the threat of firing other people,” Brianna said flatly.

  “You’re not close with any of them yet, are you? It should be a pretty easy decision for you to make, if you’re really that against sleeping with me on the clock.” Ethan sipped his coffee and laid a slice of cured salmon on his toast, adding a little bit of scrambled egg on top of it before taking a bite.

  “What’s in the folder? I thought I saw my name on it,” Brianna said, trying to take a moment to shake off her shock at the proposition that Ethan had made to her long enough to figure out what she should do.

  “That is your new contract, with a non-disclosure agreement and a few other legal notices,” Ethan replied, once he’d swallowed his food. “It includes all the details about your compensation and benefits, and what your responsibilities as my assistant will be—of course, the ones that are formal.”

  Brianna was torn between horror and rage and bitter disappointment, and then surprised herself in realizing that she was amused as well. There she’d been, wishing there was some way to extend the sexual relationship with Ethan without any complications, the night before—little had she realized that Ethan had been thinking the same thing, though not quite with the same ideas of what that meant. And apparently he had much better ways of making that happen.

  He wasn’t wrong, in short. She had wanted to have a chance to sleep with him on a consistent basis, after his performance their first night together. But she hadn’t wanted to be some cheap corporate whore for him. Not that a hundred thou a year is cheap, she thought wryly.

  “Has anyone ever told you you’re a cast-iron son of a bitch?” Brianna reached out and helped herself to pancakes, barely glancing in Ethan’s direction.

  “Many people, including my father,” Ethan replied. “The good news is that you don’t have to go into work today, if you take my offer.”

  “I don’t? This isn’t effective immediately?” Brianna heard the note in her voice that warned her that her temper was taking control: the cloying sweetness, the tone her mother termed “butter won’t melt in your mouth.” She wasn’t exactly outraged, but she felt more than a little embarrassed, and more than a little used.

  “No. You can have the day off, while your space in the executive suite is set up for you today,” Ethan explained. “Also, you’ll see in your paperwork that I have some...guidelines for your new, non-official capacities with the company.” Brianna carved up the pancakes on her plate viciously with the side of her fork and poured maple syrup over them, bringing a sticky, messy bite up to her mouth to take a fast, almost resentful bite.

  “Oh?” She took a slow, deep breath.

  “Some wardrobe requirements—nothing obvious, don’t worry,” Ethan said with a reassuring smile. “In fact, apart from basic things that I want, you’re free to do as you please—and your expenses will be covered on my personal account.” Brianna swallowed and tried not to feel revolted at what Ethan was suggesting. “I’m not going to make you dress like a hooker, Brianna,” Ethan said.

  “I am interested in finding out more,” Brianna said in the cold, sweet voice she knew reflected just how bitter she was at the situation.

  “Look through the paperwork, and if you want to make any changes to our terms, you can bring them to me tomorrow. With your consent I’ll make the change in your employment today.” Brianna pressed her lips together and debated whether she wanted to eat anything more.

  She was angry, she was upset...and she had to admit that there was a part of her that was a little bit intrigued. Just what kind of relationship, what kind of arrangement, was Ethan expecting of her? He had been an excellent partner the night before, and she didn’t doubt that he would treat her extremely well—at least in terms of material things.

  “Just tell me up front: you’re not going to turn this into some kind of weird BDSM shit at work where I’m having to masturbate under my desk so you can enjoy humiliating me or something, are you?” Ethan shook his head, chuckling.

  “No. We will get adventurous, but it’s important to me that nothing gets out about our arrangement—so I’m not going to do anything obvious like that.” Brianna ate another bite of pancakes, and snagged some of the bacon off of the plate on the table. She would eat well, she decided; she might as well get some benefit from this strong-arming, from this carrot-and-stick performance.

  “And if I need to make changes to your demands, you’ll respect them?” Ethan nodded.

  �
�Within reason,” he said. “You can’t decide not to be available to me at all for sex—but you can choose, for example, to only be available when you actually want it.” Ethan grinned at her playfully. “I think I can be much better than you might imagine at making sure you want it.” Brianna rolled her eyes.

  “I’ll accept it provisionally,” she said. Even if she didn’t know her new coworkers very well, she couldn’t handle the idea of making some of them lose their jobs; especially when the prospect that Ethan had dangled in front of her was not—apart from certain aspects—all that onerous. She had, after all, wanted to have sex with him again, just the night before. That would definitely be happening. And he seemed to want to make it as mutually beneficial as possible in spite of the blackmail he had over her. She sighed. “I’ll take today to look over the paperwork and decide for sure.” Ethan nodded.

  “That’s fair.” He took a wallet out of his coat pocket and opened it, producing a platinum American Express. “This is a supplementary card on my account. You can use it to purchase whatever you require from my dress code provided to you, as well as lunch, and if you’d like to go to the salon today—maybe get your nails done, or whatever else you’d like—to be ready to start tomorrow, you can pay for that too.” He slid it across the table towards her. “If you decide not to, you can return it to me tomorrow morning, at eight-thirty a.m., along with the paperwork.”

  “They’re not going to think I’m using a stolen card, are they?” Brianna glanced down at the card, and caught the words where the name normally would be. PA Supp.

  “I’ve called into customer service and told them to authorize you to use it,” he said. “As long as you don’t take it anywhere hinky—I’d recommend sticking with Macy’s, Bloomingdales, maybe Sak’s or Nordstrom, places like that—there should be no trouble.” Brianna looked from the card to Ethan and shook her head in disbelief at the sudden, sharp turn her life had taken in less than twenty-four hours.

  “You’ve just got this all wrapped up, don’t you?” Ethan smiled at her, and it was genuine: warm and full of life.

  “My motto is: always be prepared for what—or who—you might meet,” he said. “Now, I need to head into the office to finish the work of taking over the company. Eat as much as you like, and have a shower or a bath if you want—I also had a guy I know bring a dress for you to wear, to avoid that ‘walk of shame’ feeling leaving the building.

  When you’re ready to go, the number for your driver is in the folder.” Brianna nodded as Ethan rose. He stepped around the table and leaned in, and she looked up at him in confusion. Ethan pressed a brief kiss to her lips and gave her a wink. “I think you’ll enjoy this more than you’re expecting right now.”

  “I’d enjoy it more if I had more of a choice in it,” Brianna said dryly. Ethan shrugged.

  “We can evaluate in a month. If you’re really unhappy, I’ll let you go with no consequences.” Brianna wasn’t so sure he could manage that—after all, being absent from her new job for a month to be a personal assistant to the company’s owner would be likely to irritate her coworkers—but she knew that things were possible for Ethan that were beyond her imagining. She took the folder from him, and placed the card on top of it, and watched him leave.

  Chapter5

  Ethan stepped into his office and looked around; it had been hurriedly refurbished for him to his specifications starting from the moment that he’d initially put in his bid to buy the company, and the contractors had finished the day he’d signed the paperwork to complete it—the same day that he’d met Brianna. But he hadn’t inspected it yet.

  There was a big, broad desk: stained oak, refinished from an antique. Behind it was a large office chair, the best of ergonomic comfort, upholstered in real leather. The wall behind the desk was dominated by windows, looking out over Manhattan. The office’s location was not prime real estate, precisely—but he could just make out Washington Square Park if he looked for it.

  The office had been soundproofed already, but Ethan had requested further privacy improvements: a door-command system that he could operate from his phone, and only from his phone, along with tinting on the windows so that while he could look out, no one would be able to look into the building—even pesky paparazzi in helicopters. There was a private bathroom, complete with a shower, and an enclosed patio that was only accessible from inside the office.

  He also had had the company install a small, entertainment-quality bar, and new furniture for associates and other guests that would visit him. All in all, it was an office that Ethan could be proud of; one where he could take meetings of all kinds. He smiled slightly to himself as the door locked behind him and strode to his desk. Yes...guests of all kinds.

  He thought of Brianna, who was—he hoped—at that moment, on the way to the office to present him with the signed paperwork accepting her new position. He hadn’t bothered to check the transactions on his supplementary card the night before, after he’d finished up business at other locations in the city; he hadn’t wanted to spoil the surprise of finding out what she’d gotten, if she’d decided to accept his offer. He had also wanted to extend the anticipation of waiting to find out.

  He thought she would probably be pleasantly surprised at his requirements. He wasn’t interested in having some kind of office slut—but he did have a penchant for lingerie on the women he slept with, and he was more than happy to pay for them to cater to his preferences. Knowing that Brianna would be sitting outside of his office, alongside Jennifer and Cassidy, with stockings and maybe a bustier underneath her conservative outerwear, was enough almost to start getting him turned on. The knowledge that—assuming she didn’t call his bluff—Brianna would be there every weekday, available to him whenever he wanted to toy with her for a while, was gratifying.

  It was the first arrangement of its kind that Ethan had attempted; he’d been inspired by one of his friends, who had made a similar arrangement and told Ethan about it six months before, during a dinner meeting to discuss a business opportunity. The friend had created a new position at the company he’d built, and sought out a woman specifically to fill it, but Ethan had thought that it was gratuitous—and maybe abusive—to interview women for the job of being office-hours sexual gratification. He’d also been more than a little skeptical of the type of women that a job posting of that nature would attract.

  Far better, Ethan had thought, to find a woman he had sexual chemistry with, whom he could enjoy talking to, and then propose terms to her. So he’d slowly begun to put the pieces into place to make that idea a reality, and he’d been seeking the right candidate for a few weeks, by the time he’d met Brianna, the night before.

  So everything had been—more or less—in place, ready to be put in action. She would be receiving a gracious paycheck, and he would make sure that she had enough legitimate work during the day to justify her being on payroll as his personal assistant; but just like he didn’t spend his entire workday actually working, neither would she.

  It was particularly lucky, Ethan thought, that Brianna was new in the city. It had been easy for him to have her employment transferred to his office from her old position; he had someone in another company he owned who could take her place, at least for a month—that smoothed over the business end—and he had justified the change with the board by telling them that the position he needed required her expertise. Besides, with her being brand-new, her department couldn’t possibly miss her very much.

  He checked the time again; Brianna had less than ten minutes to report to him with either her acceptance or her refusal. Ethan sat back slightly in his chair, trying not to anticipate too much. He was fairly certain the odds were in his favor—but he knew that Brianna was likely to drive a hard bargain, and demand respect from him, not just the terms he’d put forward for her.

  Three minutes before the time when Ethan had told her to report to him, the buzzer on his desk went off. Ethan tapped the button on the console that went with it. “Yes?” On the o
ther end of the two-way line, Cassidy—one of his existing assistants—spoke.

  “A Brianna Evers is here for you, Mr. Hale,” she said. Ethan smiled.

  “Yes—I’m expecting her,” he said. He opened up the app on his phone and unlocked the door to his office. “Tell her to come in.”

  Brianna stepped into his office holding the file folder he had given her the previous day. Her hair was styled differently, falling straight down to her shoulders in medium-width braids that framed her face. She wore a skirt and a cardigan, and Ethan’s gaze slid down to her legs to see that they were covered—though the length of the skirt made it hard to tell if she was wearing stockings or pantyhose. Sensible heels on her feet tap-tap-tapped on the floor as she strode to his desk.

  “Well?” Ethan raised an eyebrow as Brianna sat down, looking utterly composed.

  “I accept. With conditions,” Brianna said.

  “I expected you would have some of those,” Ethan said with a smile. He held out his hand for the file.

  “I get to choose where our outings will be every third time,” Brianna told him, as she extended the file for him to take. “And I will not be asked to work overtime more than two nights per week.”

  “That sounds reasonable,” Ethan said, nodding. He saw that Brianna had clipped the supplementary card onto the inside of the folder as he opened it. He read through the paperwork; she’d signed everywhere she was supposed to, and had typed up and signed a list of her own requirements. She wasn’t asking for too much—Ethan was pleased to see—but she was definitely making it clear that the arrangement was going to be a give-and-take. She wasn’t simply accepting his proposition.

  “I also want to make it clear that any sex between us—individual acts, or just whether or not we have sex—has to be agreed on by us both,” Brianna said. “I know you told me you would never force me, but I want it to be officially stated.”