The Alpha's Assistant & The Dom Next Door

by Michelle Love

  “And since I need my new secretary alive,” he interrupted, “I’ll give you the first half of your paycheck upfront.” Brock smiled at the combined relief and astonishment in her beautiful eyes.

  “Really?” Erica said in amazement. “I mean, thank you! I accept! I just … I don’t even know what to say. I really need the job, but I’ve never heard of anyone paying upfront. You trust me that much already? Doesn’t Mr. Gordon need to approve me or something?”

  Brock grinned. “I know Mr. Gordon extremely well. He’ll approve, believe me.”

  Stepping around the desk, he nodded at the door and walked slightly behind her, restraining the desire to rest his hand on her lower back in a gentlemanly fashion, mostly because then he’d want to slide it lower still.

  “Don’t worry about a thing. I wouldn’t offer it to you if it wasn’t what he would want. The position needs to be filled by someone who is going to do a good job, and I can tell that someone is going to be you.” He gave her a warm smile as they reached the door and he opened it for her.

  “Angie! Will you please give our newest recruit the paperwork she needs?” he asked before turning back to Erica. “You’ll start first thing in the morning.”

  “Yes, of course.” Erica beamed so brightly she could’ve lit up a neon sign.

  “Excellent! We will see you then!”

  Only the phone call he had pending drew him away from his new secretary. Otherwise, he might well have stood there in the hallway, under Angie’s curious, knowing gaze, trading smiles for the rest of the afternoon with Erica.

  Chapter 3

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Erica sighed as she ran through the door. “Late on the first day! And after I put him in his place about my being so early for the interview and all that! Oh God … don’t fire me …”

  She ran as quickly as she could through the lobby of the skyscraper and dashed straight for the stairs. No way was she waiting for the elevator! She ran all eleven flights and almost exploded into the lobby, meeting Angie’s irate gaze as she stumbled, panting and red-faced, over to the desk.

  “It’s about time you decided to show up,” Angie said without a smile. “Mr. Gordon doesn’t tolerate lateness.”

  Erica puffed and wheezed. “I’m sorry. I left an hour ago, but I got stuck behind an accident—”

  “You should have left earlier,” Angie cut in coolly. “Don’t let it happen again. He will not be happy. And he had me cut you that initial first half of your paycheck, too, trusting you. That’s not how we do things here, Erica.”

  Erica flushed, if that was possible, given how red she already was.

  Angie was definitely not finished raking her over the coals. “Mr. Gordon needs his personal assistant here before him. Every day. Clear?”

  That got Erica’s attention. “I’m sorry. Personal what? I thought I was a secretary—”

  “Secretary? Is that what he told you? You’re going to be a personal assistant.” Angie nodded toward the other side of the room. “Go drop your stuff off. I’ll give you five minutes and then I expect you to be back here ready to work.”

  Erica wanted to argue, but she knew there was no point. She had been told that she was going to be the secretary, and it didn’t matter now what she said. If he had told this woman that she was going to be the personal assistant, she knew there was little she could do about it. Her mind was spinning. She wanted to find that guy who had done the interview and ask him what had happened, but then, she also didn’t want to see him again if she could help it.

  Throughout the interview, she had done her best to keep everything as professional as possible, but she had found it incredibly difficult with how attractive the man was. He was tall, with dark hair and dark, piercing eyes. She had tried not to notice his body under his suit, but it was difficult not to.

  She put her things away in the desk assigned to her, catching her breath as she did. If Erica was perfectly honest with herself, this entire place confused her. She had received a phone call the night before by someone else who worked in the company, and they had briefed her more on how the digital bank worked.

  During the phone call, she had acted as though she understood everything that the man was saying to her, but the fact of the matter was that she’d had no clue. At least she’d been honest during the interview about her ignorance. They couldn’t expect her to know anything Bitcoin related; she’d made it clear she was clueless.

  She returned to the front desk, ready to begin her day but not sure how her day was going to go.

  As she feared, Angie was just as much of a bitch to her all throughout the morning as she had been to her from the beginning, and it wasn’t long before Erica was tired of it. It quickly became clear that she couldn’t do anything right—from the way she was handling the phone calls that were coming in, to the way she was handling the paperwork.

  “If you can’t take the pressure, get out!” Angie barked at her more than once.

  Erica was so irate by the time early afternoon rolled around that she was toying with thoughts of quitting, even though that wasn’t her usual style in the slightest. That, and money, stalled the impulse.

  “Hey! How’s it going?” a man’s voice broke into her thoughts, and both she and Angie looked up. Erica noticed that she quickly looked down again, but her mind was quickly caught up in the fact that the incredibly handsome man who had interviewed her was leaning on the desk.

  “Fine.” Was Angie’s one-word reply.

  “I didn’t know I was going to be a personal assistant,” Erica informed him. “The job post said secretary.”

  The man lifted one broad shoulder and flashed her a melting grin. “The interview went so well that we decided we’d upgrade the job, and the salary.”

  That gave Erica pause. “Okay … I guess. The day just hasn’t gone well,” she blurted. “At all.”

  “I don’t expect you to be perfect on your first day,” he said with suddenly raised eyebrows.

  “Neither do I, and I thought she was doing great. She’s just being too hard on herself,” Angie cut in before Erica was able to reply. Erica looked over at her and was about to say something when Angie added, “Don’t worry, Mr. Gordon, she’s going to be ready for anything by the time I’m done with her.”

  She smiled over her shoulder at Erica, and Erica’s mouth dropped open.

  Say what?!

  Mr. Handsome himself was Brock Gordon? Billionaire and Internet genius Brock Gordon had been the one to interview her??

  “You could’ve told me,” she began, trying to steady herself from the shock and, remembering how snarky she’d been yesterday, her cheeks flamed.

  “I didn’t want to intimidate you,” Brock said cheerfully. “You’re fine. I only hire the best. Angie will show you the ropes.”

  “I—uh—yeah,” Erica muttered totally inarticulately.

  “See? Intimidation,” he pointed out, and she thought she detected an amused smile hidden behind his serious face. She felt like the world’s biggest idiot, but he didn’t give her a chance to say anything else.

  “Give yourself some time to adapt. But don’t be late again,” Brock warned, and with that, and a smile that took the sting off his mild rebuke, he turned to go back to his office, leaving both women to watch him as he walked away.

  Erica looked over at Angie, who avoided making eye contact with her, and decided not to say anything. Nothing about this situation was making much sense to her, but she also didn’t care. She didn’t know what it was that had prompted him to hire her with so little experience, and she also didn’t know why he hadn’t told her the day before that she was going to be his personal assistant.

  But, whatever his reasons, she was working for one of the richest men in the entire country, if not the entire world. Suddenly, it didn’t matter how hard her day had been going so far.

  She was Brock Gordon’s personal assistant, and Erica decided in that moment, she was going to be the best.

  Chapter 4
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br />   Brock lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, wide awake. It was a Friday, and he knew he wasn’t going to see Erica again until Monday, something that made him less than happy. She had been working at the company for nearly three weeks, and he felt that he had done an excellent job of behaving himself around her, however hard it had been. Hard being the operative word.

  He was a playboy, no denying it. Work hard, play hard, love harder yet. He was honest about it, never leading women on about his lack of interest in anything but some time between the sheets.

  But he couldn’t get Erica off his mind. The outfits she wore were almost more than he could bear, especially when he was in his office and she would come and lean over his desk. It wasn’t like she was slutty; that might’ve been better. It was just that slight hint of demure cleavage, the curve of her tight backside in her nicely fitted slacks or dresses … More than once he had imagined throwing her down over his paperwork and fucking her from behind, imagining how she would moan and writhe from the pleasure of it all.

  Yet he also knew that he had to keep things professional with her. It could quickly turn into such a scandal if he didn’t play his cards right. Not to mention, there was something different about Erica. There was an innocence about her that he couldn’t seem to break through. The confidence she’d displayed in the interview had fallen by the wayside when it became clear he was the Big Billionaire Boss. Her cheeks would flush when he was around; she would stumble over her words and become visibly agitated; and he enjoyed every minute of it. His alpha tendencies made him enjoy when she was clearly feeling uncomfortable, though he wished she would cut loose and be freer with herself in his presence.

  She was so innocent, but he could sense that there was something under that innocence that would come out if he could just awaken it inside her. But how to do that in the workplace? That was the one domain where Brock had never made any conquests, with one exception that he now regretted. He kept his sex life strictly beyond the walls of the office.

  And yet, Erica ran through his head every morning, afternoon, and worst of all, night, to the point where he was becoming seriously sleep deprived from all his lonely fantasizing. Ordinarily he would have sought another woman to relieve his need, but he suddenly wasn’t interested.

  In frustration, he sat up on the end of his bed, swinging his feet to the floor and running his hands through his thick black hair. Who was he kidding? He couldn’t say that he was looking for the touch of any woman; he was looking for the touch of just one, the one whom he would see again bright and early Monday morning. The one whom he couldn’t get off his mind right now. The one whom he would give anything just to have to himself for even half an hour.

  He picked up his phone, tempted to text her. They had exchanged phone numbers, of course, since she was his personal assistant and at his beck and call. Of course, that was supposed to be strictly at work, and so far he’d held to that.

  But the temptation to text was growing stronger, and with the glass of whiskey causing his brain to swim around, he didn’t know if he had the willpower to say no. Setting the phone back down on the nightstand, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

  But with no luck.

  Another hour ticked by, and he looked down at his phone once more. He sighed, agitated. As a sudden impulse overtook him, he grabbed his phone and quickly typed the message before he allowed himself to think about it any further.

  Great work this week. I really appreciate it!

  He hit send, then looked at the clock once more and kicked himself. Talk about a lame text. And who sent something like that at one in the morning? She’d assume he was drunk, undoubtedly.

  His phone chirped and he quickly grabbed it, suddenly hopeful.

  But the message wasn’t from her. It was from Angie.

  Just wanted to let you know I still think about you from time to time. I’m sure you’re in the arms of some other girl, but I want you to know what we had was special, and I’ll always treasure it in my heart.

  Brock groaned in dismay, regret punching him yet again.

  About a year before, he and Angie had somehow fallen into bed, in spite of his no office flings rule. No denying she was a beautiful woman, and that was what he blamed it on. That and his total lack of self-control around the opposite sex.

  Just like with every other woman, he’d told Angie his intentions, and to his surprise, she had accepted that and even still chosen to keep her job, even after he got bored and ended things a few days in. Perhaps she’d thought seeing her every day would change Brock’s mind about her and they would get together again, or perhaps she really did like working at his company that much.

  Whatever the reason, he rather wished that she would just give up on him. Nothing was ever going to happen between them again. He’d made that clear. Probably cruelly clear, but better that than lying. Why couldn’t she move on?

  Brock threw his phone onto the nightstand in frustration, then rolled over the other way, closing his eyes and wishing for sleep.

  Chapter 5

  “Done and done!” Erica said with triumph in her voice. She set the files down on the desk and pushed them over to Brock, who looked up at her with the familiar mischievous look he so often gave.

  She felt her cheeks flush and instantly wished that they would not, knowing that he could tell every time they did. She didn’t like feeling vulnerable around Brock. There was something about him that was so intimidating, she felt that he could see right through her most of the time.

  “And that’s why you’re my favorite assistant,” he said as he scooped up the papers and patted them into a neat pile.

  “I’m your only assistant,” Erica pointed out wryly, finally at the point where she could be around the ridiculously good-looking guy and at least hold a conversation, even if half the time it still ended in her blushing and stammering.

  “If I had 10, you’d still be my favorite,” Brock replied, winking, and that sent Erica into full meltdown, so she hurried made her way back to the main office.

  Angie turned away as Erica walked out. The woman had apparently taken a dislike to her that just wouldn’t quit. Thankfully, Erica was past the training stage, so they didn’t have extended interactions any longer.

  “Having fun?” Angie asked, not turning around.

  “What?”

  “I heard you giggling in there like a schoolgirl. I just wondered if you and your employer are having fun.” Angie’s tone was flat and her voice was dry, but for some reason her words made Erica’s blood run cold. Though she sensed that there were always going to be problems between them, she didn’t know why Angie was deciding to pick a fight with her right now.

  “I wouldn’t call it giggling like a schoolgirl, but yes, I do enjoy working here, thanks for asking,” she said. Erica had learned that the best way to deal with Angie was to answer her attitude and move on with her own day, trying to ignore her the best she could.

  “I just hope you understand that you have to be professional at work. I would hate for you to get hurt,” Angie said with the same dry tone as before.

  “What are you suggesting?” Erica’s eyes narrowed.

  “All I’m saying is that there is work etiquette and there is flirtation, and you, my friend, are walking pretty close to the line.” Angie said.

  Erica opened her mouth to protest, then snapped it shut. What was the point? It was probably blatantly obvious that she was attracted to Brock. No denying that. But she hadn’t done anything wrong, so Angie could just think whatever she—

  “Look, you’re young,” Angie interrupted her whirling thoughts. “I’ll give you that. So I’m just telling you this because I don’t want to see you get hurt. I’ve seen the way Brock has been with other girls, and I know that you are excited and this is all so fresh and new, but I’m warning you, it’s not going to last.” She turned to answer the phone.

  In spite of her resolution to keep quiet, Erica opened her mouth to retort, and then her own ph
one beeped. She glanced at the screen and smiled.

  “Is that Brock?” Angie asked, and Erica gave her a look.

  “Mind your own business,” she replied. She lifted the phone to her ear and retreated to a quiet part of the office where she could hear the person on the other end of the line.

  “Yes, this is Erica. Yes. What? Really? No, definitely, I’m just really surprised. No, this isn’t my first place, but I didn’t know that they would take someone without more renting experience. I’ll be down there as soon as I get off work today. Yes, thank you!”

  Erica hung up the phone and looked over her shoulder. Angie was watching her, but she didn’t say anything. Erica quickly looked back to her phone and slipped it into her purse.

  She had just heard that she had gotten the apartment she had applied for a few weeks prior. It was ridiculously nice, and not cheap, but she could afford it on her salary. The one problem was whether they’d believe that she could make her rent, given that her bank account was still more empty than it was full. Apparently, they’d checked her references and decided she was a safe bet for a tenant!

  She had to get down there to sign some paperwork, and they were going to close shortly after she got off work—so she would have to ask Brock if she could leave early.

  “I’m surprised. I would have thought when they pulled my credit report that they would have said no way, but I guess they must have liked what they saw!” Erica said.

  “Congratulations,” Brock said with a warm smile. “I’m sure they saw what I did when you interviewed.”

  Angie’s warning or not, Erica laughed and blushed and felt utterly teenage-girlish.

  “Well, I’ll see you in the morning. Thank you!” she said.

  On her way down the elevator, Erica put her phone to her ear. She knew she ought to call the bank and see how much money she should transfer before she made it down to the bank, not wanting to overdraw any of her accounts. She flipped through the menu, listening to all the prompts she was being given by the computer on the other end.

  She listened to the menu, but then shook her head and looked down at her phone. Something had to be wrong. Pressing the button, she listened to the entire list again. There had to be something wrong with her account. It said that she didn’t have any outstanding balances of any kind.