by Ciara Cole
But within her first few days in her new position, Gabrielle was to discover that nothing was going to ever come easy. Not with a boss like Adam Bronson.
He’d warned her he was a hard driver. And though she had no problem with having to prove herself, prove that she was worthy of working as his PA, she didn’t thrive around hostility.
Still, this was just a job and if she put in all her focus, she’d overcome these initial hurdles and then keep striving. What could possibly go wrong?
It was amazing that she hadn’t heard about Adam Bronson before now. He’d made a name for himself in the world of fintech and had this successful company to prove it. His background was dotted with Ivy League degrees and an influential family background, but otherwise he kept a low profile.
That didn’t mean he hadn’t graced a few covers – Gabrielle’s online search had shown that he’d been on Esquire and GQ, while a few human interest magazines and blogs noted he was one of the city’s most eligible bachelors.
His private life seemed just as pristine: he’d been linked to a few models and heiresses, but nothing serious. He was definitely single, but from what she could tell, he wasn’t on the lookout for romance or wedlock anytime soon.
Thinking to arm herself for the job ahead, she asked Gretchen for some tips how to handle Adam Bronson.
“First, always be on time,” Gretchen said. “If he wants you somewhere in an hour, make sure you’re there in thirty minutes. Never pass up a chance to impress him. He notices everything – not just when you do things right, but also when you go out of your way in fulfilling a task.” Gretchen then smiled in encouragement. “You must have made quite an impact to be hired over all the others. I know it’s on trial basis, but you should give it your best shot. Congrats.”
“Thanks. And I intend to give it all I’ve got,” Gabrielle said with feeling.
Over a few days, she’d already gotten herself accustomed to her main duties. As Adam Bronson’s personal assistant, she was in charge of his contacts, his schedule and appointments. She kept herself informed about it all, since according to Gretchen it was best to have too much information rather than too little with Mr. Bronson.
And that was on top of all the errands she had to handle, with the coffee runs and admin tasks, but Gabrielle was just happy for the stability of an actual job. She showed up each morning with enthusiasm, determined not to be deterred by Adam’s cool attitude or his taskmaster persona.
On her fourth day, she arrived with the same exuberance she felt every morning since she started the job. When she reached Adam’s huge doors she faltered, drawing in a calm breath for a moment. Every time she had to come face to face with him, she noticed that her heart did a big flutter till she stamped it down.
Hesitating a few more moments to check that her attire was immaculate, she made sure to knock first. When that deep voice told her briskly to enter, she did so with a smart step and a confident tip of her chin.
***
Gabrielle had expected to find him sitting in that big chair with a pen in his hand while his eyes focused intently on his papers. Instead he was standing at one of the windows, and he turned to face her when she appeared. His startling eyes met hers.
Adam took in her hair, tightly bound in a bun, with a loose lock styled to hang just to the side of her beautiful brown eyes. He raked his gaze over her body, caressing every prominent curve encased in her gray pencil skirt and shimmery black blouse.
It took every inch of his willpower to stay in one spot, resisting the powerful urge to walk up to her and slip the strand of hair behind her ear, while staring deep into her eyes.
Her cheeks seemed to go warm, and he hid a subconscious chuckle. He must have been staring too long and hard. Just like the first night, when she’d caught his eye like no woman had in months. Most women would shamelessly flirt and show him their cleavage any chance they got. Adam was easily put off by them – and they hardly backed off even after he gave them all the signs he wasn’t interested. If Gabrielle tried that, he wasn’t sure how he would be able to resist.
But she was too inflexible to do anything like flirt with him, her boss.
Adam was just as hell-bent on keeping that damn attraction to her at bay.
He moved behind his desk while unbuttoning his suit. Now it was his turn to catch her checking him out. Her liquid dark eyes trailed over his body, taking in every detail as he’d done to her. Was it his imagination, or did he see small rounded points sticking from her breasts as she watched him? His member started to stir in his pants, and he quickly killed the instinct.
She opened her mouth to make a greeting, but he cut her off. “We’ll start off with the order of the day. You may have noticed from the overall atmosphere that this is a critical time for the company.”
Gabrielle nodded, then when he arched a brow at her, she cleared her throat slightly and said, “Yes, sir.”
“We just won a major contract and soon will be edging into new markets, new alliances. Which means I can’t afford to have anyone get sick, take leave or feel stressed. It’s not too late to back out if you aren’t sure you can deal with the pressure.”
Gabrielle straightened her shoulders even more. This wasn’t the first time he’d indicated that she could bow out of the current situation. It hurt and angered her pride, but she didn’t let it show. “This job is the break I’ve been waiting for, Mr. Bronson. I’m not going to take it for granted. I’m confident in my abilities.”
“Well, at least one of us is, which is good,” he said, making Gabrielle want to roll her eyes. Fine, so he obviously didn’t think she was qualified – he’d made that clear more than a few times. But no matter how much of a hard time he gave her, she wasn’t going to quit. She needed him to get that into his finely coiffed head.
Just yesterday, her third day, he’d brought her to her last nerve.
It had been a more stressful day than the last two, and as she’d walked in from the master copy machine, he’d snapped at her for his coffee.
She’d hurried to his desk, placing the stack of files she’d just copied upon it, and then, almost breathless, said she’d be right back.
It took her twenty minutes to get the coffee he asked for from his preferred café, which happened to be in the ground floor of the building. She bustled back with the brew and was again at his desk, “Here you go, Mr. Bronson.”
When she handed it to him, the cup slipped in their hands. It was one of those cursedly dumb things that could be avoided but just happened at the worst moments. Gabrielle stared in horror as the coffee drops instantly spilled on her creamy blouse, the dark liquid splashing over her front. Instantly it turned her thin blouse sheer, and her nipples suddenly pebbled through her wet black bra.
Gabrielle wanted to scream, while Adam bit down a curse, at the same time looking both thunderous and strangely turned on. Gabrielle’s only relief was that it was iced coffee, but she definitely didn’t relish having the finest Balinese blend all over her top.
Seeing Adam’s cold exasperation didn’t help. She almost yelled that she’d bought the blouse just yesterday – to please him, in fact – and now it was ruined. She really didn’t even know why she bothered! It sucked working for him and if it wasn’t for the money and just the sheer obstinacy of wanting to prove him wrong, she’d have simply quit then and there.
He could have at least looked a little worried, but he just seemed irritated. “Now you’ve given me two problems I just don’t need. One is that now I still don’t have my coffee.”
Gabrielle gasped, wanting to blurt out asking what the other could possibly be, since she was the one with the ruined blouse. But she took one look into those darkly angry eyes and saw the hint of arousal glazing them before it was gone. Was that the second problem?
Gabrielle was perplexed for a moment, then stared down at the sight of her shirt now molded tautly over her full breasts. She could also feel the wet liquid rolling down her inner thigh and starting to drip down
her legs.
Another gasp tore from her lips and she turned away, hastily trying to wipe off the coffee she had everywhere it seemed.
By the time she turned again to Adam, he was rising to his feet and striding to the door. “You’ll need to fix yourself up. And never mind about the coffee, I’m on my way out anyway. I’ll be back in time for my ten o’clock appointment. Let’s hope there’ll be no more…distractions.” She glanced his way as he paused at the door to drop that innuendo, sweeping his eyes once more over her drenched front before he left.
It took half an hour of rubbing a wet cloth against the stain to get it out in the restroom. Thankfully the fabric was the type not to hold stains and also managed to dry quickly. Gabrielle was back to normal by the time Adam returned and took care not to do anything else to embarrass herself. She added resentment to all the other emotions Adam made her feel.
And even now, the day after, the feeling still lingered.
Armed with new tasks, she left his office to send some faxes while armed with the necessary files to be copied. Since she’d spent some time getting familiar with where everything was, she walked straight in the direction of the fax machine.
But she was so busy thinking up unprintable names for Adam that she wasn’t paying attention where she was going. By the time she noticed the door opening just ahead of her, it was too late. It swung outward and knocked her arms holding the papers, which promptly fell from their folders to scatter the floor.
Another day, another mess. With an internal groan, she sank to her knees to save the files before they got more mixed up.
The person who’d emerged from the door got on their knees alongside her, while apologizing and offering to help. Gabrielle barely glanced up into clear gray eyes in a tanned, chiseled face framed with inky dark locks. She caught the sincerity in his expression and her anger cooled.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s okay,” she said, knowing that the words were directed more to herself to calm her escalating nerves.
“Maybe I can be of help if you tell me whose files these are,” he said, his voice holding a nice deep burr. Gabrielle was too busy fixing up the papers to pay attention to his words and instead mumbled, “I said, no worries. I can handle it.”
“But you obviously need a hand,” he said with persistence as they both straightened, the rescued papers all in disarray as Gabrielle clutched to them. “I haven’t seen you before, have I?”
Gabrielle wanted to blurt that she didn’t have time to chit-chat. Her job was on the line here, and she was close to being rude to this very distracting – and very good looking – co-worker.
“I work for Mr. Bronson,” she finally said reluctantly, and his eyes widened.
“Ah. The new P.A.,” he said, with a nod of understanding and maybe even sympathy. “Look, I don’t think you figured it out yet, but he has a special filing system. It’ll take you days to figure out the pattern, but I’ll explain it to you so it’s easier.”
He took the folders from her before she could protest, and Gabrielle took a split second to notice he wore a watch just like Adam’s – which meant this guy was probably rich. Whatever. She was getting frantic now and could do nothing but scurry after him as he walked purposely ahead.
“I’m Scott,” he threw over his shoulder. “And you are?”
“Gabrielle. I really don’t want to be a bother…”
“No bother,” he said, and went straight into the copy room and started portioning the files back into the right folders, while pointing it all out to Gabrielle. Each file had numbers at the top, and the ones with even numbers went into folder A, while the odd-numbered files went into folder B. The numbers that ended in zero were sent into folder C. The D files were the ones that had asterisks at the top. Picking it up fast, Gabrielle set the file with number 100 into the C folder. It was the last one, and she heaved a big sigh of relief to see it all took just minutes.
She looked up at Scott with a grateful smile. “You were a great help. Thanks.”
He broke into an answering grin, which made Gabrielle note how fine he was. Not that she had time for any of that. After that night’s episode with Adam, she didn’t really trust her instincts or her hormones. Somehow though, while she thought Scott looked hot, it didn’t really do anything for her, not the way Adam set her pulses clashing just with his presence.
A presence he soon bestowed them with unexpectedly. Gabrielle was sending the last of the faxes, with Scott standing by making sure she got them done properly. He could probably tell she was new at this, but she was good with machines and was already accustomed to the workings. She liked Scott’s friendliness and really thought nothing of it, so she was shocked when Adam showed up with a cold glare as he took in the scene.
“Well, this is cozy,” he said from behind them, making Gabrielle jump slightly as if she’d been caught doing something wrong. The look on Adam’s face sent chills down her back.
“You were taking so long I ran out of patience, thinking you were lost. I didn’t expect to find you flirting,” Adam stated in a caustic tone. Gabrielle opened her mouth but he was already turning to her companion. “You know the rules, Scott. You might be my best worker, but I don’t take kindly to employees fooling around.”
“The copy machine had a little glitch and since it was my fault, I had to fix it. It took longer than expected, causing the undue delay,” said Scott, lying smoothly in what Gabrielle knew was her defense. She’d rather have just told Adam the truth, but she was grateful to Scott for trying. Even though Adam looked less than impressed.
“If you’re done wasting time, then you should get back to completing your tasks,” he said to Gabrielle. “You really need to pick up the pace – that is if you’re serious about keeping your job here.”
He spun round and stalked off without another word, again not giving Gabrielle a chance to even speak. She glanced at Scott, who gave a smile mixed with both encouragement and perplexity. “Looks like Adam’s a lot harder on you than he normally is. But hey, don’t take it to heart.”
Gabrielle just sighed, then cocked her head to the side. “You guys are on a first name basis?”
“What? No,” Scott joked. “Well, only when he’s out of earshot. But then I could possibly get away with anything, since I’m virtually indispensable around here.”
“Modesty isn’t your strong point, is it?” Gabrielle said while shaking her head with a smile.
“So I’ve been told.” They’d been walking to the section where the filing cabinets were. Once there, he turned to her with that same humorous expression and looked about to say something, then seemed to change his mind.
Instead, he gave her a charming wink and left her there with a smile on her face as she viewed his retreating back. A smile she quickly wiped off as she thought of Adam and imagined him catching her with that silly smile thanks to Scott.
Quelling a sigh, she quickly filed the papers and then rushed back to the office in the belief that Adam would have some more work for her. Instead, to her surprise, he seemed intent on getting rid of her. He instructed that she go on her lunch hour since it was already almost noon.
Gabrielle had no choice but to comply with the blunt command. She felt deflated as she made the ride down in the elevator. Nothing she did ever seemed right, or maybe Adam was simply determined to find fault no matter how she tried.
Even more depressing was the knowledge that she didn’t even have enough on her for a decent lunch, and she hadn’t thought to pack even a sandwich. Her finances were stretched to the limit, and she’d frowned on taking another loan from Ayana.
She was tempted to simply go outside and wait around before coming back, but the weather was too damn warm for any impromptu leisure stroll. Instead, she lingered around the cool lobby, watching others exit in pairs or groups.
A deep sigh escaped her as she finally settled into one of the plush chairs and picked up a magazine. It was business themed, and as she thumbed through the pages, she c
aught a feature on Adam Bronson. She glowered at his handsome photos. Not quite thirty, already an accomplished CEO and of course self-made billionaire. She tried to merge the ice-cold Adam with the charming admirer of that first night, but it was too impractical.
Almost as if on cue, Gabrielle caught something from just above her line of vision and she looked over the top of the magazine. Her vision sharpened as Adam stepped out of the elevator, his six foot two frame trim in the custom-made black suit he wore so dashingly.
Hastily, Gabrielle shot the magazine up to conceal her face. She hoped he didn’t notice her! She tried to sink deeper into her seat, wishing she could have seen him on time and made her escape.
She should have known though, that nothing missed Adam’s attention. A large hand drew down the magazine she held high up in front of her, till she had to look up at Adam’s towering figure.
“I sent you on a lunch break. Why are you loitering here?”
“Does it seem like I’m loitering?” she shot back, forgetting herself for a moment. Did she have to do something just because he told her to? Especially since it was her lunch hour, her choice.
His eyes narrowed at her tone. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, she couldn’t stand his stare a moment longer and mumbled, “I wasn’t hungry.”
“You have a long day ahead. I suggest you eat to gather some energy. Come to lunch with me,” he said briskly, already turning on his heel.
“I’d rather not,” she said, as politely as she could.
He turned around again, his brow arched this time in response to her words.
“I mean, if I wanted to eat, I can easily do it on my own.” He was her boss and she really shouldn’t be arguing with him, but Gabrielle’s stubborn streak had to show up. Besides, going to lunch would mean paying for food and she couldn’t afford that.
“You seem mistaken in thinking I was asking, Ms. Black. It was actually an order, so get up and let’s go.”
