The Billionaire's Assistant: A Billionaire Romance (The Hampton Billionaires Book 4)

by Erika Rose

  “She was like all packed up and shit. Had a girlfriend help her with the few boxes and gave me a fifty for locking up and holding the key for management till Monday.”

  “Fuck!” Cayden shouted in the empty foyer slamming his hands on the doorman’s desk. She had moved back to New York. That was the only explanation. Callie coming over the same day Anna resigns.

  “Thanks, and sorry.” Cayden shrugged at the man who was looking at him confused.

  “Don’t sweat it.” He said kindly before Cayden walked through the glass doors.

  Cayden slammed the door of his car shut, cursing both himself and Anna. How could she possibly have gotten under his skin in such a short time? He was furious at Anna for resigning, for leaving without saying goodbye and even more for making him care.

  In the privacy of his own thoughts he could admit it, he cared.

  But she walked out on him, he reminded himself. He gunned the engine and pulled away from the curb heading to the newest club in South Hampton.

  He would make sure he took someone home tonight that made him forget all about Anna-Sophia Jackson.

  He sat at the bar and ordered whiskey straight as he checked out a table of girls in the corner. They looked younger than Anna, perfect he thought as he held up his glass in their direction.

  A leggy blonde with green eyes gave him a come-hither smile. Cayden pushed the thought that she was too easy aside and smiled back. Tonight he needed a distraction and even if she was easy she would distract him enough to forget about a blue-eyed brunette.

  He swallowed down the balance of whiskey in his glass and sauntered over.

  “Hello ladies.” He said to the group but looked straight at green eyes.

  “Hiya handsome.” She said with a sultry voice. Normally Cayden would feel his blood heat by now, but nothing yet.

  It would come he placated himself. “Can I buy you ladies a drink?” He asked smoothly and slid into the booth next to green eyes.

  “I’ll have a Long Island Ice Tea.” She smiled at him.

  Cayden flicked a finger and the waiter came scurrying over. “Long Island Ice Teas for the lady please, and you can bring me another scotch.”

  The waiter nodded and headed to the bar.

  Cayden’s gaze zeroed in on green eyes. Her face was symmetrically perfect. She could become a model if she wanted to, add in the sultry voice and her generous breasts, and she was definitely fuckable, Cayden thought as he grinned arrogantly at her. “Cayden.”

  “Jackie.” She smiled back.

  “Are you ladies waiting for someone?” Cayden asked smoothly.

  “No, actually Lisa and Tiffany were on their way out. I wanted to stay a little longer but they’ve got boyfriends waiting for them.”

  “I’ll keep you company.” Cayden said as he tried to determine the shade of green of her eyes.

  “I’d like that.” Jackie said as she did some assessing herself.

  The other girls said their goodbyes and left Cayden and Jackie alone at the booth in the corner.

  “So what do you do?” Jackie asked after their drinks arrived.

  “I’m in the restaurant business.” Cayden answered. He never told women that he was the owner of Rosi’s. He didn’t want ex-lovers showing up at his restaurants looking for him. Anna was the only woman he had ever slept with that knew about Rosi’s.

  “Me too, I waiter at the Mexican restaurant in town.” Jackie said as her hand rested on Cayden’s thigh.

  Cayden felt the twitch of arousal flicker briefly before it disappeared. It would come back he promised himself as he put his hand on her thigh slowly circling his thumb.

  “Do you want to get out of here?” Cayden asked, wanting to speed things up before he chickened out.

  “Sure.” Jackie smiled as she reached for her bag. “My place or yours?”

  “Mine.” Cayden said as he slid out of the booth. “You can follow me home.”

  “Looking forward to it.” Jackie said sliding her tongue over her upper lip.

  That familiar twitch of arousal flickered again. Cayden hope it would stop flickering and start sparking when he got Jackie naked.

  They pulled up outside his house a short while later and Jackie followed him inside giggling nervously.

  As soon as the door shut behind them Cayden pressed her against it and thrust his tongue into her mouth. She let out a sexy moan and reached for his ass. Cayden dueled with her tongue, tasting and sampling her as his hands roamed up her sides.

  He lightly brushed the sides of her breast before kissing a trail down her neck and pushing the fabric aside.

  His dick barely reacted as he took a firm taupe nipple into his mouth. He nipped and sucked as the memory of Anna’s soft and light rose nipples came to mind. She moaned softly as her nails dug into his back.

  He pushed away from Jackie roughly. “I’m sorry I can’t do this.”

  “What?” Jackie asked confused, her breasts still exposed.

  “I said I can’t do this. You need to leave.” Cayden turned away giving her some privacy to straighten her clothes.

  “What the fuck? You seduce me, invite me over and then kick me out?”

  “Like I said I’m sorry, now can you just leave?”

  “Limp dick.” Jackie mumbled as she opened the door and left.

  “Fuck!” Cayden cursed as he walked into the kitchen. What the hell was this? He had a sexy, smart woman wet and ready and he just kicked her out.

  Because of Anna? Could it be that he didn’t want Jackie because he wanted Anna?

  What did that mean? It couldn’t be, could it? Cayden thought as he grabbed a beer from the fridge.

  No, he laughed mirthlessly. It definitely couldn’t be. He took a drink from the beer and shook his head, it couldn’t be.

  CHAPTER 18

  Anna hailed a cab and hoped the next interview would be better than the one she had just finished.

  Applying for jobs as an assistant wasn’t easy when you had two blank months on your CV. She didn’t want to ask Elizabeth or anyone at Rosi’s for a reference. It hurt too much, even after a week it still hurt too much to think about Rosi’s and Cayden.

  Her next interview was as a personal assistant to a lawyer. She didn’t need any legal background, but if she got the job she would be shadowing another assistant for a month to make sure she understood the responsibility.

  Anna had never seen herself working in a legal firm before, but her choices were running thin. All the freshly graduated college students all had jobs by now making her pickings slim to none.

  The cab pulled up outside a high rise on Fourth Avenue. Anna paid the cabbie and stepped out of the cab, straightening her yellow suit. The one she had bought for her trip to Los Angeles. The trip she had made love to Cayden for the first time. Shoving the thought aside she shook her head and focused on the task at hand.

  She gave her credentials to the security guard who buzzed her into the elevator that would take her to the fifteenth floor.

  As she stepped out of the elevator the scent of water lily filled her senses. It was clean and welcoming. The offices were painted a muted blue with white trim. If she had come here for an interview before working for Cayden she would’ve ached to land the job.

  The atmosphere was professional, yet welcoming. A friendly receptionist greeted her and asked her to wait in the board room for Frank Determan to see her.

  Anna moved into the glass walled boardroom and sat down at the intimating cherry oak table that could easily seat twenty people.

  A few short minutes after, a man Anna judged to be in his early thirties joined her. “Hi, I’m Frank Determan. You can just call me Frank.”

  “Hi Frank. I’m Anna-Sophia Jackson. You can call me Anna.”

  Frank was built like a boxer with sandy blonde hair and jade green eyes. Anna had to admit she found him attractive; not the same way she did Cayden. With Cayden there were sparks from the fi
rst moment she met him. With Frank it was more an acknowledgement of the fact rather than interest in it.

  “Right, so you’ve just graduated from college and you’d like to become a personal assistant?” Frank said as he leafed through her CV.

  “Yes. I know I don’t have a lot of experience, but I’m a fast learner and I can promise you, you won’t regret giving me a chance.” Anna said hurriedly.

  Frank laughed easily. “Well either you really want the job, or you’re really desperate. The pay isn’t much as you don’t have any experience and the hours are long.”

  “I don’t mind long hours and I just need enough for living expenses and rent.” Anna said a bit too fast. She took a deep breath and forced herself to keep quiet.

  “I just made partner recently, the youngest at the firm,” he admitted proudly. “So I need an assistant who can think for me and know her way around the legal side of things. Otherwise, prioritizing messages can become a bit of a nightmare.

  “I’m a fast learner Frank, I won’t let you down.”

  Frank watched her for a moment before setting her CV aside. “Look, I need an assistant and you seem to be a nice a girl but…”

  “Please don’t tell me no, then I’ll know you didn’t even consider hiring me. At least take a few days before you decide. Think about the impression I made and if I had any experience would your decision be different. I know you offer job shadowing the first month, I can learn all I need to know in that month. But don’t just tell me it’s a no. At least give me a day or two to hope about landing the perfect job before you just stomp on my career goals.” Anna grabbed her mouth, chastening it for running away with her.

  Instead of telling her to get out, Frank smiled. “I didn’t expect that.” He said watching her. “But I do respect the fact that you’re standing up for yourself. I’m a lawyer and not easily persuaded, but you persuaded me.”

  Anna’s eyes widened when Frank held up his hand. “I’ll give you a call in a couple of days.”

  “Thanks Frank. Sorry it’s just been a rough morning, I look forward to hearing from you.”

  “Goodbye Anna.”

  “Bye Frank.” Anna said as she picked up her purse and left. By the time she reached the elevator her heartbeat had slowed to a normal rate. As the elevator doors closed with her inside Anna couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to work here every day? It wouldn’t be Rosi’s, but then no place was because Cayden wasn’t there.

  Anna had just poured herself a glass of wine and kicked off her heels when there was a knock at the door. Callie was working late tonight so Anna had the apartment to herself as soon as she sent whoever was looking for Callie on their way.

  She opened the door, wine in hand. “Callie’s not…” Cayden stood with his one hand leaning against the door jamb. “Cayden?”

  “Anna.” He said smugly before he stepped past her into the apartment.

  Anna hated the fact that her body reacted to him instantly. Her nerves were jumping down with excitement and anticipation. Wet heat shot to her groin reminding her of the pleasure he could bring even as her mind searched in all the dark corners for her mad.

  Once she found her mad she slammed the door shut and turned around to face him. “What do you want?”

  “Really, that’s what you’re going to open with?” Cayden asked, arrogant grin in place.

  Anna felt her resolve weakening but she pulled back her shoulders and lifted her chin. “What do you want Cayden?”

  Cayden slowly walked through the small living space before finally stopping in front of her. “I want you back.”

  Anna frowned; those four words could mean so many things. But did they mean the right things? “Cayden try using a full sentence.”

  “Why did you resign?” The flecks of gold in his dark brown eyes fascinated her as if seeing them for the first time.

  “Let me think…” Anna said glibly. “You threatened to fire a man I had a conversation with, you want me as your dirty little secret and you refuse to admit there is something more between us than casual screwing.”

  Cayden nodded as if digesting all her points. “Larry was out of line, I’m not going to apologize for that, but I will for the way I handled it. You’re not my dirty little secret, more like my sexy little secret and we do have something more than casual screwing, I just don’t see the need to define it.”

  Anna huffed. “I’m your sexy little secret you can’t define?”

  Cayden chewed his lip in thought before moving closer to her. “That’s about right and I miss my sexy little secret…”

  “Cayden don’t.” Anna said stepping back. “We’ve moved past the casual screwing, whether you want to admit it or not. I can’t go on being your little secret, the one you hide away when guests come around and let out of the closet once they’ve left.”

  “I don’t do that.”

  “Yes you do.” Anna said putting her wine down. “If you want me to come back you need to admit we’re more. You need to admit you feel something for me and you sure as hell need to commit. You can’t play the possessive boyfriend around every corner but refuse to call me your girlfriend.”

  “That’s not true.” Cayden countered.

  “Isn’t it? Then tell me Cayden, am I your girlfriend?” Anna demanded with her fists on her hips.

  “I uh...” Cayden faltered.

  “Goodbye Cayden,” Anna said as she opened the door. “I’ve got nothing left to say to you.”

  “Anna wait, it’s not that simple.”

  “Actually it is. Either you want me or you don’t. Since you’re not clear on it yourself, I’d prefer it if you leave.”

  Cayden watched her, his brow furrowed and finally shook his head before he walked out the door shoulders hunched.

  As Anna closed the door she let the tears fall. Being stubborn might’ve just caused the man she loved to walk out of her life, possibly forever.

  But she couldn’t be his little secret, she needed more. She brushed the tears off her cheek and poured herself another glass of wine; she didn’t need a man who didn’t want her enough to admit it to himself.

  CHAPTER 19

  “Mr. Lee, you asked if I should remind you when it’s three o’clock.” Lydia Swanson said from the door of his office. Her professional tone of voice was mirrored in the dark grey suit she wore.

  It had been three months since Cayden had hired and still struggled to warm to her. After he had accepted Anna wasn’t coming back he had asked Elizabeth to sit in on the interviews for his new assistant. Lydia had been the most experienced of the group and the most professional. Although she still didn’t have that intuitive mind that Anna had. Cayden refused to accept the fact that he missed her and basked in his new permanent mood of surliness.

  He had tried dating again but found every woman lacking. Hanging out with his friends just pissed him off because they would nag at him to get over Anna and move on. Except...getting over Anna wasn’t that easy.

  Everywhere he turned in his office, he saw her. Every time he walked into his house he missed her. Small things at the oddest times reminded him of what he had lost.

  He didn’t regret his decision to walk out; he just regretted how long it took to move on.

  “Thanks Lydia.” Cayden answered without looking up. “Merry Christmas and I’ll see you in the New Year.”

  “You too, drive safe.” Lydia said before she closed the door of his office.

  Cayden set down his pen and swiveled his chair looking out over an ice cold Atlantic. Christmas Eve had arrived and yet Cayden wasn’t in the spirit at all. Rosi’s offices were closing until after New Year, only the restaurants would be open. This left Cayden with a big black hole of weeks to fill until he could pour himself into his work again.

  His mother’s sister had invited him to New York for a Christmas Eve dinner and although Cayden didn’t feel like driving in, it was family. Christmas was after all a time for f
amily and they were the only family Cayden had left.

  He stood up and grabbed his coat from the stand beside his door and shrugged it on and headed out.

  The icy breeze slapped its frosty fingers against his face as he stepped outside. Where was Anna now, he couldn’t help but wonder? Was she warm, happy, did she meet someone else?

  Shrugging the thoughts aside he climbed into his car reminding himself to stop somewhere to get presents for his family. It wasn’t that he forgot to get those presents, more that didn’t plan on going. But now that it was punch time, he knew they would expect him to come. So he took the highway towards the city and switched on the radio.

  Christmas tunes poured through the speakers, bells and fiddles and cheerful lyrics about love and Santa, Cayden switched it to a heavy metal station and relaxed when Metallica started singing about how nothing else mattered.

  She mattered, Cayden couldn’t help but admit. She mattered enough that he still felt the sting of her slapping the door in his face three months after the fact. But he couldn’t give her what she wanted.

  Commitment.

  Would it really be so bad? Would it be that hard to wake up to her face every morning? To rock her body every night? To hear her laugh as she made food in his kitchen? The familiar doubt crept through the cracks making Cayden wonder not for the first time if he didn’t make a mistake.

  “Cayden, we started to think you weren’t coming,” Aunt Pam said as she grabbed Cayden’s arm and pulled him into the house a few seconds after he rang the bell of the brownstone in Lower Manhattan.

  “Sorry I’m late.” Cayden said sheepishly. “Last minute shopping didn’t go as fast as I had hoped.”

  Aunt Pam let out an easy laugh that reminded Cayden of his mother. “You didn’t have to go shopping, especially not for us, we’re just glad you came.”

  Cayden genuinely smiled as she put her arms around him and all the, what felt like sixty-six, bags he was carrying. “Welcome.”

  Cayden tried to ignore the sadness that punched him in the gut whenever he visited his Aunt Pam, the sadness that reminded him ever since that fateful night a drunk driver sped over a red light and both his parents died, he had no one left. No one close to him anyway.