"No, don't you dare Nicky, I have lost three PA's because you can't keep it in your pants and then you break their hearts. This time Lucky has taken this girl under her wing and she may skin you alive of you mess with her, so don't even look at her. Don't make me tell mom."
He wasn't that unscrupulous surely. "Lucky loves me; she wouldn't hurt me, besides I'll tell mom it was your fault."
"It won't work this time, mom met her tonight and she has vowed to feed her up and mother her."
Looking at Ben in surprise he responded. "You're kidding right?"
"Not at all, apparently there is something about this girl that makes you want to look after her, protect her. Look I'll be damned if I know, just don't mess with her."
Nicky found he was intrigued. "What does she look like?"
"I don't know, small, red hair, and frightened. She's definitely hiding something and is pretty much scared of her own shadow, hell what do I know, I am a mere man."
With that Ben left, Nicky decided to go to bed early, he had a PA to meet tomorrow and when he was told a female was off limits, well that just made the game more entertaining. Maybe he just needed a little more of a challenge to lift the melancholy surrounding him.
Chapter 4
As the alarm went off, Morgan jumped at the unfamiliar sound; looking around her, she took a few seconds to remember where she was. As she lay back against the pillows she couldn't remember ever sleeping so soundly. With the blankets pooled around her, she knew the bed dwarfed her. She felt refreshed and relaxed the dreams of her wolf kept her company throughout the night. Her fear lost in her unconsciousness as her wolf ran by her side and nuzzled against her, making her feel protected.
By the time she was showered, Morgan had replaced that warm fuzzy feeling with butterflies in her stomach. How the hell was she going to be a PA to Ben? He terrified her, but as she walked around the apartment she made a decision, she was damn well going to be the best PA he had ever had……
Well she hoped she would be. She tried to force some toast down, but as it caught on the sand paper that constituted her throat she gave up. Dressing she discarded three outfits, before finally deciding on one. As she put the black heels on, wobbling slightly she paused knowing that she needed to get used to them, so persevered and practiced walking safely.
Checking the apartment one more time to make sure everything was clean, she was confident that there was no mess; she wondered what she would do with the spare bed room. That thought was replaced by her self-doubt, which reminded her that she would need to keep the job long enough to do anything with the apartment.
Unlocking the door she was surprised to see people cleaning the club already, and it was only seven thirty. Ben wasn't in yet so she decided to make coffee; most people seemed to like coffee in the morning. By seven forty five the phone on Ben's desk had started ringing, she wasn't sure what he wanted her to do today. Finding what she assumed to be her desk, well it was facing the main door and just outside of his office, Morgan started answering the phones.
When Ben arrived Morgan had already taken five phone messages and details of some drama at another bar. He seemed surprised to find her sitting in the front office, and was even more surprised to find fresh coffee and the phone messages on his desk, all of these were pleasant surprises
"Uh, Morgan."
Oh God had she screwed up? "Yes."
She peered cautiously through the door; she knew that he had seen her flinch as he lifted his hand. She shook it off and went in, she needed to stop freaking out. "I was just going to say thank you, what time did you get here?"
"Just before you arrived." He frowned at her obviously not believing her words. "Maybe it was closer to seven thirty."
"You don't have to start that early, as long as you are here by eight that will be fine."
"I didn't mind, I was awake anyway." He nodded and she went to leave.
"Before you go, I have a feeling my brother will turn up at some point today."
"Umm okay what for?"
"You." Morgan knew her face fell; she could feel her heart rate increase as it went into overdrive.
"Breathe Morgan, Nicky won't hurt you, actually he's a pretty good guy, but he is a notorious flirt and has a habit of… Well seducing my PA's hence the vacancy, Nicky doesn't do long term. I just wanted you to know and be prepared."
Her heart sank at his words. "What do you want me to do?"
She knew this was all too good to be true, she had no intention of accommodating his brother, now she had slept and had eaten she could survive a few more days.
"You can do whatever you want. If you are clear with him, he won't bother you." Ben seemed firm in his words, she detected no hidden meaning.
"How clear can I be with him?" Her body and brain had relaxed, and let out the breath suspended in his chest. Okay this was fine, she could manage this.
"If you don't want him and I would rather you didn't, Lucky would kill me if he seduced you, which means you can be as clear as you like he can take it. It might actually be good for him."
"Really, you won't get mad? He won't get mad?" The last thing she needed was a mad wolf after her, as well as everything else.
"Don't worry Nicky doesn't get mad. In fact Nicky doesn't do an awful lot."
The morning passed in a whirlwind as she answered the phone, and organised Ben's filing which was in a bit of a state. By eleven am she knew how Ben liked his coffee and messages. Morgan had also heard him shouting into his phone a few times, but he didn't direct any of his anger at her. Actually she didn't see much of him and when she did, he was extremely polite.
When Lucky arrived at lunch time, Morgan was starting to feel comfortable, maybe she could do this. Seeing Lucky with three young boys who were running around her legs was a shock. She had never seen children this wild before, they were all talking and jumping and instead of being mad Lucky was laughing with them. When they went into Ben's office she was waiting to hear Ben explode, they must be interrupting his phone call. He didn't explode; in fact she thought she heard him laugh. When Lucky came out of Ben's office smiling she was minus three children.
"You are doing great, so great that I have managed to convince my gorgeous husband to take us out for lunch."
"Did you leave them all in there?" Morgan was genuinely shocked.
"Damn right, when I left Ethan was trying to balance on the sofa, Oliver was trying to push him off and Logan was climbing on Ben's knee. It's good for him, keeps him on his toes."
With that the door burst open, Ben stood there with one boy on his back, another in his arms and the last had his legs wrapped around Ben's leg and was sat on his foot. Just the sight of it made Morgan laugh and then she couldn't stop, Lucky joined her and Morgan realized she had never laughed this hard. Looking at this man, who was her and boss scared the crap out of her, she found herself relaxing, that he could take this much joy from his sons actually made him seem more human which was a contradiction in itself, but the smile of genuine enjoyment was evident.
"If you keep laughing Morgan, your job description will include babysitting these animals next time I want to take my wife out."
That sobered her up; she knew nothing about young children. She saw Lucky sniggering before Ben laughed a solid hearty laugh.
"I'm kidding I think. Apparently I am going out to lunch. If you don't mind waiting to take yours, I would appreciate it."
Morgan just nodded; he might not be so scary after all.
Ben had only been gone about fifteen minutes when a man with long dark hair came in, he was quite muscled but not like Ben, this man was just toned and tall, exceptionally tall and smartly dressed in a pinstripe suit.
"Well hello there, you must be new. Is Ben in?" His words seemed odd in tone although average in content, it was strange.
"No he's out to lunch." The man bent down, leaning on her desk smiling. "Is he now?" His eyes were fascinating, almost mesmerizing though not in a nice way.
"Now,
now Harrison I wouldn't be mesmerizing Ben's PA, you know that pisses him off." Harrison jumped up and turned to face the new comer.
"No offence intended I was just looking for Ben. This time I have an offer he can't refuse."
This new man at the door, now he was stocky and toned with his blonde hair falling just past his eyes, his low hung jeans and a black T made him look all man and she stared.
"You know he will refuse it Harrison, the decisions been made, you can't have the bar. I would however leave before he returns and I have the chance tell him what you were doing."
The man named Harrison just laughed. "Prove it."
Morgan was slowly sliding her chair out of the way, this sounded as though it could get ugly. The man at the door hadn't even looked at her, focusing solely on the man named Harrison.
"I won't need to prove anything and you know it." He stepped aside as Harrison left, knocking a stapler over in the rush out. As she bent over to pick it up, Morgan could feel the other man's gaze on her, prompting her too stand up quickly.
Nicky was staring with lust in his eyes and mind. Well what do you know; Ben's new PA had a firm round ass, an extremely agreeable one at that. If Ben started employing old ladies, Nicky would stop chasing them, maybe he should suggest it at the next pack meeting. As this one stood up he felt like he was in a dream; a wet dream at that. She was short, with small pert breasts and what did you know she was wearing a black skirt, albeit longer than he would have preferred, but it looked fantastic on her as did the red top that was buttoned right upto her long, smooth neck.
She reminded him of a sexy but unavailable secretary. As she turned, he caught sight of her hair, which was clearly dyed red with black streaks, who the hell has black streaks? He didn't normally like the obviously dyed look, preferring a natural woman, yet on her it gave her a naughty presence and did he like naughty, shit yes. Nicky was surprised at how tiny she was; she didn’t even meet his shoulders.
"Can I help you?"
"Oh you could definitely help me." His voice was heavy and laced with meaning.
As he walked towards her desk, Morgan felt the panic kick in again, he was staring at her with an intense look in his eyes. It was as though he wanted to take a bite out of her, what should she do? Who was he?
Then it dawned on Morgan that this was THE brother who seduced PA's, well not this PA, no way. Trying not to panic she looked at this man who was gorgeous, where Ben was scary, This man was almost hypnotic, he smiled at her and she nearly melted, it made his entire face light up making him appear almost angelic, the blue of his eyes could have come straight from the sky.
"Can you give me a minute?" Nervously she quickly scooted round the corner with a glass, pouring some water into the glass to give herself time to breathe; she nearly dropped it when he whispered near her ear. She didn’t even know that he had moved, let alone that he had moved to stand behind her.
"Want to share that water, I am very thirsty." She was now intensely aware of him; she felt her body tingle and her heart speed with a mixture of panic and something else. How did she get out of this? Morgan knew this man was dangerous to her, not dangerous in the way she was used to, but in a way she didn't understand, he stepped back a little as she turned.
"I can hear your heart beat, don't panic little Pixie I won't bite unless you ask me to."
It dawned on Nicky that she did indeed look like a pixie, one he would like to undress. He had been painfully hard since she had bent over, and when she looked at him his erection strained, his wolf almost purring like a cat.
"Please don't do this, I am not interested. I am sure you need to be somewhere, I will tell Ben you stopped by." Morgan was proud of her reaction even though it sounded like a plea. If she could get him to leave she would be fine. Moving to the side she widened the space between them.
Morgan was dismayed when didn't listen and took a step closer. He was too close, and she could feel her breath start to shorten.
Nicky could feel the changes move through her body, he could smell when she went from panic mixed with arousal, to complete fear. He took a step closer wanting to reassure her that she was safe. Ben was right when he said this girl was scared, she was terrified, as he took another step he lifted his hands to put them on her shoulders, an innocent gesture. He missed her intent until she lifted her arm and threw the glass of water over him.
What the hell, he was wet, he hadn't even seen her do it until it was too late. He had been too busy staring into those wide green eyes, so intent that he had missed it entirely.
The minute she threw the water over him, Morgan knew it was too far. She slipped to the doorway preparing for the eventuality that she would have to run. She waited for the explosion that never came; instead he looked at her and started laughing. "So little Pixie you have spirit, I like it."
Her head was screaming, how confusing was this man? "I don't want you to like it; I just want you to leave me alone. I don't want to be seduced; I like my job, well so far I do. I can't lose this job so please don't push this."
Morgan was desperate; Ben was definitely going to be pissed off. She thought the day had been going well, now she would lose this job, a notion that made her breath shorten, her chest tightened, she was starting to hyperventilate. Bending over her knees, she tried to slow her breathing failing miserably.
Nicky could see her eyes welling, she had acted out of fear and now he felt awful. He had done this to her.
"It's okay little Pixie, point made." He could see Morgan struggling for breath. "I am going to move closer." He kept his voice low and slow, she lifted her head in a panic.
"No don't panic, I just want to help you."
She was now having a full on panic attack and Nicky could feel his wolf growl at him for his part in this. "Breathe slowly."
As he reached her, he lifted her face to meet his. "Look at me and breathe, slow down and match my breathing, and keep looking at me."
It was actually working, her breathing was slowing down, he was rubbing her back and as her head cleared the pounding receded and the room stopped spinning. She realized that he was stroking her cheek and she wasn't scared anymore.
"Better" She nodded to his question as he guided her to sit on the sofa in Ben's office.
"Do you get panic attacks often?" She nodded in answer to his question as he sat next to her.
"I hoped I could control them until I had secured the job." Her voice was laced with anxiety, mirrored by her wringing her hands.
"Why?"
"I want to keep this job and I know Lucky pushed Ben to give me the chance. I need to prove myself worthy."
His voice was hypnotic; it just flowed around her and made that funny feeling deep in her stomach return.
"Having panic attacks doesn't stop you from doing this job." He made her feel odd, she no longer felt threatened, any fear had receded the minute he started talking.
"I don't want to be a liability."
"You won't be, the next time it happens, just remembering this gorgeous face looking at you will help."
Why she was laughing she didn't know, this situation shouldn't have been funny.
Nicky's ears sang out at the sound of her laughter, causing sensations to rumble through his body. It was a quiet, light sound that had his wolf lying down in anticipation of her affection.
"What caused it?" There was a genuine interest in his question so she offered him honesty.
"You did!"
"Oh, and I assume not in a good way then?" Morgan shook her head allowing him to continue. "I am wounded, what about if I stop the full come on and stick to mild flirting instead?" Nicky had no idea where the words were coming from; they certainly weren’t any previously uttered by him.
He sounded genuine and she felt herself nod even though she had planned to say no to both options. Maybe she could cope with mild flirting whatever that was.
"Now, how about I go fetch you some food?"
"You don’t need to; I will wait till Ben
gets back."
"I don't think so, I can hear your stomach complaining and I need to see Ben anyway." His mom was right she needed feeding up.
"But you are wet and will get cold." That she was worried about him made Nicky feel warm, although he could not understand why.
"Don't worry it will remind me to behave while I'm outside, besides I'm brave and if I do catch a cold I will expect you to look after me. See I can do light flirting." With a laugh he left calling out to her on his way out. "Stay there and do not move until I return.
When Nicky left Morgan alone in Ben's office, it felt wrong to be in there without Ben's agreement so she went back to her desk. As she sat back she closed her eyes and what could she see, him looking at her with those innocent blue eyes as he tried to help her with her panic attack. He had helped her, although she didn’t understand how. Normally her panic attacks seemed to last forever; usually they were a lot worse than this one.
The Wolf With The Silver Smile (The Silver Series) Page 4
