She shakes her head as she swallows. “You’re right. You’re a grown-up. You can do what you want.” Her eyes narrow. “But don’t come crying to me when everyone finds out about the two of you and you’re humiliated because everyone thinks he only hired you because you slept with him.”
“That’s not why he hired me,” I say with indignation. “I’m a good worker. I’m going to do a fabulous job.”
She smiles. “I didn’t say that I believed that, Ash. I said that’s what everyone else will believe.”
I sigh, because I know she’s probably right. “But if I prove how good I am at what I do, they won’t think that.”
She raises her hands in apparent surrender. “Okay. Whatever you say.”
I know she’s only stopped arguing because she knows there’s no point in trying to change my mind, but I’m still glad I don’t have to try to defend my decision any longer.
Her expression softens. “I hope it works out for you, Ash. You’re my best friend, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
I smile. “Thanks.”
We talk about other things for the rest of our lunch, and when we’re done I drive to a nearby mall and buy a few outfits that will be appropriate for my new job. Though it makes me nervous to spend the money, now that I have this job I’m confident I’ll be able to afford this splurge.
I wake bright and early the next morning and make a pot of coffee.
“I thought you said I shouldn’t get used to you getting up early, Ash,” Emily says as she pours steaming coffee into her mug.
I smile. “It’s my first day and I’m excited.”
Her eyes narrow. “Now I know why you were up so early yesterday. Because you had this interview at Drake Consulting.” She scoops a generous helping of sugar into her cup. “Am I right?”
Pursing my lips, I nod.
“Why didn’t you tell me about it?” She sips her coffee. “No, let me guess. Because you knew I’d try to talk you out of it.”
I sigh. “Yes. And you would’ve too, wouldn’t you?”
Her eyebrows rise. “Of course.”
I smile in triumph. “So I was right not to tell you.”
She doesn’t say anything, just drinks her coffee, then she walks to the sink and rinses her cup. “I’ve gotta get going.” Turning to me with a smile, she says, “Do you want to go to lunch?”
“Uh, maybe. I’ll text you when it’s my lunch break.”
“Okay. I hope you have a great first day, Ash.”
“Thanks.”
At ten minutes to eight I walk through the door of Drake Consulting. I’m wearing one of my new outfits, and my nerves are starting to get the better of me. What if Drake hates the way I work? What if he fires me today? Picturing a look of irritation on his face when he’s unhappy with the way I do things, my underarms dampen with sweat.
Great. On top of everything else, I’m going to end up with B.O.
“Ashley,” Barbara says. “Good morning.”
Her friendly greeting buoys my confidence. “Hi, Barbara.”
“Let’s go to your cube and I’ll get you started.”
Relieved that she’s there to help me out, my nervousness recedes, and I follow her to my cubicle. I see a laptop sitting in the middle of the desk, along with a large monitor.
She hands me a sheet of paper with the password for my laptop, email, and my payroll account. “You can change those once you get logged in.” She glances towards Drake’s closed office door. “Mr. Drake will let you know what he needs from you, but you can start by reviewing his calendar, which you’ll be able to see in your Outlook account.” She looks at me with a smile. “I’ll let you get started. Let me know if you have any questions.”
“Okay.” I want to grab her arm and ask her to stay, but I know that would be unprofessional. “Thank you.” I’m left alone and my gaze goes to Drake’s door. By the way Barbara looked at his door, I assume he’s inside, and my stomach flutters at the thought of him calling me into his office.
How am I going to do this? I think I’m in love with my boss and I have to pretend like he’s nothing to me but my boss. What was I thinking when I accepted this position? What was I thinking when I applied?
Thirteen
DRAKE
I know Ashley must be sitting at her cubicle by now, and I have to admit, I’m looking forward to seeing her. I arrived early, as I usually do, but as I stare at my monitor, I know my mind hasn’t been on work.
Maybe hiring her was a bad idea. She’s going to distract you from doing your job.
With a frown, I scroll through the presentation I’m working on and force my mind to focus on the task in front of me.
ASHLEY
I pull my gaze away from his door and open the lid to my laptop, then log in. A few minutes later I’m looking over Drake’s schedule. He’s a busy man. Meetings are sprinkled throughout the week, and on top of that he has blocks of time carved out to work on projects.
Seeing how much work he has to do, I feel guilty that I kept him at the cabin for three days longer than he’d planned on being there, and now I think I understand why he was in a hurry for me to get going. He had a lot of work to do—a company to run—and didn’t have time to play with a silly college girl.
Then I remember how he said I helped him to feel less serious. At the time I didn’t understand what he meant, but now that I see he has all these people relying on him, it makes complete sense. He needs me. Who else will help him wind down and forget all of his responsibilities once in a while? Then I remind myself that I can’t think about things like that. He’s hired me to be his assistant. Work assistant. Not fun-times assistant. Although I’d apply for that job, if he were hiring.
“Ashley,” Drake says from his open door. “Come in my office.”
My gaze shoots to his incredibly handsome face, and my pulse flutters. “Yes, sir.”
Wanting to show how efficient I am, I bring a small notepad and a pen with me, then hurry into his office. “Do you want me to close the door?”
“That won’t be necessary.” He’s all business, which helps me to stay focused on why I’m here—to impress him with the good job I’m going to do, not to convince him to become romantically involved with me—even though I’d be ecstatic if he wanted that too. “It looks like Barbara got you a laptop,” he says.
“Yes, and I reviewed your schedule and saw that you have a meeting at eight thirty. Is there anything you need me to do to help you get ready for that?”
He smiles, like he’s pleased I’m already being proactive, and I blossom under his approval. “Yes,” he says. “Before the meeting begins, make sure the overhead projector in the small conference room is warmed up and ready, and then five minutes before the meeting begins use the speaker phone in the conference room to call the number that’s on my calendar.”
Writing his instructions in my notepad, I get a fresh attack of nerves. What if I screw up? This is probably a really important call. What if I make him lose a client because of my lack of experience? “Okay.”
“You’ll sit in during the meeting and take notes, so make sure to bring your laptop.” He pauses. “I’m assuming you’re a fast typist.”
“Yes.” That’s one thing I’m sure of.
“Great. I’ll meet you in the conference room at eight thirty.”
I understand I’m being dismissed, so I smile, then go back to my desk. A fine sheen of sweat has popped out on my upper lip, so I wipe it off, then focus on the list I made. Not sure which conference room is the small conference room, I stop by Barbara’s desk and ask. It turns out it’s the one she and I met in during my job interview, and I take my laptop there to get set up. Although there are still ten minutes before the meeting is scheduled to begin, I don’t want to chance screwing things up, and when Drake walks into the conference room at eight twenty-nine, I’m thrilled and relieved that I got everything working.
“Good job, Ashley,” he says as he attaches his l
aptop to the overhead projector.
I practically beam under his praise.
Two others from our office join us in the conference room, and a moment later we begin. I take notes like Drake told me to, but I find myself getting distracted as I listen to him direct the meeting—he’s so confident, so knowledgeable, so freaking hot. Just watching him and listening to him draws me to him, and my mind wanders back to the night we watched Lord of the Rings.
I think about the way he kissed me, the way he looked at me when he said, There’s something about you, Ashley. Something I really like. Desire pools within me, and I begin to doubt that I can do this job if it requires me to forget the memories of the intimate times I shared with him. But I can’t risk losing the opportunity to work with him every day. Not seeing him is an option I just can’t consider.
“We’ll meet again on Monday,” Drake is saying to the clients on the other end of the speaker phone, and I snap back to attention.
My gaze goes to the notes on my laptop screen, and I desperately hope I didn’t miss anything important while I frolicked down memory lane.
Drake stabs the disconnect button with his finger, then looks at one of the men from our office with irritation. “You need to step it up, Lunsford, or we’re going to lose this account.”
Lunsford clears his throat. “Yes, sir.”
Drake runs his fingers through his hair, then his voice becomes very soft. “There’s no excuse for the sloppy way you’ve been handling these clients.”
My gaze goes between Drake and Lunsford, and I feel sorry for the man being reamed. I remember learning in some of my business classes at college about getting “gut-checked.” I guess this is what that means.
“This is one of our biggest accounts,” Drake continues. “Losing them would be a major hit to this firm.” He stares hard at Lunsford. “Are we clear?”
Lunsford nods. “Crystal.”
“Good.” Drake turns to me, and my stomach clenches with fear. “Ashley, I want those notes emailed to me within the hour.”
“Yes, Mr. Drake.” All the warm fuzzies I felt for him moments ago have vanished as I’ve witnessed the alpha-CEO in action.
He disconnects his laptop, then strides out of the room.
Fourteen
ASHLEY
Back at my desk, I flesh out the notes I took, organize them into bullet points, then email the document to Drake. My heart pounds as I worry that he’ll be displeased with my work, but then I think about his arm around my shoulder as we sat on the ridge overlooking the valley near his cabin, and warmth rushes over me. I know he likes me well enough, but now I want to earn his respect.
The rest of the morning is uneventful as Barbara trains me on other duties—work she’s been doing while they’ve looked for a new assistant—and I begin to feel more confident that I’ll be successful at this job.
When lunchtime rolls around, Drake emerges from his office and walks over to my desk. “I’ll be at lunch,” he says. “Call my cell if there’s an emergency you can’t handle.”
I’ll have to handle emergencies? On my first day? “Okay.” Then I realize something. “I don’t have your cell number.” You never gave it to me.
His mouth twitches like he’s trying to hide a smile. “It’s in the corporate directory.”
I don’t know where to find the corporate directory, but I’m not about to admit that. “Okay. Have a good lunch.”
He takes a step away from me, then turns back. “You can go to lunch too, Ashley.”
My eyes are wide with uncertainty. “But what if there’s an emergency and I’m not here?”
“I’m sure nothing that critical will happen during the next hour.” A warm smile curves his mouth, deepening his dimple. “You’re doing a good job, Ashley. Just like I knew you would.” Then he turns and walks away.
Beaming with pleasure, I log out of my computer, then text Emily and tell her to meet me at an inexpensive bistro halfway between our offices.
“How’s your first day going?” she asks as she slides into the seat across from me a short time later.
“Good.”
“He hasn’t made any moves on you yet?”
Laughter bursts from my mouth. “Hardly.”
Her eyebrows rise in question.
“I’ve only spent about an hour with him, and that was during a meeting where I took notes. Other than that, he’s been working in his office all morning.” I can’t hold back a smile.
“What?”
“He told me I’m doing a good job—just like he knew I would. That’s a quote.”
“I’m glad,” she says as she spears a tomato. “I hope this works out for you.”
“Me too.” I don’t mention that I’m falling for him even harder.
“You’re still going out with Jonathan on Friday, right?”
I’d forgotten about that, and I frown.
“Come on, Ash. You can’t back out on him now. Nick said Jonathan told him he’s really looking forward to it. I guess he was impressed with your dancing ability.”
That makes me feel good. “Really? Well, I might as well. What else will I do?”
“Exactly,” she says, then pops a crouton into her mouth.
I arrive back at the office before Drake, but when he gets back he seems in a foul mood. He walks past me without a word, and closes his door behind him.
I check his calendar and see that he has a meeting with a client in half an hour, and I wonder if he wants me to set up again. Nervous about interrupting him, I wait ten minutes before getting up the nerve to knock softly on his office door.
“Come in,” he calls out.
As much as I want to do something to improve his mood, I decide it’s not my place, and I get right to the point. “Do you want me to set up for your next meeting?”
“Yeah.” His voice is a little brusque. Then he sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “Sorry. Rough lunch.”
I nod, not about to ask him the details.
“Anytime I have a meeting,” he says, “I’ll need you to get things ready like you did this morning.”
“Okay.” I smile to show him I’m on his side, even if no one else is.
“Thanks, Ashley.”
I nod, then grab my laptop and go to the conference room. This meeting seems to go better than the one that morning, and when we hang up, Drake’s mood has improved. He smiles at me. “Notes within the hour.”
I nod, then he disconnects his laptop and heads towards the conference room door. As I watch his retreating back, the memory of his lips on mine fills my mind and an overwhelming yearning spreads through me, making me want to jump from my chair and follow him to his office where we can make-out.
When I remember that there are other people in the room with me, my face heats with embarrassment, and I’m thankful they can’t read my thoughts. Calmly, I gather my things and walk back to my desk. I glance at Drake’s office door and see it is shut once again. I wish he would call me into his office just so I can be near him, but all is silent.
If I can come up with a good reason to go see him, I know he won’t mind if I interrupt.
Then I figure out an excuse and wonder why I didn’t think of it before. Thrilled that I have a personal, yet completely appropriate reason to talk to him—and something that I actually do need to talk to him about—I nearly leap from my chair, then pause to straighten my skirt before walking to his office door.
Fifteen
ASHLEY
Pausing outside his door, I take a deep breath, then knock briskly on the wood.
“Come in,” he says.
I let myself into the office, and without getting his permission, I close the door behind me. My gaze goes to his face and he quirks an eyebrow in question, and suddenly I worry that he doesn’t have time to discuss my concern. But I decide to press forward because this is something that’s important to me.
“What’s up?” he says, his features smoothing out.
Without h
im inviting me, I sit in one of the chairs opposite him. “I, uh, I just wanted to talk to you about you paying for my car to be repaired.”
He gazes at me impassively. “I was wondering when you’d bring that up.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you did that? You know, before you dropped me off?”
He smiles. “I thought it would be fun to surprise you.”
I laugh. “Well, you succeeded. I was very surprised when the man said the repair had already been paid for.”
He leans back in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest, clearly feeling in control of the conversation. “Good.”
“I’m going to pay you back, of course.” I say this in a voice that shows my determination.
He regards me steadily. “It was a gift.”
“But you did so much for me. You know, letting me stay at your house for days. Why did you feel the need to give me a gift on top of all that?”
He leans forward in his chair and rests his forearms on the top of his desk. “Why can’t you just say ‘Thank you’, and leave it at that?”
I shake my head. “It’s too much money, Drake. I can’t accept it.”
He smiles. “See, that’s the thing. To you it’s a lot of money, but to me it’s no big deal. I wanted to help you out, so I did.”
“I’m going to pay you back.” I’m enjoying our little disagreement. It’s the most personal we’ve been since I’ve been in Reno—besides him telling me to forget about our time at the cabin—and I’m glad I decided to come in here to talk to him about it.
He sighs, then leans back in his chair again. “I won’t accept it.”
“It’s a thousand dollars, Drake. Of course you’ll accept it.”
His smile grows. “Oh really? You’re going to make me?”
I nod.
“This should be interesting,” he says.
I have no idea how I’m going to make him accept the money—money I don’t even have—but I’m determined to show him that I don’t need him paying my way. When we were at his cabin I’d had no clue that he ran a successful consulting firm, and I want him to know that just because I know he has money, that doesn’t change the way I feel about him.
Drake and Ashley: The Complete Story Page 18
