by Hope Stone
Curvy Obsession
Insta Love Alpha Male Book 1
Hope Stone
Copyright © 2019 by Hope Stone
In no way is it legal to produce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless written permission from the publisher. All rights are reserved. Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Special Invitation
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Contents
Special Invitation
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Preview: Book Two
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
About The Author
Chapter One
Finley
Finley
As soon as my pilot landed the plane, I opened my eyes. I had taken the opportunity to grab a nap on the way to the exclusive tech conference on the private island owned by the host, Ben Henders. But it hadn’t worked; I had too much on my mind. Now, I was awake and not in the mood to socialize and yet that would be exactly what I was expected to do.
“Mr. Joseph, welcome to the island. I’m Collin, Mr. Henders’ PA. This is Alexander. He will take your bags to the guest house and make sure everything is to your liking. And this is Ally. She’ll be your assistant for the duration of the stay.”
I tried not to sigh as I shook hands with Collin, Alexander and the woman assigned to be my assistant for the week. Ally was gorgeous; it was hard not to notice. But I didn’t want a new assistant. New people require the same old information to be repeated over and over again.
“I don’t know why I couldn’t just bring my actual assistant,” I said to Collin. I’d had this argument over and over again with him on the phone, but I wanted him to know that I was still put out by their decision.
“Sir, she was flagged as a security risk. We are extremely tight on security here. No one with an arrest warrant is allowed on the island. If we started making exceptions for you, we’d have to make them for others.” Collin repeated everything he’d said two days ago on the phone.
“She’s 68 years old. What kind of threat do you think she’d be?”
“An arrest record is an arrest record, Mr. Joseph.”
At this, I gave in and sighed, “She was arrested at a Vietnam war protest for spitting at an officer in 1973. The war is over… that one anyway… so I just…I don’t get why I have to be inconvenienced because I hired an old hippie. But anyway, there’s no use having this argument once again.” I turned to my temporary assistant. “Ally, I hope you’re ready for a big week. I’m sure you’re more than capable. I just like things a particular way, which is why I’ve had the same personal assistant since I was 22.”
She smiled, but I could tell what the voluptuous redhead really wanted to do was roll her eyes. I know that I came across as a stubborn billionaire who was used to having his way… and I guess to a certain degree that is exactly what I was.
I guess my excuse would be that I’d been incredibly busy as of late. There had been some legal dispute involving my tech company. We’d won in court because it was a complete lie to damage the reputation of my business and our products. But they’d won in that our reputation, and mine by extension, had taken a hit. I’d been with public relations people all week. I hated that kind of thing. I liked to focus on work that actually mattered and not the publicity stuff. But there are pros and cons that come with being me. That was definitely a con.
Chapter 2
Ally
I was surprised when I saw the tech billionaire in person. I’d expected some kind of nerdy older gentleman with poor social skills. Instead, he was tall, dark and handsome with poor social skills. Looking for an image of him online was almost impossible. There were a few photographs with him in the background, but he’d been too blurry to make out properly. He was notorious for avoiding the press and trying to keep himself and his company separate. But recently, he’d been doing interviews due to a legal dispute they’d won in court… but he only did radio or print without profile shots of him.
My employer, Mr. Henders, was the opposite. He was always ready for a photoshoot with his model wife and two perfect teenage daughters. And he wasn’t half as good looking as Mr. Joseph. The latter was more concerned with privacy, which was probably why he was so upset about dealing with a new assistant for a week.
I knew that if I wanted to get my job done, I was going to have to be as charming as possible. I knew I could do it; I just didn’t like being fake. But everything about what I had to do for that week was fake. I didn’t like it, but I knew what I had to do.
Alexander carried his bags and Mr. Joseph handed me a cell phone. “This is a business phone. No personal calls or texts on it, please. The line is completely private. My top advisors, my assistant Margaret and my sister are the only people who have that number. If one of them calls, you are to ask whether they’d like to leave a message or have me call them back.”
“Got it,” I muttered. He didn’t seem to be waiting for a reply. I had a journalism degree from Northwestern and had interned at The Washington Post. But that didn’t matter to him. All he wanted to know was if I was smart enough to answer a phone and take a message. Which I was, otherwise, Mr. Henders wouldn’t have agreed to pay off my father’s medical bills in exchange for me working for him for the duration of the popular tech conference.
We arrived at the guesthouse that Mr. Joseph and I would be staying at. There were three en-suite bedrooms, a media room, and a kitchen… hardly an island cottage. There were seven of these houses on the island and 24 bungalows for less prestigious guests.
“There is a meet and greet with cocktails at 5 pm, followed by dinner at Mr. Henders’ house with the rest of the speakers. You have one hour and 47 minutes to unpack and relax. Can I get you anything, Mr. Joseph?” I’d read in an interview that he liked to know the time down to the minute, so I’d made sure to be exact.
“You can call me Finley. Look, I’m sorry if I’m a bit off. I swear I’m usually a relatively nice person. I just haven’t had much rest lately. I’m going to shut my eyes for 36 minutes. If you wouldn’t mind waking me up with a cup of coffee, I’d appreciate it.”
With that, he shut his bedroom door and I could hear him flop onto the bed. I giggled silently at the thought of him falling onto the bed. Everything he did in public was so precise, so controlled, that I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of him doing something that a normal exhausted person would do.
Chapter 3
Finley
I did feel bad for being so rude to Ally. She seemed competent and she hadn’t been the reason I was in a bad mood. I was in a bad mood because things had been crazy and I hadn’t got a good night’s sleep in a long time. I clo
sed my eyes but wasn’t able to turn my brain off. All I could think of was what people were doing at work without me there. I mean, I knew my management team and they were a hardworking bunch, but I didn’t like being disconnected from them.
Eventually, I gave up trying to sleep and took out my laptop. I went through the speech my head of communications had written and rewrote it to suit my personality. He knew that I was going to do that, which is why he was one of the few communications experts I trusted. He wrote the jokes and personality bits and pieces, and I added the hard stuff. I shot him an email so he could check it before I had to give my talk on Thursday. It was now Monday, so he had time to smooth out the wrinkles in my writing.
Ally knocked three times before coming in with my coffee. Right on time. I was impressed. She handed me the double espresso with no sugar or cream. She must have done her research on me. And next to the double espresso was a chocolate chip cookie. I looked at her with my eyebrows raised.
“I’m not really a cookie guy,” I said. And then added, “Thank you, though.”
She didn’t take the plate away. “Your pilot mentioned that you hadn’t eaten lunch and you’re about to go to a cocktail meet and greet, so I suggest you at least eat something. It’s homemade, you might actually like it.”
She was smiling with genuine warmth in her face. So I ate the cookie. I wasn’t used to doing things I didn’t want to do and usually, no one argued with me when I said I didn’t want something. But I kind of liked the way she thought about things ahead of time and her smile was growing on me. So I ate the cookie and it was good. She didn’t use too much sugar and the chocolate chips were dark and almost bitter.
“It’s good. Thank you,” I muttered. “I better be getting ready.”
She left me to take a shower and mentally prepare myself for awful small talk.
Chapter 4
Ally
I knew that if I wanted to do my job well, I’d have to get in Finley Joseph’s good books and that wasn’t easy. However, no one has ever disliked my chocolate chip cookies. I had made a batch for my dad before I left New York and brought a few with me. It was one of the only things I could get him to eat when his appetite was gone. And when his throat was raw from the chemotherapy, I would turn them into smoothies.
I smiled as I thought about my dad and dipped one of my cookies into the milky coffee I’d made myself. He was the reason I was here doing this. I needed to cover his medical bills and no ordinary job’s salary was going to cover that. I heard the shower turn off and looked at my watch. He had enough time to get ready. It was my job to get him everywhere on time. Well, that was part of my job. I didn’t want to think about the other part just yet.
I went into my bedroom to quickly change my outfit and touch up my makeup. If I was going to attend these events alongside the tech billionaire, I needed to look like I was supposed to be there.
Suddenly, the phone he’d given me rang.
“Hello, Finley Joseph’s phone. Ally Harmon speaking,” I said in my most professional assistant’s voice.
“Hmm, where’s Margaret?” asked the young woman’s voice on the phone. Her voice sounded curious rather than rude.
“She is not currently with Mr. Joseph. I will be his assistant for the next week. Can I take a message or would you like him to call you back?”
“Oh, weird. Okay, I just didn’t know he could exist without Margaret. Sorry, where are my manners? I’m Rose, Finley’s sister. Could you tell my brother to call me back? His niece has something she wants to tell him.” I could hear children laughing in the background.
“Sure, no problem. I’ll ask him to call as soon as he is available.”
“Thanks. I don’t know when he became too important to answer his own phone, but don’t tell him I said that,” she laughed.
As soon as she ended the call, I knocked on his door. I heard him say something and assumed it was “come in.” After I’d stepped into his room, I realized that I’d been wrong. He was still naked, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Damn, he clearly worked out. I quickly caught myself staring at his muscular chest and arms and turned around as fast as I could.
“I-I’m so sorry, I thought you said ‘come in’... sorry,” I stuttered.
“It’s okay,” he said gruffly, but without any anger. “What did you need?”
“Your sister called. She asked if you could call her back. Your niece wants to talk to you,” I said quickly.
“Sure, I’ll call on speaker while I’m getting ready. June probably just wants to tell me her latest idea for an app. She’s seven, but I swear one of these days she’s going to strike gold.”
I put the phone down on the bookshelf next to me and walked out of the room without turning around. I didn’t need to look in the mirror to know that I was blushing horribly. “Keep your hormones in check, girl,” I whispered to myself. I had a job to do.
Chapter 5
Finley
At least Margaret had never walked in on me wearing nothing but a towel, I thought to myself. But then again, I had to admit, I would prefer Ally to see me like that than my 68-year-old lesbian assistant who’d probably just try to set me up on a blind date with one of her friends’ daughters again.
I can’t deny, the look on her face was a little bit of a turn on. I mean, everyone wants to be appreciated when they’re half-naked. Her blushing face said it all. And she was quite beautiful; she certainly filled out the dress she was wearing. But she was my assistant, even if only for one week and I needed to keep professional.
Anyway, I hadn’t had any form of a relationship in two years. I know it sounds like I’m a spoiled rich guy, but it’s hard to date when everyone you meet knows that you’re a billionaire. My last relationship had ended because there was no substance to it. It became clear that she was only into me because of my incredible wealth. Ashley was all about fancy restaurants and exotic holidays. After a while, it became clear that she didn’t even like me that much. I didn’t want to feel used like that again.
I shook my head. There was no point in having these thoughts. I had to get to work. But first, I needed to call my niece. I called my sister and June picked up, expecting my call. I put the speaker on so I could carry on getting dressed for the meet and greet.
“Hello, Uncle Fin. How are you?” Even though she was only seven, she’d learned her manners.
“I’m good, kiddo. How are you doing? What do you have for me today?” I asked, knowing that she was about to pitch her latest genius idea.
“I’m great, Uncle Fin. I actually don’t have any ideas for you right now. But I’m working on some new ones. I wanted to know if you could come to my school play next week. I’m going to be a princess and it’s one of the main parts. And afterward, we’re all going out for dinner at any restaurant I want to go to. I really miss you, Uncle Fin.”
Damn, I knew I couldn’t say no. And I would be back in New York next week. It’s just that I would be back at the office after being on a remote island for a week. However, I knew that I couldn’t say no to her.
“Tell you what, June. I’ll definitely be there AND I’ll bring you and Jamie something from my trip, okay? Just ask your mommy to email me the information and I’ll have Margaret schedule it in so there’s no way I could miss it. Love you, kiddo. And give your brother and mommy a big kiss from me, okay?”
“Yay… I’m so excited. See you then, Uncle Fin,” she squealed before putting down the phone.
I really loved my niece and nephew. Their dad had passed away two years ago and I was kind of the closest thing they had to a second parent. I wish I could have been there more often, but I was a busy man and everyone seemed to want something from me all the time.
I finished getting ready and went to go find my assistant for the week. I could hear her in the kitchen. As I walked in, I felt like taking a step back. She’d changed for the evening and the emerald green cocktail dress she was wearing could not have brought out her features bette
r. It didn’t exactly have a low neckline, but her cleavage was still clearly visible. I forced myself to look away. She was stunning, but I knew it would be unprofessional to stare.
Chapter 6
Ally
Even though his door had been shut, my hearing is excellent and his speakerphone was on loud. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help listening in on his call with his niece. It was kind of heartwarming. Despite his abrupt and slightly antisocial personality, he was super sweet with his niece and it humanized him in my eyes. It sounded like they had a really great relationship.
I heard him finish up his call and I made my way to the kitchen, having quickly put on my cocktail attire. When he walked in, for a moment, he stared at me. I could tell he liked what he saw, even though he was trying to act like it didn’t faze him. I couldn’t help it, I liked the way he was looking at me. But I knew that I couldn’t let myself get caught up with him. I had a job to do.
He cleared his throat and apparently that helped him snap out of whatever trance he was in. “Right, should we get going?”
I nodded my head, “Yes, let’s go. We wouldn’t want to be late. There are going to be many people who want to speak to you.”
