The Boss’s Unconventional Assistant

by Jennie Adams

  His gaze softened. ‘I will let you do your job.’

  ‘Thank you. It’s better to be completely open.’ They had openly kissed, had agreed not to repeat the experience. He had agreed to let her help him properly.

  ‘So you’d say honesty and openness are important between us?’ His glance moved to a point beyond her left shoulder and his eyebrows rose into twin questioning arcs.

  Soph dipped her head and wondered why she felt a little unnerved by his expression. ‘Yes. Those things are important.’

  ‘Then don’t you think it’s odd,’ he said, ‘that the house has suddenly sprouted a giant white rat? A rat who seems rather attached to you? Who just emerged from your room?’

  ‘A giant white rat,’ she repeated stupidly, but she knew. Oh, she knew. With a sense of the inevitable, Soph turned her head and, sure enough, there was Alfie. Not a giant rat, no, and her employer knew this. But Alfie was a glaring example that she hadn’t given the full disclosure she had just ranted about, and so the word ‘rat’ did hold a certain metaphoric impact.

  Alfie twitched his nose and came forward, flop ears flopping, to sit at her feet in a fluffy, incriminating bundle.

  Blast.

  In fact, double drat darn blast with a triple pike and a twist. She glanced up, about to beg, convinced that Grey would be glaring in appalled revulsion.

  Domesticity really isn’t my thing.

  Did his mouth twitch before he firmed it? Or had she hallucinated that idea when in fact he truly was angry?

  ‘You’re very righteous about me keeping things from you, Sophia,’ he drawled, ‘but clearly you’ve done the same.’

  ‘I confess.’ There didn’t seem to be any other option. Maybe if she just confronted it, it wouldn’t be too awful? ‘I smuggled a rabbit into the house. I’ve smuggled him in at night since I got here, but I had every intention of telling you about him. This morning, in fact.’

  Soph scooped Alfie up and held him against her chest. The feel of his soft fur soothed her frazzled edges, just a little.

  Just enough for her to feel the full strength of her embarrassment.

  ‘My reasons were different.’ Guilty heat swept into her face. Well, now that her secret was out, she might as well get the rest over with.

  ‘Alfred has to come with us to Melbourne. We’ll need to leave in time to settle him in the yard at your town house before we go to your first appointment.’

  ‘Is he car and house trained?’ Grey eyed the rabbit dubiously.

  Soph drew a deep breath. ‘He hasn’t had an accident yet.’

  Grey lifted an eyebrow. ‘And how long is “yet”?’

  ‘Um, one day longer than I’ve been here. Well, just a night longer, actually.’ Soph turned away so she wouldn’t have to meet his gaze. ‘I found him abandoned near my flat the night before I came here.’

  ‘And you adopted him.’ He made it sound inevitable.

  ‘Yes.’ Why did she feel that Grey had just looked deep inside her and discovered a secret she should have guarded more carefully? What was he thinking? ‘I adopted him.’

  ‘Well, I guess I know what the strands of white fur were on your shirt, now.’ He moved towards his room. ‘Not cat fur, but still as domestic.’

  She knew just how much Grey liked domestic. ‘Um, so do you mind if he…uh…?’

  ‘I’m turning over a new leaf, remember?’ He paused in the doorway of his room and looked at her over his shoulder. ‘I may not like the idea of a pet on board, but I agreed to get along.’

  ‘I’ll get ready, then.’ She didn’t know what else to say.

  As Grey closed his door, Soph leaned against hers.

  She felt as though she had just endured a battle. Not because of Alfie, but because of Grey and his secretiveness and their kiss and his surprising tolerance about her pet.

  Soph was confused.

  And she didn’t know if the battle was over yet.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SOPH gave herself a stern talking-to during the drive from her employer’s country home to his Melbourne town house. She had plenty of opportunity to do so as they sat in silence in the sleek, bullet-grey sedan. So much for the ‘getting to know you better’ conversation she had envisaged. Alfie sat in his basket in the back. He was very well-behaved.

  The Melbourne skyline closed around them. Cars rushed along and people hurried about their business while a brisk wind pushed at their backs. Soph’s thoughts moved at the same determined pace as she made her way to Grey’s suburb.

  She had got off track on this assignment—that was the trouble. Grey’s kissing her hadn’t helped. It had opened up thoughts and temptations she must ignore.

  From now on she would be the sensible, controlled professional she should have portrayed from the start. Soph glanced at her French-braided uncoloured blonde hair in the rear-view mirror and gave an all but imperceptible nod.

  ‘The next right is my street.’ Grey gave the direction as he had all the others, with little inflection and no waste of words.

  ‘Thanks.’ She turned into yet another posh residential street.

  ‘My town house is the one with the blue trim, just ahead.’ Grey pointed out a perfectly gorgeous home nestled between two others that, despite also being gorgeous, did nothing for her at all even though they should have impressed her equally.

  She was out of sorts! Thoughts about trusting others, memories about her parents leaving and odd nebulous aches and feelings towards her sisters had plagued her during the drive. As if all the tension with Grey hadn’t been enough.

  Anyway, his house was probably perfectly horrid inside, cold and sterile with ugly furnishings and inexplicable art that had cost mega-dollars on all the walls.

  She clenched her teeth. ‘Let me get Alfie settled so we can make our way to your first appointment.’

  ‘The house has a security system. I’ll need to disarm it for you.’ Did he sound a little baffled? Frustrated with her or simply frustrated, full stop? Confused? Fed up? Still overly aware in ways he shouldn’t be?

  Actually, she was starting to list her own feelings.

  Grey’s gaze kept going to her hair and then over the rest of her—the white blouse with the lace ruffle on the front, the plain skirt and black pumps. She kind of wished she had on blue nail polish and a big chunky necklace, but she didn’t and she felt just fine, as powerful as she needed to be.

  ‘Sorry to have to bother you, then.’ She got out of the car and hauled Alfie’s fold-up enclosure from the boot. By then, Grey was out of the car and had Alfie in his basket tucked under his good arm.

  He wanted to help? Be a wonderful, considerate gentleman despite his injuries? Pretend to tolerate the rabbit?

  Soph didn’t have to fall prey to any of this. She accompanied him to the front door, waited while he unlocked it and inputted his security code and followed him in. She didn’t even notice the beautiful wainscoting or the huge potted ornamental orange tree or the lovely rich curtains and squishy furniture that made the place a quiet haven and anything but sterile or cold. Nope. She didn’t notice any of it at all.

  They didn’t linger. When Soph drew the car to a halt in the car park behind the doctor’s rooms some time later, Grey turned to her.

  ‘This shouldn’t take long. You can window shop or whatever you like and meet me at the coffee place next door in, say, half an hour. I can always wait for you if I get out sooner.’

  It was the most he’d said to her in one go since this morning and an obvious dismissal. Yet he seemed edgy and, from the standpoint of ensuring that he kept her informed, Soph decided it wouldn’t be appropriate to leave him. She wasn’t emotionally involved in his care. This was just common sense stuff.

  ‘I prefer to wait in the waiting room. That’s the most efficient course of action.’ They’d made an agreement. He might not like it but she expected him to stick to it.

  ‘Fine.’ He glared and turned his gaze away from hers. ‘It’s this way.’

 
He didn’t have to wait long, which was probably just as well, and then Soph sat there…and sat. What could be taking them so long?

  After fifty minutes Soph was a wreck, but only because she wanted to make a successful work experience out of her time with Grey. She wasn’t worried sick and off on flights of imagination about his health issues, all of them doomsday-oriented.

  When Grey finally emerged she leapt up from her seat and met him at the edge of the waiting room. ‘Are you all right? What did the doctor say? You were gone so long I thought maybe he’d found something awful and rushed you out the back to a waiting ambulance…’ She forced the words to a stop, realizing that she had her fingers wrapped around Grey’s forearm in a crushing grip.

  Touching him had sent a zing up her arm and into her chest too. They’d kissed, hadn’t they, and nothing was the same now, no matter how hard she tried to believe otherwise.

  Not the time to think about it! She released her hold on him.

  Grey stared into her eyes with a rare uncertainty in his own. Memory of that stolen kiss flared in his gaze before he stepped away and his jaw tightened.

  ‘Let me pay for the visit.’ He moved to the front desk, tugged out his wallet and quickly took care of business.

  The junior secretary gazed at him with flirtatious eyes. Grey thanked her politely and didn’t appear to notice. As they left, he suggested they make their way to the physiotherapist’s office area. ‘We can have lunch at the sushi bar next door to it. I didn’t expect to be as long as I was with Dr Cooper.’

  No, and something told her he hadn’t got the results he’d hoped for. Soph started worrying again. She held off saying anything more until they were in the bar and their meals had arrived and then the waiting got too much for her. ‘Well? What’s the verdict? Are you all better or heaps worse? You’ve been grim and silent since we left the doctor’s rooms.’

  ‘The readings hadn’t gone down—not even the blood pressure, which should have responded to the medication at least a little by now.’ He sounded disgusted and something else. Not chastised, exactly, but a bit shaken, perhaps? ‘The doctor is convinced the problems were there already and having the accident simply got them noticed.’

  She did her best to tread carefully as she asked, ‘Does this mean genetic factors really could be an issue?’

  ‘Dr Cooper is inclined to believe that some of this may be inherited. He’s not expecting heart failure…’

  Soph sensed a bit of a ‘but’ on the end of that. ‘So he said he won’t worry about your heart provided—?’

  ‘Provided I take care of the other matters, and take care of myself overall.’ He drew a deep breath. ‘I have to fix the problem, now that I know it’s more than a blip.’

  He probably hated that he’d been wrong. His next words seemed to confirm that.

  ‘I’ve always taken care of my health. I don’t fill my body with crappy foods or drink to excess, and I keep fit.’

  ‘Well, of course you do. A person only has to see your physique. It’s all muscled. You haven’t got an ounce of fat on you…’ She shoved a bite-sized Maki-zushi into her mouth and glanced uneasily at the diners all around them. The sushi bar was packed, but nobody appeared to be listening to their conversation.

  Except Grey himself, who cast one heightened glance at her before he locked it down and took a bite of his food.

  ‘What will you do, Grey?’ Their earlier antagonism and subsequent passion set aside for the moment, Soph wanted to help.

  He smiled at her then—smiled with a curve of the lips that had kissed her with such hunger—and Soph suppressed a sigh because he really did appeal to her so much. How could her protestations hold up when he looked at her this way?

  ‘You really do have a kind heart, don’t you? This morning you were furious with me but you’re willing to forgive and just move on.’ He broke eye contact and for a few minutes they ate in silence. Finally he pushed his plate away.

  ‘I can hold a grudge,’ she said with a hint of offence as she crumpled her napkin on to her plate.

  Grey glanced at the watch on his wrist. ‘We should head for the physiotherapist’s offices now, I think.’ As he stood, his smile faded. ‘I’ll do what the doctor suggested in the first place. Complete rest for a few days. I may not like it and I’ll probably go mad in the process, but I’ll take the necessary steps to bring everything under control.’

  ‘Ah, okay.’ A few days? That would do it? Soph was dubious but she couldn’t discuss it further. The physiotherapist’s offices were right next door, and the receptionist sent Grey straight in for his appointment.

  Soph cooled her heels again. When he emerged, they went to the car and he sat there and made a phone call to his office. ‘I want a meeting with the head of every department. Get them to reshuffle their schedules to make it work. For any head not in Melbourne today have someone stand in.’

  Grey finished the phone call and turned to her. ‘We need to go straight to my company building now. After I’ve taken care of things there, we’ll go back to the town house.’ He paused and frowned.

  For a moment frustration lurked, but he clamped his teeth shut over it and turned his head to look through the windscreen of the car.

  Soph drove and when she finally pulled the car to a stop in his company’s underground car park, she said quietly, ‘You’ll probably prefer me to wait here.’ She’d never parked in a company director’s space before and tried for some levity. ‘I hope no one thinks I’m trying to steal your car.’

  ‘No, I want you to come with me.’ He looked at her then—really looked, his expression resigned and guarded.

  ‘Then I’ll come.’ She prepared to get out of the car.

  Grey’s hand on her arm stopped her, stilled her heart for just a moment before the silly thing galloped off at a faster rate than before. Just from a touch.

  ‘You have a calming influence on me.’ He drew a tight breath and blew it out. ‘I know I haven’t been at my best since I met you, Sophia. And that kiss complicated things.’

  ‘Yes.’ What else was there to say? They made their way to the lift and rode to the tenth floor in silence.

  ‘I should have asked what exactly you’ll be doing here.’ Not roving ten floors on foot, she hoped. Maybe she should have insisted he explain everything in more detail, but she sensed he needed to come to grips a step at a time.

  ‘What I’ll be doing is announcing a sudden, short vacation.’ The lift doors slid open. Grey cast one final glance at her as he moved to step through them. ‘I usually just take a week off between Christmas and New Year, when everything slows to a crawl anyway.’

  ‘That’s not much time for relaxation over the years.’

  ‘I thought it was enough.’ His shoulders stiffened as he stepped out of the lift. He hobbled as little as possible as heads nodded and people greeted him with respectful murmurs of ‘Mr Barlow’ and ‘Good to see you, Mr Barlow’ as he and Soph passed them.

  His offices had an understated air of opulence. State-of-the-art equipment sat on fine quality desks. The paintings on the walls were real, the carpet thick and springy beneath their feet.

  Soph also attracted her share of glances. So many faces, all of them people working to help make Grey’s company a success. The extent of his prestige and power hit home to her here in the hub of his business empire.

  ‘Come this way, Soph.’ He took her arm, guided her into a set of spacious rooms.

  Her heart tripped because, for the first time since they’d met, he’d called her Soph. She couldn’t stop the flow of warm feeling that stole over her—settled inside her—as a result.

  This wasn’t just simple attraction any more, she realised with a sense of panic. She liked and admired him, wanted to explore his complexities, understand what drove him. None of which was a good or smart idea.

  Grey entered the rooms after her, shut the door and closed them in together. A middle-aged woman sat at a desk in front of them and her glance was both pro
fessional and welcoming as she looked up from her work. ‘Grey. It’s good to see you up and on your feet. The department heads are gathered and waiting in the meeting room.’

  She paused and Grey drew Soph forward.

  ‘My temporary assistant, Sophia Gable, this is my office assistant, Mrs Hilary Stubbs.’

  ‘Hello.’ Conscious of Grey’s hand still at her back, Soph forced her attention to his assistant, smiled, noted the assessment in the other woman’s gaze, but had no idea how she fared in the face of it. She did her share of assessing and decided that Mrs Stubbs looked efficient.

  ‘There are two department heads missing. They were out of town, but they’re adequately represented.’ The woman reached for a stenographer’s pad.

  Grey waved a hand. ‘I won’t need you this time.’ He moved closer and gave some instructions Soph didn’t fully take in—something about a memo and management during his absence.

  Soph couldn’t seem to shift her attention from his closeness. She wanted to hug him, or at least offer him a nice calming bath and some incense candles. He wasn’t exactly relaxed right now. Well, he would hate this, wouldn’t he? Having to delegate, even if only for a while.

  See? It’s not so easy, is it? Say you wouldn’t feel the same in his shoes.

  Soph chewed on her lip.

  His assistant started to type quickly on her computer keyboard.

  Grey guided Soph into the conference room with him. Faces ranged up and down the sides of the long rectangular table. Soph snapped out of her musings and whispered in a hushed and urgent tone, ‘Do I take notes? I don’t have anything—’

  ‘You don’t have to do anything.’ His fingers tightened against her back for a moment before he dropped his hand. ‘Just—I just want you here.’ And then, gruffly, ‘I don’t fancy you as a suspect executive car thief, so I couldn’t really leave you outside.’

  But she knew that was just a foil. He wanted her presence. Soph went all mushy inside again.

  She walked with Grey to the head of the table, slipped into the seat at his right when he indicated she should do so and noted the clamp of his jaw as he examined the faces of each of his senior staff members. Her mush factor gave way to concern for him.