Billionaire Boss Read online

  BILLIONAIRE BOSS

  BLURB

  When I took a job working as an assistant for Scott Brasher, I had no idea that my boss was going to be such a colossal jerk…or that his partner, Damien, would be so handsome and charming. Scott spent every minute of the day trying to undermine me. I could tell he hated women – he was nothing but a real jerk, wrapped up in Armani clothing.

  But Damien was different. Damien wasn’t like that. Damien was sweet, kind, thoughtful – the kind of guy who could practically read my mind. I’d never had a boyfriend before, but I couldn’t stop myself from falling rapidly in lust with Damien’s gorgeous looks.

  Little did I know, Damien was completely different than I’d originally thought. And when I realized just how different, it was the most terrifying moment of my life. Dark secrets swirled to the surface and I knew I couldn’t protect myself any longer. I’d exposed my heart, and now I was going to have to pay the price.

  Chapter One

  Damien

  I loathe Mondays, I thought to myself as I lowered myself down into my executive desk and pulled up my email. I still had a hangover from the night before – and I wasn’t fucking looking forward to another week of corporate bullshit. Especially now that my most recent secretary, Hannah, had just quit her job. Sure, I’d fucked her and then refused to call.

  But I did that with all my secretaries. Hannah wasn’t exactly anything special.

  I groaned. At the top of my inbox was an email from my boss, Scott.

  “Hannah quit. Did you get a chance to get in those panties? New casting call is at 11am. Come by and check out the bumper crop – I’ll save you a redhead.”

  At a quarter to eleven, I sauntered over to Scott’s office. There was a long line of women stretching all the way down the hallway, and they all gazed at me hungrily. I felt my lips curve into a wolfish smile as I pushed past them, smelling a bouquet of expensive perfumes. Scott was sitting behind his desk with his feet kicked up. There was a young blonde woman standing in front of him and making doe eyes.

  “Perfect, honey,” Scott praised. “Now turn around.”

  The girl wrinkled her nose suspiciously. “The staffing agency said this was for an assistant job,” she said. “Can you tell me what I’ll be doing for you?”

  “You’ll be turning around a lot,” Scott said in a teasing voice. “Spin for me.”

  The girl wrinkled her nose but finally rolled her eyes and spun in a slow circle. She was wearing a black pencil skirt that clung to her heart-shaped ass with tantalizing precision, and Scott nodded approvingly.

  “Good job,” he said, glancing down and checking something off of a clipboard in front of him. “That’s all.”

  The girl curtsied and stepped forward to place a copy of her resume on his desk. Scott tossed it in the trash without even looking at it and waved her out of his office with a hand.

  “Definitely a no,” he said. “The way her face looked when I had to ask her for the second fucking time to turn around. Is she deaf?”

  “Your style of interviewing is pretty non-traditional, you have to admit,” I said, keeping my voice as smooth as I could. “Let me do the next one.”

  “I’ve let you ‘do’ all of them,” Scott said grumpily. “That’s my fucking problem.”

  “That’s what you get for fucking my wife,” I shot back. “Next!”

  A petite girl entered the room, carrying a black leather tote bag. Her auburn hair was in a loose chignon and she wore a black dress with black tights and black shoes. She looked from me to Scott and back again, cocking her head to the side.

  “Which one of you do I have to impress?” She asked, glancing around the room. “Is there a chair here?”

  “Nope,” Scott smiled. I stepped in front of his desk.

  “There’s no chair,” I said. “But I’ll stand too, just to make you feel better.”

  “Good, you have an HR department,” she joked. I frowned. There was something about her attitude that felt different from most women. She didn’t seem entirely comfortable under Scott’s leer, and I could tell that she wasn’t exactly impressed by our surroundings. “Is this a new office?”

  “Brasher & Co. has been around since ’83,” I told her, leaning back on Scott’s desk and crossing my arms over my chest. “We specialize in business consulting, and we’ve worked with Microsoft, Google, and KPMG.”

  “I thought you started in ’82?” She asked, narrowing her eyes.

  I blinked. “You’re right,” I said. “Sorry about that.”

  “Just tell me you’re a friend and you don’t actually work here,” she said in a dry tone. When I gave no answer, a delicious flush spread from her pale cheeks down her neck. “Oh my god, that’s embarrassing,” she said finally. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

  I laughed. There was something incredibly sexy about her self-deprecating sense of humility. “You were right,” I said. “No need to apologize. Tell us why you want to be a part of Brasher.”

  “I’ve been in consulting since I graduated from college,” she replied. “I used to work for Barnes and Noble, and then I worked with a few smaller firms. It’s a powerful industry that’s not going anywhere, and your company record is very impressive.”

  I reached forward and took the proffered resume. She did have an impressive career for someone so young, including an internship with Boeing. I narrowed my eyes. “Ms. Barrett, you’re aware this opening is for an assistant? You seem like you wouldn’t be happy in a position like this with your background.”

  She blushed, and I felt something twinge inside my chest. “I know,” she said, taking a deep breath. “But I just moved here, and nothing else has been working out. I promise I won’t just stick around until I find something better. I’m committed to working my way up.”

  Scott eyed me, as if to say I know just how hard she’ll work it, too and I shook my head to clear the thought from my mind. She was gorgeous, but I could already tell that her argumentative intelligence wouldn’t fly well with Scott.

  “That may be,” I said, looking her deeply in the eyes. She flushed again and I was annoyed to find myself wondering what shade of green her eyes would be called. Setting my jaw, I continued: “But are you sure that you’re used to what this job demands? A lot of it is going to be very menial. You’ll be fetching coffee for Scott and picking up his dry cleaning.”

  “I can do that,” she said. “I promise.”

  I shrugged. “If you say so,” I replied. “We’ll be in touch.”

  She frowned. “Okay,” she said, brushing her palms on her skirt and offering one for me to shake. Her skin was warm and dry to the touch, and up close, she smelled a little bit like sandalwood. I watched her go with an odd dryness in my mouth.

  “She’s not a good fit,” I told Scott. He shrugged.

  “There was something cute about her,” he mused. “She looked scrappy.”

  “I’m sure you’d hate her and fire her immediately. Didn’t you notice how she corrected me?” Inside, I felt panic beginning to rise up my throat. I couldn’t let Scott know how attractive I’d found the girl. If he found out, he’d have the upper hand on me once again.

  “She was right,” he said, tapping a tanned finger on his chin. “What was her name?”

  “Lily. Lily Barrett.”

  Scott grabbed the resume out of my hand and dialed a number on his office phone. I turned to leave just in time to hear him say “Hello, Lily? You’re hired.”

  With a groan, I headed back to my office, rubbing my temples. This was going to be a very long day.

  Chapter Two

  Lily

  With a sigh, I looked down at my watch to see that I was still running early. We were meetin
g at a building across town, and I’d stayed up half the night worrying that I’d be late. In the daylight, my black pumps and grey sheath dress didn’t look nearly as chic as they had the night before. I started worrying that Scott would send me home to change.

  “It’s important to impress, Lily,” he’d say, eyeing me up and down with too much interest, as usual. “You need to take more pride in your appearance.”

  If anyone had told me that I’d have to put up with this much sexism just to work at one of my top employer picks, I wouldn’t have believed them. Maybe it was naïveté, but I’d been shocked to discover the kind of shit that Scott expected me to put up with. Gritting my teeth in frustration, I recalled what Damien had said on the day he’d interviewed me: “Are you sure you’re used to what this job demands?”

  No, Damien. I had no fucking idea.

  “Hey, Lily!” I turned around to see Damien and Scott walking towards me, looking like twin Armani models. Damien smiled boyishly, showing perfect white teeth. I felt a flutter in my chest. Damnit, Lily. Do not go to pieces over him today.

  “Hi,” I said in greeting, nodding at both of them. Scott unceremoniously dumped a giant box full of papers in my arms, then twisted out of his leather messenger bag and dumped that on top. My arms ached almost instantly, and I could feel bolts of pain shooting up my calves from my spike heels.

  “Scott, Jesus!” Damien exclaimed, leaning forward and plucking the bag and the box out of my arms. He balanced both with one arm, glaring at his friend over the tops of his designer sunglasses. “Try to show a little courtesy.”

  “She’s my assistant!” Scott exclaimed, striding into the building without holding the doors for Damien or myself. “You’re going to make her job too easy.”

  Rolling my eyes behind my sunglasses, I mentally calculated how long I’d have to stay Scott’s “assistant” before I could get a promotion or a job offer from a rival firm. Unfortunately, I felt like even in a best-case scenario, I’d be stuck with this pig for years.

  We signed in at the desk and the concierge pointed to an open elevator, nodding and smiling graciously. Scott yapped on his phone the whole time we rode to the 16th floor. I kept sneaking glances at Damien – his gorgeously defined jaw was set and he had some serious dark circles under his eyes.

  “You wait here,” Scott barked in my direction. “We’ll bring you in later.” He pointed to a chair in the lobby of the 16th floor, snapping his fingers when I didn’t move right away.

  “Do you have the RFP?” I asked as I sat down.

  “No,” Scott shook his head. “You were supposed to remember to bring it!”

  “I brought an extra, just in case,” I said, digging one out of my bag and handing it over. “And here’s a copy of the client bio, and some of their vital stats.”

  Scott narrowed his eyes at me before snatching the paper out of my hand and walking away. Another fun day at work! I thought miserably.

  “Hey, thanks Lily,” Damien said, glancing down at me. “He would have really fucked this up.”

  “Of course,” I said, smiling. Damien smiled back at me and I was caught off guard by how dazzling his good looks were. And while normally I would have thought that he was a cocky jackass, compared to Scott he was practically a saint.

  “You’re appreciated around here,” Damien said under his breath, leaning closer. “I know you don’t feel that way, but it’s true.”

  “Thanks,” I said nervously, pushing a piece of hair behind my ear.

  “Later,” Damien said. “I think we’ll be in for about an hour or so before we’ll want you to do the presentation.” He pulled out his wallet and handed me a twenty. “Why don’t you go get yourself some breakfast or something? I’ll make sure Scott stays in line.”

  “Thanks,” I repeated. For some reason, whenever Damien was around I always felt so tongue-tied. He smiled at me again and then turned on his heel, loping gracefully into the conference room.

  Chapter Three

  Damien

  “He’s really got you sweating, doesn’t he?” I asked Lily as she stapled another bundle of receipts to a meticulous spreadsheet printout. She shook her head.

  “Kind of,” she admitted. “But honestly I’d much rather do this type of work than go get his dry cleaning.”

  “You knew that was part of the job, too,” I teased, admiring the delicate curve of her neck. Even in shitty fluorescent lighting, she still looked amazing.

  “I was hoping it would be minimal,” she replied, grimacing. “But look, I’m done with the past two years!” Proudly, she held up two bulging folders with receipts neatly stapled in the corner of each.

  “You’re fast.”

  “Not as fast as Scott,” she muttered. Lily tilted her gorgeous face up to me and I saw that she was blushing. “I’m sorry,” she added. “I really shouldn’t have said that.”

  I felt my lips curve into a reluctant smile. “I think I know what you mean,” I said slowly. “He goes about a million miles an hour.”

  “It’s not that,” Lily replied sharply. “Come on.” She looked at me with her head cocked to the side. “You know him better than that.”

  I held up my hands and chuckled, pleased that she wasn’t beating around the bush with me. “I do,” I admitted. “I know him unfortunately all too well.”

  She frowned. “So you know what a sleazeball he is, right?”

  “I wish I could say he’s harmless, but,” I cut myself off, feeling like I’d somehow revealed too much. I could be fired (to mention sued) for this conversation, but talking to Lily felt unnaturally easy. “But he’s trouble,” I finished. “Just try to keep your distance.”

  “It’s hard when he asks me out multiple times a day,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t want to piss him off, but I’m not going out with him. He’s lucky that he hasn’t been charged with sexual harassment.”

  I stared at her. “Most women don’t mind. They’re happy to be around his insane level of wealth.”

  She shot me a withering glance. “Most women are morons,” she countered. “I just want to do my job without having my boss slap my ass.”

  I swallowed, suddenly feeling massively uncomfortable. I hadn’t ever really thought about what would happen if I met someone that I actually liked, and while part of me hated Scott, the other part of me wrote his behavior off as typical male. After all, I was pretty much the same way. But that begged the question: if Lily found out about my reputation, wouldn’t she hate me, too?

  “Sorry,” I muttered. “I wasn’t paying attention. It’s late, do you want to order dinner?”

  Lily immediately brightened. I watched as she set down the sheaf of papers on the desk and rubbed her eyes with balled-up fists. Then she stretched her arms high above her head and behind her back. Her blouse strained with the effort, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her perky breasts. A flash of desire shot through me as I imagined holding her arms over her head and unfastening her blouse with one hand, slipping my thumb inside of her bra and caressing a stiff nipple. Get it together! I chided myself. That isn’t going to happen with her.

  “Definitely yes,” she answered with a yawn. “I have to finish this tonight, but we can take a break.”

  I rolled my eyes. “He’s a prick, don’t worry about him. He’s not coming in tomorrow, he’s going golfing with the client from this morning. I’m supposed to join him, actually.”

  Lily bit her lower lip, looking incredibly sexy. “I should finish tonight,” she said. “I really don’t want to give him any reason to fire me.”

  “Listen,” I said drily. “Just by sticking around, you’ve already proven yourself.”

  I ordered a delivery feast for us from the local tapas restaurant – much classier than pizza, and I had a feeling she’d appreciate it. When the food arrived, I had the front desk assistants spread it out in the conference room with a bottle of champagne from our personal stash.

  “This looks
too nice,” she said skeptically when we arrived. “Are you sure this is okay?”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “Trust me, we do things like this all the time.”

  “And champagne?” Lily asked as she walked around the table, admiring the spread. “What are we celebrating?” She turned to me with a hint of a smirk on her face.

  I thought about it. “The client meeting this morning went very well.” I opened the bottle and poured two flutes. Handing one to Lily, I asked: “Why, what do you think we should celebrate?”

  She clinked her glass against mine and took a long drink. “I still have a job,” she cracked. “Let’s drink to that.”

  I raised my eyebrows but toasted her and drank anyway. “I know you think this is extravagant, but we really should have gone out. The food would be better.”