2. Daniel

2

DANIEL

I t took exactly twenty seconds for my cock to begin swelling when Olivia brought the new assistant into my office. She had an innocence about her I found intriguing, and her resume boasted some credentials a lot of women her age didn’t have. I’d already had a chance to review her qualifications and her headshot and thought she was stunning, but when she walked in I was smitten. She didn’t seem to mind my wandering eye, either.

She’d been with us four days now, but I hadn’t seen her for more than five minutes. Olivia kept her busy, and I was swamped with work. So, it was a pleasant surprise when Olivia sent her to my office to deliver the briefings I needed for the partner meeting later this afternoon. She was timid, knocking so quietly I almost missed it. And when I beckoned her in, she hovered near the door.

“Mr. Jacobs, I brought the files from Ms. Carter.”

“Please, I told you to call me Daniel.” I rose, waving my hand at her to come in. She left the door open, much to my disdain, but it was probably better that way. She was intoxicating, and I would be tempted to say untoward things.

“Sorry, uh, Daniel. I have the briefings Ms. Carter sent for you.” She handed them to me and took a step back, picking at her fingernails. I knew I was an intimidating man. Everyone cowered in my shadow despite my open personality. I thumbed through them to make sure they were all in order and nodded approvingly.

“Yes, this will do. Thank you, Emily.” She smiled softly, and I saw a blush form on her cheeks. “We have an important meeting for the partners, and I’ve ordered some catering to make sure they all eat well. I need someone to run down to pick it up. I will give you the company credit card. You can take my car. My driver’s name is Paul. He’ll get you where you need to go, so no worries about directions and such. Think you can handle that?”

She looked confused and glanced at the door, outside of which Jill sat, typing at her computer. “What about your secretary?” Her innocence was truly refreshing. Olivia and Grace would never have questioned me. Jill never spoke out of turn, and here was this blonde beauty, rising to the challenge. I grinned at how bold she was.

“Jill has a daughter on the school swim team and they have a meet this afternoon, so she can’t pick it up for me. That leaves you. Unless you have other plans.”

Her head snapped around to see me, and she shook it. “No, sir. No other plans. I’m at your service.”

“Good. Then, I’ll shoot you an email with the details.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my company credit card. It was a good test of her integrity. The card had no limit, and I hadn’t so much as offered it to Olivia, let alone an assistant. “Here.” I offered her the card, and she hesitated to take it, but I insisted. “You’ll have to pay for it. Keep a receipt for Barbra. She’ll nag me about expenditures if I don’t give her one. And?—”

“Got it.” She grinned and winked at me. “My mom was the same way. I’ll take good care of you.”

She had no idea what that wink and grin did to me, or probably how gorgeous she was at all. She was modest, and I liked it. “Thank you.” I sat back down and started into the files, and she turned to walk away, and I looked up and watched her ass sway with each step. She wore a pencil skirt today, a bit fancier than the slacks I’d seen her in earlier this week. The dark material hugged her thighs and showed off her muscular calves.

“Oh, and Emily?” I called after her, wanting nothing more than to see her striking smile again.

“Yes, sir?”

“When you get here with the food, just bring it straight to us in the conference room. No need to knock.”

There it was, the smile of the century. “Of course, sir.”

“Daniel,” I corrected.

“Daniel,” she said, blushing.

My dick was out of control. When I sat down, it was because I felt myself swelling again, because I normally stood as a matter of principle. When a lady was standing, the men in the room should be also. It was a respect thing. But damn, my body betrayed me. I knew I had to get this under control. I didn’t want Emily to think I was flirting with her as her boss, but just as a man who found her highly attractive.

I tried to focus on work all day, but it was a struggle. As I sat in the conference room across from Michael and Grace, anticipation rose in my gut. We were just chatting, waiting on our late lunch to be delivered by Emily and for Ben to show up, but I was as tense as if I were in a power meeting with one of our larger clients. The way she kept me waiting was torture.

A knock came at the door and Emily entered. I rose immediately and waved her over. “Come in, come in. I told you, you didn’t have to knock.”

She blushed and juggled the bags of takeout. “Sorry, they were running a little behind. Paul got stuck in traffic. It was horrible.” She set the bags down and began opening them. Her fingers fumbled nervously, and I couldn’t decide if it was because she walked in on the meeting of all the partners or if she felt flustered.

“Here, let me help you.” Grace pulled one of the bags toward herself and tore it open, and Emily's cheeks turned pink.

She backed away as Grace set the food out, and I struck up a conversation to keep her in the room a bit longer. “Emily, how has your first week been so far? Is Olivia keeping you busy?” I never paid attention to other staff members. I usually left that to our paralegals or HR. Michael gave me an odd expression, but I ignored him.

“So far, so good. I’ve just been doing some filing, mostly, coffee runs, and I got Michael’s dry cleaning for him yesterday.” Her eyes flicked nervously at my partner and then back to her hands.

“Excellent, well I hope you’re settling in well.”

She turned her gaze up to meet mine, and I couldn’t help but notice how her eyes sparkled. Beauty didn’t begin to describe her. She was elegance and class mixed with a down home charm any man would love. I stared at her a bit too long, noticing the way one cheek had a dimple while the other didn’t.

“That will be all, Ms. Kline.” Michael dismissed her, and she bowed at the shoulder before excusing herself.

I watched again as she walked toward the door, hips swaying with each step. It was like she purposely tried to catch my attention, each step taunting me to keep my gaze fixed on her perky ass. She glanced over her shoulder as she reached the door and caught my eye. I could have sworn she winked at me. And long after she had gone, I remained staring at the door, despite having sat down to enjoy my meal.

“You seem to be taken with the new assistant.” Michael’s comment came as being a bit forward to me. We typically stayed out of each other’s personal lives. I hadn’t commented on his relationships—not even when he had been divorced by his wife for cheating on her with a lawyer at the district attorney’s office.

“Yes, well she’s quite stunning. Don’t you think?” I peeled the plastic lid off my roast turkey and vegetables and picked up my fork.

Grace shook her head, her eyebrows rising as she did. She was the mother hen around the place, always making sure staff and partners alike toed the line. She chewed her food in silence, though I had a sinking suspicion that had she not had a mouth full of food at the time, she’d have commented too.

“She’s an employee, Daniel. It’s bad news.” Michael cracked open a soda he pulled from one of the brown paper bags and sipped it. “It’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. Women don’t mess around anymore.”

I scoffed as I took a bite of turkey. The flavors melted on my tongue, almost as deliciously as I was certain Emily would if I could just taste her. Michael had a point. The world went crazy over the last “me too” movement, and the climate in the workplace changed dramatically. I’d had to bring in an expert for sensitivity training to ensure everyone knew what constituted as sexual harassment. But this wasn’t that. I would never impose my authority on any employee in that way. If Emily didn’t like my advances, I’d control myself.

But the look she’d given me when she walked out the door just then hadn’t been a look of intimidation. She liked how I paid extra attention to her. After I swallowed my bite of food, I said, “Well I don’t think you have to worry about that because I know how to control myself.”

“It’s just bad optics, Dan.” Grace had gotten into an uncomfortable habit of calling me by the nickname, and it bothered me. “Imagine the media gets wind of the CEO dating his assistant. She’s not even your assistant, either. She’s Olivia’s. Even if she didn’t cry wolf, the press would insinuate it. Or worse, destroy the girl’s reputation by throwing her under the bus as the tramp who is sleeping her way to the top.”

“No reputable media would do that.” I wiped my mouth and continued. “They’d have to have some reason to come after me, anyway. I keep my nose clean. The tabloids can take a hike. Everyone knows they only print useless drivel, and if they printed a story like that, I’d just sue for libel.”

The door opened and Ben walked in, followed by Olivia. They were engaged in a conversation about their weekend plans, and I was glad for the distraction. I did care what my partners thought about who I dated. Emily was the first woman who crossed my path who ticked off all the boxes on my list—smart, driven, gorgeous, available, and best of all, humble. I’d be a fool if I didn’t at least get to know her better.

“Ah, you got lunch. Great, I’m starving.” Ben sat down across from me and pulled a dish of food toward himself. I took the opportunity to change the subject and get the meeting rolling.

“Olivia, once we’re done eating, I’ll have you start the discussion by going over the briefs you sent to me earlier. We have our work cut out for us on this one.” I took another bite of turkey, and Olivia started in with her opinions on the big business case we were working on, but my mind was only on one thing.

Emily Kline was a rare jewel who entered my life at a time when I had just enough free time to entertain the idea of testing the waters with her. Things at the firm were going well, as was life outside the firm. If she was half as perfect as I believed her to be, I wanted her to be a fixture in my life. I hadn’t seen a ring on her finger, though she could be dating someone. Still, I was going by the wise words my college basketball coach told me. “Dating ain’t married.” It was his awkward way of saying if someone isn’t married, they’re still available.

That put Emily squarely on my radar. And I never missed my target.