The Assistant(28)

“Are you kidding me? Em! If you still think that man has no interest in you, then you are obviously delusional! He’s making up any excuse to be around you now! I always knew my best friend would be shagged by one of the hottest males walking this earth!”

I choked on my own spit and she started laughing again.

“Ames! That is not going to happen,” I assured her, before sighing. “I’m going to miss the season premiere. You know how serious I am about my TV shows!”

“I know babe, I know. But honestly? You’re 24. I’m not saying don’t watch television anymore – but you have to live a little, and not let them consume your life! How about this, tomorrow night, I’ll come over and we’ll watch it together, okay? For now, go eat some oily takeout and stare at Mr. Sexy Pants all night.” She giggled again and I glared at nothing in particular.

“You’re the worst best friend,” I muttered, tracing an invisible pattern on my shirt.

She laughed again and I sighed. “Okay, go and have fun in there. And text me when you get home safely! And don’t go home with a stranger that looks like he has an STD!” I warned, smiling a little at her happiness.

I practically felt her rolling her eyes. “Okay, mom.” She laughed again before we said our goodbyes and hung up the phone. I turned around to open the door again but let my hand rest on the cool metal as an idea popped into my mind. Adrian was keeping me here by force, so I didn’t have to be cooperative, right? I decided that I was going to give him the silent treatment the entire night.

My lips stretched into a smug smile as I opened the door and left my office to make my way over to his. I pushed open his door and Adrian looked up from his position near my things on the sofa. “I ended up ordering pizza, is that okay?” he asked, cocking his head to the side as he waited for my answer.

I shrugged, not wanting to say anything. I was hoping he ordered a cheese pizza, because that’s the only kind I liked.

“Okay. I ordered cheese because I didn’t know what you liked. Let’s get started.” He beckoned me over and patted the seat beside him, and I made my way over to it slowly, avoiding his gaze in the process. He had moved my papers onto the table in front of the sofa and had the draft planner out in front of him as the main focus of the papers.

“I have a crucial conference call next Friday with my business partner in New Zealand,” he said once I was seated beside him. “We need to put that in as the main focus point for Friday.”

He shifted toward me, closing the small space that I had purposely left between us. I looked up to meet his gaze and glared. He just looked at me with that grin of his. I sighed in frustration before I moved the position of my work bag to my lap, and rummaged inside it for some spare paper and my pen. Something red flashed in my side vision, but I decided to ignore it as I pulled out my favourite pen in triumph.

I wrote down what he said on the spare sheet of paper I found before turning around to find Adrian’s smug smirk on his face once again. After a short moment, he held up a bright red lace thong by the corners of the garment, and my eyes widened in disbelief as my cheeks flamed from embarrassment.

“Are you doing to wear this for me?”

“What the hell are you doing?” I shrieked, my voice coming out high pitched from embarrassment. I did not put that in my bag. I didn’t even own anything like that! I desperately raked my memory to see who went near my work bag recently, and instantly glared at the painting Adrian had in his office across from the sofa as I remembered Molly giggling hysterically on the Sunday they were all over. So this was why.

“They’re not mine,” I stated, the heat just burning in my cheeks.

“Are you sure about that? You don’t have to hide it from me. In fact, it kind of makes me wonder what you’re wearing underneath that sexy skirt of yours right now…” He trailed off and leaned in so that his face was inches away from mine. His infamous smirk never left his lips and my breathing hitched in my throat from the close proximity.

I felt one of his hands on my thigh and I instantly stiffened at the contact, unsure of how to react. I thought of my best friend, who was currently enjoying herself at a club. If this was Amy, she’d jump him. But I wasn’t Amy.

My shocked expression turned into a frown as my common sense came back to me like an invisible slap to the face. I glared into his hazel eyes before I placed my hand over his to stop it from going any further. “Mr. Kingston,” I told him in a cool voice while I held his gaze steadily. “I’d appreciate it if we focused solely on the work in front of us.”

The smug expression never left his face as he stared back at me for a few moments, before he nodded and turned his attention back to the draft planner. He removed his warm hand from my thigh, instantly making the area cold from the sudden exposure.

“Of course, Ms. Johnson,” he said. As he studied his schedule more closely, his smug expression turned into a frown.

“I need to host a charity dinner next Saturday, so put that in and tell Suzie to organise it. Tell her I want it to be like an auction, where 10 of my female workers are put in front of the audience and auctioned off for the night. Tell her to put the ones she knows to be gold diggers, or just plain easy. You’ll also have to be put in, I’m sorry.” He saw me grimace at the idea and explained, “They’ll get suspicious if I don’t involve my assistant.”