The Assistant(29)

“What do you mean ‘auctioned off for the night’?” I asked, suddenly feeling nervous.


“Do you remember David Walter?” I cringed as the mental image of the middle-aged man wrapping an arm around my waist resurfaced in my mind. I nodded at him to continue.

“Well,” he explained, “he, along with a lot of other men, come to these things. Their wallets are fat and they tend to think with their male region more than their brains.”

“You mean like you do?” I raised my eyebrows as a slight sneer pulled at my lips.

Adrian glared. “Ha-ha. If we prep you all up professionally, they’ll pay a lot of money to take you home for the night where they can do what they like. The girls are cooperative.”

My expression turned disgusted. “The girls may be cooperative but I sure as hell am not! I don’t want to go home with some pervert stranger for the night just because ‘they’ll get suspicious’ if I’m not an option! That’s disgusting.” I scrunched my nose up as I imaged David Walter smiling at me smugly. I shuddered in fear before looking back up at Adrian. “Please, Adrian,” I begged, “Don’t make me do this.”

He gave me an apologetic look before his expression turned hard. “I don’t like the idea of anyone taking you home either. I’ll take care of it, don’t worry. For the time being, you’re one of the candidates.” His tone closed off the topic, so I sighed and finished writing the rest of the information down before Adrian’s work phone shrilled with a ring.

He got up from his position beside me and answered it swiftly. “Yes.” There was a pause before Adrian spoke up again. “Let him up,” he ordered, before putting the phone back in its position and looking at me. “Pizza’s here,” he announced, taking his seat beside me again. I nodded and began to move all the stray papers around the table to make enough room for the box. Just as I finished, there was a knock at the door.

Adrian got up instantly and pulled out his wallet.

“That’ll be $14.50,” I heard someone say. I saw Adrian pull out a $50 note and hand it over to the delivery boy.

“Keep the change,” he said dismissively, waving the boy off before shutting the door. The smell of the cheesy food hit me like a shock wave, and my stomach grumbled loudly before I could try and stop it from happening.

I began blushing furiously as Adrian looked over at me in surprise. He chuckled, placing the box of pizza and the bottle of drink on the table. “Should I have ordered another box?” he teased.

“Shut up,” I muttered, avoiding his gaze as my blush deepened.

He walked over to his office and opened a side draw, pulling out two coffee mugs and taking his original position on the sofa. “They’re clean,” he assured me as I glanced at the cups with a cautious expression.

I took out my pocket tissues and gave them both a wipe over – just in case – before we dug in. By the time we had finished the pizza, we had the whole of next week sorted to Adrian’s satisfaction and I had a rough overview of what he wanted for the week after. We discarded the empty pizza box and drink bottle to the side of the sofa before Adrian took a sip from his cup and spoke up.

“I’m going to give you $6,000 for your dress and shoes this time. You can keep the rest if you don’t spend it all. I’ll also get Rita to do your hair again, and you’re makeup-”

“Will be done by me,” I cut him off. “I’m not a fan of makeup, Adrian. I prefer to do it myself.”

“You look sexy either way – I was just trying to make less of a workload for you.”

I blushed and smiled slightly. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be more than fine, shortcake, believe me.” His eyes raked over the length of my body, and he licked his lips and smirked.

I rolled my eyes and shoved his arm playfully, before focusing my attention back on the planner. “So for the conference next Wednesday, do you need me there?” I asked, picking up my pen again to write any additional notes down.

I felt his arm wrap around my waist and I let out a surprise gasp as he pulled me into his solid torso. He looked down at me with a rakish grin. “I need you everywhere, shortcake. Especially in my bedroom where we can have-”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Kingston,” I warned, placing my index finger on his lips to stop him from talking. He chuckled before I felt him nip a bite at my finger, making another surprised gasp leave my mouth.

“Yes, you need to be there taking notes while we talk,” he said, “Who knows, maybe your pretty little head will help us come up with new advertising strategies for our New Zealand hotel.” He poked my forehead a few times before placing a peck on it so quickly I had no opportunity to pull away. I shook my head at his behaviour but moved on, writing down his instructions onto my notebook. I finished with a flourish and checked the time on my phone.


“It’s late,” I said, shutting my notebook and placing it in my bag. “I should be getting home.”

“Come over,” he said, and I turned back around to him surprise. I opened my mouth to object but he cut me off before I could even begin. “Please, Emily. I won’t try anything. It’ll be like last time.” He looked like a shy child who had just entered a toy store, hope shining in his eyes.