The Assistant(33)

Adrian’s amused expression suddenly darkened, and his iron grip – if possible, became tighter around my waist. “I’ll take care of it,” he reassured me, mirroring my frown.

I studied his expression briefly before my mind decided it was safe to trust him, and my stiff body relaxed slightly in his hold, making his frown also disappear and his all too famous smirk return to his lips.

“Who knows, maybe you’ll get to go home with me.”

My relaxed expression instantly transformed into a glare as my head snapped up to meet his amused gaze.

“I’m kidding,” he said. “I can’t participate – I’m the one hosting the event.”

Surprisingly, a rush of disappoint flowed through my body as the words left his mouth, and I slumped slightly in his hold. His eyebrows shot up in surprise and I began to blush furiously.

“Unless… you want it to happen?”

“No!” I exclaimed too quickly, my cheeks heating up even further. “No… I just…” I trailed off, frowning as I quickly racked my brain for a valid excuse. The reality of the situation was I didn’t even know myself. “I just prefer to go with you than with anyone else,” I finally said, both to him and myself.

“I’ll take care of it, Emily,” he reassured me, looking down at me with an expression I hadn’t seen come across his handsome features before, “I promise.”

I nodded before smiling slightly at him. “I know you will. Thank you.” I wrapped my own arms around his waist as I pulled him into a hug. Adrian instantly pressed himself against me and rubbed my back comfortingly, making the small smile stay glued onto my lips from the comforting gesture.

“Mr. Kingston, I – oh! I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything!” Suzie squeaked, and I instantly flushed as I tried to pull away from Adrian – who kept me in his iron grip hug.

“You’re not interrupting, Mrs. Brown. What can I do for you?” Adrian asked, smirking down at me as he said the words. I looked over to Suzie in mortification and found her giving us an amused glance before clearing her throat.

“I received a call from your parents, confirming their appearance at the fundraiser. Where would like them to be seated?” she asked, smiling slightly as the blush continued to blaze my cheeks.

“Put them on my table. I also need you to add an extra chair in between Allen and me. Anything else?” he asked, finally tearing his gaze away from my mortified expression to look over at Suzie, who was scribbling down the new information in a small notepad she was holding.

“No that was all, Mr. Kingston.” She gave me one last amused glance before scurrying down the hall. As soon as she was out of earshot, my head snapped back towards Adrian’s smirking expression and I glared.

“Let go. Do you know what she was probably thinking when she saw us?!” I exclaimed, placing my hands on his muscled arms in an attempt to pull them away from my waist.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He chuckled at my failed attempt to move his arms, and I huffed and slumped in his hold in defeat, already tired from trying to pry his arms away.

“It is a bad thing!” I exclaimed, groaning as his smirk grew at my miserable state.

“Come on,” he said suddenly, ignoring my attempts to reason with him. “Let’s go get some lunch.”

I frowned, giving him a confused look. “You have a meeting in here in, like, 15 minutes,” I pointed out.

His grip around my waist began to loosen and disappointment took me by surprise once again as it flooded through my veins. I didn’t show it this time though, and it didn’t last long because he had left one arm around my waist and pulled me into his side as he shrugged and began walking out of the conference room.

“I was merely going to be here to decide the final outcome of the meeting. They can tell me the proposals they came up with later and I’ll tell them which one I want. I’m the boss, remember?” He smirked, slightly squeezing my size with his arm and I instantly began blushing again.

“It’s not my lunch break yet,” I argued, before I kept my eyes glued to the floor as we passed the marketing department – which I recently found out is where all of Adrian’s ‘special’ workers were located. The idea of the girls being in his office began to anger me, before my eyes went wide with realisation and I kept my face blank. What the hell?

“Again, Shortcake. I’m the boss.” He reminded me, pressing the elevator button before looking down at me and smirking once again.

“Right, right. Sorry, Boss.” I teased him as the elevator door ‘dinged’ open, signaling for us to enter the spacious square area. He chuckled before pressing the ground floor button and the elevators began to slide shut. Just before they closed completely, I saw Anna and a few other women glaring daggers at me – as well as Adrian’s hand that was wrapped around my waist – and I frowned slightly before the doors completely sealed off any eye contact I could have with them.

“Try not to look as sexy as you did at the business dinner tomorrow night, okay? I don’t want anyone bidding on you.” Adrian said, glaring slightly at the silver doors in front of us.

I turned to face him and frowned. “Why are you so insistent on me doing my hair professionally and wearing expensive dresses then?” I asked.