Asher Read online

  Her gaze is still locked on mine when we finally pull our hands apart. I hadn’t even realized we were still clinging to each other. She clears her throat and steps back, putting some much-needed space between us. “So, where do you want me?”

  Bent over the copier, for starters.

  I don’t dare say it out loud, though.

  “Um, you’ll be out here at Kendra’s desk. You’ll have to make some space for yourself, though. Since she left in such a rush, she didn’t have time to clean it up for you.” I walk back out into the reception area and show her to Kendra’s desk. “There’s a box in that room over there. You can put her stuff in it and leave it in there for her.”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  “Oh, and before I forget.” I walk back into my office and grab her employment papers off my desk. She’s already sitting in Kendra’s chair, her back to me, when I return to the room. “I need you to fill out these forms. When you’re finished, I’ll show you around.” She turns her gaze to face me as I walk up behind her. I reach around and slip the papers onto the desk in front of her. My arm brushes hers, the brief contact oddly electrifying, and I get a whiff of her sweet, fruity perfume because I’m standing too close.

  My dick twitches in my pants.

  Again.

  Damn, she smells good.

  What the fuck is wrong with me. Get a grip.

  She looks down at the papers I placed before her, tucking her hair behind her ear, and tossing her waves back over her shoulder. I may linger longer than appropriate, admiring the long expanse of creamy skin she exposed along her neck.

  And I certainly do not imagine running my lips across it either.

  “So, um, if you could do these first, that’d be great. I’ll be in my office when you’re done.”

  “Got it boss.”

  Boss.

  That’s what I need to remember. I’m her boss and she is my employee.

  And I keep telling myself that while I fight my hard-on behind the confines of my desk.

  ***

  The rest of my day has gone a lot easier than the way it started. I managed to get myself under control and put all thoughts of bending Kara over the copy machine out of my mind.

  Believe me, it wasn’t easy.

  Maybe things can be different when she stops working for me, but for now, the right thing to do is not start something in the first place.

  After Kara finished the forms earlier, I showed her around the office and went over the duties she would be doing in Kendra’s absence. She’s a fast learner, and she picked everything up easily. I had taken her up to the law firm too, so she could meet Sloan and Nora. My brother and I regularly do business together. She’ll be going there often to deliver papers, and I wanted her to know her way around the offices.

  After the tour and introductions, I conducted my meetings smoothly and I must admit, it felt good to not worry about all the other stuff going on in the office while doing it. I didn’t realize the past week without any help was getting to me as much as it was. I never felt like I could give my full attention to one thing at a time.

  With only an hour left in the workday, my suit jacket is on the back of my chair, the sleeves of my dress shirt are rolled up again, and my tie got the boot hours ago. Trying to get a jump on things, I rifle through my filing cabinet, pulling out documents I’ll need for tomorrow’s meetings. The office phone rings and I like how I’m not forced to abandon what I’m doing in lieu of answering it. I’m surprised when my intercom springs to life, and Kara’s voice fills my office.

  “Shit! There’s fifty damned buttons on this thing. How the hell do you work it?”

  What in the hell?

  “You’ll get the hang of it. It’s only your first day.” I instantly recognize Kendra’s voice coming over my speaker. “That’s why I called to check in on you. How’s it going? Any major issues? Besides not being able to work the phone?”

  Shit. Kara must have accidently patched her call through to my office. An involuntary smile crosses my face as I listen to her continue fumbling the buttons. I close the filing cabinet and start walking to my closed office door, intent on telling her I can hear her conversation.

  Kara scoffs into the phone. “Not unless you consider showing your ass to your boss an issue.”

  Well, that stops me in my tracks.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Hell yes, I’m serious. The guy? The sexy one from the coffee shop I told you about this morning? None other than my new boss, Asher Wesley.”

  Sexy one?

  Kendra laughs into the phone. “You’ve got to be kidding me! How does this shit always happen to you Kara?”

  I can hear her chuckle. “I have no clue. Believe me when I tell you, he got a full view of my ass this morning. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, now I’ll be working with the guy for the next three months. But that’s beside the point. Why didn’t you fucking warn me how gorgeous this guy is?”

  First sexy, now gorgeous? I’m intrigued.

  I abort my mission and come around my desk, sitting in my chair. No way in hell I’m going out there to stop this conversation now.

  “Because he’s Ash. I don’t think of him that way.” Kendra scoffs into the line, as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world.

  “Well, you should give a girl a heads-up next time. You, girl, are blinded by your friendship. The man is sexy as hell. Seriously, he should come with a warning label. I swear, I’ve had to stop myself from jumping him at least three times today.”

  Very interesting. A smirk plays across my lips.

  Kendra laughs. “That bad, huh?”

  “You have no idea. I haven’t been laid in months, Kendra. Months! And the one guy I’ve found remotely attractive recently happens to be my new boss. Do you realize how disappointing that is? No, I take that back. Do you realize how fucked-up and unfair it is? He’s off-limits.”

  “He’s only your temporary boss. I say go for it.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “And you’re horny.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.” I barely hear Kara’s mutter in response.

  “Look, Ash is a great guy, and you could do a hell of a lot worse. Besides, he’s only gonna be your boss until I come back to work. Think about it. I gotta run. Call me if you need anything and good luck.”

  “Ha ha. Thanks a lot. Bye Kendra.”

  The line clicks off and silence fills my office, but I can’t wipe the smile off my face no matter how hard I try. It appears Kara is struggling with this attraction as much as I am. That changes things. It shouldn’t, but now that I know she wants me as much as I want her, resisting this is gonna be harder than I thought. Despite Kendra’s encouragement, it’s ultimately a bad idea for the two of us to get involved, and if I have any hope of surviving the next three months, I need to stick to my guns and not cave in.

  I would have been better off not knowing what Kara thought of me and as much as I want to pretend I never heard this conversation, I can’t. Now I’m torn, but one thing I do know is that I need to tell her she messed up answering the phone and she sent her call over my speaker. God forbid she does this again and I hear any more conversations like this one. I really won’t be able to keep myself under control the next time.

  That’s assuming I’ll be able to keep myself under control this time.

  I let out a deep sigh and brace myself for a pissed off assistant. There’s no reason I couldn’t have clicked off the intercom when I first realized her mistake but when I became the topic of discussion, my curiosity got the better of me and like an ass, I eavesdropped on her conversation. It’s not an excuse. I’m completely in the wrong here. I can’t imagine she’ll be very happy about it when I tell her. I could always omit the part about hearing what she said. I could tell her I clicked off the intercom the minute I realized she patched it through by mistake, but I don’t want to lie. Relationships—business or personal—should be built on trust.

&nbsp
; Besides, if I lie now, it’s a sure thing to come back and bite me in the ass later. I press the button on my phone that buzzes hers.

  She responds immediately. “Yes?”

  “Can you come in here for a second?”

  “Sure. Be right in.”

  A few seconds later, the door clicks, and Kara hesitantly pushes it open, peeking inside. I give her a smile and tell her, “Come have a seat.”

  I watch as her curves cross the floor and stop in front of my desk, and she takes a seat in the chair directly across from me. She crosses her legs and her plum skirt rides up a little higher, making me quickly rethink my plans to stay away from her. It’s for the best that I don’t, though.

  Stay strong Ash. You can resist this.

  “So, how is your first day going?”

  “Great! All the people I’ve talked to in the building so far are very nice and helpful. The work seems easy enough too.” She laughs. “The only thing I’m having trouble with is figuring out how to work the phone, but I should have it down in a few days.”

  Well, since she brought it up…

  “Yeah, about that.” I start to speak but stop again. Why am I nervous? I need to get this over with. “A few minutes ago, when you answered the phone, you hit the wrong button. Somehow, you managed to patch your phone call with Kendra through to my intercom.” I leave the simple statement on the table and wait for her to make the connection.

  It doesn’t take long.

  Her smile drops from her face, the blush lights up her cheeks, and she closes her eyes. “How much did you hear?”

  I clear my throat and look away from her gaze when she opens her eyes and focuses them on me. “All of it.” I rush out, “I want to apologize. I shouldn’t have kept listening once I realized your mistake.”

  She tries to hide the anger from her face, but she does a poor job of it. “You listened to the whole conversation? Why would you do that? Why didn’t you come out there and stop me from making a fool of myself? Again!” She plants her hands firmly on the armrests and pushes herself out of the chair to stand. “I can’t do this.” She turns and heads to the door, and it takes me a second to react.

  She’s bolting.

  Shit.

  I spring out of my chair and make it to her right as she pulls the handle down, the door only making it open an inch or two before I push it closed again with my hand above her head. She drops her hand from the door but doesn’t turn around.

  “Please don’t leave.” I don’t want her to go, but I’m not sure what to say to keep her here.

  “I’ve done nothing but embarrass myself today. I think it’s best if I quit now and save myself even more embarrassment.” Her voice sounds defeated, but she still hasn’t turned around. She stands perfectly still, unwilling to move, probably because I’m crowding her space. I need to move back, give her room to breathe, but I don’t want to. If anything, I want to be closer to her, and in an ill-advised move, I slide closer.

  She pulls in a quick breath and straightens even more when she feels my chest brush against her back. My hand slides down from the top of the door until it’s right next to her, and I take a deep breath before I speak, my voice low. “Kara, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed. These things happen.” She’s shaking her head before I finish, but I keep talking. “They do, Kara. It’s only a big deal if you make it one. And besides. I don’t want you to go.” The last part of my sentence comes out with more lust in it than I intend. I’m so close to her, I’m sure she can feel the heat of my breath on her neck. I can’t seem to care.

  Her head turns toward me, her body following, brushing against me since I apparently don’t have the common courtesy to allow her more room. She flicks her gaze up to mine, her hazel green eyes focusing on my blue ones. “You don’t?”

  Fuck, I want to kiss her so bad right now.

  But I can’t. So, I don’t.

  I hold her gaze. “No. And as much as I really want you to take Kendra’s advice, I think it’s a bad idea. Working together will only complicate things even more, don’t you think?”

  Please disagree with me.

  Her gaze drops from my face, her focus more on my chest when she says, “Okay. You’re probably right.”

  I don’t want to be right.

  “It would complicate things.” Her eyes flick back up to mine. I don’t know if she’s saying it for my benefit or hers.

  “It would.” My eyes flick down to her lips. Fuck, I want to taste them, suck the plump flesh in between my teeth and nibble it.

  She swipes her tongue across her bottom lip and I’m a goner. Fuck willpower. Who needs it? As I lean forward, about to make a horrible—yet oh, so wonderful—decision, the phone rings, breaking the silence. I stop, my eyes not leaving hers which are still focused on mine.

  “I’d better get that,” she breathes out.

  “Yeah, okay.” It takes a second before I push off the door with my hand and step back, finally allowing her the room she needs to turn and open the door. But before she can get to her desk to answer the phone, I ask, “Kara, you’re not quitting, right?”

  She turns her gaze towards me.

  “I don’t want you to quit.” I tell her, my heart still rapidly beating.

  “Then I’ll stay.” She turns and grabs the phone, greeting the caller in a calm, clear voice.

  Needing a minute to myself, I close my office door again, and lean my forehead against the cool, wooden surface with a thud.

  This may be harder than I thought.

  Chapter Four

  Kara

  The first week is almost in the books and I’ve managed to keep my embarrassment to a minimum after my disastrous first day.

  Believe me when I say it wasn’t easy.

  Ash has managed to keep a safe distance for the rest of the week, so no more close calls like the one in his office. Which is a shame. Having his body crowding mine against the door on my first day was the closest I’d been to a man in months.

  Pathetic?

  Yes, most certainly.

  But do I regret it?

  Not one little bit.

  The phone rings, breaking me out of my pitiful thoughts. I’m confident in my ability to answer this damned thing now. Having to explain why I needed instructions to Kendra was fun—and by fun, I mean humiliating. She’s familiar with my luck though, so the teasing didn’t last too long.

  I grab the receiver and place it to my ear. “Wesley Finance, this is Kara.”

  “Have you mastered the phone yet?” Speak of the devil and she shall call.

  “Yes, I think I’ve got it now.” I look around me, making sure Ash isn’t within earshot. I’ve pressed the right buttons, and even if I did fuck this up again—which is a definite possibility—I have nothing to worry about this time. Ash isn’t even in his office. He’s in the conference room with a client and, lucky for me, that room doesn’t have an intercom.

  “You’re first week’s almost done. I thought I’d check in on you again, make sure you haven’t done any other crazy things you haven’t told me about.” I can hear the mirth in her voice, but she spares me a full-on laugh.

  “Hardy har-har. I’ll have you know, things have been perfect since Monday’s catastrophes.” I don’t know why she asks. She knows she’s the first person I’d call with my woes.

  “Have you fucked him yet?” She asks me bluntly.

  I glance around again even though Ash is nowhere near me and even if he was, he couldn’t hear Kara anyway. “What the fuck, Kendra. No, I haven’t, and I’m not going to. I told you. We both agreed we would keep this professional.”

  “Yeah, but you still want to, right?”

  I lower my voice. “Well, of course I do. I’m not an idiot. But I’m not going to throw myself at the guy. I think I’ve humiliated myself enough for one week, don’t you?” I peek over my shoulder, down the hallway. The conference room door is still closed.

  “I know you, Kara. He’s going to be hard for you to resist, espe
cially when he turns on the charm. I’ve seen him work his magic and I’m telling you, I think I’m the only woman out there who is immune to it.” She lowers her voice. “Tell me, does he make you moist?”

  I cringe and inwardly shudder. “Ewwww, did you seriously ask me that? That’s so disgusting.”

  Kendra laughs, the sound filtering in through the receiver so loudly I’m forced to pull it away from my ear until she gets herself under control. “Well, does he?”

  “First of all, that word should never be associated with that in any way.” I tell her. “And second, you know I can’t stand that word.”

  “Duh bitch, why do you think I say it?”

  I roll my eyes and shake my head. I need a new best friend.

  The clicking sound of the door opening catches my attention and I see Ash step out into the hallway, his suit impeccably fitted, and damn does he look delicious today.

  “I’ve got to go. Ash is coming.”

  “Not until you answer me. Does he?” I hear Kendra ask me again, the smile in her voice coming through to her words.

  I roll my eyes and lower my voice to a near whisper. “Yes, he does and I’ve gotta go. He’s coming right now. Later.”

  I don’t give her the chance to respond before I’m hanging up, giving in to another full body shudder at the thought of that word. I give Ash a wide smile—which he returns—as he walks towards me with a stack of papers.

  “Hey, everything good out here?”

  “Everything’s groovy,” I reply, regretting my words the minute they’re out of my mouth. Am I ever going to stop embarrassing myself in front of this man?

  He doesn’t seem phased by my weird reply, instead handing me the stack of papers. “I’m about to walk Mr. Meyers out, but when you get a second, I need you to make copies of these documents and put them in a file for him. I’ll deliver them to him later today.”

  I take the papers from his hand and stand from my desk. “You got it, boss.” I push my chair against the desk and walk around him, or at least I try to. He doesn’t move when I think he’s going to. I stumble against him trying to squeeze by, losing my balance. Before I can lose any footing completely, Ash wraps his arms around my waist, steadying me.