Assigned To Him, Book One (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (2 page)

“Too late to worry now,” I
said ruefully as I looked at the empty glass and plate, but a smile
spread across my face.

It faded quickly when I
glanced at my watch and saw it was now almost four forty five in
the afternoon. That meant I wouldn’t get home until well after five
o’clock, by which time Greg would likely already be
there.

“Idiot,” I berated myself
and sprang to my feet to head for the door.

I stopped before I got
there and turned to walk in the direction of the restroom
instead.

“This is stupid,” I
muttered when I stepped inside the small room, but it didn’t stop
me doing it.

Moving across to stand at
a sink, I searched through my handbag to find a pack of tissues. I
pulled them out one by one to wipe the makeup from my face. It
really was stupid, but I could hear Greg’s complaining voice in my
head as I was doing it.

Once my face was clean, I
looked down at the outfit I was wearing. There was nothing I could
do about changing that and I shook my head when I turned away from
the sink and quickly left the restroom then the coffee
shop.

I hoped there would be a
bus getting ready to leave when I got to the stop, but I ended up
having to wait for one. The busy evening traffic made the journey
slow going and it was almost five thirty when I got off then walked
the rest of the way to the apartment building. There was no doubt
in my mind that Greg would be inside now. I let out a sigh as I
walked up the stairs and slowed my pace when I approached the
door.

The sound of the key
sliding in the lock sounded loud to me, but the apartment was quiet
when I walked inside. I closed the door and crept towards the
bedroom, with the intention of quickly taking off the red dress to
have a shower. Just before I walked through the door, Greg stepped
out of the lounge and I saw his eyes narrow as he stared at
me.

“Where have you been?” he
asked.

The thought of lying
popped in my head, but I knew it was a stupid idea straight away. I
couldn’t hide from him that I’d found a job.

“I went to an
interview.”

“Oh yeah,” he said and I
could hear the suspicion coming through in his voice. “You didn’t
say anything to me about it.”

“The letter only came
today,” I replied and searched in my handbag for the correspondence
I received earlier in the day.

I walked closer to hand it
over. He took it, but ignored it at first to continue staring at my
outfit.

“Why did you wear that?’
he asked.

“I needed to look smart,”
I told him.

He continued to stare for
a few more seconds before reading the letter.

“A fashion correspondent,”
he said and a smile flashed across his face. “You?”

The slight annoyance
flared in me.

“Yes…, a fashion
correspondent.”

He let out a laugh and
shook his head.

“They aren’t going to
employ you for that. You’re…”

He stopped himself from
actually saying what he was thinking, but I knew what was going on
in his mind without him having to speak the words.

“I’m what?” I challenged
him.

“Nothing,” he
replied.

“No, tell me why they
wouldn’t employ me,” I went on in a louder voice.

“You’re not exactly model
material, are you?”

My lips tightened together
as the flash of anger hit me.

“Well, thank you very much
for that fucking vote of confidence,” I snapped and grabbed the
letter from him. “And for your information they offered me the
job.”

I turned and stomped along
to the bedroom, but heard him coming after me.

“You’re not going to
accept it, are you?” he asked.

“I already have,” I told
him. “I start tomorrow.”

A glance at him showed the
annoyance on his face.

“Don’t I get a say in
this?” he demanded.

“What?” I yelled. “Am I
supposed to come and get your permission before I do
anything?”

“This is a big decision,”
he said. “We should talk...”

“My decision Greg,” I cut
in as I dragged the red dress off.

“I don’t want you taking
it,” he said stubbornly.

I couldn’t believe what I
was hearing and stared at him.

“Are you fucking kidding
me,” I let out. “I just finished a journalism degree. Didn’t that
give you a clue as to what kind of job I would get?”

“You never made any
mention of being interested in fashion,” he yelled.

“What the hell difference
does that make,” I exclaimed and threw up my arms. “It’s a job with
the local newspaper as a journalist. What do you care what I’m
writing about. I thought you might actually be happy for
me.”

He crossed his arms and
his face set in a defiant expression.

“I don’t want you taking
it,” he repeated. “You’ll be meeting all sorts of designers and
male models.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I
said and shook my head.

“I don’t want you taking
it,” he let out for a third time.

“Well I already have,” I
told him. “And I’m not about to phone and let my new boss down
because you’re being unreasonable.”

“Oh, is he good looking or
something,” Greg said as his jealousy flared.

I started to get bored
with the stupid argument and my boyfriend’s childish
behavior.

“For your information, my
boss is a woman,” I said.

“Yeah…, well there will be
men in the office you’re working in,” he pointed out.

I shook my head at the
ridiculous comment.

“What the hell do you
expect me to do?” I shouted. “Lock myself in the apartment and just
be at your beck and call. I’ve got the job, so you better get used
to it.”

“Well, I’m not…” he
started, but I grabbed a towel and walked away from him.

He shouted for me to come
back, but I went in the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Leaning
back against it, I tried to calm myself down and half expected him
to come knocking. When he didn’t, I stripped off my bra and
panties.

I caught sight of myself
in the mirror and it brought to mind his jibes about me not being
model material.

“Bastard,” I
muttered.

The comment burned in me
as I got in the shower and switched on the water. I fumed at Greg’s
attitude and the idea of getting out of the relationship again came
in my mind. That was only strengthened by the frosty atmosphere in
the apartment for the rest of the evening and we still weren’t
talking when we went to bed.

Chapter 3

Greg got up and left with
barely a word the following morning, but I shrugged it off. It gave
me a chance to put the situation with him out of my head as I got
ready for the first day of a new job. I was excited about it
starting and just concentrated on working with Jeannie as I was put
through my paces and asked to write an article for the first Sunday
supplement.

“This is good,” Jeannie
said at the end of the day. “But there are a few things to
note.”

She took me through the
ways the article could be improved and I stayed late to rewrite it,
so it would be on her desk first thing the following morning. The
next few days followed the same routine as Jeannie decided on what
we would include in the supplement and we went about preparing
it.

I worked late each day to
show that I was willing to put the hours in, but it was also a
consequence of the ongoing moody atmosphere at home. Greg could see
that I wasn’t going to change my mind about the job although he
still moaned and complained about it. He wouldn’t give up, but I
was spending as little time at the apartment as I could. That
didn’t exactly go down well with him either, but as far as I was
concerned he would just have to put up with it. It didn’t make for
a happy home environment and I suspected that him coming around to
my way of thinking was probably a forlorn hope.

My first two weeks of work
were spent in the office writing articles that were researched on
the internet. It was Jeannie who went out and about to do the
interviews with local designers and fashion retailers and the
change to that setup came about because of the newspaper’s
editor.

“I’ve been called to a
team leader’s meeting,” Jeannie told me when I arrived at work one
morning.

“OK,” I replied. “What do
you want me to get on with?”

“You’re going on a visit,”
she said and handed me a sheet of paper.

“Umm…, a visit,” I went on
nervously.

“Relax,” Jeannie said.
“This is something you need to get used to and it’s about time you
got involved in it.”

I nodded my head and
looked down to see the list of questions written on the paper in my
hand.

“I arranged to go and see
Sam Lawrence today,” Jeannie said.

“That would be the Sam
Lawrence of Lawrence Lingerie.”

“That’s the man,” she went
on. “He has a new range of plus size underwear coming out and is
looking to promote it. That got me in the door to see him…, or
rather it’s got you in the door to see him. The questions on the
paper are those to ask and you can add any more you think
of.”

“OK,” I said.

“You’ve to be at the head
office of his company at two o’clock,” Jeannie told me. “I would
have gone myself, but I can’t get out of this team meeting.” She
picked up a folder from her desk. “That’s a file of details on the
man, so familiarize yourself with him before this
afternoon.”

“Sure,” I
agreed.

“I have to go,” Jeannie
said. “I’ll be back later on this afternoon to see how you got
on.”

I nodded my head when she
got to her feet and just like that I was left on my own to deal
with my first visit and interview. After Jeannie departed, I sat
down at my desk and opened the file. I already knew some of Sam
Lawrence’s story. Most people did. He’d finished his schooling at
sixteen and got himself a stall selling clothing in a local market.
Hard work and smart decisions moved him on to opening a store and
when he concentrated his attention on the underwear market, his
business took off.

A string of retail outlets
led him into the designer underwear market and earned him a
fortune. He was only thirty years old, but was reputedly now worth
billions and one of the most eligible bachelors around. That got
him dates with a string of models, actresses and other beautiful
women although he remained single.

Jeannie’s file of
information expanded on the details I already knew about Sam
Lawrence and I found myself staring at the pictures of him. He was
definitely a handsome man, with his cropped, dark hair, brown eyes
and muscular physique being something that plenty of women would
fall for. That included me and a smile flashed across my face as a
fantasy started playing out in my head.

“Yeah…, like a billionaire
lingerie mogul is going to fall for my obvious charms,” I said and
cleared the thoughts away.

I was meeting him for
business, not pleasure, and considering the women he usually dated,
I couldn’t imagine that he would be remotely interested in me.
Putting the idea out of my head, I focused my attention on the list
of questions that Jeannie gave me. They seemed to cover everything
that I would have thought of asking myself and in the end I didn’t
add any more. For the rest of the morning I concentrated my
energies on finishing an article I’d started the day before, but
when it got to one in the afternoon I made a move.

That started with me
collecting what I needed from my desk then going to the restroom on
the way out of the building. It might be business, but I still
wanted to look my best and spent a few minutes putting on some
makeup then brushing my hair. When I was satisfied with my
appearance, I made my way to the elevators and caught one down to
the ground floor.

The head office of
Lawrence Lingerie was a bus trip away from the newspaper building,
so I went to catch a ride and got to my destination with fifteen
minutes to spare. There seemed no point in hanging around waiting,
so I made my way inside the building and up to the floor I wanted.
My hands were clammy and I tried to control my growing nervousness
as I stepped inside the entrance. A quick glance around showed a
large wooden reception desk and the woman behind it smiled at me as
I approached.

“Can I help you?” she
asked.

“I’m here to see Mr.
Lawrence,” I replied.

“And your name
is?”

“Katie Carter,” I
replied.

The woman glanced down at
the papers in front of her and I saw the frown cross her
face.

“I’m here about the new
plus size lingerie range,” I said helpfully.

“Oh, of course,” she said
and I saw her gaze slide up and down my fuller figure.