Millionaire Romance: In Love With My Personal Assistant - A Contemporary Romance (Millionaire Romance, Contemporary Romance, Comedy Romance Book 2)
Authors: Audrey Tolhouse
Tags: #romance, #Romantic Comedy, #billionaire romance, #millionaire romance, #Contemporary Romance
In Love With My
Personal Assistant!
In Love With My…
Boss!
by Audrey Tolhouse
Published 2015 by Street Lights Press
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment and education only. Stories, characters, and entities are fictional. Any likeness to actual persons, either living or dead, is strictly coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, businesses, events, or locales is purely coincidental. Reproduction in whole or part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited.
Copyright © 2015 Street Lights Press
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Contents
Chapter One
Game On
Declaring love for an employee is never a good idea. If that employee is the personal assistant that has been at your beck and call for the past five years while you completely took her for granted, well then, suddenly, the phrase “bad idea” seems like a pale understatement in retrospect.
Oh, don’t forget to add in the fact that the declaration of love was made after she already began a fledging relationship. Now you really have a recipe for disaster. To make matters worse, that new love interest in said personal assistant’s life is actually the new investing partner to a firm, which is rapidly pushing towards billionaire worth.
That, dear friends, was the situation of James Melone.
It didn’t look good. At all. In fact, it was bad. But what could he say? When James Melone rose and looked in the mirror each morning, he didn’t see what other people saw when they looked at themselves.
He was James Melone, and he got what he wanted—that’s who he was and it was what he did. People didn’t dare tell him he couldn’t have what he set his sights on—and he wasn’t even really
that
type of guy.
Was he a millionaire? Yes. And unlike Andrew Wiles, the newest and first partner—ever—to Melone Group, he had to work for every cent and penny. He earned a quarter of his worth from making timely investments in fledging technological startups and day trading his subsequent profits once his investment capital came vested and he could cash in.
His personal specialty, however, was in the technology aspect of the future of business. He consulted with businesses on going statewide and national with technology and innovation. He helped them break their own records and soar for marks they didn’t even realize were possible.
He opened a ton of doors that would have previously remained barred shut—doors his clients couldn’t even dream of knowing had even existed until he was able to help them break through their own ceilings into the larger playing field of their industry.
He was damned good at what he did—and Jennifer Rhodes only made him better. It’s funny. When you’re a hardworking businessman building an empire, you rarely stop to think about those helping you make it to the top. You just do. You rise every day and fall every night having covered miles of terrain with a single leap.
That’s what he did. He wasn’t on autopilot, but on overdrive for the past three years. When he allowed himself to slack a bit, Jennifer had pulled through and covered the workload like it was her mission to help him succeed. And she did.
Of course, he was sure he could have gotten there without her help, but they made a damned good team. She knew it too. The fact that she was gorgeous was another benefit. But James had never been too keen on office relationships.
He’d seen other friends go down that same trail and he had never been convinced that it was a wise thing for him and Jennifer to explore; but, that doesn’t mean the thought never crossed his mind. It had, several times, in fact. That’s why he searched so readily for a steady girlfriend to fill that emptiness in his life.
He had been close once or twice to acting on his feelings with Jennifer, if he were being completely honest. Fear kept him in check though. He had to refocus and keep his mind in the game.
When Jennifer first came to him, she was involved in some sort of spotty relationship. It often left her depressed at work and a little depressing to be around. He didn’t understand why a raw beauty like her would stay with someone who kept her upset most of the time.
Then again, when James thought of himself, he really couldn’t answer that question either. Isn’t that what Katie, the last love of his life had done? It wasn’t all bad. Katie was an incredible woman—it was just in all the opposite ways when compared to Jennifer.
Jennifer was a woman whose needs aligned with his own. He’d be lying if he refused to believe that it didn’t play a significant role in his interest with Jennifer. It was an incredible feeling to have a member of the opposite sex rooting for you like Jennifer had always done.
James didn’t understand it. He wasn’t some relationship psychologist. He was just an alpha male who wasn’t shy of going for what he wanted.
When he first decided to try the corporate castle thing, he had dabbled with the idea of male assistants. To be frank, there was just too much sausage in the atmosphere. Too much testosterone and posturing for dominance. He didn’t like to be tried, so the men were cut and the female secretary’s and assistants applied to the open positions.
He had told himself from the beginning that he wouldn’t get involved. Not just with Jennifer, but with anyone. The communications department head had her eyes set on Melone at one point. She wasn’t as calm as Jennifer, either, and made her intentions known.
It took strength, conviction, and a whole lot of self-control to make that woman see a work affair just wasn’t going to happen. In the end, he referred her to a friend and had to let her go. James liked Jennifer too much for that.
Maybe he took advantage of her gentle quality—he couldn’t even be too sure of that anymore now. All he knew is that he and Jennifer had always had sparks and he had done his best to control his urges. Now he just wasn’t so sure that controlling them had been a good idea.
Things weren’t working out at all like he had hoped. Granted, if he and Katie had stayed together, he would have gotten married. Then what? He wasn’t the cheating type. He admired loyalty and demanded it from his workers. It was only natural that he would hold himself to the same standard; but his connection with Jennifer was real.
The sad truth was that if he had stayed with Katie, he had no way of knowing how he would respond if Jennifer were to come on to him. Would his commitment to loyalty remain steadfast? When he thought of Jennifer, he saw curves, bust, hips, and ass. He actually knew the answer to that question: hell no.
The only way he knew how to keep his emotions at bay was to simply focus on work and ignore everything else. Now he knew he had just made the biggest mistake of his life. He wasn’t talking about never having told Jennifer how he felt. That was the second greatest mistake. Partnering with Andrew was the first.
He had to find a way to get that man out the picture so that Jennifer could see the real him. That’s why he finally did it—the jerk move that had Jennifer really pissed at him: he told her how he had really felt.
Honestly, James wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he told her the truth. The glossy eyed stares and flushed cheeks he caught Jennifer with at work were more than enough to tell him that she was more than satisfied with Andrew in her life. He should have left it alone.
He had three years to make his move. And instead of telling Jennifer how he felt, he pursued Katie. He couldn’t have kicked himself harder in the ass even if he tried.
So against his own professionalism, his vow to loyalty, and the good faith of his newest partner, he committed a sure fire dick move and told Jennifer the truth.
Her response? Well, since the one thing she said at that little restaurant on N. Michigan St, was actually nothing. She had said absolutely nothing to him unless it pertained directly to work. In fact, that first day, she had completely avoided him and he had simply kept his distance.
It was a new week now, and although he was normally used to hearing from her throughout the weekend, the past two days had been entirely silent. James Melone didn’t like that. Remember, he was alpha and he didn’t take no so easily.