Millionaire Romance: In Love With My Personal Assistant - A Contemporary Romance (Millionaire Romance, Contemporary Romance, Comedy Romance Book 2) (2 page)

He stood in front of his bathroom mirror, running absurdly
ahead
of schedule for the first time in years. It was his turn to surprise Jennifer. He couldn’t let this go. The more silent he remained, the more of a risk he ran of losing Jennifer altogether. He didn’t want that.

He could admit that he had been chicken shit before—he made a mistake. That didn’t mean he had to back down just because she was avoiding him. If that were the case, James never would have acquired the type of wealth he had. No. He was James—fucking—Malone for a reason damnit.

Chapter Two

Refuse to Dance

Jennifer lived close enough to the office where she could walk if she wanted. Most days, she did. It worked out better to walk because then she could get Melone’s breakfast and her own on the way to work.

She wasn’t going to be picking up something for Melone to eat this morning, but she needed the few extra minutes on her short walk to clear her mind. Late autumn breezes rushed through her hair, trying to help jolt her from her memories, but nothing was working.

Thick, dark shades shielded her eyes from the peeping sun over various building tops, and also from accidentally meeting anyone’s stray eyes. She felt like she must have had an entire fifth of vodka last night and was paying for it heavily.

In truth, she only had two glasses of her favorite Sauvignon Blanc. She had canceled her lake experience with Andrew and hadn’t contacted anyone from the office all week. The last message she received from Andrew was a gentle reminder to take time and focus on some things concerning her future bag business. Goodness. She didn’t even have a name for it—but Andrew was still serious about her taking time to figure it out.

Maybe that’s why he stayed silent all weekend? She wasn’t sure. Two weeks wasn’t really a lot of time to get to know someone. They had been incredibly busy in the office during that time, but their short, intimate encounters if caught alone weren’t showing any signs of getting any cooler.

She learned that Andrew and Melone often held private meetings with current clients after she was done for the day. They talked ideas, ran numbers, and crunched figures. Winning Seogen really opened the doors for some ideas that Melone had been sitting on. Not even Jennifer had known about those plans.

Still, she didn’t know what any of it would mean if this thing with Melone didn’t go away. Her body shuddered suddenly at the thought. She had forbid herself from even thinking his name all weekend, but today, it was going to be unavoidable. He was her direct boss, after all. No one in the firm worked more closely than they did together and that thought only made Jennifer’s mind reel.

Within seconds, she was breathless and trembling. Did she have to tell him something? Her mind had
yet
to comprehend the magnitude of what he had revealed to her. All those years—all those
nights
she spent wondering if it would be her turn to slip into his life weren’t for naught. Apparently, there had really been something between them!

All of it made sense now, the ways she would catch James watching her, the little clues he had left—but then why hadn’t he ever made a move? Why was he going to propose to another woman? Did men do that kind of thing? Was it possible that a man would really sign his life away with someone else if he felt he could or shouldn’t have the girl he really wanted? That didn’t seem to fit with what Jennifer knew about men. Which, admittedly, she was starting to realize wasn’t that much at all.

But, she didn’t have much time to plan a detailed dissertation on the physiology of man. In less than thirty minutes, she’d be expected to give Melone the morning run down and for the first time since she had started working for him, it wasn’t already done.

“Jennifer?” A perky blonde called from behind a cabinet of a bistro sprinkled with other businessmen and women waiting at the pit stop on their morning commute to work. The people were nothing but blurs.

Jennifer gave a quick nod and moved to claim her morning fuel. She uttered a thank you, or something that was supposed to be a sign of gratitude, and pushed out the front doors with lift in her step.

About five minutes later, she stood in front of the building and took a deep breath. She wasn’t even close to being ready for this day. The only thing she could think that she had going for her at this moment was the fact that she was early. By the time she would get to her office, she would have at least 15 minutes to look over James’s calendar and refresh her memory on their weekly agenda. It seemed her mind had seen to do a data dump over the weekend with the bomb James dropped on her.

Jennifer bounced up the steps and didn’t even try to be amiable. She kept her shades on until she was in the elevator. Once out, she nodded once at the secretary and headed for her office. She was so thankful for that office now. It would give her a moment to think, breath, and regroup and get the game face together. Yes! The game face. It would save her and this damned day.

Reaching for the doorknob to the office, Jennifer turned and pushed. She didn’t think anything about the fact that the door was already unlocked. Her head was down. She saw the coat and bag rack to the left of the door and tossed her purse and over coat to it. Before she turned and shut the door, a chuckle stilled her heart.

Jennifer snapped her eyes to her desk, where Andrew leaned, half on her desk, and half off lazily, as if she were late to an appointment she knew nothing about. He was sexy and tantalizing.

“This isn’t awkward is it?” He said calmly with a gentle chuckle. He pointed towards the office door. “Can you get that?”

Jennifer swallowed back tightness closing her throat and pushed the door shut. She would have liked to believe that seeing Andrew would have made any doubts and second guesses about everything fade away. Instead, she just had apprehension in her gut.

“I did not expect to see you this morning,” she said softly. When she thought Melone was out of the picture, Andrew was more than a breath of fresh air, but now she was starting to wonder. Had she only been so quick to accept his feelings for her because she was trying to get over Melone? She hadn’t even known she was trying to get over him, Melone that is.

Andrew shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I know,” he smirked and let his gaze lazily take in the full sight of Jennifer. “I just didn’t see you all weekend,” he chuckled and fell silent.

Staring into his dark eyes, Jennifer felt her body begin to relax. That’s right. She hadn’t seen him all weekend, or texted him either. Melone’s curve ball really threw her for a loop. Andrew had fallen silent, assuming that she was going to really focus on a product line for her bags. He thought that because that’s what she told him she’d do. She didn’t though. She lied.

Instead, most of the weekend was spent trying to stave off her thoughts and feelings that had come barging back full force. She never felt more confused and like a little girl stuck in high school than she had that past weekend. No amount of ice cream, wine, and cheesy chick flics helped her solve her dilemma. Monday was back, sooner than she expected, and she still had no clue how she was going to handle the situation.

“So, how’d it go?” Andrew asked smoothly. He motioned for Jennifer to come to his side. She couldn’t resist his sexy draw and felt her body moving towards him. He always had a bit of a calming effect on her. He was so relaxed, she couldn’t help the way her mind fell at ease around him.

By the time she stood in front of him, her racing heart had subsided some. Melone was still a thought somewhere in her mind, but as she stared into Andrew’s eyes, she remembered the way his lips felt on hers and she smiled.

Andrew cupped her cheek and frowned. “Oh, my female sense is tingling.”

Jennifer laughed—the first real laugh out of the past two days. “You have a female sense now too?”

Chuckling, Andrew nodded. “It just tells me things that help me understand the creature that is the female.”

Jennifer couldn’t hold back the squawk of laughter that rumbled in her throat. She felt Andrew’s hands cradling her around her back and relaxed into him with a soft sigh. It was a feeling she welcomed and missed. She shouldn’t have avoided him over the weekend. That was a stupid thing to do.

“So what’s your female sense telling you now, Superman?” Jennifer asked with a deep breath. She regained her composure in Andrew’s arms.

Still grinning, he answered, “That something’s on your mind.” Her smile disappeared quickly. Andrew grew somber. “You can tell me about it if you want,” he said softly. Jennifer’s breath left her. She said nothing. Her mind was completely blank.

“Is it about me heading back to Colorado for a couple of weeks?” Andrew asked. Jennifer’s face morphed into confusion.

“What?”

“Didn’t James tell you?”

Jennifer blinked. “You’re going back to Denver?”

“Just for two weeks or so. We’re having problems with Jerry over there. He was supposed to help set the offices up. He’s way behind schedule and Melone is considering just letting him go because he has jeopardized Carnal and Seogen.”

Again, Jennifer blinked. At first, she felt nothing, but that nothing was quickly washed over in a wave of anger. She couldn’t believe James would stoop to such a level. And when exactly did he determine they had an issue in Denver? She should have been the first to know about it and all weekend her phone was silent from both managing partners of the firm.

“What’s that look about?” Andrew asked curiously. He stroked Jennifer’s cheek while his eyes lingered on her lips.

“What look?” She tried to shake her face blank. She needed to remain in control. She didn’t know what type of game James was playing, but she wasn’t going to be caught being the fool. “So when do you leave?”

Andrew smiled. “My bags are already packed. I’m taking my own plane out. Figured it’d be better because then, I can hop back in a couple of days for a bite to eat with you.”

Jennifer chuckled. How could she forget he actually owned his own plane? “You can do that?”

“Sure. It’s just a two hour trip,” he shrugged. “It’ll give my pilot something to do.”

Forcing a chuckle, Jennifer looked down. “You’re serious.”

Andrew smirked and lifted Jennifer’s face again by pushing on her chin. “My phone will still work. You can text. You can call.”

She forced a smile. He thought she was upset about him leaving for two weeks. That thought hadn’t even settled over her. She was still trying to grasp the concept of James actually having the balls to ship Andrew away for two weeks. That was just absurd and he was completely overstepping the line of professionalism.

“I was thinking that I might come back on Wednesday,” Andrew’s hands settled on her waist. His gentle squeeze brought Jennifer back to reality.

“Wednesday,” she repeated blankly. Andrew nodded and searched her face.

“Wednesday. Think you’ll be okay without me until then?” He smirked at her.

Jennifer tried to smile, but found she couldn’t. Instead, she frowned. Andrew ran his thumb over her lips, and then pulled her into him for a kiss. She didn’t resist, but caved beneath him, falling into the kiss that her body had silently craved for and demanded.

She really missed him and didn’t even know it until just then. She didn’t even understand her reasoning by ignoring Andrew all weekend. What did that accomplish?

He sucked her breath into his mouth with another strong and steady kiss. Jennifer lost herself in it this time. She kissed him back eagerly, covering her hands with hers as he cupped her face and pulled back with difficulty.

“I’m actually already late,” he breathed softly. “I refused to leave without seeing you though. Just don’t tell James you saw me,” a deep chuckle rattled near her ear, shaking Jennifer to the core.

Her mind seemed to process that sentence and she pulled away and met Andrew’s eyes again. “You’re going to be gone for two weeks?”

He smiled easily. “I’m coming back Wednesday for lunch with you, remember? Just don’t forget,” he winked at her. “Okay?”

Jennifer smiled weakly and nodded eagerly. “Sure thing.”

“Okay,” Andrew kissed her again. She felt the full softness of her heart aching. Andrew hovered, unwilling to pull away. “James is going to be so pissed,” he chuckled and ran his hands along Jennifer’s arms. She shivered beneath his touch and watched him closely.

“How late are you?”

“I should have been gone an hour ago,” he smirked. Jennifer’s lips trembled. She forced another smile. It wavered and faltered, staggering across her lips like an injured stag.

“I guess just let me know when you touch down,” she didn’t know what else to say. Andrew’s eyes ran over her face slowly.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded. It was barely a moment. Andrew hesitated, but then stood. Jennifer stepped away from the desk. He smiled at her and took a deep breath.

“Remember, don’t tell Melone you saw me today,” he spoke with a smile.

Jennifer nodded. Again, there was brief hesitation; but, in an instant, Andrew turned and headed towards the door. She watched him walk, feeling a bit like perhaps her heart might be breaking. She didn’t honestly understand the feeling.

She really liked the fact that she didn’t have to wonder with Andrew. He was always upfront with her. She appreciated that kind of thing. Except this weekend, she had really begun to question just what that looked like. James told her that he had always been in love with her. Andrew hadn’t told her anything like that.

He paused at the door and smiled at her again. This time, she could tell that he had something on his mind. His smile wasn’t quite as strong, and faltered for a moment.

“See you Wednesday,” he whispered again.

Jennifer nodded. Seconds later, he was gone and she was left in her office alone and confused. As far as she was concerned, nothing had really seemed to bother Andrew. She had no idea what would cause him to crease his face in a pitiful little frown. A second later, her thoughts switched to Melone, and a ball of anger returned to her gut.

She looked at the portable clock on the surface of her desk and turned it towards her so she could read the time. 8:05 am. She was late for the morning briefing and Melone hadn’t called her once.