I can’t tell him this, of course, but this isn’t the first time I’ve left everything behind, so I just shrug and say, “Yeah.”
“What a mystery you are,” he mutters.
I don’t want him thinking that, so I say hurriedly, “It’s just thrift store junk. I can get stuff like that again if I need to.”
That alerts him. “If you need to?”
“If this doesn’t work out.”
Anger flashes through his light blue eyes. I brace myself, but it vanishes as quickly as it appeared. Whatever he was thinking, he doesn’t share. He just says, “Okay. I’ll tell them.”
He snags his phone from his pocket and types. When he stows it, he asks, “Ready?”
“Are you … are yousureabout this? About … me?”
He smiles slightly in a way that makes me shiver and says, “Oh, yes.”
***
“Jesus,” I mutter when I see the black Jag.
Andre opens the door for me. There’s no smirk or swagger. He’s so used to money that it doesn’t mean much to him. People like that can be very dangerous. As I settle in the passenger seat and watch him walk around the front of the car, I wonder ifhecan be very dangerous. Sometimes it feels like it, but I’m never sure what I’m mixing in from my fantasies.
I’ve overlaid him with … the other. I’ve imagined Andre Black fucking me in the bodega, in my apartment, in the woods. Maybe that means I shouldn’t be taking this job, but the truth is, that’swhyI’m taking this job. After being chased that night, fucked like that, I can’t go back to my dull, safe life.
I need more.
I don’t know what exactly I’m getting myself into with this new job, but I can tell that it’ssomething. And it’s money. As much as I hate money, it does help. It’s what bought me my fantasy in the first place. And with this job …
I don’t let the thought fully form, but it’s there in the back of my mind.
None of that means I’m not nervous as hell about this job.
The beautiful man I now work for gets in and starts the car. It has paddle shifters, and he works the gears smoothly as we pull into traffic.
“I thought this would give us a chance to talk before we get to The Axis,” he tells me. “The hotel can be overwhelming.”
He says that as thoughhe’snot overwhelming. I feel compelled to say, “I just don’t feel qualified, Mr. Black.”
“Andre,” he corrects.
He waits expectantly until I echo softly, “Andre.”
He breathes in like he’s pleased, then he says, “I know you’re very hung up on this, but you need to let it go. You don’t need to understand why I chose you. You only need to trust that I know what I’m looking for, and it’s you.”
I swallow hard. “Okay.”
Over the next half hour, Andre gives me an overview of his role at the hotel and what that means for me as his PA. My job will be reading reports and messages to pull out the key points. I’ll be keeping his schedule organized and making appointments. That’s going to mean making phone calls, which turns my stomach a bit, but I try not to let that fact show. I will also, apparently, help with his wardrobe.
I snort at that. “I don’t think you need any help with your wardrobe.”
“There are some things I need and some things I want, and you, Elias Rose, do not need to know which is which.”
For some reason, that sends heat into both my face and groin. Oh god. A hard-on is the last thing I need right now.
He goes on, “Today, however, we’ll be working onyourwardrobe.”
That cools my blood. “Oh. Um … how does that work? I can’t possibly buy—”
