Page 47 of Hating the Boss

“In the shadows…” she repeated back, her voice confused and distant. Her brows furrowed slightly as she studied my face, wanting more clarity.

“You will still come into the office and do the same duties you have been as my personal assistant, but you won’t be on official payroll.”

“But…” she started.

“I’ll still pay you your annual salary,” I clarified quickly. “Plus, the other million. I just need it to look like you’re not my assistant because office romances would raise some brows. This needs to be done right. No messy business.”

She nodded. “I get that. My friends at my last job went through it,” she said with an understanding nod.

I wondered if she was talking about Chester Brandfield and his now wife. Sarah was growing more and more interesting the more I knew about her.

“But Fred. From HR…” she said worriedly.

Shit. I hadn’t thought about him. The interview I had hijacked from him.

“I’ll deal with Fred,” I assured her. A million would keep him quiet, and an NDA would seal the deal. He would pretend he had never met Sarah or had an interview with her. There was little money couldn’t solve.

“You’ll continue working as my personal assistant because I need one, and you seem like you can keep up. You’ve proved that. Since people will know we are in a relationship, they won’t question why you are here so often. They’ll think we are a madly in love couple who can’t get enough of each other,” I said, feeling confident in my plan that I made up on the spot.

“When the deal is done with Music Now, we can call it quits. I will make sure you get a prominent position at another company. One where you will be wildly overpaid, complete with a massive payout clause if you are let go for any reason.”

“And you’re confident of that?” She raised a single brow.

“I have friends.” I smiled easily.

She scoffed under her breath.

I sat back in my desk chair and eyed her. The plan was out there. Now, she just had to decide if she was up for it. She had seemed pretty confident coming in here, but with more details, I knew she had more to think about. It seemed like a win-win situation to me.

Still, she looked like she was deep in thought as she sat across from me, looking off into the distance as she continued chewing on her bottom lip. She stood from her chair and began pacing the room, just like I had when she left.

My eyes wandered over her. That dress really was made for her, the fabric hugging every curve like it was clinging on for dear life. And the color, just a slightly different hue than her skin, almost making it look like she was naked. I wondered what she looked like without it on. I also wondered if that could somehow be a part of the deal, but I knew that was crossing a line.

By the concerned expression on her face and the quick pace of her steps as she crossed the room back and forth, I guess I hadn’t quite hooked her yet. I knew this was a big risk. But if anything, it was a bigger risk for me because I could lose everything if we were found out. She could still leave here much richer than she had been before, and with her reputation still intact.

It would ruin me.

I knew I had to incentivize her more. To seal the deal. I rummaged around for my personal checks and pulled out the rectangular pad of paper. I plucked a pen from the wooden surface of my desk and began writing on the check, the sound of pen to paper the only sound aside from her shoes hitting the floor.

I ripped the check from the pad, bringing her attention to me suddenly. I stood from my desk and rounded it, walking toward her slowly. I was worried I would scare her off, but instead she stopped pacing and faced me, holding her ground. I took one more step, closing the distance between us.

Maybe a little too close by the way she swallowed a lump in her throat as her eyes looked up at mine, worry and nerves mixed together in a caramel pool. I inhaled her familiar sweet scent and tried not to get lost in it.

I held the check up between us, breaking her spell. With the paper inches from her face, her eyes landed on it, reading over it. They widened slightly.

“It’s all here,” I said, all the zeros I had written fresh in my mind.

She looked away from the check and back up at me, her lips parted slightly as if she was about to say something but had lost the words.

Was it the amount on the check or something else that vibrated between us?

“You’re an attractive woman,” I said, my voice gruff and barely above a whisper.

I watched as color stained her cheeks like red wine on cream carpet. She didn’t break her gaze as she blinked slowly.

“I wouldn’t offer this deal to just anyone, but I feel like you can handle it.”

She nodded slowly, her eyes no longer on mine, but on my lips. Something ached in me, the pit of my stomach full of want. My lips spread into a mischievous smirk and I couldn’t stop myself from saying what I said next.