Dark Moon (29 page)

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Authors: Elizabeth Kelly

BOOK: Dark Moon

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“You know how it works. All the PA’s have to take their turn helping Mr. Knight.”

“I know.” I gave her what I hoped was a trembling smile. “It’s just, you know, he scares me.”

“He scares everyone.” Ida replied. “Yesterday he had Roxie sobbing hysterically in her office.”

“Is that why it’s my turn?” I asked.

Ida shrugged. “Roxie’s been his PA for nearly four months. We need to switch it up before she quits on us.”

I groaned and sat back in my chair, crossing my legs and straightening my skirt. Knight and Associates was one of the largest law firms in the city. Liam Knight had started the company at the age of twenty-five. He had hired a legal assistant and a receptionist and went to work. Ten years later, thanks to a combination of hard work and a good head for business, Liam Knight had propelled his company into a multi-million dollar enterprise. It boasted a staff of over fifteen lawyers, as well as multiple legal assistants and other administrative staff.

It wasn’t just the company that garnered a lot of attention. Liam Knight, with his utter ruthlessness in court and his brooding good looks, had quickly become popular with the local media. He spent most of his weekends at various charity events or high-profile business functions, always with a different woman at his side.

“I won’t try and tell you it’s not as bad as you think because honestly, it’s probably worse.” Ida shuffled the pile of papers on her gleaming desk. “You’ve been here long enough to know that Mr. Knight is very demanding of his PA’s, and expects a great deal from them.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, “blood, sweat and tears.”

Ida laughed. “I’ve seen a lot of sweat and tears from his PA’s over the years, but no blood yet.”

“Great. I’ll probably be the first. Listen, Ida. Have you ever thought of just hiring a permanent PA for Mr. Knight? There must be someone out there who can handle him on a regular basis.” I asked.

Ida shook her head. “Don’t you think we’ve tried that, Mae? All that ends up happening is the PA quits after a few months and we’re back to square one. At least with the system we have now, we don’t have to constantly retrain someone on Mr. Knight’s likes and dislikes.”

I sighed again. A few years ago, Ida had, in desperation, come up with the system we currently used. Every few months, the PA’s in the office were shuffled among the lawyers. I frowned to myself. More accurately put – Mr. Knight’s PA was shuffled.

Mr. Knight was nearly impossible to work with and after a bevy of PA’s had quit, one after the other, Ida had come up with the brilliant idea of using the PA’s who were currently employed. Knowing that they only had to put up with Liam Knight for a few hellish months before Ida took pity on them and moved them, had stopped the steady flow of PA’s quitting.

My ability to avoid being his PA had been nothing more than a combination of luck and timing. Two days after starting at the firm, my fiancé had called off our engagement. I had been devastated and found it difficult to keep my emotions in check, even at my new job. The fact that I had spent the first few months randomly bursting into tears, had convinced Ida I was too fragile to work for Mr. Knight. She had pulled me out of the pool of revolving PA’s, and assigned me to work for Kevin Thornton, one of the more easy-going lawyers in the firm.

The truth of the matter was - I wasn’t nearly as fragile and emotional as the office believed me to be. But once I found out how difficult Liam Knight was to work for, I’m not ashamed to admit I worked the fragile and emotional bit for all it was worth. Unfortunately it seemed its usefulness had worn off, and now I had to find a new angle.

“Kevin’s not going to be happy.” I said warningly to Ida. I had a great working relationship with Kevin, and I hoped he might go to bat for me.

“Kevin already knows.” Ida said breezily. “He’s upset but he understands how it works around here.”

“This is ridiculous.” I grumbled.

“It’s only for a few months and then we’ll move you to one of the other lawyers.” Ida replied. “It’s only fair, Mae. Some of the other PA’s have noticed and started complaining.”

“Fine, but when I’m crying hysterically in the bathroom you’re going to feel terrible, Ida.”

She grinned. “Oh, probably. I usually do. But don’t think that crying hysterically in the bathroom on your first day will get you moved, Mae. You have to put in at least a few months.”

Before I could reply, there was a knock on her door and the subject of our conversation walked into her office. I swallowed and looked quickly out the window. I would die before I admitted this to anyone in the office, but it wasn’t just his cruelty that made me nervous about being his PA. I’d had a crush on the aloof and distant Mr. Knight for the past six months and I was growing increasingly aware of the fact that no matter how cruel my boss was, I was more than a little interested in sleeping with him.

I snorted to myself. I was as far from Liam Knight’s type as you could get. The women who graced his arm at every business function and charity event were always tall and willowy with blonde hair and blue eyes. They walked like models – hell, half of them
were
models – and they had perfect skin and oodles of money.

At 5’4”, I barely reached Liam Knight’s chest and my dark hair and eyes were depressingly boring. Even at 29 years old, my skin still occasionally acted like it belonged to a teenager. More times than I cared to admit, I would wake to find a pimple had erupted on my face in the night.

None of that really mattered though. Even if I had been tall and blonde, there was still the small matter of my weight. Or, more accurately put, the large matter. I was, as my mother liked to gently point out, pleasantly plump. Truth be told, I didn’t mind all that much. My breasts might be large but they were perky enough, and the roundness of my belly could usually be hidden with some control-top underwear. Besides, as my friend Allie liked to tell me, there were plenty of chubby chasers out there.

Of course if there were, I certainly wasn’t finding any of them. I hadn’t gone on a single date since my dickhead fiancé Neil, had broken my heart. For months there had been nothing between my legs but my own hand, and my trusty vibrator “Paul”. That was probably the reason I got so hot and bothered whenever I was close to my boss.

Or, maybe it was because the man was a walking, talking, and extremely lickable sex god. He was at least a foot taller than me, and the broadness of his shoulders sent me into very uncharacteristic swoonville. Although I had never actually seen him in anything but a tailored business suit, I was positive that under those clothes of his was an abdomen of steel and a chest that rippled with muscles. His dark hair and cold grey eyes were an odd combination, but they worked for him.

I risked a glance at him and shivered when I realized those cold grey eyes were staring right at me. He stared unblinkingly at me until I blushed and looked away.

“Hello, Mr. Knight.” Ida smiled at him. “What can I do for you?”

“You need to do something about Ms. Falkner. She keeps crying in her office. It’s impossible to get any work done with her blubbering away in there.” He snapped.

“Actually,” Ida stood, and after a moment’s hesitation I did the same, “this is good timing. I was just telling Mae that she’s going to be your new PA, starting tomorrow.”

As Mr. Knight looked me up and down, from my dark hair piled in an unflattering bun on the top of my head to my cheap black heels, I forced myself to smile at him.

“I’m looking forward to working with you, Mr. Knight.” I lied brightly.

“No.”

“I’m sorry?” I frowned at him.

He turned to Ida. “I’m not working with her.”

“Why not?” Ida looked as flabbergasted as I did.

“She’s too emotional. She’ll never survive being my PA and you know it, Ida.” Mr. Knight said grimly.

“She’ll be fine.” Ida glared at him.

I was always impressed by the way Ida handled Mr. Knight. Maybe it was just her personality, or maybe it was because she had been his very first assistant when he started the business, but she never seemed to have a problem telling him what for.

“I said no, Ida.” He gave her a warning look that Ida pointedly ignored.

“Well, that’s too bad Liam, because at this moment she’s the only PA in the pool that’s willing to work with you. The others all need a break.”

He snorted disdainfully. “Maybe we should look at hiring PA’s who understand this is business and nothing personal.”

His gaze slid to me as he spoke, and the contempt in his eyes brought my usually well-hidden temper busting out.

“I can assure you, Mr. Knight,” I said icily, “that I will not cry in my office.” I figured since my emotional fragility was no longer working as a barrier to being his assistant, I might as well drop the act.

He cocked his eyebrow at me arrogantly, and I drew myself up to my full height as he strode across the room to stand directly in front of me. “We both know that’s not true, Ms. Temple.”

He stared down at my flushed and angry face and when his gaze fell on my breasts hidden beneath my cheap suit jacket, I poked him in the chest.

“Up here, Mr. Knight.” I said quietly, and he had the good grace to flush a little. I rolled my eyes. The man was standing in the office of the HR manager for God’s sake, and he had just blatantly ogled my tits. I ignored the little rush of heat that tingled through my girl bits and glared at him.

“I think you’ll find I’m more than capable of handling your insane work load demands.”

“Insane?” He looked back at Ida who shrugged.

“Yes, insane.” I replied. “Some of us have a social life.”

I wasn’t one of those people, but the man standing in front of me currently trying to burn a hole in my skull with his gaze didn’t need to know that.

He stared at me silently for a few minutes and then sighed harshly. “Fine, Ms. Temple. But the first time I catch you crying in your office, you’re reassigned to another lawyer. Do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly.” I retorted.

He turned and left the office and Ida gave me a look of admiration. “You might not just get eaten alive after all, Mae.”

* * *

The Contract will be available at
www.amazon.com
in May of 2014.

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Other books by Elizabeth Kelly:

Tempted