The Rules (2 page)

I nearly died.

“How old are you?” he asked.

“Um…Twenty-four, sir.”

If I wasn’t mistaken, he might have flinched subtly as he lowered his hand to his lap. “You just started working for my company a few weeks ago.” He stated what I already knew. The question was, why did he know that? Alexander Technologies was large. There were several hundred employees on seven floors. Mr. Alexander certainly wouldn’t have any input into the hiring of a lowly assistant from the first floor.

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re Moriah’s new assistant, right? On the first floor?” He asked this question as if it were the lowest job known to man, and I was in turn barely worth the scum on the bottom of the sexiest, most expensive heels I owned—fifty dollars from the outlet mall. The most outrageous thing I currently wore.

“Yes, sir,” I mumbled. Why on earth was he talking to me? Why had he cornered me in the room and bought me an expensive glass of wine? And why were my thighs jiggling, my panties soaking, and my nipples worrying me with their abrasion against my best bra?

“Where were you working before you started in my office?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Nowhere. I was in school.”

His eyes widened from their narrowed perusal to a shocked look. He took another sip from his tumbler and angled himself to face me more directly. “You just now finished your degree?”

Part of me wanted to slap him for his audacity. But he did have a point. It was downright ludicrous that I’d taken this job in his building. “Well, no, sir. I just now finished my master’s.”

“Your master’s? Are you shitting me? In what?”

“Business administration, sir.” I cringed, worrying he might fire me for my stupidity alone. I’d wanted to work for his company for as long as I could remember. I didn’t care what position I started at as long as I had a foot in the door. Alexander Technologies was a difficult nut to crack. I nearly had to beg the woman who interviewed me to give me a chance even though she was very leery, seeing as I was completely overqualified for the job. If I had to climb that company ladder from cleaning toilets, I would have. As it was, I felt fortunate to have landed a job that didn’t require me to wear plastic gloves and carry a mop.

Mr. Alexander stared at me hard and long until I squirmed in my seat. “Sit still, Ms. Kensington. I’m not going to bite.” He didn’t smile, though his tone was less intimidating than it had been.

I tried to stop wiggling. I crossed my legs and anchored myself with one heel on the center rung of the stool.

Mr. Alexander peeked under the table and then chuckled. He rolled his eyes. For what reason, I had no idea. There was no way I was going to ask. I didn’t even have the ability of speech at all. The man was confusing as all hell. And again I wondered what I was doing in this weird alternate universe I’d fallen into.

“Drink your wine, Amelia. It’s better before it gets too warm.” He held my gaze while he lifted his tumbler to his lips again.

My hand shook as I reached for the glass, but I did as he instructed. It really was delicious, and in another world I might have enjoyed it. But not in this realm, the one where my freakishly rich, sexy, thirty-something boss had cornered me in a swanky night club and begun to question me.

“So let me get this straight. You just finished your MBA, and you took a job with my company at the bottom rung of the ladder.”

“Yes, sir. I hope that’s not a problem, sir. I work hard. I’m not afraid to pay my dues. You won’t be disappointed.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m far from disappointed. I’m just confused.” He lifted his brows. Every time he did that, his hair covered his eyebrows. He seriously could have gone to a hairdresser about a week ago, but I was secretly glad he hadn’t. It was the only part of him that was soft. Even though it was neatly combed, it was naturally wavy, and the way it curled slightly at his ears and around his neck made him almost human.

The nervy man stared at me some more while he enjoyed another sip of his drink. His gaze roamed over my face and down to my chest before returning to meet my eyes again.

A horrible thought occurred to me. Perhaps he considered Sky his stomping ground. It could be that he didn’t appreciate his employees frequenting the location. “Would you like me to leave the bar, sir?”

He furrowed his brow once again. “Why would I want that?”

“Well, I thought maybe you preferred the anonymity of being here where people don’t know you, or at least a place you can unwind without running into people that work for you.”

He chuckled. “The anonymity? Ms. Kensington, I haven’t enjoyed a moment of anonymity in ten years. And my employees are free to frequent whatever establishment they can afford.”

Ouch. That stung. He suspected I couldn’t afford Sky. And generally speaking, he would be right. I tucked my bottom lip between my teeth again and my hands under my thighs. It was the only way I could keep from shaking.

“Don’t do that.”

Do what?
Seriously?
Was this man telling me what I could and couldn’t do with my own lip? I knew he was because his gaze was once again riveted to my mouth. I let go of my bruised flesh and pursed my lips instead. I had no idea what made me follow Mr. Alexander’s instructions, and it annoyed me to high hell that every single thing he did made me clench my sex tighter. He could probably command me to strip naked and dance on top of this bar table, and I would readily comply. That’s how mesmerizing he was.

“I didn’t mean anything by that. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

He’s sorry?
That was at least as shocking as his previous statement.

“So, you intend to work your way from the ground up at my company. Is that it, Ms. Kensington?”

“Yes, sir.” That had been the plan. Until tonight. Suddenly I wasn’t the least bit sure how I would ever go back in the building. It was much easier when he didn’t know who I was or pay any attention to me. That’s the way normal everyday women prefer unbelievably sexy men to remain—slightly out of reach. Speaking to them face-to-face makes us regular folk stammer and make fools of ourselves.

“You can’t be making enough money to pay rent.”

“I’m not, sir. But I’ll prove myself fast.” I had confidence, and I wasn’t about to hide it from him.

“How were your grades?”

“Straight A’s, sir. I work hard.”

He found this amusing apparently. He chuckled again and shook his head. I liked it when he smiled. He had one dimple on each cheek that softened his face and made him look younger than he probably was. “Okay, then. I’ll let you get back to your friends. Enjoy your evening, Ms. Kensington.” He stood abruptly, leaving me speechless at this turn of events, and sauntered across the room in the direction he’d initially come from.

I twisted on my stool and watched his fine ass as it moved away, unable to jump down yet and certain when I did, I would fall on my face. Lucky for me, when I glanced at my friends, I found them both hopping off their own stools, grabbing their drinks in one hand and purses in the other, including my own clutch, which I’d left on the table. They hastily rushed toward me, pulled up a third stool, and settled in.

“Holy fuck,” Cheyenne began. “What the hell just happened? Was that Cade Alexander?”

“It was,” I muttered as I turned, finally taking my gaze off the spot where my boss had disappeared. “And I have no idea what the hell just happened.”

Chapter Two

On Monday morning I arrived at work slightly more nervous than I had on my very first day two weeks ago. My encounter with the owner of the company two nights ago had me frazzled. Unfortunately, avoiding him wasn’t an option. I was, as he so kindly pointed out, on the lowest rung of the ladder at this company, which essentially meant I was anybody and everybody’s errand girl.

In the first two weeks, I had been everything from a file clerk to a mail carrier. I had fetched coffee for more people than I could count and typed e-mails for half the staff as well. Word had spread quickly that the new girl on the first floor wasn’t simply a pretty face. It seemed I had a brain and everyone could count on me to do their bidding without fucking it up. Less hassle. I was aware of this. I prided myself on this very occurrence. It was all part of my climb-the-ladder plan.

My only real concern was becoming too valuable as a peon to promote. That idea hadn’t escaped my mind.

So it wasn’t a surprise when the first thing Moriah, my direct boss, asked me to do even before I shoved my purse in my desk drawer was to report to Mr. Alexander. I cringed. This was not how I intended things to go down. If the owner of the company had asked around about me, he would have heard I was a bit overqualified for the job, even without my input.

What I did
not
want was to become his personal lackey. I wanted to be taken seriously.

“Mr. Alexander?” I asked, feigning surprise, even though I wasn’t altogether shocked. Pissed. But not shocked.

Moriah didn’t give me more than a glance. Apparently she didn’t find the request curious, at least not yet. “Yep. He needs someone to run a few errands for him, and I told him you were responsible.” At that, she lifted her gaze and smiled. She even winked. “You can thank me later.”

Moriah knew what my goals were. She’d been the first and last person to interview me. She wasn’t stupid. I’d told her outright how badly I wanted to work for Alexander Technologies and what I was willing to humbly do to get where I wanted to be.

Moriah had also given me many challenging assignments since I’d started. I’d already wowed Margie on the fourth floor with my accounting skills on two occasions. It seemed my luck had taken a dive if I was now forced to become Mr. Alexander’s errand girl.

“I’m not sure about thanking you,” I mumbled.

“Why not? What better way to prove yourself than getting in the boss’s face? Lucky break, girl. Show him what you’re made of. I’d love to keep you down in the trenches with the rest of us. You’ve accomplished more work in the last two weeks than anyone we’ve ever hired down here, but I like you, and I want what’s best for you. And I know shuffling papers and filling coffee mugs is going to drive you stir crazy fast. So go. I promised Mr. Alexander he wouldn’t be disappointed.”

“What does he need me to do?” I asked, tucking my damn lip between my teeth and then immediately dropping it as though he were standing in the room right in front of me, pulling it out with his thumb. A chill ran down my spine at the memory of his warm solid fingers on my cheek, his thumb pressing on my lip.

Moriah shrugged. “No idea. Errands, he said. Could be anything from dry cleaning to taking a memo. All I know is this is the first time he’s ever called me before eight a.m. and requested I send someone up to help him.” She shrugged again. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” At that Moriah went back to typing, her gaze shifting to her computer and her fingers clicking away so fast on the keyboard I knew I was completely dismissed from this conversation.

I made my way to the elevators, my heels clicking on the ground so loudly it sounded like fireworks were going off in the lobby. Although it must have only been me who noticed this because not a single other person paid me a bit of attention. As I waited for the elevator to arrive, I clenched my hands in front of me. They were sweating. This was not my style. I had always considered myself to be extremely confident with my chin held high. And then I met Mr. Alexander.

That man turned me inside out every time I was near him. I’d been near him far too many times in the last few weeks, but after the incident on Friday, I was dreading this like a wisdom tooth removal. I hated that he made me nervous. Nobody made me nervous. I hated that he caused me to become mute, completely tongue-tied. I especially hated that he made my panties wet and my nipples hard. That was the worst part. It was foreign to me.

I stepped into the elevator, wondering if I’d made the right decision coming to work for Alexander Technologies. There were so many businesses in the immediate area that would have hired me and paid me way more money. And none of them would have sexy CEOs who awakened my sexuality in a way I had flat out denied for all of my twenty-four years.

It wasn’t that I was a prude. I hadn’t saved myself for some religious reason or out of some sense of puritanical resistance to norms. It simply happened. I was a bit too straight-laced in high school, causing most boys my age to steer clear of me. And then in college I got too busy to deal with men. Most of them were overgrown boys anyway. The only men who ever made me lift a brow were usually older, either new professors or the people who worked at the places I co-oped.

So, here I was at twenty-four and rather virginal. Or, totally virginal. I’d had boyfriends, but none that made me enjoy their tongue down my throat enough to let them get to third base. Frankly, I’d begun to wonder if I was actually a prude.

And then I met Mr. Alexander. I was not a prude. This was proven instantly upon stepping into his space the first time two weeks ago. I’d gotten hot, the kind of heat that started in my neck and raced down my breasts to take up residence between my legs—wobbly legs.

My second day at Alexander Technologies had brought me close to the boss for the first time. I knew he was in his thirties, but somehow I expected someone significantly older. My mind hadn’t painted a picture of a young guy—fit, sexy, vibrant—the kind of man I normally drooled after from afar. I had gone to the seventh floor to drop off several envelopes. As I handed them to his secretary, Judy, he popped out of his office to speak with her.

My body froze, my gaze landing on him and taking him in from head to toe while I should have been walking back to the elevator. His dark messy hair begged someone to run their fingers through it. His green eyes, the short flash of them I’d seen, sucked me into their pools. I was screwed.

The second time I saw him, I’d been talking to Moriah in the lobby as he walked by. Again, I had no idea if he noticed me or not. He gave no indication. He simply headed out the door with another man, conversing the entire time.

Each time I encountered Mr. Alexander, I got better at breathing, but only marginally. By Friday night’s encounter, I was of a new frame of mind. If that man wanted to fuck me first thing on a Monday morning, I would gladly acquiesce. At least in my imagination.