Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79963 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
My cock swelled even more when she called me Mr. Frost. Damn, the woman. My only consolation was she would almost certainly be gone by the end of the week. Which, by the way things were shaping up, would be a good outcome. Might as well guarantee and help hasten her departure with a few well-chosen unreasonable requests.
“Anything else I can help you with?” I asked sarcastically.
“No, Sir,” she said crisply and left.
For some reason, I felt a pull of something approaching curiosity about her. Something I’d not experienced in a long time for any woman and never for one of my staff. Angrily, I pushed the feeling away and focused on my work. I only had an hour to clear my inbox before I had meetings back-to-back, then lunch with a potential client.
The next few hours were blissfully quiet as I had re-routed all calls to her extension. It gave me the peace to get on with my work. I read through some proposals from our managers and made some notes on what sounded potentially interesting.
My cell phone broke the delightful silence in the room. I glanced at the screen and swore. It was my mother. Was she in town? I hoped not. I swiped the screen.
“Hello, Mother,” I greeted, barely able to contain my impatience. My mother was one of the reasons I’d been eager to leave Connecticut. She was needy and clingy and it drove me crazy. It wasn’t quite as grating on the phone as in person.
“Hello, Maximus,” she replied gaily. She was the only one who insisted on using my tediously pretentious full name. “You haven’t called in almost two weeks. Don’t you miss your parents?”
My mother had a selective memory when she wanted to. I quelled the rising irritation. “Mother, we spoke a week ago.”
“I miss my only child,” she cooed.
Ah, one of those calls. Might as well get it over with. With a sigh, I settled back and scrolled through a business proposal while she prattled through a list of complaints. They started with things I had, or hadn’t done, then moved on to my long-suffering father and how he wasn’t being attentive to her needs.
“By the way, I arrived in New York last night, and I’ve booked a table at the Four Seasons for the three of us at eight o’clock,” she said.
I stopped reading as my head jerked up. Shit. All that time, she had been working up to tell me that. It was just like her to just show up without any advance warning.
“You’re in New York?”
“Yes, but don’t fall over yourself with excitement.”
The next worst thing after her neediness was her sarcasm.
“You should have let me know you were coming,” I muttered, barely able to keep the temper out of my voice.
“I will next time,” she lied breezily.
“You said you made reservations for three. Who’s joining us?”
“Bring your girlfriend. You can’t tell me there’s no one in your life, Maximus.”
“There isn’t,” I said through gritted teeth. My mother meddling in my love life was the third reason she was so annoying.
“Fine. Come alone, but if you change your mind...”
“See you later,” I said and cut the connection.
I had five minutes to spare before my client meeting. Needing to stretch, I got up and left my office. Lillian was at her desk, her brow faintly creased as she concentrated on something that didn’t look like the work I’d given her to do.
“Have you started inputting the numbers I gave you?”
She looked up. “No, Sir, I haven’t. I thought it wiser to read the other file you gave me first.”
“Why do I always get the lazy ones?” I grumbled, exasperated. At this rate, it will be days before the database gets populated.
She gazed back, completely unruffled by my comment.
“Show the clients in when they come,” I ordered, and walked away in disgust.
“Yes, Sir.”
My clients arrived a few minutes later and Lillian showed them in. She offered and served us all refreshments. She had taken the initiative to order delicious dim sum canapes which went down well with everyone. I had to admit she was so cool and professional, no one would have guessed it was her first day.
In the afternoon, she knocked on my door and when I barked at her to enter, she did so with that annoyingly tranquil smile still fixed on her face.
I found my eyes raking over her body. What the fuck was wrong with me? Sure, she had a smoking hot body, but I didn’t hit on employees. Ever. It was a hard rule. No negotiations.
“All done,” she announced maddeningly.
“What is all done?” I snapped.
“The data you gave me to enter into your database. It’s done.”
Impossible. I frowned darkly at her. “All of it?”
The deliberately blank smile widened slightly. I recognized it. She was feeling victorious.
“Yes, all of it. I found a way to do it in batch form.”