Page 1 of Tap In

“Lark,ensure that all tasks are completed before you go home today, or there will be a problem. I was forgiving the first time, but this time, a tap out will not be accepted.”

My entire heart dropped to my feet.Tap out! Tap out!Yes, that was my favorite song, but it was not a terminology that I used outside of listening to or reciting the song. The only other time that I used that phrase was when I got smutted out in Vegas by Numen. The same Numen that I wanted to get back to Vegas to feel him inside of me again. This could not be life.

I was forgiving the first time.My next immediate thought was that Jacobia was not going to get into the house good before I was on her ass about this. I might sit on the porch with a glass of wine and mini charcuterie board to wait on her ass. There was no way in hell that she didn’t know Chance and Numen weren’t the same person. She let me walk into a damn ambush. The party was so amped, and I was in a low-key haze and I couldn’t remember exactly how he looked.

I read over the entire email again. Right now, I couldn’t harp on it because I had tasks to complete. This was still the job that I accepted. I refused to be unsuccessful at anything I did professionally regardless of the circumstance. If it got uncomfortable, then I’d put in my resignation. I took out my tablet and went to my Notes app so that I could prioritize the task. There was no need for me to let him know that I was leaving the office since he knew what I would be doing.

I grabbed everything that I needed, then was on my way. Since he wanted his car to be detailed, I would drive his car to complete said task, especially with most of these errands being personal in nature. I made the bank deposits first, then went to the courts to file the eighteen evictions. Once that was done, I went to his house. When I went to Travis to get Chance’s house key, he chuckled before he told me that Chance was definitely fucking with me.

Let’s be clear. technically I was Marla’s assistant. Travis told me that he’d never known Chance to send an executive assistant out to do personal errands. He then asked me what I had done to him. I admitted that I would not allow Mr. Broughton to bully me. He had the right one now.

Chance’s house was extremely nice, which was not surprising. From the research I’d done about Broughton Real Estate Firm, they mainly handled high ticket properties to sell. They also owned multiple rental properties in various neighborhoods. I would see soon, when I had a chance to look at reporting, how much they made from those investments. I’d thought about buying a duplex or two as rental properties. I was sure he had cameras around his home, but ask me if I gave a damn. I walked around his house and explored.

I found his laundry in the hamper in his elaborate laundry room. The clothes that he wanted me to take to the cleaners was basic laundry that could have been washed right here. The room was so big that it could have been an additional bedroom. To get to it, you had to go through his closet. This man was ridiculous. Once I got his clothes in the bag, I went back downstairs to the kitchen to call a laundry service to come pick the clothes up. The grocery list on the refrigerator was fairly long.

I sat at the kitchen island, pulled out my phone, then called the guy that I’d used to fully detail my car. He wasn’t busy, so I gave him the address to come detail Chance’s car in his roundabout driveway. He told me that he would be here in ten minutes.Good stuff.After that, I pulled up the grocery delivery service on my tablet that I’d also used. The items on the list were of the Whole Foods variety.

“Ms. Hunter, may I ask what you are doing? I would think that you would be making moves since you have tasks that need to be completed before the end of business day.”Chance’s voice came through a speaker in the house. I figured he was watching me. Travis also gave me the alarm code to use; therefore, I assumed it would notify Chance when I came into his house.

I continued to order the groceries from his list. “Chance, I would think that you have more important things to do than watch me. I’m not a fan of micromanaging. You gave me deliverables and a deadline. Would you like an update?”

“That smart ass mouth of yours is going to have consequences beyond what you think they are, Lark. Yes, I want an update,”he said. There was a sexy raspiness in his voice.

Why was I attracted to this man who was an asshole?Duh, because you know the dick is out of this universe.The man had me bent over like a pretzel with his dick in my ass! The personality that he gave as Chance was a far cry from him as Numen.

I paused what I was doing to give him my attention. I found the camera and looked directly into it. “The bank deposits have been done, and the evictions have been filed. The laundry service that I use is on the way to pick up your laundry. My car detailer is also on his way to take care of your car.” The doorbell rang. “Oops. That’s him or the laundry service.”

I stood to answer the door. It was my detailer and the laundry service. “Oh, y’all are right on time.” I had full ass conversations with Gary, my detailer, and Janice, the pickup driver for the laundry service, like Chance wasn’t waiting for me. Gary said that it would take about an hour to an hour and a half for a full detail.

When I got back into the kitchen, I sat down and went back to ordering the groceries. Over the speaker, I heard Chance clear his throat. I glanced at the camera. “Oh, shit, I forgot you were there to further annoy me. As you can see, the laundry is picked up, and car detailing is underway. Now I am ordering your groceries for delivery. While I wait for that delivery and your car, I’m going to sit in your living room, enjoy the television, and schedule the homes that need to be cleaned for showing next week.”

There was silence. I went back to the task at hand. It was only two thirty in the afternoon, and I’d made excellent time. I would be back at the office no later than four thirty.

“Lark, when I asked you to complete these tasks, it was not for you to have others do it,”he had the nerve to say.

He said that bullshit just as I checked out with his debit card. Now he could have my undivided attention. “Chance, what you thought was that you would overwhelm me. You pointed out earlier that I was overqualified for this position. Why in your goofy mind would you think that I wouldn’t work smart instead of hard? The tasks were completed efficiently by the unrealistic deadline that was indicated by you. Again, I do not like being micromanaged.

“Know that any task you give me, although technically I am not your executive assistant, will still be handled with excellence. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a final task to handle. I will see you back in the office with your fully detailed car.”

I moved from where I sat to the fridge to get a bottle of water and see if there were any snacks around here since I skipped lunch. I found some beef jerky. As I walked to the living room with my tablet and company laptop, I yelled over my shoulder that I wouldn’t be skipping too many more lunches. He was quiet, but I knew his ass was watching me. Knowing that I’d fucked my boss made me feel a certain kind of way. I was not a fan of mixing business with pleasure; however, this was something that I couldn’t avoid. It couldn’t have been avoided by me, but that damn Jacobia could have let me know what was up.

I finished scheduling the cleanings just as the groceries were being delivered. Gary finished Chance’s car in forty-five minutes because his car didn’t really need it in the first damn place, which I knew. I rolled my pretty ass back into the office comfortably at four fifteen. Travis and Marla were in the hallway having a conversation. Their attention turned to me. They both looked at me with this bewildered expression.

“Lady, I don’t know what you have, but I am so happy that I hired you.” Her voice was low. “I have never seen Chance so wound up about a person and at the same time not react how he normally does. That man said that you wasn’t going to finish those tasks and when you didn’t, he was going to fire you,” she said with a titter.

I smirked. “He’s going to have to come way harder than that. Let me go give this man his keys and carry my ass home. I’ll talk to y’all later.”

Chance’s office was at the end of the hall. His door was open, but I still knocked on it. When his head lifted, his eyes tightened.Sexy fucka!“I see you were able to complete everything in a timely fashion.”

“I see you doubted me. You wanted to fire me that bad, Chance?” I walked toward his desk, then set his keys down on it. I looked at my watch before I focused back on him. “If there isn’t anything else, I’ll be in my office finishing a few things that Marla needed.”

He was the type of person that wanted the last word in this environment. “There’s nothing else that I need from you right now. Did Marla issue you a company cell phone?”

My face was contorted.Why the hell would I need a company cell phone?My plan was to do my job within my business hours, then carry my ass home. “No, she did not. I’m not sure why I would need one.”

“There may be times that I need something from you after-hours or something done in the morning before you come into the office. That would require me to reach you, and I prefer to do so on a business line,” he said casually.

My head tilted to the side. This was new information for me. When Marla and I went over my expected duties, this was not something that was listed or mentioned. Had I been his personal assistant, that would have been more feasible. I was his, well, Marla’s executive assistant, which was not the same. I asked him if I could close his door so we could have a private conversation.

---