Page 11 of Scandalous Secrets

I knew I should have said something. Acknowledged him. Anything. But I was left speechless. I felt frozen to the spot. Mute. I wiped my hands nervously down the front of my cream skirt, worried they left a trail of sweat down the front of my thighs, as I saw Troy register who his new personal assistant was.

Our eyes met briefly. His green ones were darker than last night, as if they had some sort of storm brewing in them. I quickly broke his gaze that he tried to keep calm, but I saw the nerves behind it.

How could I have been so stupid? I had never had a one-night stand in my life, and the one time I do, it happens to be with my boss, the day before I started my new job. I don’t know what came over me or my judgment last night. It had felt so right in the moment, and even after I left this morning, I felt anything but regret.

It was like I was living out some sort of fantasy. A handsome man came up to me at the bar and my head immediately became clouded by the way he looked at me. Flirtations and buzz from our drinks were high, and then his mouth was on mine, and the next thing I knew, I was asking him to leave with me. It was straight out of one of my books, but this was real life. My life. And things had just gotten complicated.

Obviously, I couldn’t know he was going to be my boss. I knew nothing about the job or who ran the company from the lack of details Daniel shared. I probably should have asked more questions over dinner last night when he propositioned me before blindly accepting a job. Hell, I hadn’t even had an interview.

And I knew nothing about Troy besides he drank old fashioneds, owned a top floor penthouse in the east village, had large hands that knew exactly what they were doing, and was easily the best sex partner of my life. But now I knew he was the head of this corporation, which was one of the most successful hedge fund companies on the East Coast, hence the floor-to-ceiling view in his massive apartment. I learned everything about the job and the company, but nothing about him.

I also found out that he had a reputation for sleeping with his personal assistants. A nice little tidbit that Kathy threw in during my training today. It felt oddly uncomfortable for her to air such intimate dirty laundry about her boss. I got the sense that maybe she wasn’t too fond of him, but then again, maybe she was just a woman looking out for another. She said nothing had been proven of course, but with his reputation, it wouldn’t be surprising.

I wondered what that reputation might be.

Now that I stood before him, I suddenly felt a tinge of jealousy, knowing about the others who had come before me. His hands on them. His mouth on theirs. Probably right here in this office. I felt my cheeks flush as I glanced at his desk where I was sure he had taken someone right then and there. Hell, I was even thinking about it just standing here. How was I supposed to work for him when I had seen him naked?

He had been all I had fantasized about all morning when I reluctantly rushed home from his place, then all through getting ready for work and the ride to this very office building. I couldn’t get his green eyes out of my mind or his fingertips leaving white impressions on my thighs as the city sprawled out below us. Now it seemed like it would be even more difficult to forget him. If I took the job, that is.

Which I really needed. I didn’t know how badly until this morning going through training and seeing the steadiness of a 9-5. There wasn’t uncertainty about what readers would think. There wasn’t writer’s block making it impossible to meet deadlines. There weren’t bad reviews that shook my confidence. The pay was also generous.

When I signed my contract this morning, I could hardly believe the zeros that lined up before me like dominoes. I wondered if they had given me the wrong contract. I was just a personal assistant, after all, but after scanning it over again, I realized it was correct. And eagerly signed on the line.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved writing. It was my passion. It was my life. But since my last book flopped, my confidence had been shaken. It’s hard to come back from that. Earning trust from readers was one of the most difficult things when they were just reading words on a page and hoping to get lost in a story. When that trust was broken, it was hard to get back. And you never heard the end of it. Headlines read…

Will Durrall’s Next Book Prove She Still Has It?

Has Durrall Lost Her Special Touch?

There’s No Happy Ending for You Here.

I’ve had books in the past that had taken a dip in reviews, but nothing like this. Maybe it had been the success of the book prior. People ate up the story about Heart and Daniel. It was unexpected and wrapped up with a happy ending like it was tied with a red velvet bow. When I shared that it was based on a true story, while keeping them anonymous, of course, fans went wild. It steadily climbed up the bestseller’s list until it was number one.

Then my breakup happened. And the stalker. There was no happy ending in my life, making it difficult to write the one my readers wanted. I hadn’t written since, much to the disappointment of my agent who was hounding me. I knew there was a real threat of being dropped from my publisher, but I just couldn’t will myself to sit down and type anything.

I needed a break from writing, but that meant less money coming in, which was why I took this job. One that I now see might have been a mistake.

I heard Kathy clear her throat as Troy and I failed to introduce ourselves to each other or utter a single word at that. I lurched forward awkwardly, trying my best to keep my composure, and trying my best to act as if I hadn’t just slept with the man in front of me.

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Gunner,” I said, holding out my hand.

He hesitated for a moment before taking it in his and shaking it gently. It wasn’t a firm, business-like grip. It was more intimate. Tender. It made me suck in a silent breath.

“Please. Call me Troy. It’s nice to meet you too, Monica. Monica…”

“Durall.”

He held my hand a moment too long before I slipped it away, all the feelings of last night returning in a single touch. I wondered if he felt it too.

My cheeks flushed as Kathy looked between the two of us curiously. I wondered if she somehow could see the tension that was building between us with each passing second. It felt like the room was going to explode.

“Daniel had nothing but good things to say about you, Monica,” said Troy.

“I’m happy to hear that. Daniel is a good friend of mine. Now.”

It wasn’t always that way.

I heard Kathy snort slightly and I looked at her curiously. I could tell when I met her that she wasn’t too thrilled with how I’d been hired. It seemed like she usually had a say in everything, and I was quite the surprise walking in this morning. I wasn’t sure if I was all that fond of her either, based on my first impression. I felt a small relief that she wasn’t going to be my boss, and that was saying something given the circumstances.

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