AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Knox
Knox had one last-minute meeting for the day that required him to run back to the office. He got off the elevator and found that Beck wasn’t at her desk and probably had already left to get ready for their dinner date. It was just as well because the last thing he needed was for his old assistant to meet his current one. Felicity Jones had called him and asked to meet him at his office. Knox had tried to blow her off, telling her that he was pretty booked for the foreseeable future, but she refused to take no for an answer. It was one of the things he liked about his former assistant—she didn’t take shit from anyone. Felicity had gotten him out of countless rough spots, unwanted meetings, and talked down many angry vendors. She was damn good at her job, but he went and fucked that all up by being an overly demanding asshole.
Knox had always been hard on his employees, expecting them to work the same crazy hours as he had. He could admit that he might have pushed Felicity too far when he called her at four in the morning, demanding the reports that he had just given her to work on the night before. He woke her and when she told him that it was inappropriate to call her outside of office hours, demanding that she get her ass into the casino to finish the reports that weren’t due for days, he acted like an ass and didn’t back down. He forced her hand and when Felicity quit without notice, he was left to fend for himself. He was desperate for a new assistant and when he found Beck, he thought his luck had finally changed. He vowed to do things differently with her, Knox just never expected that he’d break every fucking rule that he ever had with his sexy new assistant.
Knox found his messages that Beck had left him on his desk with a little post-it note that said, “Can’t wait for tonight, Beck,” on top of the pile. He had to admit, he was looking forward to their date. It was the first time in a damn long time that he was looking forward to anything. He usually didn’t date the women that he took home for sex. He’d met most of them on the casino floor when he made his rounds to make sure that everything was running smoothly and that his guests were happy and having fun—but not too much fun. Sure, he could have left all of that to his security team. He had hired an ex-Navy Seal who was more than capable. Slater Tyson was his head of security and he knew that the guy was a complete bad ass who’d be able to handle just about anything or anyone to give Knox, Ace, or their casino any trouble. But, he got a certain satisfaction by walking the floor of the empire that he and his best friend, Ace had built together.
The soft knock at his office door drew his attention and he found Felicity standing in the doorway. “Sorry to interrupt,” she breathed.
“Not at all,” Knox said. “Good to see you, Felicity. Please, come in.” She walked into his office and when he pointed to the chairs in front of his desk, she sat down.
“Thank you for seeing me. I know how busy you are,” she said. Knox made a show of checking his watch and nodded.
“I do have a dinner meeting that I need to get to in the next hour. What can I do for you, Felicity?” he asked.
She crossed her legs and smiled up at him. “I’d like my job back,” she said.
“Oh,” Knox breathed. “I heard that you were working for the Lucky Horseshoe across town. I thought I heard that you’re Brent Wilkins’s assistant now.” Gossip spread like wildfire in their little tight knit community. It was one of the reasons why he tried to hold his cards close to his vest. Keeping his competitors in the dark about what he and Ace were doing was important if they wanted to keep a leg up on the competition.
“That didn’t work out,” Felicity simply stated. “I know that it’s asking for a lot since I quit and basically left you high and dry, but you have to understand, I was angry and acted irrationally. You were asking me to work crazy hours, Knox,” she insisted. He knew that she was right, but there was no way that he could give her what she was asking for.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but your position has been filled. I’ve hired a new assistant, Beck Dax, and she started for me today, actually,” he said.
“I see,” she said. She looked over his desk and back at him, her smile still firmly in place. “The same Beck who left you that note about looking forward to tonight, Knox?” Felicity asked pointing to the post-it note.
“Shit,” Knox breathed. He tried to cover the post-it note like a child trying to hide evidence that he had just gotten caught with—a foolish effort since Felicity had already seen it. “I don’t see how that is any of your business, Felicity,” he chided.
She stood from her chair and smoothed her hands down her pencil skirt. Felicity was always so impeccably dressed and usually very professional, but the smirk on her face told him that the tide was about to change and he wasn’t going to like it one bit.
“You’re right, Knox,” she said. “Maybe I quit in haste. Maybe I should have just gone to HR and told them about your unreasonable demands. I’m sure that this new girl can’t be the first that you’ve ever had an inappropriate work relationship with, right?” she asked. He made no move to answer her, not liking where this conversation was heading.
“I think that you need to leave, Felicity,” he said.
“You’re right,” she said, grabbing her purse from her seat. “Thank you for your time, Mr. Heart. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again soon.” He didn’t ask her if she was making him a promise or issuing him a threat—he could hear in her voice which it was. He’d see her again and the next time he did, Knox was sure that he wasn’t going to enjoy that meeting any more than he had this one.
* * *
He slipped into the back of the restaurant and looked around the room, spotting Beck already sitting at the corner booth that he called to request earlier. God, she looked beautiful with her hair down around her shoulders, spilling over her back. She usually wore it up at work, but this dinner had nothing to do with them working together.
Knox took his time walking over to the corner table and he could tell the moment she spotted him—her smile lit up the room. Beck stood, showing off the sexy as sin black dress that hugged her every curve. She followed his gaze down her own body and looked back up at him as if waiting for him to say something. That was going to be easier said than done since he felt as though he had swallowed his damn tongue.
“Wow,” he breathed. “You look incredible.”
“Well, I wanted to wear something that didn’t scream, ‘Look at us—we’re having an office fling’,” she whispered, throwing her arms out wide.
“Is that what we’re doing?” he asked. “Having a fling?” Knox pulled her seat out for her and she sat back down. He sat next to her, close enough so that their thighs were touching.
“I guess we need to talk about what we’re doing together,” she said. “You know, give it some sort of definition so that we both know what to expect from the other.” Knox wanted to cringe at the mention of her expecting anything from him. He didn’t date women who expected things from him. Hell, he usually ran the other way when women started talking about their expectations and what they hoped for with him. He didn’t do relationships, but Beck made him want to try.
She giggled,” Don’t think too hard about this, Knox,” she teased. “You look about ready to combust. I don’t expect anything from you if that’s what you're worried about.”
“You don’t?” he asked.
“Nope,” she breathed. “Nothing. That’s why I’m happy to have this little dinner date before we—you know,” she whispered. He was hoping that he knew what she was referring to but Beck had him so twisted up in knots, he wasn’t exactly sure.
“Why don’t you spell it out for me?” he asked.
“Um,” she squeaked. “You know—go back to one of our places and have sex? I think that dinner beforehand was a good idea so that we can get some rules in place to help with any confusion down the road.” She looked so calm and in control, he sometimes forgot that she wasn’t the one calling the shots. That was something that they were definitely going to have to talk about because he wouldn’t give up his control, not even for his sexy assistant.
