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“Sorry about that,” she said. “Casey warned me I should beat you here. I had a long night getting settled in.”
I could sense right away—Ariane had a dark side to her. Not a bad one. One that was still professional, but screamed that she would defend herself if she felt she was being treated unfairly. I liked that about a personal assistant, but mostly about a woman.
“We all enjoy a good night out from time to time,” I said. “But I expect priorities to be kept in check. It doesn’t matter what you do in your free time, as long as the company comes first. I tell that not only to my assistants, but to every employee who steps foot into this building.”
She looked as though she wanted to change her mind about taking the job, but her head nodded anyway.
“Yes sir, Mr. Taylor. I understand and will make sure to keep that in mind.”
My name had a ring to it coming from her lips. The way her tongue rolled off the Y in Taylor ignited a familiar tug in my groin which was quite surprising. She was half my age, and I usually wasn’t attracted to younglings. It was a good thing I was sitting behind my desk at the time, otherwise she would have seen the twitch between my thighs.
“Good,” I said. “You won’t need your iPad today because you’ll be shadowing me, but any other morning, make sure you remember to check the planner and be sure to check the notification box to let me know you’re on board for the day.”
“Got it.” She nodded.
She didn’t speak much that morning. I figured she might’ve had a hangover or something, until I remembered she wasn’t just a personal assistant. She was a life coach, and she was observing my behavior—as CEO and as a man—as well as taking in the demands of her job description.
When lunchtime rolled around, I took her out to my favorite place to dine for a nice southern comfort meal. It was my own little soup kitchen in the heart of the city, where I enjoyed feeding the homeless and giving back to the community. Me being a family man, I had moved four of my cousins to New York to run the kitchen for me. These women were some of the best cooks I’d ever known in my life, so of course they were first in line for the job.
“I come here about twice a week, unless stated otherwise on the planner.” I gave Ariane the scoop on the kitchen while I escorted her to where the magic was made. “These are my cousins: Brenda, Tasha, Martha, and Ashley. They run this place, make sure everyone has a hot meal, especially around wintertime. Sometimes I'll have you come down here to make a donation on my behalf, pick up orders, drop off orders, or conduct interviews. Whatever needs to be done that day.”
“OO! He is so uptight, isn’t he?” Martha, my eldest cousin cut me off to introduce herself to Ariane. “I’m Martha. I’m the boss around here,” she teased. “It’s nice to have you on board.”
“Nice to meet you too,” Ariane laughed. “All of you. It smells good in here!”
I was amazed to see how she connected with my family. She exuded confidence and humbleness. She was very bubbly and cheery about everything—so helpful and upbeat even though I had started out the day being a complete scrooge to her.
I was surprised by how well she adapted to taking charge and jumping straight into action. I didn’t have to give her nearly as many instructions as I’d had to give my last assistant; it was like she already knew what I needed done and did it.
We helped out at the kitchen for about three hours before we were on to our next task of the day. An old daycare owner wanted to revamp her building and I needed to take a visual so that I knew what I was working with.
“When I do visuals, I like to get good video and pictures of the building—layout, structure, whatever. We have a designated camera for the best quality. Some days I'll have you take my place and do these things on your own—if I'm too busy—but since this is an already-made project, I like to see it in person. Any time a project is already made, make sure you mention that on the planner and schedule a day for me to check it out whenever I have the time. Otherwise, I'll make a note for you to go out and take photos and video instead.”
Ariane nodded her head and took down her notes while I directed. That was something I admired about her as well—she was very organized. She liked to know exactly what she was doing, and if there was something she felt needed to be improved or could be done better, she made sure to make a note of it.
“So, what did you think?” I asked, as we were on our way back to the office for the day. “A lot of people think I'm too strict or call me a perfectionist. And that may be so, but it’s how I do business. I give everyone the chance to back away after our first meeting, no hard feelings.”
“I’ve had my fair share of difficulty,” she said. “I’m sure you and I will find our common ground somewhere along the way.”
Chapter Four
Ariane
WhenIsawLoganthat morning, my hangover had flown right out the window. I swear I thought he would fire me the minute he smelled the previous night's enjoyment on my skin, but he hadn’t. He’d tested me instead. Scolded me in a way that turned me on more than it intimidated me, which was surprising as I’m not into older men. Though I hated to admit—Logan was an exception. He looked so damn hot for his age. His broad shoulders made him look even taller than his six feet two. His strong thighs suggested he exercised regularly. His deep blue eyes—I could get lost in them, the way they sparkled as he spoke was so captivating. He was charming and energetic. I did think he was a bit uptight and could use a lesson on how to talk to people, but he possessed the perfect amount of handsome for me to let it slide.
His daily routine wasn’t really much of a routine. It was more of a checklist of different tasks that needed to be taken care of throughout the week. Every day—from what I saw on the iPad—was different. He didn’t have a set schedule for anything, even though he thought he did. So, I took it upon myself to stay later at the office to organize a few things and file some much-needed paperwork.
“How was the first day?”
Casey poked her head into my office while I was deep into my organizing. I saw her profile from the corner of my eye, and my mind jumped straight to Lucas. Their resemblance was striking. The way she pressed her lips together while trying to remember something reminded me so much of her brother.
“Well.” I smiled as she came all the way in. “It started out a little harsh, but throughout the day, things got lighter.”
“I heard.” Her eyes playfully widened. “This morning when you got here after him, I said oh my god he is gonna rip her a new one, but he actually took it pretty easy on you, girl. I don’t know what he sees or what he likes about you, but it’s definitely something.”
Hearing her say that Logan thought there was something special about me made me wonder how he felt. I’d gotten a taste for whatever his thoughts were by the way he looked at me earlier in the day—lustful and tempted—but I’d been too focused on making sure I got everything right to really take it in.
“Why is he so uptight?” I asked. “I mean, I can understand the pressure of being in such high demand, but does he ever just have fun? Go on a date? Have sex?” I chuckled.
