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"Temporary, I think. I'm not really sure. It depends." If I could keep my clients’ names and needs straight, I'd be able to help them more effectively, and if I did my job well, they wouldn't need me to do it forever.
"Well, when do I start?"
"Tomorrow?" Reaching down to the floor, I grabbed my briefcase, slid it onto the seat beside me and popped it open, extracting the handful of files that Nyla had dropped off last night, and a confidentiality contract.
Setting the files on the table, I passed her the contract. "I'd need you to sign this first, and then once that is done, find a way to organize the information on their files and keep track of those appointments just the same as you do my legal ones."
"Do you have a pen?"
I withdrew one from the inner pocket of my suit lapel and handed it to her. Pushing her food to the end of the table, she cleared a spot in front of her and signed the contract without reading it.
"You didn't even glance at it," I accused. "Do you know what you signed?"
"Yeah. A confidentiality agreement. Pretty self-explanatory."
"Read it," I commanded, my palms itching. I could not have an assistant who would sign something blindly without reading it. That would not do.
"I'll read it later." She waved me off.
"Read it now." Narrowing my eyes, I gave her my Daddiest glare. It worked like a charm.
"Okay, okay, I'll read it now. Sheesh."
I sat and watched her do so, noting each time her expression changed, saying nothing until she'd finished.
"Now that you've read it, would you still sign it?"
"Yes of course. It's exactly what you said it was."
"Right. Because I'm an honest type of guy, but Audrey, signing a contract without reading it is how you get yourself screwed. You can end up in a position you don't want to be in."
"Yeah. You're right. That was dumb. I'm sorry. I can be a real idiot sometimes." There it was again: the same expression of self-doubt and low confidence that I'd noticed when she'd gasped a little too loudly. Where was it coming from?
"You're not an idiot," I assured her. "Just don't do it again."
"Yes, Sir. I promise. No more signing my name to something I haven't read."
The honorific, which I was sure fell under the realm of politeness because I was her boss and also her elder, still made my dick twitch.
"Good girl," I murmured. Taking a sip of my iced tea, I glanced at my watch. "Well, lunch is almost over and I've got those meetings this afternoon. Let's finish up and get out of here."
"Yes, Sir." She said it again and I had the same reaction as the first time.
Shit. I could not be attracted to my secretary.
Audrey
"Good girl." Archer's low murmur of praise played through my mind on repeat, doing funny things to my insides. How long had I waited to hear validation or acknowledgment that I wasn’t a fuck-up? Weeks? Months? Years? Pretty much my whole life. If I'd ever been called a good girl before, I couldn't remember when it would have happened, or who would have said it. A teacher maybe? Certainly not my parents, nor any of the assholes I'd dated.
And as Archer and I walked back to the office together, I knew one thing for sure. I would do anything, absolutely anything to hear him say it again.
"I'll ping you the rest of the information I need organized," Archer said, pausing in the doorway of his office when we got back. "And I'll need someone to give me a reminder of sorts before each appointment. Just a text. Who it’s with. Where to go. What their main issues are. What uh… their limits are." He looked down as he said that last bit, as if embarrassed. It made no sense. The Archer Brennan I knew was a self-assured, somewhat-cocky shark. And yet here he was talking about something that was an important and huge part of his personality and lifestyle and he was practically blushing. I wondered exactly what I was going to find in those files.
"I believe I have an appointment tomorrow, so the sooner you can get it done, the better," he continued.
"Yes, Sir. Sure thing. I'll do it tonight."
His eyebrows shot up at the same time the corners of his mouth turned down in a frown. "Oh no, I didn't mean for you to do it on your own time. Please don't do that."
