This

Chapter 10

 “Olivia?” Mark said, letting out a long, loud laugh.

“She keeps making snide comments about having you to herself and stuff.” I mumbled. Mark sat in the chair beside mine, crossing his ankle over his knee.

“Olivia was my best friend in high school and she had this huge crush on me. She kind of lost the plot when I made partner and she didn't. Now she's trying to sleep her way to the top, and I'm the last rung on her ladder.” Oh. That made sense.

“I'm sorry, she just really gets on my nerves. She's cruel,” I said, and Mark reached over to pat me knee sympathetically.

“I know. But you'll be up here, away from her and her letter-opener,” he said smiling, but I felt my eyes widen in horror.

“I was told it was a stapler to the hand.”

“Two separate occasions. Anyway, tonight after work we can swing by the hotel and pick up your stuff and you can pay the bill. Renee is cooking something fancy for dinner, chicken a la something. You're not a fussy eater, are you?” I smiled, silently thanking someone somewhere for breaking the cliché. If this were a situation in a romance novel, then he would be insisting on paying my bill, but luckily he's letting me pay it myself. Although I did have to momentarily remind myself that this wasn't a romance at all because I'd rather date that taxi driver than Mark.

“I eat anything and everything.” Mark smiled at my answer before returning to his big office chair at his desk.

“Renee is going to love you. Which is good, because my last assistant was a crazy little thing that had a psychopathic obsession with me, to the point that she sent death threats to my family, not excluding uncles and aunts I hadn't spoken to since I left Boston.” I bit my lip to hold back a chuckle but it escaped through my teeth.

“Was her name Olivia?”

“Elle, she has never been and never will be my assistant. And I've never fucked her either.” Mark's voice was low and gruff, sending a shiver down my spine. Okay, I had to admit he was attractive, but it was going to go nowhere. But why did he think I would be concerned about whether he had had sex with her?

“Anyway, now that you're not so- You're not a distraction any longer so we should begin work. There's a manuscript on your desk,” he said, motioning to the smaller desk at the other end of his office.

“You want me to read it? Aren't you meant to?” I said, but he just waved me comment off as he continued whatever paperwork he was doing.

“Honestly, I can't be fucked so I'd like it if you did it for me.” His eyes met mine, and he made a mock pleading face.

“Do you want me to do that paperwork too? It looks incredibly tiresome,” I joked. Mark laughed before nodding towards my chair.

“Just read the damn 'script, Fraser,” he said with authority, but I could hear the humour behind his voice. The chair behind my desk was even softer than the one by his desk, and I knew that given the opportunity, I would lean back in it and fall asleep. The manuscript he had left for me sucked me in within the first chapter. I was immersed in a world of catholic conspiracy, where one church was secretly creating an anti-aging serum for its priests. I could feel the plot thickening and building, and right as I knew it was about to reach its climax, Mark interrupted me.

“I was just about to climax,” I whined. Mark's expression was confused, and I quickly realised what I had said.

“I thought it was a conspiracy novel, not an erotica,” he said, leaning over my desk to try read the pages.

“It is- I didn't mean- I was just getting to the good part.” Mark held out the manuscript he had begun to read, pointing out the difference in the amount of pages we had each read; I was more than five times through more pages than him.