His (Personal) Assistant

DAY ONE

Shivaay checked his watch as he strode purposefully through the reception toward the silver lifts that would take him up to his office. It was only two minutes to six, and he smirked as he wondered if Annika was ready for him. It had been at least five years since he'd seen her before she walked into his office to interview as his assistant, and she'd looked better, far better, than he remembered. Of course, he'd never really taken much notice of Viren' little sister in the first place, as Annika was always somewhat quiet and bookish, and even after she'd matured into a young woman, he found it difficult to look at her as anything more than the tomboy who used to follow him and Viren around at school, tattling on them when they told her to go away. But now... He sighed running a hand through his hair. Even in her ugly clothes and those god-awful shoes, he'd been unable to help noticing she was most definitely a woman, and one with a great body to boot. Her long dark hair had been just as flashy as ever, but less frizzy than he recalled, and she'd definitely been wearing make-up enough for him to notice.

He tapped his foot as the lift opened up, and he strode down the plush carpeting toward his office, nodding at a few co-workers who wore bored, Monday expressions, smirking to himself as he wondered if Annika had taken his advice about her shoes. Certainly he wouldn't actually fire her over something so unimportant, but she'd seemed to take him at his word, and it amused him to think she was so literal or rather naive.

"Morning," said a bright voice as he turned into his office suite, and he glanced down to find Annika at his elbow, steaming coffee in one hand, a neat stack of files in the other. Shivaay, however, didn't see the coffee or expense report. He couldn't look away from his new assistant. It had to be Annika, because she still had the same eager expression she'd worn at the end of the interview and same flaming dark hair, but everything else about the young woman had changed, and drastically.

She was wearing four-inch, stiletto-heeled boots that were done in a soft caramel-coloured leather and came to just below her knees, a pair of very fitted deep burgundy jeans and a billowy, oversized white blouse she'd belted that exposed a generous portion of creamy shoulder. Shivaay gulped, finally looking into her eyes, noticing as he did that she'd ramped up her make-up with dark liner and twisted her long hair into a messy bun atop her head. "Morning," he managed to reply, clearing his throat. "I see you took my advice on the shoes."

She shrugged, brushing a stray wisp of hair that had escaped her bun off her face. "My cousin Gauri pretty much threatened me to get a new wardrobe after I told her about this job, so I figured what the hell."

"Ah, Gauri Vadhera," Shivaay said, his tone clipped. "I see. She's well, I assume?"

"As always."

"Lovely. Enough pleasantries," her boss said briskly, settling himself behind his desk as Annika placed his coffee and the files in front of him, "I need to get in touch with the Departmental Heads to revise the budget drafts for the next quarter and tomorrow is my mother's birthday, so send flowers or whatever you think is appropriate and leave me the card to sign after lunch."

"You don't want to pick it out yourself?" she asked incredulously, pausing in her note-taking.

He glanced up at her sharply. "Do you want this job or not, Annika? I told you what the expectations were, so if you're not up to it..."

"No," she said quickly, "I never meant- That's to say, I don't think- I mean, I can do this, I-"

"Excellent," he interjected and glanced down at the report before him. "So since you're capable, I'd appreciate less questions whose answers are obvious, and more listening. Now then, I'm expecting an e-mail from the Finance Ministry, so the moment it arrives I'd like to be notified. Until then, I'm busy." Annika nodded and departed swiftly, not noticing the way Shivaay glanced up from the file to watch her stride away from him, his gaze fixed on her ass.