After embellishing her resume, Valerie-a single mom-lands a job as an administrative assistant to the hottest, most entitled and obnoxious man she's ever met: Preston Cartwright, the CFO of the prestigious Cartwright & Sons Enterprises.
Several yea...
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I try to calm myself down and focus on what Hayes asked me to review, but it's difficult. I'm annoyed at his interruption, even though I don't have a right to be. We're in the middle of a work crisis, yet all I want to think about is continuing where I left off with Valerie the other day. Being so close to her and not be able to touch her is pure torture. My dick is doing everything it can to stay hard, no matter how hard—no pun intended—I try to think about something else. Anything else.
Hayes tells Valerie that Andrew wants to see her, so she leaves. I sit down at my desk and read over the statement one more time. The update is good. Short and to the point. I agree with almost all of it except for one minor detail about the timeline that I ask him to change.
Hayes makes the correction and leaves to go down to the Public Relations department. I follow him out of my office and walk over to Andrew's. I don't bother to knock, I just steps inside and close the door gently behind me.
Valerie is sitting on the couch next to Easton, with Andrew on the chair across from them. Easton grins at me, while Valerie's focus is on Andrew, who's talking about the outcome of the Marramount. He acknowledges me with a nod, but doesn't skip a beat. He goes on and on while I look back at Valerie. Her eyes are shiny with tears and I'm instantly annoyed at my brothers and ready to step in and argue. How dare they make her upset?
But then her eyes meet mine, and she gives me a shy smile. And I recognize I'm missing something.
"We're very grateful for the excellent job you've done here at Cartwright & Sons," Andrew says and I feel my shoulders relax. "Thanks to your thorough review of all the records, we've been able to put a stop to all the bleeding. The Police arrested both Demers and Peter this morning. We're confident that with some added work we'll be able to finish on time, and without going any further over the budget. As a thank you for your excellent work, we want to offer you a position in our finance department, specifically overseeing construction."
Damn. I didn't even know about this.
I look at Andrew and see him smirk.
I'd hate to see her go, but this is a great opportunity for her, and there is no way I'm going to let my need to be close to her stand in the way of her happiness.
Valerie just blinks.
"We'll be increasing your salary by twenty-five thousand a year," Andrew continues.
There's a strange, almost choking sound coming from her. She clears her voice slowly and whisperers, "Twenty-five thousand?"
"Yes," Andrew agrees. "And a thank you bonus of fifteen thousand."
Valerie's eyes go so round it's almost comical. I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing. She's so freaking cute when she's overwhelmed. And at this point, she is almost freaking out.
"I don't know what to say," she responds just at tear slips out of her eye. She turns her head to the side and uses her hand to wipe it away. I'm pretty sure both Andrew and Easton notices it, but neither of them points it out.
