The Billionaire's Assistant

Chapter 9

The elevator dinged and Courtney stepped on, her face tight. Kat nearly pitied her, she couldn't imagine falling for someone she couldn't have, someone who didn't seem to want her the same way, who took advantage of her devotion. Especially someone that looked like him. The doors slid shut and Kat and Jove were finally alone, still standing in the lofty doorway of his outsized office. She felt his eyes turn towards her and she thought her heart might beat out of her chest, its thud pulsating in her ears. She took a deep breath and returned his gaze, instantly falling into the pit of his deep azure eyes. He smiled, a real smile, a full one, and Kat felt her knees nearly buckle, his previous smirk paling in comparison to the charm of his true mirth.

"I just got you a job, didn't I?" He asks, and to her surprise, Kat laughs.

"Yea," she confirms sheepishly. "I wasn't sure if I should say."

"With Courtney, you never need to say," he sighed, turning back into his office. "Come on."

Kat took a few steps into the room behind him and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the decor differed greatly from the modern fixtures that outfitted the majority of the building Kat had seen so far. Instead of sleek metal and sharp lines, the office was filled with ornate wooden furniture in multiple hues, the desk a large slab of what Kat immediately recognized as redwood. A tall brown leather chair was tucked into the desk and two matching brown leather love seats were positioned on its opposite side. The office was large and airy yet deceptively cozy despite its high ceilings, the effect only intensified by the fire crackling in the glass covered fireplace on the left wall. On the right a round table, its wood the darkest hue in the room, sat with 4 more brown swivel chairs around it, their leather upholstery matching the enlarged version that stood at attention behind Jove's desk. The rug was a plush, ornate oriental pattern and was as wide as the entire room, its edges reaching all 4 brown sided boarded walls. The walls were cream above the decorative wood paneling, and intricate designs were carved into its baseboards. Behind the desk an enormous picture window dominated the majority of the back wall, and a pristine view of the lake, wooded park, and surrounding forests greeted Kat with a flourish. A laptop sat open on Jove's desk but the room was otherwise empty of any personalization, devoid of any signs of use like a well staged model home.

Jove watched her carefully as she took in the room, his eyes searching her expression. She noticed and flushed at the attention, finding herself looking down just as Courtney had. It was too much, his gaze. It was too powerful, too alluring. It revealed too much, although not about him. She cringed internally at her weakness. He was a man, a selfish man, a womanizer, a billionaire who was killing the planet. She was here to take him down, and she'd be damned if a pair of blue eyes stopped her. She lifted her head again, setting her chin in defiance. A corner of Joves mouth rose as if in approval and he leaned backwards to rest his hips against the desk, still taller than Kat despite his non upright angle.

"She always likes to come up here," he said, flicking his chin back towards the elevator doors. "Makes up an excuse anytime she gets the chance. I figured she was driving you crazy too so I thought I'd step in." He frowns for a flash, then laughs. "If you interview with Courtney, you're owed a job at minimum, you might even be entitled to compensation for emotional distress.

Kat laughed again, surprising herself once more with the ease with which her giggles slipped out. She was nervous to be sure, but she also felt an underlying sense of calm, of familiarity. Jove's mismatched office was decorated similarly to her college library, and she realized she must have settled her nerves automatically through subconscious association.

"If you got in here for an interview they already did 3 levels of background checks, so really all I did was save you from another few hours of answering questions and signing papers," he said. A coy expression crept back onto his face. "But you still owe me one."