The Contract; A Billionaire Romance (18+)

FOUR

Odessa

I step into my office and set my stuff down on my desk, only to see my work laptop is not where I last left it. I do a 360 with white-hot fear suddenly burning through my body, scanning my nearly empty office just in case it got misplaced, but there's nothing in here besides a potted plant, my desk, and a chair.

Did I take it home? No, I know I didn't. Why would I bring it home?

"What the hell?" I ask myself, muttering obscenities under my breath. Please don't tell me I lost my laptop. My ass is going to get canned if that's the case.

"Good morning," Aden says from the open door to my office. I whip on my heels with fear in my eyes. I try to come up with a way to spill the news to him with the least likelihood of getting fired but fall short. There's no getting out of this one. His eyes scan my face that's slowly turning as white as a sheet and my parted mouth, words failing to meet my lips, and a knowing look crosses his face as he smirks. "I have your laptop in my office." He turns on his heel and leaves, so I follow behind him with a sigh of relief.

"Please don't scare me like that again," I say from behind him, smacking the back of his shoulder in a scolding matter. "I thought I was going to get fired for losing my laptop."

"No, it looks like you'll have to find a different way for me to fire you, unfortunately." He chuckles slightly as he opens his door, and I take in the small wooden desk in the room's corner with my laptop on top.

"What is this?"

"Your temporary workstation. It's just until I can trust you on your own." I give him a look, but he doesn't give me so much as an explanation.

"So, you're going to babysit me?" I cross my arms as I stare daggers into the back of his head. The gal of this man!

"That's juvenile, don't you think?" He gives me a look with a raised eyebrow.

"That's what this is. You don't trust me, so you're going to hover over me."

"I do trust you."

"You literally just said you didn't."

"I trust you, but not the work you do." He turns to me and shoves his fist in his pockets, parting his suit across his hips. He's wearing a mocha brown three-piece suit with a dark blue tie and looks good enough to eat.

Get ahold of yourself, Dess.

"Thanks for the confidence boost."

"I'm just being honest." He shrugs off his jacket and tosses it over an armchair, stalking around his desk as he adjusts his watch on his wrist. He grabs a folder of paperwork that sits on his desk and walks back over to me, my eyes holding his the whole way as he holds it out to me. "I need this typed out and emailed over to our new sellers. It's a new contract for all the businesses you scheduled meetings with yesterday. Maybe, next time, keep it to a minimum of five meetings. They're admittedly not my favorite."

"You're the one who approved them." I look down at the fat stack of paperwork inside the manilla envelope. "Besides, can't I just scan these—"

"Sorry, I didn't realize you are now the CEO." The file hangs midair as he offers it, and I glare at him but finally nod and rip it from his hand. He smiles in triumph and I long to smack the smirk from his lips, but instead, I turn and sit on my chair, open my computer, and sign in without a word.