Chapter 05

GUNNAR

A woman who hadn't raised her voice or spoken out of line to me during her two months of working here somehow managed to tell me off and storm out of my office, leaving me flabbergasted. The day she came for her interview was the day I knew I would hate the stupid girl. Because she was exactly that, a girl. An eighteen-year-old girl, fresh out of high school who wanted to be my PA. And as luck would have it, no one else wanted the position so I had no choice but to hire her.

Two months down the line and she was still here. Besides Katie, she was the only girl that lasted this long. Everyone else quit in a matter of days, maybe two weeks at most. I had a temper, that wasn't unknown to anyone. Taking out my anger on the first person I saw was generally the way I dealt with that temper. And the first person I usually saw was always my assistant who all happened to be girls that could not handle me.

I thought Miss. Quinzel was one of those girls. With her always flushing under my hard glare and her stumbling over her words and feet whenever in front of me, I thought she would last most three days before she would hand in her resignation. It frustrated me when she proved me wrong. I hated being proved wrong. And then she went and did it again when she decided to finally speak back to me.

She didn't even sass me to defend herself from one of my many blowouts. No, what brought her to her breaking point was endangering people's lives with the choice of resources I chose to use. I concluded that she was too kind for this world. For the ruthless people that came with working in a business like this.

But since she left, her words nagged me continuously. She made certain to make the meeting I had awkward — more than usual considering she never knew what to say to me. Her awkwardness would have been endearing if it didn't piss me off. After the meeting, I ordered her to compile the minutes while I asked someone else to bring me all the files pertaining to Asher Holdings' past business affairs. That was usually the job of my PA but I didn't want her to gain the satisfaction of knowing she had me questioning myself.

She had a point to her kindhearted madness though. I didn't care about the people, I cared about my business and if making a deal like this would jeopardize my future then I would let it be. Harper Designs could have it and I'd gladly watch how their plans backfired, bringing the company crumbling down. Because that was my main aim. That was what I ultimately wanted.

The door to my office burst open, Katie strutting in with a massive grin on her face with Miss. Quinzel behind her. The scowl on my PA's face was comical and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep the smile off my lips. Out of everyone who ever worked for me, she was the only one who could even get me to feel a tiny bit amused and most of the time it was at her expense.

"Katie?" I questioned but my tone came out emotionless. We didn't plan to meet today so there was no reason for her to be here.

"Sorry," Miss. Quinzel mumbled, dropping her gaze to her shoes and frowning, "I tried stopping her but she's persistent." She kept her voice soft and respectful the way she always did. It was impressive. I lied when I said she had no maturity. She had far more than most people her age and older.

"It's fine," I finally said, "leave." I waved her off and returned my attention to the file I had been going through. My mind was elsewhere so I had been reading the same page for the past half an hour.

I heard the door close and Katie make a sound of disapproval, "Can't believe she's still around," she huffed and from my peripheral, I saw her taking a seat on the leather couch, "she must be really good at sucking up for you not to have fired her as yet, or sucking in general."

I growled, offended that she thought so lowly of me, "Don't be fucking stupid," I brought my eyes to her green ones and leveled her with a glare, "just because you had to suck my cock to keep your position doesn't mean everyone else does."

Her jaw dropped and her full lips formed an 'O'. I watched as she tossed her fake blonde hair over her shoulder — she was a natural brunette but apparently, she wasn't happy with that. At twenty-four, she finally decided to resign from being my PA to join an interior decorating company. I still kept up my relations with her solely because she made a good fuck. Always had and probably always would. She would be nothing more and I assumed she knew that.

"You weren't complaining then," she grimaced, pouting her lips and furrowing her brows.

"And I'm not complaining now," I bluntly pointed out, running my tongue over my bottom lip as I let my eyes travel down her body. Her body was enough to have me straining in my dress slacks, "I'm just warning you not to make such assumptions. She's actually good at her job."

"Yeah," she scoffed, "I believe that."

I clenched my molars and fisted the armrests of the chair to prevent myself from cursing the hell out of her. Katie knew how to rub me the wrong way as much as she knew how to rub me the right way. It was my anger that probably turned her on because she liked it rough.

"What are you doing here?" I grumbled, releasing one of the armrests to scrub my tamed beard. I kept it short and neat because it made me look intimidating. Growing it any longer would make me look like a caveman in a suit.

"You sent me a dress and a mask, I came to ask what it's for," she offered with a tight smile.

"You'll be attending a ball with me on Saturday. That is what you will wear," I shrugged a shoulder, "I'm sure it's to your liking." To be honest, I wasn't sure what Miss. Quinzel had picked but she seemed to please Katie's tastes thus far so I had full faith in her.

And that was rare because I never put faith in anybody.

Katie's lips split into an ear-to-ear grin and excitement flared in her eyes. She would definitely be enjoying this ball more than me, "Oh, it's a date handsome!" She rose to her feet and shot me a suggestive wink, "I better get going. I have a client I need to meet about designing the interior of her new home."

"Have a good day, I guess." I tried giving her a genuine smile but it felt forced and probably looked that way too.

I felt a million times better when she finally left me in peace. It was in silence that I found myself feeling the most at ease. I was a naturally reserved person, hating being around people and crowds. The reason I took Katie to events was because she drew the attention of everybody away from me. She had natural people skills and that meant I could easily take a back seat while she stood front and center. She had attended so many events with me that she earned the title of my girlfriend. That was what social media thought of us as and my office staff. Only Katie and I knew that we were far from being the glorified couple they portrayed us to be.

Looking at the time on my watch, I noticed that it was a little past one which meant Daniella must have gone down to get coffee. She usually brought up a cup for me as well. It didn't take her long to learn how I liked my coffee. I was a simple man and I liked my coffee that way too — strong, black, with about five teaspoons of sugar. Since I barely slept, it was the strong caffeine of the coffee that kept me awake. Recently, not even that could help me. I was almost certain that my body was growing immune to it.

I knew which coffee shop the girl went to. She was usually accompanied by two of my other employees, Jaxon and Priyanka. Because I had nothing better to do and needed some fresh air since I hadn't left the building from yesterday morning, I decided I'd stroll down to the quiet cafe. It was because I worked late more often than not, that was why I stayed at the office. It made sense for me to sleep on the couch here. I had an adjoined bathroom and some spare clothes as well just for times like these.

Stepping out of my office, I took notice of how every set of eyes in the room landed on me. It was a known fact that my presence alone commanded authority. Squaring my shoulders and doing up the button on my suit blazer, I strode toward the elevator. I was thankful that the confined space remained empty on my trip down to the first floor. Touching and being close to other people wasn't something I was fond of. I strayed away from any form of human interaction as far as possible. Unfortunately, it was difficult to do that while walking toward the coffee shop because of how busy the street was.

Tucking my hands into my pockets, I held my head up high as I shoved my way through the crowd. I was beginning to second guess this idea. Maybe I should have waited till she returned to the office to talk to her. But that wouldn't have worked. I would rather do it while I still had the guts to.

A heavy sigh of relief escaped me when I found myself in front of the coffee shop. I could see Daniella, Jaxon, and Priyanka sitting next to the window overlooking the bustling street. Her crystal blue eyes instantly met mine and she swallowed.

Pulling the corner of my bottom lip between my teeth, I stood there and took in her details. Her strawberry blonde hair was wavy and framed her oval-shaped face. She had sharp, high cheekbones that made her face slim and pouty, full lips. I barely saw her smile but whenever I caught a glimpse of it, it left me breathless. It lit up her entire face.

I shook my head, ridding myself of those thoughts as I entered the shop. Daniella watched me, eyes never leaving mine as I made my way up to her. Her company turned their attention to me, both looking stunned to see me in their presence.

Clearing my throat, I pinned Daniella down with a stern glare, "May I speak with you, Miss. Quinzel?"

Blood pooled behind the thin veil of skin covering her cheeks and she nodded. She slid down from the barstool she was seated on and stood beside me, "Would you like to get a table?"

"Yes." Was my curt response. We found a table easily. One nestled in the dimly lit corner of the cafe. I made an effort to be polite by pulling her chair out for her. She seemed taken aback by the action. Unbuttoning my jacket, I took a seat opposite her.

She tucked her hair behind her ear before asking, "Could this not have waited till later, sir?"

I shook my head, "No. I wanted to tell you that..." This was far more difficult than I expected. Admitting I was wrong was something I rarely did, "That you were right." I grumbled under my breath but I knew she heard me by the way her blue eyes lit up in amusement, "I looked through some dated files and came across an incident where Asher used recycled concrete before and all companies affiliated with the project suffered the backlash."

She rose a perfectly arched brow at me, "So, you don't wish to do business with them anymore?"

"Might as well not. If anything untoward happens I'd rather the Harper's suffer the consequences," I answered truthfully to which she scowled.

"With all due respect, sir, I believe you need to adjust your moral compass," she seethed and my lips twitched before settling again.

She almost provoked a smile out of me, "I must ask, what made you want to be my assistant, Daniella?" That was the first time I had addressed her by her name and the second she heard it, she cringed and shrunk deeper into the chair.

"Refer to me by my last name or you can call me Q," she whispered, eyes cast down to her twiddling thumbs, "I needed a job and you paid well so I thought I'd rather go big or go home." She gnawed at her bottom lip relentlessly.

"Alright then, Miss. Quinzel, what do you plan to do in the future?"

Her head shot up, lips parting, "Why?"

"It's simple, if you're going to be this soft-hearted I'd suggest a different career choice.  You're too kind for this world but don't let them steal that from you."