Chapter 1

“Freshen up, Miss Reid, and meet me back in the living room in thirty minutes. We have a lot of work to do”, Gabriel Sullivan commanded pouring himself a drink with one hand and removing his tie with the other hand.

Reid King stared at her boss through tired eyes filled with resentment she had learned to hide quite well during the short period she began working for him. 

Nevertheless, she was tired. They had landed at the airport that morning and had gone from one meeting after the next and now had only just arrived at the hotel they were staying at and all she wanted was a hot shower and a good night's sleep for tomorrow's busy schedule.

Sadly,Mr Gabriel wasn't done working, and that meant no sleep for Reid until he said so.

“Yes, Mr. Gabriel”, She said keeping her voice emotionless. He acknowledged her response with a nod and began looking through the contents of a stock market pamphlet with intense focus.

When Reid learned that she would be sharing the penthouse suite of one of the most exclusive hotels in Dubai with her boss, she had a moment of panic, until she'd seen the suite. It had a large living area, two huge bedrooms and two full bathrooms. Her entire apartment could fit into it ten times over.

Reid rolled her head on her shoulders and listened to her neck creak with the movement. She sighed and began looking through her suitcase for a change of clothing and started for the bathroom. It annoyed her how her boss looked like he could work for hours and hours while she felt like she could sleep for weeks.

She was back in the bedroom a few minutes later with comfortable clothes to work in and her hair was still damp from the shower.

Reid stared at her reflection in the mirror and saw a woman with stunning icy blue eyes that sparkled with shimmering intensity under the sunlight on a crystal clear ocean, from the tip of her head to the soles of her feet she had alluring features that made men turn heads. She knew she was still beautiful despite all she had gone through in the past few years trying to pick up the pieces of her broken life.

She hadn't bothered with any makeup and knowing him Reid hoped he wouldn't mind her lack of formal appearance and breathed a sigh of relief to see he had already discarded his tie and rolled up his shirt sleeves revealing masculine forearms she tried so hard not to stare at.

He looked up as she walked into the room.

“Go through today's minutes and make a list of all the important details, then take care of today's mail. Get started now so we can make headway before the day is completely over, I have to make a few calls”, he ordered.

Reid stared at his broad back as he turned away before walking over to her laptop with a suppressed sigh. She was starving and wondered if she should call room service.

Her blue eyes darted through the room and locked in a room service cart casually placed on the side of the wall with empty plates stacked on top of each other. She gasped in outrage after another lady around the room told her her arrogant boss had not even had the decency to order something for her. Why was he so incapable of thinking of anybody but himself “, she mused’. She was starting to dread the remainder of the day.

She picked up the room telephone to order her meal, but he had already finished his phone call and threw her a sharp look.

“Stop wasting time, King”, he growled,” We have a lot of work to do; I didn't bring you along to sit around doing nothing “, his choice of words left her fuming, and biting back a sarcastic retort she tried hard to swallow her anger at him. 

Reid knew he didn't trust her, she saw it in his actions and the way he looked at her. Despite being his secretary he always avoided testing her full potential in the office and up until now, he always relegated the most basic menial tasks to her. It pained her but she knew that due to the last-minute nature of this trip, she was his only choice as his secretary, which was one of the reasons why she had wanted to go on this trip. 

She wanted to prove to him that she was just as good and capable of being his secretary.

Even the excitement of going on this trip had dwindled with the fact that he had been an absolute jerk all day she was beginning to second guess the trip and wondered if she could jump on the next plane home.

Calm down! Calm down! She chanted repeatedly over and over again to herself and had to hold back from flicking him off. As she she sat down her stomach rumbled in hunger reminding her that she hadn't eaten all day.

Two hours later after going through some of the emails and the notes from the day's meetings. Reid was starting to feel cross-eyed from staring at her laptop screen for too long. 

Her brain felt like mush and she was already drooping from exhaustion. Although she hadn't eaten all day she was too tired to think about her stomach.

Gabriel peered at her over the top of his glasses when she started yawning registering her tired eyes and drooping body.

“Let's take a break”, he suggested, filling her with gratitude. A glance at her boss told her while he had suggested a break, he wasn't taking one himself. He had a relentless trait which she found both admirable and frustrating because it goes to show how hard he had worked to become successful and frustrating because it directly affected her.

With his head bent once more over his laptop, Reid found herself appreciating a spectacular view of her boss. Big and sexy Gabriel Sullivan as she had never seen before, ruffled and completely disheveled. 

The look suited him and gave him an edge that the normally urbane man kept hidden beneath layers of intimidating sophistication and flawless tailoring. It was an image she tried hard to put out of her head because it made him seem more approachable than he usually was.

Snapping herself out of her reverie, telling herself that her boss was the last person she should be daydreaming about. Looking up she found herself staring into brown eyes that were staring back at her. Her mind finally registered the shift in the mood.

“Oh great! He had caught her staring.