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Author's Note
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Hello,
This story has come to an end now. I just wanted to thank every reader who has supported this story over the past few months. My intention with this story was to create a CEO story that BxB story readers can enjoy as the genre is normally dominated with straight stories. I will miss writing this story as I had fun creating all the different characters.
I am planning to enter the 'A Touch of Rainbow' contest at some point so you will all see me sometime soon. I am very excited for the contest.
Thank you again for all the support.
Cassandra Kim
Related chapters
The CEO's Little Secret First Secret
Zach took a week at Harper Publishing to realise why he had been the only person to apply for the graduate internship. The company might be well regarded, have millions of book titles under its belt and be run by a billionaire, but there was only so much smut an innocent university graduate could read in a day. His current responsibility as the erotica department intern was to read applications from budding authors and decide if they should be passed to the next application stage. The applications consisted of a plot synopsis and the first five chapters. So far he had become very cynical of the applications. Why did every prospective author think Italian millionaire playboys were the way to creating a bestseller? The application he was currently viewing was another hopeful entry into the Italian millionaire playboy genre which was enough to make him roll his eyes. However, the first five chapters did have mostly impeccable grammar which was a miracle
The CEO's Little Secret Second Secret
Zach walked into the erotica department office the next day with a more relaxed spring in his step. He had gone home the previous day and decided that he did want to be the next intern to make it through the year without quitting. After all, all he was doing was editing story drafts, he could use those skills in another job that wasn’t related to erotica. He sat down at his desk and switched on his computer, ready to take on any challenges waiting in his inbox. “Good morning,” Becca called out from her desk. “You look like you’ve decided to accept your fate as an erotica department intern.” That was certainly one way to term it. “I’m just considering the editing skills and experience I will gain,” he replied. “It’s just editing someone else’s work. The fact that it’s mostly smut doesn’t make much of a difference.” Becca gave him a thumbs up. “That’s the spirit. I’ll start forwarding you some applications.” The contents of the f
The CEO's Little Secret Third Secret
“Follow me,” the CEO ordered and addressed the entire office. “If any word of this gets out, I will sack the lot of you.” Zach turned back to see nods from all of the secretaries. Then he saw that Darien had already moved away. Zach’s short legs followed the CEO down the long corridor. Despite his quick walking, he was having trouble keeping up with the long strides of the CEO. Darien didn’t bother holding the door open for him and Zach rushed into the office before the door closed. The office was everything he would expect from the office of a billionaire. It was very spacious, everything gleamed and the interior design had definitely cost a bomb. Darien strode through the entryway and through another door to a room with a desk and a long sofa across one wall. It overlooked a stunning view of the city. The CEO sat down behind the desk and gestured at the chairs in front of it. “Sit down.” It was definitely an order and not a choice.
The CEO's Little Secret Fourth Secret
Zach spent most of the work day with his head in a daze. He was still shocked and processing the heavy burden he had agreed to. Even the worst written smut wasn't enough to pull his mind from its panic induced stupor. He edited with automatic reactions and his brain was very emotionally detached the whole time. He didn't wake from his daze until he was out of the office and was standing outside the flower shop that was around the corner from Harper Publishing's offices. It was his favourite flower shop as it stood out from the sea of modern and sleek glass fronted office buildings in the city and looked like it had been pulled straight from a country painting with yellow brickwork and hanging baskets of flowers anywhere. Zach hesitated outside and inspected the bouquets in one of the displays outside. The person who he shared his apartment with liked having a pot of flowers on the kitchen table to make their apartment look more homely. Zach also liked visitin
The CEO's Little Secret Fifth Secret
The next morning at work Zach sat down at his desk and opened his work email account. It was likely that Darien would be communicating with him soon about their agreement. The CEO would probably choose a subtle method like email to hide the connection between them. As he expected, there was an email from Darien Harper at the top of his inbox. Zach looked nervously around him. It wasn’t quite nine o’clock yet so not everyone had arrived yet. Becca was at her desk looking at her phone and Robert was unpacking his bag. There was no one to see the contents of the email so he opened it. The email was short and to the point. Meet me in my office at lunchtime. There's a lot to discuss. -Darien Harper. Zach immediately moved it to a new folder so there was no chance of anyone catching sight of Darien’s email address in his inbox. He liked lunchtime at Harper Publishing. The canteen had unexpectedly good food so to know he would be mi
The CEO's Little Secret Sixth Secret
Zach returned to the erotica department office as the lunch hour ended and slumped onto his desk chair. He had just signed a legal contract. Their arrangement wasn’t just some unofficial thing that he didn’t have to keep to anymore, he was legally bound to it.At least there was light at the end of the tunnel. No matter what happened, if Darien never changed his ways, he still had a guaranteed job at the end of it. That was a relief to know.How was the arrangement even supposed to work out? He hadn’t been given any directions from Darien.They had exchanged basic contact information, but there had been nothing else decided. Zach had noticed that he didn’t have long to return to the office before the end of the designated lunch break and they had both been keen for him to pass by the secretarial office whilst it was still empty. The less witnesses to their meeting, the better.The other members of the office trickled in at that mom
The CEO's Little Secret Seventh Secret
The location of their first meeting was a very fancy restaurant in London. Zach had read about it in articles about the best places to eat in London and it was most certainly outside of his price range. Darien had sent him a text beforehand telling him not to bother about what he was wearing as they had a private room booked. That didn’t do much to settle his nerves. Zach looked down at his coat, smartest black trousers and shoes and knew they probably wouldn’t pass at close inspection. There was nothing much he could do anyway. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the restaurant. A long mirrored hallway greeted him and he carried on down until he came to another door. A smartly dressed man was waiting on the other side. Zach felt the appraising glance and internally cringed. “Do you have a reservation?” he asked respectfully. “I’m here to meet Darien Harper,” Zach replied. Darien hadn’t found the need to book under an assumed nam
The CEO's Little Secret Eighth Secret
“Where did you get all those desserts from?” Emilia asked the following morning. Zach looked up innocently from his bowl of cereal. He had forgotten to consider that Emilia would have some questions about the sudden appearance of a plethora of desserts in neatly packed boxes in the fridge. The fridge had been fairly empty so there had been plenty of space to fill. “I went somewhere last night and picked up a lot.” He knew it sounded extremely implausible the moment he said it. He just wasn’t cut out for being a good liar. “Right,” she said very skeptically. “Sure.” He carried on eating his cereal and hoped she would drop the subject. Emilia snagged the jar of strawberry jam out the fridge and came to sit opposite him at the kitchen table. “Did you not want to make me any desserts ever again or something?” she asked. “I wanted someone to share them with,” he replied quickly. “I’ll take some to work today to free up some space.”
Latest chapter
The CEO's Little Secret Author's Note
Hello, This story has come to an end now. I just wanted to thank every reader who has supported this story over the past few months. My intention with this story was to create a CEO story that BxB story readers can enjoy as the genre is normally dominated with straight stories. I will miss writing this story as I had fun creating all the different characters. I am planning to enter the 'A Touch of Rainbow' contest at some point so you will all see me sometime soon. I am very excited for the contest. Thank you again for all the support. Cassandra Kim
The CEO's Little Secret Final Secret
1 year later:“What did you think of my latest chapter?” Darien asked. “From an editor's perspective, not as my boyfriend.”Zach glanced at his boyfriend with a critical eye. He still couldn’t quite believe that his first client as a freelance editor was Damien Black.“I had to make a lot of edits, you changed character perspectives too frequently. It wasn’t a consistently written chapter.”Darien listened to his criticism with a pout and then his pout became a cheeky smirk. His boyfriend was always keen to flirt with him no matter how formal the setting was.“What did you think as my boyfriend?”“I have the same opinion,” Zach replied with the same stern tone.His boyfriend looked disappointed and Zach didn’t bother trying to placate him. Darien always bounced back from criticism about his writing. Zach checked his watch. He had an appointm
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Ninth Secret
The weekend went too fast for Zach’s liking. It felt like two days with Darien to himself had flashed by at an impossibly fast speed.He rolled over in bed and turned off his phone alarm. He was still at Darien’s house and they were getting up early so they could get to the office without being seen together by anyone.Darien groaned next to him.“Is it time to go to work already?” he asked sleepily.Zach pulled back the bedcovers with a yawn. He had his work clothes on hand, but he did need a shower before going to work.“It is time to get up for work,” he corrected. “You’re making breakfast, I’m going in the shower.”“That’s fair,” Darien agreed and got out of bed. “I’ll see you downstairs.”Zach had a quick shower and dried his hair using the hairdryer in Darien’s personal bathroom. He hadn’t used the spare room since the nig
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Eighth Secret
“I am ready for our date,” Zach said. “Did you give the reporters the slip?”He got into the passenger seat as he spoke and Darien did his seatbelt for him.“I got my PA to drive the car here and came down here a few minutes before you,” Darien explained. “I sent all the reporters away earlier. Anyone still here is just very persistent.”Zach took a careful look at him. Darien didn’t look tense at all. In fact he looked quite happy and free. It was good to see the change. It had occurred to him that Darien might have second thoughts about coming out publicly after the press attention.“Has all the coverage from the media been positive?” Zach asked.Darien grinned at him.“Only one tabloid used homophobic slurs- there’s already some legal action going there. The reaction has been good overall. I think I might have broken a lot of hearts in the process though.”
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Seventh Secret
Darien was caught off guard by the question. Since Zach had admitted to being in love with him, his desire to come out as a gay man had been forgotten.As it stood, he wouldn’t be able to take Zach to many places on a date out of fear of being recognised. That wasn’t fair to Zach and he didn’t want to be like that either.He wanted to come out.He waited for the feelings of panic and fear over admitting to being gay to appear and they didn’t.Darien realised he had completely changed now.Since meeting Zach and falling in love with him, he had lost his fear of public opinion. He was content to come out and be honest.“I feel like I can,” Darien told him.Zach’s face lit up with excitement and he pulled him into a hug.“That’s really good, Darien,” he said. “I fulfilled my end of the contract without knowing it.”Knowing that people were going to judg
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Sixth Secret
Zach was very reluctant to leave Darien in the evening, but he knew he couldn’t call in sick for another day. Darien dropped him off outside his building after a long kiss. Zach entered his apartment building and hesitated at the stairs. He did like to stay fit by taking the stairs, he had just done too much physical exertion to manage all those stairs. He elected to take the lift up to his floor instead. Emilia was sitting at the kitchen table when he walked in and he tried not to act like his whole body was sore from having sex with Darien. “Did you call in sick to work?” she asked suspiciously. “We did,” he admitted. He had already eaten dinner with Darien. The billionaire had surprised him by ordering a Chinese takeaway and they had eaten it in the dining room, the plastic containers and cheap disposable chopsticks contrasting with the fancy table and chandelier. Emilia snorted and took a sip of her coffee. “I’m glad that t
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Fifth Secret
Zach was very quick to agree to the date request.“Of course I’ll go on a date with you. Isn’t that what we've been doing unofficially anyway?”“I want to go on a date with you as your boyfriend,” Darien pointed out. “That’s different.”Zach realised he was correct. They had gone to places first as two people in a business relationship, then as friends and best friends. Going somewhere as boyfriends was going to be different.“When did you want to go on a date?” he asked.Darien looked over at the clock on the wall and turned back to smile at him.“There’s no time like the present. Let’s make use of our ‘sick’ day. I don’t think I can wait until the weekend and I’ll need to send you home at some point today so you can get to work tomorrow.”Zach didn’t have any reason to disagree with that idea. He didn’t want
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Fourth Secret
It had certainly been a rollercoaster of a day. Zach had thought Adam’s date request had been the peak and then he had thought that confessing his love to Darien would be the peak. Instead the peak was an attempted acid attack from Darien’s most psychotic ex-girlfriend. Darien drove the car at a steady speed and kept glancing at him. Zach still didn’t feel like speaking. Giving his statement to the police officers at the scene had taken most of his energy. He was probably in some state of shock as well. One moment he had been on his way to confess his love to Darien, the next he was being shoved to the ground by Darien to avoid an acid attack. He had a lot of questions for the billionaire, but he was too tired to start that conversation. His eyes closed and the next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by Darien. “Come on, Zach,” Darien said softly. “I don’t have the strength to carry you up the steps so you are going to have to walk yourse
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Third Secret
Zach stared at Adam in surprise. Despite Meghan’s regular teasing comments, he had never expected to receive a confession from Adam.Another part of his mind noted that he had received two confessions in the past three days. He was becoming popular.How should he respond to this one?Unlike Darien, Adam was just asking him on a date. He wasn’t confessing his love. Zach made up his mind very quickly.“I only see you as a friend,” he said gently. “I don’t think it would work out between us.”He felt no feelings of love towards Adam. The editor was just a very friendly co-worker who was very attentive to him.Adam looked away for a moment and Zach didn’t know what to do. He didn’t like to hurt anyone’s feelings, but it wouldn’t be fair to get Adam’s hopes up by going on a date with him. He would only be leading him on.“I accept your answer,” Adam replied
