chapter 1

Sophia Parker

I walked into my tiny office on Monday morning and did the usual. I placed my handbag on top of my desk, switched on my computer, and got out Mr Wilsons diary for the day.  Checking my watch, I saw the time was 7:53am which meant that he would be expecting his cup of coffee in exactly 7 minutes.

I looked through the blinds that separated his office from mine and surely, he was there. He was taking off his jacket which meant he also just arrived. I couldn't help but watch the way his muscles flex underneath his shirt as he removed his jacket slowly and so...

Stop it Sophia! Its way too early for this!

I scolded myself.

I quickly went into the kitchen on our floor and started grinding his coffee beans. I prepared a large super fine ground cup of espresso, just the way he liked it. Taking the cup, I walked over to the huge doors of his office and knocked on it. 

I opened the door when I heard his deep voice call out for me to "Come in."

Mr Wilson was already sitting at his desk working on his computer, not even bothering to look up to see who came in. He knew it was me anyway. This was a normal ritual for us at exactly 8:00am every weekday. I walked towards him and dropped the cup on his desk beside him, that's when he looked up to me with those piercing blue eyes.

I've always wanted to get lost in the depth of those eyes. I close my eyes imagining it for a second until I heard him say... 

"Miss Parker, are you okay?"

I immediately snapped right out of my trance. Did I just daydream of my boss' perfect eyes right in front of him?

Way to go Sophia!

"Yes, I'm so sorry sir." I said to him, but he didn't look convinced. "It's just that... I had a really rough night, that's all." I lied hopelessly.

"You didn't get enough sleep?" He asked as finally took his eyes off me and sipped some of his coffee.

"No." I looked down. 

That part was actually true, I didn't get enough sleep last night. And guess who the culprit was... 

HIM of course!

I spent half of my night thinking about him, wondering what it would be like to be in his arms for once. Working for him has been the most difficult job ever, especially with these crazy feelings that I've developed for him over time.

Anytime I hear that deep masculine voice of his, my heart beats so fast it feels like its going to jump right out of my chest and fall straight into his hands.

Sometimes we work together so closely I just want to scream out of frustration because deep down, part of me just wants him to take me into his arms and-

"That isn't good for your health Miss Parker, especially when you have work the next day and have to be in the office by 8:00am. What's keeping you up all night?"

You!

"Nothing serious, I had some work to complete before coming into work this morning and I didn't have the chance to complete them over the weekend." I lied again.

"Are you sure? Because I clearly remember you finishing up all your tasks on Friday before you left the office. You couldn't have been busy now could you?" He asked, raising his eyebrow and looking at me intensely with those blue eyes.

"I...It's just... It wasn't work stuff, it was..." I was finding it difficult to come up with more lies. This is why you should never daydream about your boss right in front of him. It would only lead to serious interrogation which in turn, makes you look stupid.

"It's totally fine if you were with someone last night Miss Parker. There is no big deal." He finally said.

What?!

"No! No! I wasn't with anyone." I panicked and immediately tried to shut down his idea of me not being single, only to realise that I sounded overly-defensive. I even saw a smile tug at his lips. "Like I said, I was not with... You know what? I don't need to explain myself to you." I said this time with much more confidence.

"Sure." He clearly didn't sound convinced.

Crap, now he thinks I was with someone last night. There goes my chances of him ever noticing me. 

I don't think they were ever there in the first place.

"I need you to organise a trip to London this weekend, I have been invited to attend the annual conference for security and information science systems. It'll be a good way to score more clients so I need you there to help me with presenting business proposals. I will also need you to take notes and dictations at the conference and provide general assistance during my presentation. Got it?"

"Got it. And what about accommodation sir?"

"The conference is in Canary Wharf so... I'd say let's try the Four Seasons Hotel."

"Ok sir." I acknowledged and walked out of his office.

Finally I could think straight! Being around that man does dangerous things to me. I quickly dashed to my office which was right next to his, scribbled down all the things he said to me on my notepad, and began to work on them.

I contacted Mr Wilson's pilot and instructed him to organise permission for a flight to London on Friday. I took care of the fuel for the jet and booked a reservation for a pent house suite at Four Seasons Hotel.

One of the perks of working as the personal assistant of Mr Wilson is travelling a lot. Already I have been to beautiful cities like Tokyo and Paris.

On both occasions Mr Wilson spent an extra day during the trip to explore the cities and he always got me a present. Either a bottle of perfume or a souvenir. Anything from him is more than enough for me. I wonder what he might get me during this trip to London. Maybe a...

"Sophia!"

I was snapped out of my daydream by Mr Wilson's voice barking through my intercom. He called me by my first name, which means I've done something wrong. My heart stopped for a second. He never used my first name, only when I've seriously messed up. I peeped at him through the blinds separating our offices and saw that he looked very angry indeed!

I took deep breaths as I walked towards his office. I was only halfway through the door and he was already barking at me.

"Didn't I tell you on Friday to change the figures on the Sytner Group report to include disbursements before you emailed it to them! Now you've sent them the wrong information and you've cost us a lot of money! They've approved these figures and our expenses have not been covered!"

"But sir, I changed them. I really did." I tried to rebut but he didn't listen.

"Did you?! What does it say here then?" He pointed at the email he got from them on his screen.

Very timidly, I walked towards his computer and looked at  the figures. In fact they hadn't been changed.

"That's impossible, I changed those figures. I even saved the work."

He looked at me with so much irritation. Just when he was about to erupt at me once again, his phone rang. Once he saw the caller ID, his mood radically changed before he answered it.

"Hey babe, what's wrong?" He spoke into his phone.

For a moment I was just standing there like an idiot, listening to his conversation with someone who was obviously female. From the way the conversation went, I sounded like it was his new love interest. I couldn't stand it anymore so I left his office and dashed into the restroom.

I stared at my reflection for a while until a tear slowly slid down my eye. I wiped it and washed my face, trying hard to control my emotions. Mr Wilson would never see me in that way. He usually likes blonde models that are very tall with perfect slim legs and a perfect body. I'm just a plain brunette that'll never be able to match up with his usual love interests.

Suddenly, I remembered what happened on Friday! He was right, I actually never changed those figures because I don't recall doing it. All I remembered doing was saving the work.

I'd started off but I drifted off into a daydream of Mr Wilson, as usual. I was brought back from it when he summoned me to his office and by the time I returned, I just saved the work and sent it.

Gosh, Sophia how could you be so careless?!

The tears had started to flow at this point. This stupid little crush, infatuation or whatever its called was really messing me up. I'm not able to function at work or do my job properly without him interrupting my thoughts and making silly errors.

I had to get over these feelings for him ASAP. If not, they're going to cause me to make more stupid mistakes, and eventually get fired!

And I can NOT have that.