Chapter One.

KAREN.

"Really, Ms. Miles? That's interesting," he said, his chin resting on his thumb and index finger. He was leaning forward on the huge mahogany desk casually, his demeanor nonchalant but alert. He oozed a vibe of self-assurance like no one else. Everything from his Rolex to his Armani suit screamed money. Everything from his cool, calculating eyes to the rugged jaw with just a hint of beard screamed handsome. Everything from his broad shoulders and slim waist to the muscular body hiding beneath the pristinely ironed white shirt screamed sexy in a way that made you want to rip his clothes off. He had every right to be as arrogantly confident as he was.

"Yes, sir," I replied, hoping my voice didn't betray how much the alluring lilt of his voice affected me. I had never been so horribly attracted to anyone before. The images his sight made my mind imagine were lewd enough to make a pornstar blush.

"I'm impressed," he said, stroking his jaw. "So, tell me, Ms.Miles, why should I choose you?"

Excellent question. Why should he choose me when there are hundreds of women way hotter than me probably falling down on their knees and begging him to have them right there? But this wasn't about going at each other like bunnies.This was about selecting me for being his personal assistant in his multimillion dollar automobile producing company.

"Well." I cleared my throat inaudibly. "I have decent credentials and work experience. I'm hard working, diligent and punctual. But most of all, I love my profession. It is my passion and each day when I wake up, I'm excited at the prospect of what work awaits me, and I think that's what makes me the best choice- the fact that my job would also be my favorite hobby."

He leaned back in his chair, a little smile playing on his face. "Very good. I'm certainly impressed."

I crossed my legs with an excuse to fidget. Jesus, he made me nervous. And hot.And bothered. And oh Lord someone help me. "Thank you, Mr. Black," I said.

"When can you start working from?" he asked.

My eyes lit up like a thousand watt bulb had been switched on. This seemed to amuse him to no ends. "Any day you wish is comfortable with me," I assured him.

"Great. You start from now. Is that fine?" he asked with a raised eyebrow even though he knew I wouldn't say no. Arrogant, overconfident, hot as holy hell bastard.

"Yes, of course," I said. Great going, Karen. Why don't you also start drooling?

He got up from his chair, his dominant form towering over me even though a whole desk separated us. He just had the sort of presence that filled up the room and made you hold your breath. "Follow me," he said and started to take quick strides to the door on the far corner of the plushly furnished room.

I got up hastily, smoothing my skirt over, and hurried behind him to match his steps. He pushed open the door to reveal a cabin about one-third the sizeof his office, which was still very big. There was an ornately carved desk in the center with three cupboards on one end of the room. They were probably used for keeping all the files and folders. On the other end was a black leather sofa set resting majestically with a round glass table in between. The floor-to-ceiling glass windows covered one whole wall from which sunlight was slanting through at that moment, illuminating exactly how dwarfed I felt in this expensive environment.

"This will be where you work. The phone on the right side of your desk will be used exclusively to call me and take my calls. The other phone can be used at your leisure. If there's anything you need, my office is adjoining yours. You can come straight in without knocking. Any questions?" he said briskly.

"No, sir," I replied quickly.

"There's an orange file in the top drawer. It contains all your duties,responsibilities and what I expect of you. Today, your only task is to read it thoroughly and clear any doubts you may have by the end of the day," he explained. He took out his right hand from his pocket and checked the time with lowered eyebrows. Without a word, he turned on his heel and walked off,shutting the door behind him with a soft thud.

I released a breath I didn't know I had been holding. His elite poise was unnerving. I shook my head to clear my mind off the debauch thoughts it was veering towards again. I had work to do and I wasn't kidding when I said I loved my job. I loved sorting things, untangling mess and turning it into a coherent lot. It made me feel powerful, in control. It reinforced my belief that no matter how cuckoo my life became, I would eventually solve the puzzle and find a way out.

As Mr. Black had promised, an orange file was lying on top of a huge pile of folders in the first drawer. I took it out delicately and began reading. It had quite a lot of pages which, at first, scared me. How many duties did I have?But I quickly noted that most of the things enlisted were pretty common things that should have gone unsaid. But of course Nathan Black was as immaculate a man as he looked. He had taken the pain of putting in even the smallest details, like bringing him coffee.

The time flew away and noon passed into late evening. I was so engrossed in scanning the pages carefully that I didn't bother to switch on the light. I was used to reading in the dark, what with my roommate turning off the main switch so I could get some sleep instead of burning my eyes out on novels. I just found a way to read in the moonlight or with a torch under the blanket. I didn't even realize when Mr. Black had come inside or how long he had been standing in the doorway, staring at me.

"Are you almost done there, Ms. Miles?" he asked. Maybe the darkness playing shadows on his face was making me mistake the look in his eyes for something else.

My neck snapped up upon hearing his voice. "Just two or three pages left."

"Good to know you weren't lying about being diligent," he commented.

I smiled, glowing under his indirect compliment. He switched on the lights and suddenly the room came to life. His face, which had been hidden in shadows,came into clear view. He was handsome as the devil himself.

He threw me a set of keys which I caught easily with one hand. Growing up with a sister who had more temper tantrums than an active volcano had taught me to catch things before they hit me. "Lock the doors before you leave."He was already out of the door by the time his last word reached me.

It was only two pages and that wasn't much for a fast reader like me. I quickly tidied up the papers, stacked them neatly in the folder and put it back in the drawer. I was more than ready to go home, get a nice hot bath and fantasize about my sexy boss in privacy where I wouldn't feel embarrassed.

Locking the doors of both his office and mine, I made my way to the parking lot. The ride from the sixteenth floor of the building to the basement was quite long and I must have checked the time at least fifteen times. As I was putting my car into gear, I got a call from my best friend and roommate, Rayne. She asked me where I'd been all day. I narrated to her the whole story of how Igot selected and how my panties were wet even though all Nathan Black had done was exist.

She was elated to hear I got the job and more than necessarily excited to know each and every detail about my boss. I promised her I would meet her in Smoke,the biggest club in New York. We had been thinking about going there since we shifted to the city two months ago but never really ended up doing it. What could be a better way to celebrate than take out my girls and head there?

Back home, I shed my formal clothes and put on a tight little skirt that came till mid-thighs with a black halter top that bared most of back and showed off my cleavage provocatively. It was short enough to bare a hint of my waist and the cute dimples at the bottom of my spine. I paired my outfit with a pair of spiked high heels that highlighted my long legs. After having put up some eyeliner and satisfied with how I looked, I picked up a cute purse and got into my car again.

Smoke was a majestic bar set to the theme today's youth craves. With loud music thumping through the walls and a wisp of lust floating through the smoky atmosphere, its interior was decorated in deep purple and velvet black, it had an inviting feel for celebrations and drowning sorrows alike.

"Hey, Karrie! Over here!" Rayne waved me over. I sashayed to the table which she and four more of our girlfriends had occupied. They had already ordered shots and as soon as I sat down, they raised a toast to my name and we gulped it down in synchronization. We each ordered a beer bottle and made our way to the dance floor, gyrating and jumping till we couldn't breathe anymore.Even through the loud music, we still managed to talk and gossip, all of them teasing me about what we could find beneath my employer's expensive suits. I can't say it was a displeasing image. By the time I went to order one last drink for the night, I was already drunk enough to not have control over my body anymore.

"What can I get you, beautiful lady?" asked the cute bartender.

"A cosmo on the rocks please," I replied.

"Ms. Miles?" A deep baritone resonated beside me.

I swiveled my stool towards the source of the voice. Unnerving dark eyes stared back at me.

Maybe I should've been surprised to see Mr. Black there at the same night as I was. But then he owned the club and the five star hotel above it, just as he owned probably half of New York, so it wasn't that surprising.

"I know you," I said, narrowing my eyes. "You're... I know you.Don't I?"

He seemed amused at my drunken state and drawling manner of speaking."Perhaps."

I nodded to myself. "I know I do."

"Ms. Miles-"

I waved my hand impatiently at him as I accepted the drink the bartender offered me. "Call me Karrie."

This brought out a smile on his face that I openly swooned over. I did tend to become pretty adventurous when I was drunk. "Alright, Karrie," he spoke my name slowly, as if testing it on his lips. "What are you doing here?"

I raised my hands in the air in excitement. "Celebrating!" I screamed and clapped.

"What's the occasion?" he asked.

"I got a job today," I said with giddy pleasure, as if he already didn't know that.

"Congratulations," he said, the glint of amusement at my state never fading.

"Thank you," I squealed, clapping my hands.

"How do you like your job up till now?" he enquired. Of course the smart bastard would want to know that.

"It's just been a day but I know I'm going to love it," I fawned,then lowered my voice somberly, "There's just this teeny tiny problem..."

His eyebrows lowered. "What?"

"I have this little crush on my boss," I stage-whispered conspiratorially, "That's totally inappropriate but he's so cute."Then I gasped dramatically. "That's how I know you. You look like him. But he's cuter." I added the last part derisively.

He leaned back, an easy grin spread across his face. "Is it?"

I shrugged, my restless gaze already wandering around the club, wondering why my friends hadn't come to get me yet. They must have seen me with a hot guy and thought I was getting my charm on. Oh how I wished someone would come and get me this one time before I made more of a fool of myself.

"You know, you should tell him," he suggested, sipping his drink and viewing me from atop the rim of the glass.

"Nah. His standards are probably way higher. Why would he like me when there are supermodels he could get anytime?" I replied, my speech becoming more and more incoherent.

"You underestimate yourself, Karrie," he said.

"Really? If you were him, would you take me home?" I worried my lower lip with my teeth.

He reached over to free my lip with his thumb, the rest of his fingers cupping my chin. "I would," he murmured.

"You're so adorable." I giggled and pinched his cheeks, making him wrinkle his nose. I sighed, "I wish you were him."

"You can pretend like I am. I won't mind," he said. He was so close to me that I could smell his spicy cologne mixed with a virile scent that caused tremors to go through my body. Before I could stop myself, I tugged him towards me by the tie loosely knotted around his neck till his lips were on mine. Instead of pulling back like the sober part of my brain reckoned he should, he hesitated for a second and then put his arms around my waist naturally, as if they belonged there. My lips were urgent against his, moving with a frantic pace that he mediated. His fingers toyed with the hem of my top and my skin burnt wherever his knuckles brushed against it.

I probably had the most epic "fuck me and leave me" look on my face because he asked me if I wanted to go somewhere a little more private and I replied by running the tip of my tongue along his jaw.

He growled as he took me by the hand and led me out of there. On the hall right across the club was an elevator that led to the rooms above in the hotel. He straightaway led me to the twenty fifth floor. As soon as the elevator doors closed, his lips were on me again, leaving a trail of blazing kisses along my throat. I was backed up against the wall of the elevator as I let him have his way with me. Some small part of my mind- that wasn't under the influence of vodka- knew that it was Nathan Fucking Black and this wasn't something I should be doing, not with him. But the bigger, drunk part of me didn't give a flying fuck. It wanted him to do whatever he wanted to me.

He picked me up in his strong muscular arms, cupping my butt as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I could feel his growing erection through his trousers,pressing against my open legs. The doors slid open smoothly and he carried me inside the only room in the hall with me still clinging to him. He kicked the door shut behind him and turned around suddenly to push me against the door. My head banged against the unforgiving wood but he didn't care. His kisses receded lower from my throat to my neckline, his teeth teasing the edge of the top.

"Stop being a tease," I growled.

His eyes snapped up to mine, surprised I had spoken. But when I glared at him,he chuckled. "Make me stop," he challenged.