Read Damien: Billionaire Bad Boy Romance Online
Authors: Ellen Harper
Damien: Billionaire Bad Boy Romance
This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons--living or dead--is entirely coincidental.
Damien copyright 2016 by Ellen Harper. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission.
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Contents
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Audrey
When the alarm when off on Monday morning, I was almost sure that I’d made a mistake. It was still dark outside, and I was warm and safe, burrowed in my bed under all of the covers. The air of my room was frigid, and I shuddered as I peeked the tip of my nose out from my comfortable, warm nest.
Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! Bleep!
One of my neighbors slammed his hand into the wall between our apartments and I winced and groaned. “Turn that blasted thing off!”
“Sorry!” I yelled back as I launched myself out of bed and slammed my fist onto the alarm clock. Pepper, my Lab mix, was dancing around in the kitchen, barking and skittering around the floor. I eyed her with a mix of love and contempt.
“So you don’t mind this early schedule, do you?” I crooned to Pepper as I rubbed the soft area between her ears. Pepped looked up at me with affection in her eyes and I closed my eyes and hugged her tight. I’d only had Pepper for two years, but we were closer than ever. I still hadn’t made any friends in Chicago, and I didn’t mind as much as I would have thought.
“You’re all I need, Pep,” I told the dog as I poured a mixture of chicken and rice into her bowl. Pepper eagerly dug in, pushing the bowl across the floor with her nose as her toes wiggled and pranced.
I rolled my eyes. Dogs. They didn’t need much, just food, love, and a warm place to sleep. I envied Pepper her delight with the morning as I trudged back to my bedroom and put on my work clothes—a black knee-length skirt with a turtleneck and a blazer. The blazer had been my mom’s back in the eighties. She’d only had one professional job and then she’d met my dad. When I graduated from college, she’d given me her old jacket.
“This is for you now, Audrey,” Mom had told me. We’d hugged, and I’d appreciated the gift even though I’d felt awkward about it. Mom and Dad and I weren’t really all that close, and I didn’t even know how to think about approaching them. They were still in Wisconsin, living in the same trailer park I’d grown up in. It looked exactly the same as it had when I’d been a little kid, except even more depressing.
I stared in the mirror, trying to find fault with myself. I looked okay—professional enough. I knew that there was something, well, just a little off about my appearance. But I’d never known what to do about it, and all of my girlfriends had always been as disinterested in fashion as me. Now I just wished that I had a girlfriend at all.
It was still dark by the time I left my apartment for LennoxCo. I still couldn’t believe I’d gotten the job there. It was probably the thing that I was proudest of in my adult life. Ever since I’d graduated college a year and a half ago, I’d only been able to find work in restaurants and retail. This was my first adult job, the first job with a salary and benefits. I grinned as I braced myself against the icy, wintery chill of the Chicago January morning.
You have something to be proud of for once
, I thought with a grin as I pushed my way into the El station.
Just don’t let it go to your head
.
The train was more crowded than I would have expected. I was crammed in with a ton of other people, all wearing bulky winter parkas and bouncing off of each other like Ping-Pong balls. I began sweating almost instantly but there wasn’t enough room on the train for me to yank off my jacket. Sweat beaded up on my forehead the back of my neck, and I could tell that my hair was going to be a sweaty mess by the time I got to work. It didn’t matter—it was only back in a ponytail—but I hated the idea of looking too unkempt on my first day.
There was a problem with the train and I felt the cars grind to a halt. The other people around me were muttering and groaning with frustration. I felt my stomach flip and fold over itself until I was a nervous wreck.
I can’t be late on the first day
, I thought as tears welled up in my eyes.
Maybe I should call and tell them that I’m going to be late?
But when I managed to dig my phone out from the bottom of my cavernous bag, I realized that I didn’t have reception. The subway was underground, and I watched as
No
Service
blinked in the upper-left corner of my phone display.
“Great,” I said sharply under my breath. “That’s just fucking awesome. Way to go, Audrey.”
The woman who was standing directly across the aisle from me met my eyes and shook her head dismissively before laughing. I swallowed hard. She was one of the most beautiful women that I’d ever seen. Tall, slim, and blonde, she looked like she was barely affected by the icy day outside. Her cheeks were perfectly blushed and her sharp green eyes glittered, even in the dull light of the subway. Her feet were shoved into black patent heels that looked precariously high, and somehow she’d managed to walk to the train without getting even a single crumb of salt on her shoes.
I had to look away. I knew what she was thinking when she looked at me: nerd. Dork. Loser. But I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around my body and hugged. I was starting a new job today, and I was going to finally become a successful adult.
Inside of the lobby of LennoxCo, I didn’t feel quite so confident. It was in one of the huge skyscrapers downtown, and I had to wait at the concierge desk to get a temporary pass that would let me onto the elevators. I couldn’t believe all of the people rushing and swarming around; if I took one step out of line, I was worried that I’d be crushed. The lobby itself was hugely impressive, all marble and tasteful lighting, with a giant fountain in the center. The fountain was glowing blue and green and I shivered again, imagining what it would feel like to fall into the icy water.
“Miss?” The concierge looked at me with a bored expression on her face. “Miss, here’s your pass.” She handed over a white sticker, pushing it on the front of my blazer before I’d had time to even realize what she was doing. “You can’t lose this,” the concierge told me with grim sincerity. “We take security very seriously here at LennoxCo.”
I nodded, swallowing hard. “Got it, thanks,” I muttered as I stepped away and shoved my hands in my pockets. Getting in line for the elevator, I felt my sense of dread begin to come back. More than anything, I wished I was at home, snuggling with Pepper and watching reruns of cooking shows.
Smile, Audrey
, I told myself.
Today’s only going to go well if you’re the one who takes charge. Remember, you got this job. They liked you. They wouldn’t have hired you just to laugh at you
.
Standing straight and tall with my chin raised into the air, I walked into LennoxCo for the very first time.
The office was so big that it had three floors all to itself. The floors were interconnected with a series of floating stairways in the middle of the office, and I swallowed hard as I watched the burst of activity. The décor matched that of the lobby: high ceilings, lots of natural lighting, lots of glass-paned walls. There was an enormous front desk where a younger girl sat, playing on her phone.
“Hi,” I said. She didn’t hear me, or didn’t look to look up. I cleared my throat. “Hi,” I repeated, my voice quaking with nervousness.
The girl finally glanced up at me with a smirk on her pretty face. “Can I help you?” Her tone made it very clear that she didn’t actually give a shit about helping me.
“Yes,” I said. “Today’s my first day. I’m Damien’s, um, Mr. Lennox’s new secretary.”
The girl’s eyes bulged and she snickered, barely covering her mouth with her thin hand. “Sorry,” she said. “You’re just, well, you don’t really look like the other secretaries. Come with me.” She stood up from her desk and smoothed the tight, grey pencil skirt that she was wearing. I noticed her heels were incredibly tall. She sashayed down a side hallway, then led me to an open area. It wasn’t as crowded as the main part of the office, and it was flanked with black leather couches. A glass door with the nameplate
Damien Lennox
loomed large in front of us.
“Here you go,” the girl said with a smirk. “Why not go in and introduce yourself?” She turned on her heel and walked away before I could question her further.
Shit.
Did she mean that I should just barge in without knocking? Or should I knock first? Or…I glanced around, seeing for the first time a desk with a computer and phone that sat almost directly in front of the door. Maybe I should call? Or email? But stepping closer, I saw that the computer was locked. There was no note on the desk.
You can do this, Audrey
, I told myself. Wiping my damp hands on my skirt, I stood up straight and barged through the door.
“Oh my god,” I cried as I opened my eyes. The most beautiful man I’d ever seen was naked from the waist down. He was thrusting in and out of a gorgeous woman who was splayed across the desk, her long legs wrapped around his muscular torso. I felt blood rush to my cheeks and I clapped my hands up and closed my eyes. “I’m so sorry!” I cried out, stepping backwards to leave the office. But my heel caught on something and I went falling through the air, flailing my arms and legs before landing in a heap on the richly carpeted floor.
The man turned to face me with a glint in his eye. “Hi there,” he said. I stared in shock. I couldn’t even tell how he was feeling. He pulled out of the woman and pulled his trousers up. She was beet red with embarrassment and trying to fumble with her own clothes, but not before I got a glimpse of her body. “Who are you?”
I swallowed hard. “I’m your new secretary,” I said in a soft voice. “I’ll just go now,” I added quickly as I got to my feet and wiped my hands off again on my skirt.
The man shook his head briskly. “Don’t,” he said quickly. “Stay.” The woman—she looked a lot like the blonde from the train—was glancing at me with a look that bordered on hatred.
“Damien,” she said, but he raised a hand in the air to silence her.
“You may go,” he told her curtly. She turned the hateful glare on him and then stalked out of the office, the top of her dress still unzipped. “Now,” he said with a lazy grin on his face. Damien leaned against the desk and stared at me. I was captivated by his beauty. He had amazing light grey eyes and dark hair, all with a dark tan that spoke of weekend trips to the tropics. He was muscular but lean, like he worked out all the time and his clothes clung to his perfect frame.
“I’m sorry,” I said in a rush. “The girl who showed me here, she, um, well, she told me to come in and introduce myself.” I glanced down.
Damien stared at me and I felt a shiver crawl down my spine. “You’ll want to learn how to knock,” he said in a soft, silky voice. “As my secretary, I expect a certain level of discretion.”
The blush on my cheeks grew even more red, if that was possible. I’d never been so embarrassed in my entire life. The way that Damien was acting was completely new to me. I’d never caught anyone in the throes of passion before, but I would have imagined him to act just like the girl: embarrassed, blushing, mortified. Instead, Damien was acting as though I’d merely
inconvenienced
him.
“I’m sorry,” I said. My voice cracked and I swallowed hard, glancing down at the toes of my scuffed shoes. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Lennox. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Damien smirked at me. He stepped closer and eyed me from head to toe. No one had ever looked at me like that before and I felt caught off guard, like he could suddenly see through my layers of clothing. I was still wearing my coat and I felt flushed and sweaty from being inside the heated building.
Should I quit? Should I just run away?
I bit my lip as I worked the thought over and over in my head. I didn’t
want
to give up such an amazing job on the first day, but I couldn’t believe that I’d already seen my boss’s ass.
“Audrey,” Damien said in his disaffected, smooth voice. “I’ll be needing some coffee now.”
