Millionaire Romance: In Love With My Personal Assistant - A Contemporary Romance (Millionaire Romance, Contemporary Romance, Comedy Romance Book 2) (6 page)

“Please, call me Tim, James. You were a great friend to Matt Luke and I’m hoping we can build the same friendship.”

James could have laughed at the situation. Nothing better could have dropped into his lap at a better time.

“I’m thinking that sounds great, Tim. Why don’t you tell me more about your business, if you can? I’ve got a little time on my hands right now.”

There was a pause on the phone, followed by an excited chuckled. “Okay. I can send you some files we can go over together.”

“That’d be great,” James encouraged. “I’m in my office right now.” He coaxed the gentleman to stay on the line while the files were sent. From there, he relaxed into the seat and forgot all about being tired. This had to mean that someone was looking out for him. The odds were in his favor. He was meant to be with Jennifer Rhodes after all.

With an excited giggle, he reached for his pen and note pad and began to take notes as Tim spoke to him. He didn’t need a whole lot of information, but just enough to make his case convincing.

Chapter Five

Midday Fare

With a deep intake of air, Jennifer sighed heavily and lowered the receiver to the phone. She had never been in a position to hire someone before, but that didn’t matter before now. She knew what needed to be done and at the very least, had an idea of what was needed.

She needed someone willing to pick up good coffee and breakfast before work. Someone who could work Microsoft Office, Express, and—well, the whole damn Office suite! They’d need to know how to operate a telephone line and they needed to sound attractive and attentive on the phone.

They needed a good phone for receiving emails and intercepting important calls when they were out of the office. Someone who could summarize messages without repeating the whole thing verbatim who could learn how to rate the priority of incoming messages with time (but hopefully not more than two weeks’ time).

Also, and this was huge, they needed to have nothing important going on in their life, and nothing likely to be happening within the next six to twelve months. Something like that was reasonable, right? No pregnant chicks, engaged folks, starry-eyed brunettes or blondes. Actually, that last part could be something blanket that applied to whoever filed for the position.

There had been a sprinkle of men that had applied for the position, but only two of them answered the call. One wasn’t interested in the position after more information was given, which Jennifer didn’t understand why they had even applied to the job to begin with, and the other was suddenly no longer available to accept new work. It had only been a week since the ad went live on LinkedIn and a few job boards, but still, the results were overwhelming.

To help her narrow down the list of applicants, anyone who didn’t answer on the second call was simply removed from consideration. Anyone who had more than two years’ worth of experienced wasn’t called. Answering phones and making appointments wasn’t an expert ability. The last thing she wanted to do was have someone demand pay for this simple job. James was offering a generous $16.50 per hour for the job and in Chicago, that could really go far with a roommate, metro rides, and walking.

Her last call marked the first round of telephone interviews. Some she ended early, already knowing they weren’t going to make the cut, but by the looks of it, she had managed to hack her huge list down to ten potential people.

She was only going to request about four for an interview within the office, and then perhaps if another run was needed to determine a harsh tie, she’d meet them somewhere for dinner. At this stage, she didn’t have the time to play nice. James said he wanted someone picked before the end of the week. That meant they needed to be able to start as soon as possible.

Jennifer stood from her desk and stretched. She was surprised at the yawn that tumbled out of her body. Her morning cup of coffee was keeping her light and on her toes, but after a glance at the time, she knew she’d need to stop and eat if she was going to remain alert.

Pushing back from the desk, Jennifer thought vaguely about Andrew. She was sure he would have landed in Colorado by now. Would it be strictly business while he was there? She wondered if he would take a break to head back to Manitou Springs.
“I’ll be back Wednesday for lunch
…
”

She remembered that clearly and wondered if that was a good thing. On the surface, she wanted to say ‘absolutely!’ it was a good thing. What man flies back across several states to stop in for lunch?

Well, millionaires did, apparently. She told herself that to them, it really wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. With normal men, something like that would be beyond crazy. Regular men just didn’t do that type of thing. However, with millionaires, their whole world was different. They didn’t live in the same realities. Still, even for a millionaire, flying into town just for her meant something huge right?

Jennifer took a deep breath and reached for the clipboard she had been using to keep her notes. She ran back through the list of ten that she had already selected. Each had a good possibility of getting job. They seemed like people that could start as soon as she gave them the “go ahead”.

As she clawed her way back through the list, thoughts of Andrew worked their way into her mind. She thought of the last two weeks. They didn’t always have lunch together. He was incredibly professional, which Jennifer was only just now starting to realize that perhaps she always wasn’t. It was difficult to set her feelings aside when he had been near to her. Being so close to him throughout the day just felt like an opportunity to feel his lips against hers since he was always just a breath away.

This was where Andrew’s focus really made the difference. She wasn’t sure how he was capable of remaining so focused on work, but he could. Maybe that was a trick all millionaire men could do.

The more Jennifer thought about the idea, the more she wondered if she might have been on to something. She knew from working alongside Melone that many men often had affairs within the workplace. Even within the Melone group, Jennifer had heard stories and rumors of get togethers and hook ups within their own office. On the surface, you’d never tell.

During meetings and throughout the workday people remained calm and held the upmost level of professionalism. That was the way this type of environment worked. Business and work first, love and pleasure later. She thought for a second about a millionaire’s concept of love. As a whole, she wasn’t sure she believed if they loved, at least not the way that ordinary men and women identified with the word.

That might seem barbaric. Men with money had appetites for the things they had an affinity for. Jennifer just wasn’t sure if she’d used the word ‘love’ to describe their attraction. Perhaps obsessed would be a better fit.

Some were obsessed with the power and the freedom that more money could bring. Others were obsessed with the constant supply of women. James wasn’t like that, and thankfully, neither was Andrew.

While Jennifer couldn’t vouch for Andrew’s younger days as a wealthy man, she had the feeling that he was probably always the more conservative type. Still, that led her to wonder, if he were the type to prefer only one woman, why was he single after so many years?

He seemed like a great catch. Gorgeous, strong, incredibly handsome—wait; that was same thing as gorgeous. Jennifer blinked and realized she had been staring at the same piece of paper for over five minutes.

Food.

That’s what she needed. It would cure her roaming mind and help her stay focused. She reached for the phone and pressed James’s call number. He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, Jennifer’s stomach tightened. She didn’t recall him having such a smooth, inviting voice in the past. Was he capable of it? Of course, but he had never used the voice on her. She stammered over her thoughts. Why was she calling again?

“Thinking about taking lunch?” James asked curiously. His voice brought butterflies back to her stomach, a feeling she hadn’t felt with him in two weeks. What was happening?

“Um, yes,” was all Jennifer could manage.

“Good. I just got off the phone with Timothy.”

Jennifer frowned. The name sounded familiar. Her mind struggled with switching into work gear. She remembered that Timothy was the name of the last call she had transferred to James’s office.

“That’s good,” she managed in a bright voice. The flutters in her abdomen were starting to subside.

“Looks like we might have another client. He would like to meet me for a late meeting. We’ll get lunch on the way.”

Jennifer frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I want you to come with me. It’ll be good for you to see how I do business.”

“Um, what?” Jennifer blinked and shook her head. “Go with you where? Where is Timothy?”

“He’s in Summit, Jennifer. I’ll head to your office.”

“Wait—where’s Summit?” She heard James chuckle over the phone. The beautiful sound made her heart jump.

“It’s in New Jersey. Near New York City.”

“Wait a minute,” Jennifer shook her head violently, trying to understand what James was saying. “You mean New Jersey, on the east coast?” There was silence on the other end of the line. “Where Melony Richards is?”

James laughed. “Exactly,” he paused, “you know, you should meet her. She’s a good old friend of mine. Knew me from elementary.”

“You’re talking about going to Jersey?”

She heard another laugh this time, but it was a bit more strained. “Yes. This client was among one of my first.”

Jennifer looked around the room wildly. “Do we even have time for that, James? You said there was a freaking fire in Colorado—”

“Jennifer, Angel,” she heard a smooth coming sound through the phone to caress her restless soul, “Andrew’s there now. I’ve changed Jerry’s focused so we’re bound to get back on track. I’ve need to meet this man and with your new position within the firm, I really believe you need to be with me.”

“My new position?” Jennifer put a hand to her forehead. Never mind the fact that she didn’t understand how they were going to get there and back in one day. She was just struggling with the idea of a whole new contract added to her load. “I’m not even a partner, James. What about hiring the assistant?”

“I need someone to answer the phones, keep my calendar in check and follow up for me. It shouldn’t be too hard,” he stopped speaking abruptly. When he began again, his voice was calmer. “We need to be at the strip in forty minutes. A pilot’s already waiting.”

Jennifer sat the pen she had been gripping in her hand down. There were too many thoughts for her to focus on just one.

“Can you be at my office in five?”

Jennifer cleared her throat and looked at the list of ten applicants she had singled out. Maybe she would have time in New Jersey to make another round of calls to see who would be available to work the soonest.

“Sure.”

The link clicked after that. Slowly, Jennifer lowered the phone back to the receiver. Somewhere in her conscious was the faint reminder of her hunger, but she thought nothing of it now.

She wanted to do a quick online search to see how far away Summit was by plane, but she knew she didn’t have time. On her desk sat a nearly empty bottle of water. She reached for it and finished the contents quickly, but her mouth remained parched.

Straightening her suit jacket, Jennifer reached for her purse and pulled out a compact mirror. Her lipstick, a soft shade of red was still flawless, as was her hair. She didn’t feel the same though. Inside, everything shook. A month ago she would have been bursting with excitement at the opportunity to get some alone time with James. She always looked forward to the moments where they would have only each other for company. Now she wasn’t so sure.

Somewhere she was excited and frightened at the same time. She thought she had buried those feelings; she thought she had realized that maybe she was just in love with the thought of being in love with someone who never seemed to notice her. But she had been wrong about that. James had always
seen
her. Isn’t that what he had told her earlier that day, and then last Friday on her lunch break?

Did that mean he cherished the time they had spent working side by side as she had? Or was that something he had to forced himself to ignore as well? More importantly, did it even matter? She was involved now, right?

It seemed too trivial a title to say that Andrew was her boyfriend. They were too old for that, but they were together, right? And what they had was more than a mere fledging office attraction, wasn’t it?

Jennifer sucked in a deep gulp of air and reached for the clipboard and her purse. She knew nothing about this client and didn’t know what to bring with her. Her small briefcase for work held the work tablet and laptop. She slipped the clipboard into it and gripped it’s leather handle tightly. Everything was saved in their cloud so if they needed anything, all she’d need was internet access and she could get it within a few clicks of the mouse.

After shutting down the desktop and straightening her desk, she gathered her briefcase and purse and left her room, locking it behind her. James was already outside his office, waiting for her. He greeted her with a sexy smile that warmed her chest and stole her breath.

“Ready?” He asked devilishly. Jennifer could only manage a nod. James grinned. “Good. They’ll be food in the plane on the way over because I’m starved.”

Chapter Six

Heavy Whipping Cream

“We’re not taking 90/94 to O’Hare?” Jennifer asked, breaking the silence in the back of the BMW 7 Series business class vehicle. Melone managed a running expense with a local luxury transport service. It entitled them to two vehicles at any time during the day. She was even authorized to use one for personal use if she ever needed, but Jennifer never took advantage of the offer. She actually loved driving in the city.

Her face was pressed against the glass and she watched the road signs carefully. She knew the way to the airport like the way to her own home.