Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
When I was hired to be Simon’s assistant, everyone warned me he was impossible—brilliant, demanding, and obsessed with control. But after surviving two months of his rules and grumpy attitude, I’ve learned how to manage my boss. Maybe it’s my chaotic upbringing or the fact that I desperately need this job, but I can’t ignore the moments when his guarded edges soften… even if he pretends they don’t.
Then one nervous slip in front of a major client turns into a fake relationship neither of us can back out of. Now I’m Simon’s “girlfriend,” attending dinners, traveling for meetings, and sharing far too much close proximity with the man I’m not supposed to want. Pretending to belong to him shouldn’t feel real—but it does. And the hardest part isn’t keeping up the lie. It’s realizing I’m falling for him for real.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER ONE
Simon
“You’re fired.”
Sarah’s eyes went wide, her jaw dropping open. She’d been my assistant for all of three weeks, so I’d hoped she’d take the news without much fuss. But the outrage twisting her features told me I’d miscalculated. She was going to make a scene.
“Is this a joke?” Fire flashed in her eyes.
I couldn’t fathom what part of this she imagined I’d find amusing. I folded my arms across my chest and let my gaze go hard. “No. Gather your things and leave your parking pass on the desk.”
I turned toward my office, but she recovered fast, darting around her desk to plant herself in my path. If looks could kill, the one she leveled at me would have dropped me where I stood.
“You can’t just fire me,” she said, her voice sharp with anger. “I’ve been a great assistant—”
“You were adequate at first.” I cut her off, my patience already thinning. “But your performance lately has been less than impressive. I gave you a list of tasks this morning. You’ve completed half of them.”
She rolled her eyes, and any flicker of doubt I might have had about letting her go vanished. I couldn’t trust someone who couldn’t finish the work and then got defensive when I called them on their incompetence.
“That list was ridiculous,” she shot back. “It was too much. I tried to tell you that, but of course you didn’t listen. You’re too much of an unreasonable tyrant.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d heard a variation of that. You’re too demanding. You’re mean. You’re impossible to work with. You’re bossy.
That last one always grated. I was the boss. I signed the paychecks, and I expected results in return. I had standards for my assistants. There was nothing wrong with that.
And yet every assistant I’d let go lately seemed to agree on one point: I was the problem.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. Staying professional while someone insulted me took effort, but I refused to let my temper get the best of me. “If you find me to be such an unreasonable tyrant, then surely you’ll agree this job isn’t a good fit. Please leave.”
It wasn’t a request. We both knew it. I stepped around her and into my office, and the moment the door clicked shut behind me, the ranting began. Her commentary on my character was colorful and loud enough that Liam, my brother and business partner here at Powers Investment Group, was guaranteed to catch every word from his office across the hall.
Of course he was in today. He spent most of the week at GalvaTech, the electronics company we’d invested in a few months back. Any other day, there would have been no witnesses. Today, naturally, there would be.
Sarah was gone within fifteen minutes. Liam gave me five more before he walked into my office without knocking, his mouth set in a frown.
I was halfway through the quarterly report from one of last year’s investments, and I stubbornly kept my eyes fixed on the columns of numbers on my screen, hoping that if I looked busy enough, he’d take the hint and leave me alone.
Instead, he dropped into one of the chairs across from my desk. So much for wishful thinking.
“So.” He drew the word out. “That one lasted what—three weeks? Slightly longer than the last one, at least.”
I lifted my gaze from the computer screen. His jaw was set, his eyes narrowed a fraction, like I was a puzzle he’d given up trying to solve. He exhaled a heavy sigh and crossed his arms. Liam wasn’t a lecturer by nature, but everything in his posture said one was heading my way.
I leaned back in my chair and managed a shrug. “You and the staff have a bet going on or something? What’s the difference if she lasted three weeks or three days?”
Liam groaned and dragged a hand through his dark hair. “Please don’t fire someone after three days. That’s insane.”
“I was exaggerating,” I said, though I didn’t quite meet his eyes.
“Were you?” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Because lately it seems like you can’t hang on to an assistant at all.”
“It’s not my fault if they aren’t up to the job.”
“It is your fault if you’re impossible to work for.” He said it gently, which somehow made it land harder.
I let out a laugh that was completely devoid of humor. “Is this supposed to be tough love from my big brother?”
“This is concern from your business partner.”
Irritation settled over me. “And as my business partner, I’d think you’d appreciate that I have such high standards. I’m trying to elevate this company by demanding excellence. That’s not a flaw.”
Liam shook his head. “You’re purposefully setting expectations that are difficult to meet. That’s different.”
I held his stare and said nothing. I wasn’t going to repeat myself. After everything we’d been through, he knew where the standards came from. If demanding excellence made me difficult, then the problem wasn’t the standard—it was that I hadn’t found anyone who could rise to it. Someone who’d work hard. Someone who thrived under pressure instead of folding beneath it. Someone I could trust.