My Arrogant Boss by Kylie King
Chapter Eight
FINN
What the hell was I thinking keeping that fire-breathing woman around? Rachel was too damn distracting. The way she chewed on the end of her pens or her thumbnail, or the way she drank from the straw of her cups—fucking distracting. All I could think about was how there were so many things I could do to her mouth—so many ways I could fuck it but, of course, I couldn’t act on it. She worked for me, and not only that, but I didn’t like crossing the lines of business and pleasure with my employees.
At work today, her second day in the office now, I tried my best not to think about her presence. The fact that I had Rachel Quinn as my assistant, waiting at my beck and call, made me feel powerful—and malevolent, too. I wanted to reign over her, rule her, make her do tricks and backflips for me, just for the hell of it. Hell, maybe I could’ve had her deliver coffee to me on her knees. I had full control of her in the office, and she knew it, no matter how much she pretended I didn’t, and something told me she needed this job. She probably assumed I hadn’t caught her flex when she threw her resume talk at me, but I knew that game very well. Making herself seem irreplaceable or top priority, a loss to a man running a company such as mine. Please. She was still so full of herself.
Despite that, I couldn’t focus with her around, so I decided to call up Jake for a tennis match. Finding distraction on the court had been easier than in the office, where she was just a few steps away. But now that I was under the shower with my hands no longer working away tensions with my racket, my brain was back to working overtime.
This wasn’t going to work. Soon, I was going to have to find another assistant because, surely, I was going to piss Rachel off one of these days, or she was going to piss me off.
“So, what are you going to do about this Rachel Quinn situation?” Jake asked. We were out of the showers and back in the locker room. Jake moved swiftly around his locker, already buttoning his black silk shirt. I’d told him all about Rachel the night the application was sent over to me. He didn’t think it was wise of me to hire her, said I was playing with fire, but I figured she was applying for a reason. She had to know she would be working for me if she wanted the position. I figured she wanted to call our little feud off, but when I saw the look on her face in the conference room the first day she arrived, it told me everything I needed to know. She had no idea I was her boss, and her disdain for me had likely quadrupled.
“Nothing,” I answered gruffly.
“What do you mean nothing? You know you can’t keep her there forever.”
“She got selected for the position because she’s a good candidate. Everyone agrees, and it’d make me look like a complete ass to let her go just because I don’t like her. Plus, right now, I need the best candidate working for me to close on the Thomas Hotels deal.”
“So?” Jake's voice was genuinely interested.
“So, I keep her at arm's length, focus on my work, and treat her as my assistant. That’s it. The past is the past. My company is more important than my dislike for an assistant.”
Jake smiled, one of his sheepish smiles that indicated wheels of mischief were turning in his head. “I think you guys are attracted to each other. You should just book a hotel, fuck her, and get all that hate out of your systems. It’ll serve you right.”
“Yeah fucking right,” I retorted. “I don’t fuck my employees. That’s a strict rule of mine.”
“But you are attracted to her?” Jake mused.
I ignored his question and got dressed. Yes, I was attracted to her, but there was no way in hell I was about to admit that shit out for the universe to hear.