THE ASSISTANT

EMILY

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“You’re late, again.” Jenna looked up at me as I entered the relaxation room. “I’ve been waiting on you for two hours.”

“Sorry.” I untied my robe and took a seat on the edge of the mineral bath. “I forgot about a lunch meeting I’m hosting tomorrow and I needed to make sure I had the right files.”

She shook her head. “You need to tell your boss that you deserve a bonus and an additional raise for everything you do.”

“I’m already the highest paid EA in the city.”

“It’s still not enough,” she said, pulling her hair into a bun. “Are you sure he’s fine with us running up a ten thousand dollar spa tab today?”

“Absolutely.” I placed my phone onto a towel and leaned back against the warm stones. “I’m sure he’ll be utterly thrilled about it once he gets the bill.”

“So, I take it that you’re still trying to get fired?”

“Yes.” I laughed. “But I think I’ve finally realized that he’s not letting me go until my contract is up.”

“It could be worse.” She shrugged. “You could be me and working to find yourself. At least you’re established.”

I gave her a blank stare. My sister was living the ultimate ‘girl comes to New York City and takes over the world’ fantasy life. As a renowned musician, her days were spent composing songs for Broadway plays and international recording artists, critiquing sunset symphonies, and earning tons of money anytime she decided to pick up her cello and perform a private show. Then again, her nights were spent picking up sexy strangers in elite bars who kept me up all night with their moaning.

“Stop looking at me like that.” She splashed me, laughing. “I would trade in my musical talents for your lawyer brain any day, especially if it meant I got the chance to work under Nicholas Wolf every day.”

“You know he’s the most demanding man on the planet,” I said. “It’s not what it seems at all.”

“So? Doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t love to be around him all the time. Maybe you should try and sleep with him. Maybe that will get you out of your contract.”

I rolled my eyes. Despite the thick, palpable tension that existed between Nicholas and me since my first day, I highly doubted either of us would ever cross that line. Sure, there’d been rare moments when I thought he looked at me a certain way, moments when I was happy that he was staying late to work by my side, but outside of a sarcastic innuendo here or there, we were strictly platonic.

“I’ll pass on the whole making a move on my boss idea.”

“Figures. Well, if he wasn’t your boss—like if you were just friends and he attempted to make a move on you, would you let him?”

In a heartbeat ... “Never.”

“Interesting.” She held her hands under one of the fountains. “Anyway, in next month’s edition of ‘I love my identical twin,’ I need you to stand in for me at a meet and greet at Gershwin Theater. You just have to show up for twenty minutes, introduce yourself as me and take a few pictures.”

“I’ll do it, if you go as me to my employee renewal session again at the end of the year. I really hate that it takes over two hours to listen to pointless speeches and get a new name badge.”

“Done deal.” She smiled. “By the way, I’ll probably be bringing home another guy tonight, so you may want to wear headphones.  And before you ask me, yes, I know him. He’s a hedge fund manager.”

“Hedge fund managers are the scum of Wall Street. What’s his name?”

“I’ll ask him to remind me when he comes over.”

I shook my head and tossed a loofah at her. Before I could tell her that I was slightly jealous of her newfound sex life, my phone sounded with the special ring tone I had for Mr. Wolf.

Ugh ... I picked it up and hit ignore.

Seconds later, he called again.

I hit ignore once more and sent him a text message.

ME: I’m busy running up a 10k spa tab right now. I can’t answer.

I turned off my phone and slid it across the tile. Then I slipped further into the hot tub’s foam, shutting my eyes as I leaned against the underwater bench.

I was beginning to doze off when I felt someone tapping my shoulder.

“Yes?” I opened my eyes to see a spa attendant looking at me. “Is something wrong?”

“Not at all, Miss Johnson.” She held out a phone. “Mr. Wolf called and asked to speak to you.”

What the ... I took the phone from her hand and held it up to my ear. “Yes, Mr. Wolf?”

“You said you were only going to run up a ten thousand dollar tab,” he said. “The manager says you’re on track to hit eleven.”

“I’m planning to stay until they close so I can get it up to twenty.”

He let out a low laugh. “I need you to meet me at my penthouse suite at six tomorrow morning,” he said. “It’s extremely important.”

I sat up a bit. Any time he asked me to meet him at his penthouse at an ungodly hour meant that an employee was betraying or stealing from him. And he’d been utterly ruthless in his plans to even the score.

“Is this about someone going behind your back again?” I asked. “I can start the termination paperwork tonight.”

“It’s about you.”

What? “I’ve never stolen anything from you.”

“Nothing except my patience.” His voice was firm. “Vinnie will pick you up at five thirty. Don’t keep him waiting. And pick up the Rosenberg files from Syntec on your way here, along with my coffee and bagel. Try not to drink half of it like you usually do, or at least be more discreet about it.”

I hated that the sound of his voice—even in moments when he was being a demanding ass, was a turn on.

“With all due respect, this call could’ve waited until after I left the spa.”

“With all due respect, you know I’m not the waiting type.” He hung up.