CHAPTER 2–HE WILL BE IN CONTROL–CONNER

            Conner waited for his personal assistant to return from lunch. She arrived on time. She’d familiarized herself with the office within a week. He’d been there for two months and didn’t know the office layout.

            He had to compensate for his father’s incessant demands. A month ago, he’d foisted a girlfriend on him. The woman was his father’s friend’s daughter, whom he started working with earlier this year.

            She was pretty enough, and she fell into bed with Conner far too easy for his liking, but it scratched an itch. If he was careful, she wouldn’t trap him into anything he didn’t want. Every time he spent time with her, his instincts told him something was off. He just didn’t know what was wrong with the situation and his father became offended on behalf of his new business partner when Conner mentioned he wasn’t interested in her.

            So, he’d been taking his new personal assistant with him to functions to stick it to his father. But Conner couldn’t avoid his new girlfriend. Her father would bring her to the events. It became annoying for him. Now, he received a call from his father, who told him not to bring Summer with him. He had to get her to arrange for him to take Gabriella Mandela to tonight’s event.

            Even though Conner hated the idea of having a personal assistant. Her social skills were commendable at events, and he enjoyed engaging in intelligent conversations with her. Summer was attractive too. She seemed familiar, but he couldn’t recall why. His desire to learn about her intensified, and he now trusted in her word. He trusted only her to handle many tasks he didn’t entrust to anyone else.

            Trust was a big issue right now. The business was under attack and the sabotage was affecting the bottom line. If it continued, his family may have to sell out to their new business partner. Which was something he didn’t intend to allow to happen.

            Summer entered the office without fanfare and at once started working. She didn’t bother to stop and tell him she was back. She just jumped in and did her job. Answering his message machine, arranging the mail, all of it.

            “Summer, get in here. We need to talk about what’s happening this afternoon. Bring coffee.” Conner said. He grumbled, still grumpy from arguing with his father over lunch. Conner ran his hand through his sandy, dark hair. It never looked perfect because he despised the feel of too much hair product.

            “Yes, Mr. O’Keefe.” She wouldn’t call him Conner, and that was fine in the office. But he felt weird when she did it at events. It was like she was trying to keep an invisible wall up between them. That annoyed him. Her surprising cocktail dress look caught him off guard on their first outing. On their second outing, he envisioned her without the evening dress.

            If he had his way with her, would she quit her job? He had to sit behind his desk quickly, because the thought of screwing her had his cock tenting the front of his tailored pants. Damn it, he had to be more careful.

            In the last couple of days, he’d become resistant to making her quit. But he still used her presence to keep Gabriella at bay.

            “What can I do for you, Mr. O’Keefe?” She stood there with a coffee in one hand and a tablet cradled to her chest, ready to make notes about everything he said. He now felt jealous of an electronic device, wanting her to address the situation in his pants.

            Conner wasn’t this unprofessional before she appeared at his reception desk. His sudden behavior was a mystery to him. “I need you to sit down while we work this problem out.” He wanted her to sit on his lap. Conner was thankful later; he hadn’t added that wish. What the hell was wrong with him?

            Summer placed his coffee on his desk and sat down. She presented him with the perfect tool for self-reflection. She served her purpose, but he wanted more from her, even though it would cause more trouble than it’s worth.

            To distract himself from his thoughts, he took a sip of his coffee. Damn it, Conner realized she’d never screwed up his coffee. In fact, she never had, and she’d never asked him how he liked his coffee. She seemed to have a telepathic understanding of him. Maybe his father gave her a list of things to memorize about him.

            “My father is getting in my way again. But we will not let him. Here’s what we’ll do. He watched Summer’s head bow as she readied her tablet to take notes. “He wants me to take Gabriella Mandela tonight to the business dinner. Please do something for me.”

            “Not attend sir?” Her green eyes flashed up to investigate his ice blue ones. She had an almost hopeful yet annoyed expression. He wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but he didn’t like it either way.

            “Hell no, listen to me this once. I want you to contact the event planner and arrange two things. Please reserve a seat on my right for yourself, and one on my left for Gabriella. If I must take Gabriella, I will not miss out on a business opportunity by not having you there to ensure everything goes smoothly.” Conner wanted Gabriella to understand she was interfering in his life. Just because she screwed him once, didn’t mean she’d have the pleasure of screwing him again. He found her too nosy for his liking. Unlike Summer, who listened more than demanded answers in a manipulative fashion. Under the guise of a feigned interest in his work and compliments about his intelligence, Gabriella tried to manipulate him into revealing information on various matters. Conner believed Gabriella believed she he was stupid and fooled by her wiles.

            “But if you’re on a date with Ms. Mandella, wouldn’t my presence be inconvenient?” There she was. Summer sat there, worried about his dating life over her own life. Always act professionally. She didn’t want to overstep the boundary she enforced between them. Summer didn’t tell him how to live his life or judge. But she questioned her impact on it.

            Conner studied her before uttering a word. He waited to see her squirm in her seat. He hoped his heated gaze did something to her beyond making her uncomfortable. “You worry about business and leave my date to me. Am I clear?”

            “Yes, sir. You’ve made yourself clear.” She stopped short of expressing her opinion on the matter. No complaints or critiques at all. It was something he could grow accustomed to. Now if only she would let the wall, she’d erected between them to go down, maybe he could have her assist him with getting his cock down. After all, she was his personal assistant. He wanted her to get personal with him.

            “Good. Wear something like that blue cocktail dress this time. Everyone seemed impressed when you wore that.” Several business contacts commented on how jealous they were of him because she was on his arm. He suspected they could complete so much in business dealings because of her curves. Conner would watch her safety, so nothing would go amiss.