The Millionaire's Bet [BOOK ONE][#Wattys2015][#SYTYCW15][#CarinaPress]

part nine

"Mr Collins would like you to file these for him," Jenni added another round of papers and folders onto my desk before she turned and walked away, her heels clicking against the wooden floor and a slight sway of her hips which she probably used when there was something she wanted from Andrew himself, but that was their business and I wasn't going to get into that with either of them.

But, on the up side, I could now add her to the list of people I had managed to piss off. I hadn't even been here for two days and I was already managing to piss off the people who had worked here for years before me, I had even managed to piss off the boss himself and, if the rumours were anything to go by, I was the first person who had ever dared stand up to him in the way that I had done and I was also the first person who was brave enough to ignore him when he wanted my attention.

As I continued to make my way through the ever-mounting pile of work, which Andrew thought appropriate to thrust upon me, I found myself glancing at the clock a little too often for my liking. I knew that time would only feel slower if that's all I did for the rest of the day, but I was counting down the minutes until I had my freedom for the evening, until I could return to the solitude of my apartment and enjoy a somewhat relaxing shower.

"Ah. Miss Lopez. I would assume?" I wish that people would stop interrupting me every thirty bloody seconds. My work wasn't going to do itself and, if people kept talking to me, I was going to be here longer and I was never going to be done by the time it reached seven o'clock tonight and, because of Andrew's ridiculous attitude, he would keep me here until I had done whatever it was that he wanted me to do.

"And what can I do for you Mr—?"

"Brent. Darren Brent," I had to hand it to the guy. He was smooth and it was obvious that he had done this many times before, but I had also done this more than enough times before myself to know the sort of man that Darren Brent was, and he's a man that I don't want in my life right now because he's a man who is bad news.

"Is there something I can help you with, Mr Brent?" I was giving it my best shot at being polite, given that he was one of Andrew's best clients, and I didn't really want to be the reason that he took his services elsewhere. Andrew would never let me live that down if that happened, and my life was already hell enough here, so I wasn't looking for more reasons to make Andrew hate me.

"You're beautiful, Miss Lopez. I don't suppose you're free this evening?" the last man who had been as forward as Darren is being now was the man who became my boyfriend, husband and ex-husband, all in the space of twelve months.

"I am not, Mr Brent. I have to finish typing up three contracts before the end of tomorrow, sign countless papers before the end of the week, and then organise everything into a system which I understand," I gestured to the mess around me to reiterate the point I was making but, being a man with one hell of an ego and a point to prove, he didn't understand what I was telling him and he didn't want to accept that I wasn't interested in his offer at this moment in time.

"How about tomorrow?"

"Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I'm really not interested in anything right now. I am sure you're a nice and everything but, after a previous experience, I tend to avoid the male species these days," I didn't want him to think that I wasn't interested in him at all. Any other day, and had I not been raped by the man that claimed to love me, I would have willingly jumped his bones without a second thought—he was easy on the eye and, despite acting like a total ass in the company of Andrew, his personality wasn't all that bad either.

"I never said it was a date. I simply wanted to show you the city and, if I was lucky, hope that you would allow me to take you to dinner at my restaurant in town," his hands were now on my desk and he was leaning down slightly, his eyes now level with my own, and there was an intensity to his stare which drew you in. His eyes were an incredible shade of green and I definitely wouldn't have any issues staring into them every single day.