~*~
When my lunch break was over, I dreaded going back upstairs. Spending the rest of the day with Jason sounded miserable.
Hopefully it wouldn't take him too long to find a new assistant. There was already a job posting in our company career portal for the assistant position, so at least the process started. It seemed like he only wanted to hire within the company, which made sense. He'd never really know how a person hired from outside would behave, and this was a high-up position at the company.
Briefly, I wondered if I made the right decision by declining the offer. However, after just starting my career, the last thing that I needed was to get burnt out by being the assistant to this needy billionaire.
When I went back upstairs after lunch, I was surprised to see that Jason wasn't in his office. His office door was unlocked, so maybe he just went to the bathroom or something. I went into the office and sat down in his guest chair to wait.
Ten minutes passed, and he still wasn't back. I was eyeing his chair; the longer he was gone, the more tempted I was to sit in it. It looked really expensive and comfortable.
Peeking out of his office, there was no sign of him coming in any time soon. I walked behind his desk and sat down in his chair: the CEO's chair. It was a weird feeling being behind the desk, and it gave me a bit of an adrenaline rush. I knew that sitting in his chair right now was probably breaking some rule, but he had been a dick to me and this was my reward.
The chair had wheels, and it spun on the wheels so smoothly. Sitting cross-legged on the chair, I grabbed onto the wall and used the momentum to spin myself. This was one way to pass the time. Dizziness started to set in, and that's of course when he returned.
"Having fun?" he asked.
I stopped myself from spinning, and the world was still moving as I looked up at him. He was carrying a takeout bag from Chick-fil-A, so he had obviously gone for lunch. The expression on his face was full of amusement.
This was really embarrassing. I was behaving like a four year old that had just found a spinning chair for the first time, but nope, I was a twenty-two year old woman. Instead of dying of embarrassment, I tried to own it. "Yeah, actually. I was just testing out the chair. This CEO job doesn't seem too bad."
He chuckled. "I'm glad you like it. What do you think of the spinning feature?"
Blushing, I played along. "It was pretty good, but not the best I've ever had."
"Harsh," he said teasingly. He sat down in the guest chair that I'd been sitting in earlier and opened up his bag of Chick-fil-A. It surprised me that he kept letting me sit in his chair, but I didn't question it.
I moaned as the smell of the chicken and waffle fries hit my nostrils. "I would've waited for lunch if I knew you were going to get Chick-fil-A. That smells incredible."
He laughed. I hated to admit it, but the sound of his laugh and the genuine smile on his face that reached his eyes... well, it made my heart beat faster in my chest.
"I have a proposition for you, new CEO," he began jokingly. "If you give me my chair back and help me for the rest of the day, I'll treat you to Chick-fil-A for dinner tonight as a 'thank you'."
Not sure how to respond, I took a few seconds to contemplate what he'd just said. Dinner with Jason Bennett? Never in a million years did I imagine that would ever happen. As an employee, I was supposed to be doing work. However, since he'd forced me to be his temporary assistant, a 'thank you' gesture for helping out was nice regardless.
It was obviously a bribe, but I was never one to pass up free food. "That sure sounds like a 'thank you' bribe after forcing me to help you," I observed, standing up from his chair.
He looked amused. "Maybe it is."
I rolled my eyes. "Well, I'm not going to say no to a free dinner, but I don't have to like getting bribed."
We switched chairs, so he settled into his fancy chair before eating his meal at the desk.
It took a few seconds for realization to hit me. "Won't you be having Chick-fil-A twice in one day then?" I mused.
Taking a bite of his chicken tender, he said, "Worse things have happened. I'll get grilled chicken for dinner to make up for eating these chicken tenders right now."
I laughed. He was something. He was in such good shape physically that it was unlikely to make a difference to splurge on unhealthy foods once in a while.
"Can you go get my coffee?" Jason asked.
The temptation to make a snide comment about being his coffee slave was strong. However, I bit my tongue and simply said, "Okay."
This was his strategy: being demanding and annoying one minute, and then bribing me with Chick-fil-A or free coffee to win me back the next. I hated it--how he flashed his money like it was nothing. Those items were cheap, but it was still the principle of it.
The rest of the day passed by fairly uneventfully. I was cooped up in Jason's office for the next several hours, making phone calls for him and rearranging his schedule. At least it was mostly mindless work, but there was a lot of it. It was really boring, too. At one point, after being on hold with one of our business partners for almost fifteen minutes, I closed my eyes to rest them for a second. Before I knew it, I was starting to doze off--
Jason tapped my hand with his pen, which caused me to jolt upright. I was still on hold on the phone, but he was giving me a 'really?' look.
"First, you're watching YouTube videos at work, and now you're sleeping on the job. What am I going to do with you?" he drawled. His voice was deep and his eyes were intense when he said it. While he was obviously kidding, the way he asked that last question made me blush and shudder slightly.
Maddie had told me countless rumors about Jason Bennett, one of them being that he liked being rough in bed. My mind started to wander to places that it shouldn't go, like thoughts of him roughly shoving me up against the wall or spanking me as punishment.
God fucking damn it. Maddie was getting in my head now. Blushing, I squashed those thoughts.
It took a second to regain my composure. "Give me a promotion?" I suggested jokingly with a smile.
He shook his head. "I offered you the position as my assistant, and you rejected it. Not my problem."
"True."
After another hour of boring work, it was time to leave. It was time for dinner with Jason. Obviously, I'd texted Maddie about it. As she'd just finished her shift, she wanted to spy on us and 'see for herself' just how attractive he was in person. She was something, but that's why she was my best friend.
Jason smirked. "Ready for dinner?"
"Starving," I mumbled.
As we made our way to the exit, he took off his suit jacket and tie. He rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt, revealing his toned forearms.
Chick-fil-A was right across the street, so we walked over. There was a long line, but as soon as the other customers saw us walk in, they let us cut in front of them. I rolled my eyes. Being famous sure had some nice perks.
Once we got our food, we found a table off to the side to eat at. Maddie was sitting a few tables away, jokingly fanning herself with a napkin. She mouthed to me, 'so hot'. I had to resist the urge to laugh at her antics.
This wasn't a date, but it'd been a while since I'd been treated to dinner. The last date I'd been on was with a weird guy from Tinder almost eight months ago, so this was refreshing.
Jason gave me his award-winning smile. "Thanks for all your help today. The team is looking over resumes right now. We're hoping to start interviewing next week for the assistant position, so hopefully it won't be too much longer."
Thank God. While getting free dinner was a nice perk, I'd rather not be forced to cater to his every demand. He pissed me off earlier with his stunt of forcing me to be his temporary assistant. I was trying to get along with him, even if he was annoying at times.
"Thank God," I responded, intentionally trying to sound relieved that this would be over soon enough.
"How was your first week working here?" he asked.
Deciding to give a half-truth, I responded, "It's been good. It's weird not doing HR stuff today, but I'll live."
"I could see how excited you were doing my work," he said teasingly, referring to me starting to fall asleep on the phone.
My face started to heat up. "Sorry about that."
Once dinner was over, it was time to go home. I thanked him for dinner, and we both walked back towards our respective cars.
"See you tomorrow," I said to him.
He started heading over towards a sleek, black Mercedes Benz in a reserved and guarded area of the company parking garage. My car was trash in comparison. I rolled my eyes... rich people and their ridiculously expensive things.
He nodded. "See you tomorrow."
~*~