Adrian Assistant, jewel crotan [best novels for beginners .TXT] 📗

probably wants me to have sex with them to begin with – no amount of flattery in the world would change that.

“No. If you’re thinking Adrian told me to bid on you, he didn’t. In fact – he got really pissed off instead.” Allen said the last part in a hushed tone, and I frowned in confusion.



“I’m right here, you idiot. I can hear you.”



I turned back to Adrian to find him rolling his eyes. Allen just chuckled and shoved a large piece of celery into his mouth, crunching on it loudly.



“Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked Adrian, not leaving any room for argument. Surprise briefly flashed through his eyes, before he nodded and got out of his seat, and I followed closely behind.



He went to a corner that was covered by thick red curtains, and then turned to face me. “What’s up, Shortcake?”



“Don’t you ‘what’s up’ me,” I hissed. “You said you’d take care of me not going home with a stranger tonight, Adrian! Not only am I doing that – but I don’t even know how he looks! You promised!” I pressed my index finger to his solid chest as I pointed at him.



He smirked before he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around my waist. I tried to wriggle out of his grip – but he held me in place.



“I did take care of it,” he simply said, still smirking.



“No you didn’t, Adrian. ‘Taking care of it’ would’ve meant that I would be going home tonight, with no worries of a man that I haven’t even seen yet, betting half a million dollars on me! I mean, he’s only seen a photo! How the hell does he know that the photo shows every feature I have? What if he doesn’t like what he sees and takes all his money back? Or, what if he likes what he sees a little too much and – and wants to have… it with me?!” I looked up at him with a desperate expression, my eyes beginning to water.



“Emily…” He trailed off, placing his warm hand on my cheek. “You’re worth every penny they put on you. Don’t worry about it. I keep my promises. I have taken care of it, and you’ll see that tonight. Just trust me on this one.” His gaze bore into mine.



I studied his expression for a moment before swallowing back any tears and nodding. “Okay.” I breathed, letting my walls down momentarily. It then occurred to me that we were pressed up against each other behind the curtain, our faces inches apart.



“You look really sexy in my clothes. I’m going to make you wear them more often.” Adrian’s gaze trailed down to his suit jacket, barely staying put on my shoulders.



He bent down and kissed my neck before I pulled away, glaring, and he chuckled. “You’ll want me soon enough.” He announced arrogantly.



I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. “Arrogance won’t get you anywhere, Adrian. Hey!” I suddenly remembered the announcement he made to his mother earlier. “What was that whole ‘going on a trip next weekend’ all about?” I asked, frowning as I bit my lip curiously.



His eyes studied my lips intently, and I released them from my teeth, blushing. “What?” He said, turning his gaze back to mine as he cleared his throat.



My blush deepened at his reaction, and I found myself clearing my own throat. “You told your mom that you and I are going on a trip next weekend – which we’re not, by the way – but why?” I asked.



Adrian’s gaze suddenly darkened. “Don’t worry about it. And we will be going. We have to now that I’ve mentioned it in front of her.”



I gave him a look of disbelief but decided against arguing about it at the moment. I’ll leave that for another day. “She doesn’t seem to like me much. I don’t understand why, I’ve never met her before.”



“Just… don’t worry about it,” he said. “Don’t let her get to your head.” He pulled me back into his torso and smirked down at me. “Now, about this dress… I think it needs to come off.”



The blush returned to my cheeks as my eyes widened.



“Adrian,” I hissed, trying to mask my blush with a dark look. “Someone will hear you.”



His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “That’s an improvement from ‘That’s never going to happen.’ I think I’m making progress here. Kingston 1, Johnson 0.” He joked, sneaking another kiss on my cheek.



I gave an exasperated sigh before pulling out his grip once again, rolling my eyes. “Let’s get back. They might think we’re doing more than talking.”



“I mean… I wouldn’t mind proving them right…” He trailed off smirking, before chuckling at my expression “Okay, okay. Let’s go, I need to do my thank you speech anyway.”

***



By the time the event ended, I was in tears from Adrian’s father, who I realised, shared his humour gene with his son. While he made remarks that made me cry from laughter, he also threw a few suggestive comments involving Adrian and me, and sometimes even based them on himself and me. Adrian would glare at his father every time a comment not involving him came up, and I rolled my eyes at his protective nature.



Almost the entire venue was empty by the time the woman came back to me at the table, and she gave me the same secretive smile she wore when we first met; making my stomach do countless flips once again.



“Are you ready to go?” she asked. I cast an uneasy glance around the room and only found Suzie, Allen and a few other men left, as well as the staff of the venue. No sign of Adrian.



I sighed before nodding. “Yeah. Let’s go.” I called out a brief goodbye to Suzie and Allen, who waved in response. I followed the woman outside to the car park, just as I realised I was still wearing Adrian’s suit jacket. I was thankful, due to the chilly wind that was whipping my hair about and making my toes freeze in my heels.



“My client will meet you in the car shortly. It was nice meeting you, Emily. Have a wonderful weekend.” She smiled as I climbed into the black car, and the words registered into my mind.



“Wait, what? You’re not coming?” I asked, growing even more nervous at the thought of her familiar face being absent with the stranger I was about to meet.



“You’ll be fine” was all she said, before she shut the door of the car.



I looked around the dark vehicle nervously, my breathing becoming heavier as the silence of the car suffocated me.



It felt like forever had gone by before the door on the other side of the car opened, and my head snapped towards the tall figure who just spent half a million dollars on me. He got into the car, shut the door behind him, and told the chauffeur in front to drive off – all while I continuously stared at him in shock.



“Come on, Shortcake,” Adrian smirked. “I told you I’d take care of it.”

 

say sorry

“Come on, say something!” Adrian chuckled as he unlocked the door to his penthouse suite.



I continued glaring, staying silent as the rattling of the keys echoed throughout the empty top level loudly. The door clicked open, and he turned to face me fully, smirking in amusement.



“’Thank you Adrian,’” he said in a slightly higher-pitched tone than his usual one. “’You’re the best boss ever.’”



My glare stayed.



He let out a sigh before pulling me into his torso by wrapping his arm around my waist, and I instantly tried to wriggle out of his stone-like grip. “You’re not as happy as I thought you’d be, Shortcake,” he muttered, looking down at me with a slight pout to his lips.



I stopped trying to wriggle out of his grip momentarily to look up and give him a look of disbelief. “Not as happy as you’d thought I’d be? What part am I supposed to be happy about? Coming to your apartment where you’d probably be even worse than someone who bid on me at the auction, or the fact that you didn’t tell me about your brilliant plan to ‘take care of it’ to begin with? How did you do it anyway? I thought you weren’t allowed to participate since it was your charity fundraiser.”



“I didn’t participate,” he stated with a grin as he led us inside, still holding me in his iron grip. He closed and locked the door behind us.



“Yes you did! You bid on m-”



“I didn’t bid on anybody. ‘A client on the phone’ did,” he pointed out with a smug expression, throwing his keys on the counter near the door. I groaned in annoyance before pulling out of his hold and throwing my bag onto the sofa in the living room – beginning my silent treatment rule once again.



Adrian chuckled from behind me as he followed me down the hall to the bathroom I showered in last time. I slammed the door shut before he could comment and instantly stripped off my clothing before jumping into the large glass shower area and turned on the gushing hot water.



Once I felt squeaky clean and no longer pissed off, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel that was hanging on the towel rack around my body securely before going over to the mirror and wiping off the steam that blurred my reflection and looking for a hairbrush in the drawers. Once I found one, I quickly ran it through my hair, before grabbing the other towel available in the bathroom and wrapping it around the newly tamed blonde locks. A firm knock sounded at the door just as I finished balancing the towel on my head, and I looked over at it and frowned. “Shortcake, I have clothes for you.” Adrian’s deep voice came out slightly muffled from behind the door, and the realisation of my lack of pajamas registered in my mind just then.



Sighing, I walked over to the door and cracked it open, sticking one arm out for Adrian to put the clothes in. I waited for the soft feel of material to surround my grip. But instead of clothing, my hand was met with another hand, just as Adrian pulled me out of the bathroom. I let out a startled scream. When my eyes met Adrian’s amused gaze, I gave him a look of disbelief. He barely noticed, as his eyes scanned my body hungrily.



“Adrian! Let go.” I tried to pry my arm out of his grip while also trying to hold up the towel securely.



“I invited you into my home and let you use my shower. The least you could’ve done was invite me in there with you,” he said in a tone of mock exasperation.



I groaned, suddenly feeling tired. “I knew this was going to happen.”



“You knew what was going to happen?” Adrian asked, and I looked back up to meet his curious expression.



“That this is how my entire time with