Page 1 of Long for Me
Chapter One
Rebecca
I stretched my back to work out the kinks. Six o’clock on New Year’s Eve and the office was practically deserted. And I was still at my desk, a mountain of paperwork in front of me because my boss, Bennett Ashby, had decided to completely overhaul the retirement development we were proposing later in the week.
With four days of work to complete in two, I couldn’t even consider stopping for the day. I still had to redo the schematics and the budget to reflect the changes Bennett had demanded when he tossed the files on my desk a mere two hours ago.
I was determined to get a decent jumpstart before I shut down my computer so I didn’t have to come in too early in the morning. At least that way, Bennett couldn’t give me grief for slacking off. I figured it wouldn’t matter to him that tomorrow was technically a holiday and I wasn’t required to come in. When it came to Bennett, what he said went. Which made sense considering he was the President of Ashby Enterprises, named after his father who started the company. But Bennett and I went together like oil and water. Regardless of how hard I worked, how efficiently I ran his schedule and his life, nothing was ever good enough for him.
He was short-tempered and rude to me on the best of days, but throwing this much work at me so late in the afternoon and the night before a holiday took the cake, even for him.
Except for when he called me in on Christmas, anyway. I was beginning to think Bennett Ashby didn’t know the word vacation. Amazing, considering he was generally highly intelligent.
I mean, who wanted to work New Year’s Day?
No one. And especially not me, even if I didn’t have any smashingly exciting New Year’s plans to get to. But since Thanksgiving, I’d had a day of relaxation and stress relief planned. I was going to ring in the new year alone in my quiet house with the remote in one hand and bags of all my favorite junk spread out on my coffee table like a buffet, doing absolutely nothing except sleeping and catching up on all my favorite Netflix shows. It sounded boring to some, but considering most weeks consisted of ten, if not twelve, hour workdays, at least six days a week, a day of mindless nothing sounded like perfection.
And Bennett was ruining all of it for me.
With a groan, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail and got back to work. If I worked until eight, I should be able to put off coming in until at least noon tomorrow. At least then I’d get to sleep in.
My phone buzzed with an incoming text, and lit up with Miranda’s name and picture as it danced across my desk.
I grabbed it, already knowing what the text was going to say. She’d been asking me for weeks to spend the night hanging out with her and her husband, Shawn.
There’s still time if you’ve changed your mind. Open house tonight at Luminous. We’d love to ring in the New Year with you!
My friend Miranda had been trying to talk me into going to Luminous with her for over a year now. There was no way I was stepping into some kinky sex club. She and her husband might have a fantastic marriage, but I was never going to enjoy being whipped or spanked. Actually, that idea didn’t make me cringe as much as the thought of being bossed around all the time did.
I was never going to be some man’s doormat. Seeing one woman ruined by a bossy, narcissistic asshole was enough, thank you very much.
“You’re still here?”
I flipped my phone over on my desk.
Bennett stood in my doorway, shoulder propped on the doorjamb. More gloriously attractive than any human should have the right to be.
“Yes, Mr. Ashby. I’m still here.”
He glanced at his watch, thick black brows furrowing. “It’s New Year’s Eve. You don’t have plans?”
“Do you need something Mr. Ashby, or did you just stop by to interrupt me?” I smiled sweetly, taking the bite out of my tone. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my job, or didn’t respect him. I did. I’d worked hard to be promoted to Executive Assistant. I just didn’t think that when I was promoted to the top my boss would end up being such a beautiful prick. He grated me constantly. Sometimes I think he goaded me intentionally, like he was doing now.
“Has anyone ever thought to teach you manners, Rebecca?”
“Tried. It never took.”
“Perhaps we should put that in your employee goals for the new year, then.” He pushed off the door and stepped out of my office. “You may leave when you’re finished.”
How sweet of him. Giving me approval to leave when I was done with my work. If I didn’t need this job so badly, I would have quit approximately two hours after I was promoted. I’d gone a bit mute when I stood in the doorway to Bennett’s office, meeting him for the very first time in person. I’d worked at his company for six years, but only seen him in passing and during employee meetings. Standing six feet away from him alone was an entirely different, mind-numbing experience. My hiring had occurred through Human Resources when his previous assistant left the position in tears. That should have been a red flag. But I was tough, I could handle anything.
I hadn’t quite been prepared for how stunningly beautiful Bennett was in person.
Or how rude. It was a gift he had. He’d taken one look at me after I’d introduced myself as his new assistant, sneering as his gaze traveled down my body. Then he arched a brow and said, “And? Your point?”
He looked down at his phone, pressed a few buttons, and began walking back toward his office when he stopped and turned back.
He smiled at me then, and he did that strange look that made my stomach feel funny. Warm and tingly. It was the weirdest thing I ever felt and I didn’t like it. Not one bit. When Bennett smiled, I entirely forgot he was my boss. That smile did stupid, silly girl things to me like make me want to stand up and tangle my fingers in his jet-black hair. Or brush my cheek against his jaw that always held just the smallest hint of stubble. It made me want to nibble on his full bottom lip, wrap my legs around his waist.
