ANDREW

"Your new personal assistant is here," I looked up to see my secretary standing in the doorway of my office with a smile on her face. The only reason she was here was because she was something decent to look at and she was pretty decent fuck after a few drinks.

"Personal assistant?" I asked. There had been no mention that I would be gaining a personal assistant and I certainly didn't employ one for myself. I much preferred to work alone and I didn't need some woman coming in here with the intention of changing that.

I had left that life behind me for a reason. I don't deal well with being told what to do and when to do it.

"Yes. The Board thought you could use some help, so they employed one for you," Jenni replied still with that damn smile on her face. She didn't even flinch when I stood up from my desk and walked over to where she was standing.

Her being five foot one and me being a little over six foot five did have its advantages. Even with her heels on she barely made it past my shoulders, so intimidating her was easily done, but she wasn't one to back down. She had been in my bed enough times to be able to see past whatever emotion I was showing on the outside.

"I suppose you had better send her in," I sighed. I didn't bother sitting back behind my desk. If I was going to have a personal assistant then I was going to show her who was in charge, she followed my rules, not the other way round.

Jenni disappeared out of the office, her heels against the wooden floor being the only thing I could hear and it barely thirty seconds later that she was returning, the girl hot on her heels as they walked into the office. I thought that I was managing just fine on my own, especially with the all the work I had been juggling since the day I took over, but the Board were never happy.

It didn't seem to matter what I did, they were never happy with me. When I became CEO of this company, we were making no money and were just days from declaring bankruptcy. It was me who pulled the company back from the edge and made out name in the business world. It was down to the things I had done that Collins' Holdings Inc. have become one of the biggest rising companies in communications technologies across the world.

At twenty-six, I had the company forced on me. It didn't matter that I was about to be married and a father at that time, this was the life I was told I had to take and that there was no time for family in a world like this. It was for that reason that I lost both my fiancé and my child – even with the number of people I had hired to find them, they had never had any such luck.

Now, at thirty, I didn't need some ditzy twenty-one year old tell me what to do. I wanted that even less since it would only involve her trying to get my money and, if she wasn't interested in that, she was only going to want to get into my pants.

I didn't need some woman telling me what the hell to do in my own office. In fact, the only time I ever wanted something to do with the female population was when they were screaming my name as I fucked them. Other than that, I didn't have the time to be dealing with them.

"Alyssa Lopez, this is Andrew Collins. Mr Collins, this is Alyssa Lopez. Your new personal assistant," Jenni introduced the both of us.

As I looked her up and down, I quickly realised that she wasn't going to be too much trouble for me. She didn't look like the sort of person who was going to try her luck at sleeping with me before the end of her first day and, from the grim expression covering her face, I would say she didn't want to be here in the first place.

Her outfit certainly didn't scream personal assistant. It was more an 'I sit in the park drinking Vodka from the bottle at the weekend' look which she had going on. I was shocked that this was the woman they had picked to work with me.

"Miss Lopez—"

"Why does every fucker assume I am single? I would have thought the ring was enough of a giveaway. You freakin' moron," Alyssa snapped as she held up her hand, flashing the finger and ring in my face, showing me that I was too quick to jump to conclusions and make my assumptions.

My only defence is that she doesn't have the appearance of a married woman. I assumed her to be in her early twenties and her hair, her hair looked like she had been dragged through a hedge backwards and then a child had attempted to fix it, but the end result was only worse than the start.

I reminded myself that her attitude really needed some serious work before she stepped foot in this office again. She also required a totally new wardrobe because she sure as hell wasn't going to work for me in the state she's currently in.

I wanted to know what the Board were plating at when they hired her but then I knew that had done it on purpose. They wanted to make me look bad but there wasn't a chance in hell of me allowing them the last laugh.

"Jenni. Have them send Robert up," I said as I finally took a seat behind my desk, trying to find something good about the woman in front of me, but there was nothing which screamed positivity. "We were in need of some serious work."

"Did you just insult me?"

"You've been here five minutes. I can already tell I'm going to be teaching you the meaning of manners and respect," I snapped but Alyssa seemed to think I was joking around and began laughing at me. "I am, after all, the man who pays your wages."

"I don't care if you're the Pope. I will show you respect when you show me some," Alyssa shrugged as she pulled her phone out of her bag and starting typing a message to whoever it was on the other end.

"Where did the Board find you? School canteen?" I remarked. Both my temper and patience were wearing extremely thin at this point, they were more than ready to break free from their cage and come out to play. As she continued to look at something on her phone, I came to the realisation that we weren't ever going to get on with each other and neither were we were going to be friends.

Working together was going to be damn near impossible at this rate.

"The streets. But close enough," she muttered sarcastically.

"Explains a lot," I said as I turned my back on her and admired the view out of the window instead.

My office, being fifty floors from the ground, had one hell of a view over the New York skyline. The sun had just about risen and the scene before me almost looked like it was on fire from the orange glow but there was something calming about the entire thing. I would always feel at ease when I was watching the sun rise in the morning and then settle again in the evening.

When Rebecca walked out on me, I would sit in this office, watching the day begin and then watch it end again. It was a reminder that I had managed to make it through another day of my heartbreak and that I was still going. Regardless of what I had done in the past, I wasn't ready to give up on life and I was ready to fight whatever shit life happened to throw my way.

"Mr Collins. Robert is here," Jenni announced.

Robert Johnson wasn't just my personal guard, he was also the only friend I still had left in the world. He was the only person who could put up with my shit and was the only person who was brave enough to stand up to me. He was the only person who had ever dared to tell me what a total ass I was.

"Thanks," I muttered and I turned around to see that he was standing in front of my desk. At almost forty Robert looked good for his age. A little over six foot seven, both his parents were giants though, and he still had a full head of brown hair and green eyes to match. I wasn't going to say that he was weak, because that would be a lie, he was rather well-built and there wasn't a wrinkle in sight – that was impressive for a man who worked for me. "I need you to do something with her. There's no fucking way she's working for me in that state."

"Funny story," Alyssa laughed mockingly. She hit her hand off her head, like they do in the movies when they are about to say something totally unfunny and should have been said the moment they walked into the room. "It's actually the Board who are going to pay my wages and there's no fucking way you are going to change anything about me."

Her tone was cold and full of hatred, which was definitely something new when it came to women and being in the same room as me. I was used to them falling at my feet, begging me to spend the night with them in their bed, something which I gave into far too often. I had lost count of the number of women who had walked into this office and then walked out again with a lot more than they bargained for.

"I don't give a damn who pays your wages, you aren't working in my office looking like that," I seethed as I ground my teeth together, my hands slamming on the table causing a frightful sound to echo around the room. "This is a reputable business. Not some charity shop."

"Here's the thing, Mr Collins, the only reason I am here is because I need the money," she replied, taking a step closer to my desk with each word she spoke. I could see that Robert was unsure of what to do so he settled for standing still and doing absolutely nothing. I had never seen a woman speak to me like she was daring to right now, so I knew for sure Robert had never seen it happen.

"Oh. Look. Something we have in common," I started sarcastically, clapping my hands together in the most dramatic fashion possible.

"I am also here to make you see that not every woman wants to drop their pants for you within the first thirty seconds of meeting you."

"Listen here sweetcheeks," I stated and I was grateful that my confidence decided it was going to return to me at that moment because I needed to show her that she didn't intimidate me. I didn't really care for her opinion of me either and I certainly didn't care that she didn't wish to sleep with me within the first five minutes of knowing me. "I don't care who employs you or who pays your bloody wages, I am still in charge of this office and you will dress the way I see appropriate."

"You know, Andrew, you really are a fucking—"

"A fucking what, Alyssa? Wanker? Arrogant Twat? Obnoxious Fool? Take your pick Alyssa because I've been called every fucking name possible," I shouted. I noticed that my sudden change in behaviour made Alyssa jump a little and she took a couple of steps away from the desk. I was grateful for the space between the two of us as I sat back down in my seat and continued to look at her. "Robert will take you shopping and he will help you pick up some more suitable attire for work."

The last part came out as more a mutter than anything and I turned my back on both Alyssa and Robert, preferring to look out of the window at the city which was beginning to come to life. It was better for me to do this rather than completely lost my temper with Alyssa, a woman who wasn't even bothering to hold her tongue while she was around me.

"Is this really all necessary?" Robert finally spoke up. I could tell that he was pissed with me and unimpressed with the way I was acting but I wasn't in the mood for his judgemental comments right now.

"Take her to Undertone and tell them to put it on the company's account," Andrew replied. I totally ignored the question he had put to me because it wasn't really any of his business what I deemed necessary and what I didn't deem necessary.

"Andrew—"

"And inform them that I shall be dropping into the store this weekend. I require a new suit. This one has become a little tight," I continued. I gave Robert a quick look and then sat back down in my chair, turning my attention back to my laptop as I continued to write my email to the Board. I wanted to know what the fuck was going on and what they were playing at.

"Andrew. Stop," Robert shouted as he walked over to me and slammed his hands down on my desk. He also thought he was being brave by leaning over the desk so that he was eye level with me but, being the only thing close to a friend that I had, I allowed him to get away with more than I would anyone else, and I even allowed him to speak freely when I should have put a stop to most of the things which came out of his mouth, "I know what this is about and you need to stop."

"You don't know shit Robert."

"Really? You aren't pissed with the Board for hiring her or for the clothes she's wearing. You aren't even pissed about the fact that she's outright told you that she doesn't want to sleep—"

"Fuck. Robert. She doesn't want to fuck me," I felt the irritating need to correct him and make sure he used the very same words she had used. She didn't want to sleep with me, just as I didn't wish to sleep, and I didn't even know how the hell to make love to woman because I didn't know the meaning of the word love anymore, all I did was fuck women and kick them out before the thought something else was going to happen between the two of us.

"Whatever. The thing which is really pissing you off is the fact she looks so much like—"

"Don't say her name. That bitch walked out on me and took my kid with her. So don't you dare say her name like all she did was pop to the shops for a pint of milk," I told him and I could feel the tears building in my eyes as I looked up from my email to look at Robert but I wasn't going to cry, I especially wasn't going to cry in front of these two people. "I couldn't give a fuck who she looks like. I just don't want her in my office like that. Simple."

"You are fucking impossible," Robert shouted and stormed out of the room with his fists clenched. Alyssa took that as her sign to leave the office and, as I looked over the top of my laptop, it actually scared me how much she looked like Rebecca. I had already had a hard time forgetting about the only woman I've ever actually loved and now, with her sister working for me, it was going to be it damn near impossible to forget about the woman who walked away with, not only my heart and my happiness, but also my entire life.

Alyssa was of average height with a slim figure, long legs and breasts which would give even Jenni a run for her money. Her red hair fell in natural waves and stopped just below her shoulders, her brown eyes giving away nothing when she looked at me. She reminded of Rebecca to the point that it was frightening and that's part of the reason I took such a disliking to her—I had already dealt with one Lopez, I never thought that I would have to deal with another one, I didn't even know there was another one because Rebecca had always told me that she was an only child but, much like everything else which came out of her mouth, that turned out to be a lie.

I didn't need to know Alyssa Lopez personally, though, to know that she wasn't going to be any different to that bitch and that's the reason she was here. She was here so she could take my money and then vanish, never to be seen again once she had gotten what she wanted from me.

"One more thing Mr Collins," Alyssa's voice forced all thoughts of Rebecca to the side.

"What?" I sighed. I needed her out of my office, I thought she would have realised that and have simply followed after Robert when he stormed out of here, but she was persistent and it would seem that she still had more to say. Which, for her, probably wasn't a good thing because it would lead to another argument, and that was only going to make the both of us dislike each other more than we already did.

"Your daughter says hello."

© 2015 Emma Norman. All Rights Reserved.