“You should find everything you need in here. Claire has left detailed guidance notes.”
“Claire?” Sophie’s interest was piqued.
“My previous PA. She had to leave a couple of weeks earlier than planned, but you should find everything in order.”
Sophie wasn’t brave enough to ask why Claire had needed to make a speedy exit. Maybe she’d fallen for her boss…
“Why don’t you take a little time to get acquainted with things? And I’ll call you if I need anything.”
Lucien left Sophie’s door open and sat down at his desk. Despite what he’d just said to the contrary, he’d have put down good money that Sophie Black wouldn’t turn up this morning. She’d surprised him again, just as she had when she’d turned back yesterday and said things that clearly made her uncomfortable. He sensed the spunky girl lurking beneath her good girl demeanour, and he was looking forward to helping her find her way out. He looked up as she appeared in the doorway.
“Coffee, Mr. Knight?” There was a gleam in her eye that could almost be deemed mischievous.
“Why, thank you, Sophie. I’d like that very much. Espresso, if you can work that infernal machine out.”
She disappeared again, and he could hear the clank of the high-tech coffee machine in her office that he’d never bothered to get to grips with. A few minutes later she placed a steaming cup down on the desk next to him.
“I wasn’t sure if you took sugar,” she said, a sachet in her hand in readiness.
“No, thank you. That’s perfect.”
She inclined her head, and sunlight bounced off the clip that held her hair up. Lucien’s fingers itched to reach out and remove it, to let her blonde hair fall around her face. How long was it, he wondered? Shoulder length? Long enough to cover her breasts? He shifted in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable.
He picked up the cup and watched her retreat into her office. He had much to learn about Sophie Black, but two things were already apparent. The girl had a fabulous backside, and she could indeed make a mean cup of coffee.
Sophie sat down at the large, unfamiliar desk and touched a key on the computer keyboard. The screen instantly lit up, the Knight Inc. logo emblazoned across it.
Claire had indeed been very thorough with her handover notes, Sophie found everything listed from computer passwords to intricate details of how to manage Lucien’s diary. The thought of being in charge of the movements of the six foot sex god sitting outside her door set off the nerves in her stomach again, so she entered the computer passwords and opened up the email programme. It seemed as good a place to start as any.
The next couple of hours passed in a blur, and almost to her surprise, Sophie found that the job actually held some similarities to her old one. She still had to clear emails, manage the post, type memos. She drew strength from those familiarities. I can do this.
She was about to get to grips with the filing systems when an instant message box popped up in the corner of the screen.
“You’re very industrious in there, Ms. Black. I’m impressed.”
A smile touched the corners of her mouth. How very Lucien Knight to choose to do something other than just lean back far enough to put his head around the door and speak to her. She was fast learning that he was a man who avoided the predictable. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she tried to decide how to respond. First and foremost, this man was her boss. She should just be screamingly professional, but he’d somehow managed to show her that that wasn’t what he was looking for from her.
She rather thought that he wanted the other Sophie. Even so, there was something inherently intimate about messaging him that made her feel weird. But turned on weird, rather than run for the hills weird.
She racked her brain. What would the other Sophie say?
“I aim to please, Mr. Knight.”
She pressed send.
A few seconds later, his reply flashed in.
“Then I hope you’re a good shot, Sophie.”
Sophie laughed softly under her breath.
“I never miss. Is there anything particular you’d like me to do next, Mr. Knight?”
“Yes. I want you to call me Lucien.”
Sophie blushed. She’d already attempted to call him Lucien a few times that morning, but his name felt wrong in her mouth. Why couldn’t he have a run of the mill name? Something normal, like Tom, or Jack… or Dan. Something that could have been anyone’s, rather than a name that was so personally, completely his? He seemed to fill every corner of the word.
He chose that moment to roll his chair back and come through into the office with a sheaf of papers in his hand.
“Sophie, could you work on these after lunch, please?” He handed the papers over. “It’s customer feedback reports from our product testing group. I need the results collating, please.”
She put the papers aside with a professional smile. Say his name. Say his name. “Of course… Lucien.” There. She’d said it, and no one had died.
His eyes glittered with approval. “Much better.”
He glanced at his watch. “I have to go out for an hour or two. Don’t forget to take a lunch break.”
He left a few minutes later, and Sophie breathed out properly for the first time since she’d arrived that morning. She’d been tense, too tense in his presence. An unbidden image of Lucien Knight massaging the tension out of her shoulders popped into her mind, and she pushed it aside hurriedly. What was happening to her? Her last boss had never unsettled her like this, but then Derek was a man whose attentions she had actively avoided, rather than daydreamed about like a star struck fan-girl. The fact was that being around Lucien Knight had her on edge.
She’d never met anyone like him before. He radiated a raw sexual energy; it dripped from his every pore. He had exempted himself from the usual conventions that shackle people and had created the Knight Inc. empire on the back of it. Her pre-interview research had told her little of the man himself, but much about the multi- million pound business of adult clubs and stores he operated up and down the UK. He seemed to view the world through an x-rated lens, and he had made his millions by tapping into the vein of depravity that ran through every otherwise decent person.
Up until now, Sophie had considered herself a conventional woman. Accepting this job was probably – no, definitely - the biggest risk she’d ever taken. She’d applied for it because the boredom of her life was suffocating her, and so far it seemed that if her aim had been to inject some excitement into her days, she’d scored a spectacular goal.