His Dirty Secret - Slave To The Billionaire - Contemporary Erotic Romance (3 page)

“It sounds wonderful Mr. Jame…Tyler.
Thank you.” Isobel was glad that she hadn’t quit her bartending
job, if it turned out that she sucked at office work she could at
least go back there.

“Okay, if you’ll sit here for a minute
I’ll write up a list of things that I’d like you to do today. Then
I’ll take you through to where you’ll be working.” As he spoke he
was taking a pen out of its holder on the desk that Isobel could
have sworn was solid gold. Oh yeah, she’d definitely hit the
jackpot.

Tyler seemed to be writing for an age
before he finally put the pen back down and handed her the paper
he’d been writing on. Isobel gulped when she saw how long the list
was, and then she gulped again when she saw some of the things
written on it, wondering if she’d bitten off more than she could
chew. Oh well, she’d never know if she didn’t at least
try.

Her new boss, albeit possibly
temporary, got to his feet and Isobel followed suit, smoothing her
skirt down as she stood and noticing that Tyler’s eyes followed the
movement of her hands. “Follow me please, Isobel. Let’s get you
settled in.” Oh, she’d love to be settled in; in the crook of his
arms as he... She quickly put a leash on where her mind was taking
her. Now wasn’t the time or the place, even if she did wish
differently.

She was led through one of the doors,
which turned out to be the entrance to what could only be called a
secretaries office. There was a buzz of chatter as the five or so
ladies who were present talked among themselves while they readied
themselves for the work day ahead. The talk soon ceased however, as
the boss walked in with a very quiet and subdued Isobel in
tow.

“Good morning, ladies.”
There was a murmur of answering greetings. “This is Isobel. She’s
going to be my personal assistant, for today at least.” Isobel
noticed the mixed reactions his news received. One lady beamed a
smile in her direction, but most of them seemed to be pretty
annoyed, and she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe they’d each been
hoping that they would be the next personal assistant.
Oh well, you snooze, you lose, bitches,
she thought.

Tyler seemed oblivious to the mixed
undercurrents running through the room, and carried on talking.
“Mary, I’d like you to show Isobel where she can find everything
she’ll need, please.” He spoke to the woman who had smiled at
Isobel, much to her relief.

“Sure thing, boss.” Mary walked
towards Isobel with a friendly smile.

“I’ll see you later, Isobel. Good
luck.” With that, Tyler walked back through the door that led into
his private office, leaving Isobel at the mercy of the
women.

She looked around the room, smiling in
a way that she hoped would show the women that she wasn’t there to
make enemies, but to work. Mary caught the way everyone was glaring
and seemed to take pity on her, placing her hand on Isobel’s arm
and giving it a friendly pat. “Just ignore this bunch of cronies,
hon.” Her voice was quiet, but not a whisper. “They’re just bloody
jealous because you get to work up close and personal with the big
man.” She winked and then frowned at the other ladies. “Don’t you
lot have any work to do?”

Isobel watched everyone scurry off to
their relevant work areas and then she followed Mary to a cubicle
that was set apart from the others. “This is where you’ll be
working. That’s when you’re not off running errands for Mr. James,
of course.” There was a desk with a top of the line computer set up
on it, a telephone that looked as though there were a hundred
different buttons and a myriad of paper trays and filing cabinets,
all of which looked full to the brim.

Isobel gulped as she took it all in,
she’d never be able to figure any of this stuff out. She was doomed
before she began, it seemed. Mary laughed at her expression and
then hurried to reassure her. “Don’t panic sweetness. It’s not as
hard as it looks, and if you need any help you just give me a
holler. Okay?”

Giving a slow nod of agreement, Isobel
looked at the piece of paper that Tyler had given her. “Is that
your ‘to do’ list?” Mary asked.

“Yeah. And I have no clue where to
even start.” Isobel’s voice gave her away with regards to just how
nervous she was feeling. “I mean, he wants me to take his suit to
the dry cleaners, but I don’t know where the suit is or which one
he even uses.” Her voice had risen as she talked, and she took a
deep, calming breath to calm herself down.

“It’s not as bad as it seems, hon.
I’ll let you in on a little secret, shall I?” Mary was being so
nice that Isobel could have hugged her, but she settled for just
giving her a nod. “Okay, Jenny was always running late or
disappearing when she should have been working, but she always
expected us to cover for her so she left a list in her drawer of
relevant information.” While she was talking, Mary had been
rummaging through the desk, and she pulled out an A4 piece of paper
with a triumphant flourish. “Ha! Here you go sweetie. This has
contacts, Boss Man’s preferences and anything else you might need
to know on it.”

She handed Isobel the paper and told
her to let her know if there was anything else she could help with,
and then she walked away to her own work station. Isobel took a
seat at her own desk and then looked at the two pieces of paper she
held, making a mental plan of attack. She figured that the first
thing she should do was to get Tyler’s suit to the dry cleaners, so
she found the address on the list made by her predecessor and then
collected the suit that was hanging on a cabinet door, rightly
assuming by its size and the fact that he was the only male that
she’d seen working up here, that it belonged to Tyler.

Forty minutes later she was back at
the office building, walking through the main doors as though she
had been working there for years and not just started that morning
under false pretenses. As she passed by the front desk, the
receptionist called out to her. “Excuse me, Ms. Cairns?” Isobel
changed course and walked towards her. “I just need you to sign
some paperwork for us. It’s nothing major, just your pertinent
information and bank details for your salary. It will also give you
authorization to sign for any deliveries that may arrive for Mr.
James.”

Isobel’s mind had gone
blank at the word
salary
. She had only ever worked an
hourly job before, and never had a salary in her life. Hell, she
didn’t even know how much she would be getting paid if she was
lucky enough to actually keep this job.

“Ms. Cairns?” She was
brought back to reality by the receptionist’s voice, and quickly
took the required paperwork from her, walking across to one of the
leather couches to sit and fill it out. A short time later she was
back up on the top floor sat at her desk while she looked at the
list Tyler had given her once more. She knew it was her
imagination, but it seemed to have gotten longer while she’d been
at the dry cleaners. She took a deep breath and gave herself a
stiff talking too.
Come on, Isobel. You
can do this shit
. She put her head down
and read through the list again.

1: Organize the filing
system

2: Arrange a meeting with
Mr. Takeo for early next week

3: Take suit to dry
cleaners

4: Photocopy the new
company handbook (1 copy for every staff member)

5: Make an appointment at
dentist

6: Call the garage and
book a vehicle check-up for all company vehicles. (No more than two
cars per day. Make note of all registration numbers and
corresponding drivers and inform them of date of
inspection)

7: Confirm attendance for
the business lunch next Wednesday at Rico’s

8: Inform Mr. Rodgers at
Rico’s Restaurant how many attendees to expect, and of any special
dietary needs

9: Collect relevant data
and projected income and deficit details for the Smithfield
project

She took another deep breath. At least
she could cross one thing off the list, but now she had to figure
out what to do next. Isobel had a very analytical mind, and she
decided to attack the filing cabinet first. With any luck she would
find most of the details that she needed in there to complete the
rest of her tasks, such as names and phone numbers of any relevant
staff or people she needed to contact. Besides, sorting out a
filing system should be relatively easy, right?

Wrong. The whole thing was complete
chaos, as she found out to her frustration a short while later. Her
desk, which had been quite tidy and organized at first glance, was
now a mass of papers and files which were spewed everywhere.
Nothing had been in any kind of order, whether it be alphabetical
or chronological, and even though Isobel was no secretary or
anything, even she knew that it was a complete mess.

How on earth had the woman even
managed to do the most basic of office tasks when she obviously
wouldn’t have been able to find anything? She started to go through
the mess on her desk, putting it all back in the filing cabinet in
order and keeping out anything that she thought would help her to
complete the rest of the tasks on her list. It took almost three
hours, but eventually she sat back, rubbed her aching back and gave
up a grateful prayer of thanks that she was finally
done.

She thankfully crossed another item
off the dreaded list and then made a phone call down to the company
garage to make arrangements for the vehicles to be serviced, using
the list that she’d found in the cabinet as a reference. By the
time she’d finished with that, her growling stomach brought her
attention to the fact that it was way past lunchtime.

“Hey, Isobel, how’s it going,
sweetie?” She looked up from her desk to see Mary stood in front of
it.

“It’s slow, but I think I’m getting
there, Mary.” She stretched her back while she talked, trying to
get the kinks out. She didn’t think she’d ever bent over a desk for
so long in her life. And she’d thought bartending was hard work.
She’d never moan that people who worked in offices just got paid to
answer the phone anymore.

Mary handed her a paper bag. “Here, I
got you a sandwich. I figured you must be hungry after working all
morning without a break.”

“Mary, if I was so inclined, I could
quite happily kiss you right now.” Isobel opened the bag and took
out the sandwich, tearing the wrapper off it eagerly. “You’re an
absolute darling.”

With a broad smile, Mary gave her a
pat on the back. “And you, my dear, are one of the hardest workers
I’ve seen here in a long time. Keep up the good work.”

As she walked off, Isobel
couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face at the praise
the other woman had given her. And then she noticed the dark look
that one of the other women was giving her. It seemed that Julie
was pissed at her for doing her job well.
Tough luck, bitch. I’m here to please the boss, not
you.
Isobel ignored the woman and went
back to her lunch, eating with gusto and enjoying every
mouthful.

The next few hours passed by in a
whirl. Isobel slowly crossed off almost every item on her list, and
did a few little extras besides. She made a spreadsheet of the
company vehicles and their drivers, indicating each car’s service
record, date and history of problems. Each member of staff who was
attending the business lunch was contacted and their menu choices
noted and passed on to the restaurant owner, Mr. Rodgers. Tyler’s
dentist appointment and meetings for next week had been arranged
and the information on the Smithfield project had been collated and
printed.

All that was left to do was to print
off the copies of the staff handbook for each member of staff, but
every time Isobel had tried to use the printer another secretary
had rushed to grab it first, giving a smirking smile of triumph
each time.

As the day drew on, Isobel was afraid
that she wouldn’t get the last task done, but, ever ingenious; she
asked Mary if there was another photocopier anywhere that she could
use. After being directed to the tech room which was three floors
down, Isobel hurried off to complete her list, breathing a huge
sigh of relief when it was done.

She hurried back up to her own desk
and gave Mary a smile and a thumbs-up as she passed her. She picked
up her completed list and was just turning to go to Tyler’s office
when disaster struck; Julie had been walking by with a mug of
coffee in her hand, and as Isobel turned the woman knocked into
her, spilling hot liquid down her front.

“Oh my God! I am
so
sorry! I didn’t see
you there!” Isobel thought she detected a hint of sarcasm to the
girl’s voice, but was too busy trying to mop herself up with a
paper towel to take much notice. But then Julie continued talking,
and there was absolutely no doubt about her intentions. “Maybe that
will teach you not to step on toes and to make sure you stay out of
my way,” she hissed as she walked away, not giving Isobel a chance
to say anything.