Adrian Assistant - jewel crotan (web ebook reader txt) 📗

off the water and turned to glare at him.



“What the hell are you doing?!” I exclaimed, wrapping the towel tighter around my naked body.



Adrian snapped out of his shocked stare and groaned. “Don’t talk so loud,” he mumbled, before he began walking over to where my rigid figure stood. He stopped directly in front of me and smirked down at my flushed state. “Good morning,” he murmured as his eyes scanned my body hungrily.



I tried to cover my tomato face with my fiercest glare. “Get out of the bathroom.” I scowled, giving him a look of disbelief.



“No,” he replied, before going back to the toilet in the corner. He began to pull his pants down and I squeaked and turned away in shock. “Adrian! I’m in here, you know! Naked, might I add! That’s not something I want to see!” I screeched while avoiding looking at him and snatching the clothes I brought in with me, off the small shelf.



He chuckled. “I needed to use the toilet. Can’t you imagine this when we get married one day? You coming out of the shower – I would’ve joined you of course, which, by the way, I’m offended you didn’t invite me to join you in the first place.”



I groaned and opened the door. “Shut up and get cleaned up. I’m going to get dressed and make breakfast.” I tried to get rid of the blush that seemed permanently stuck to my face whenever he was around.



“Yes housewife, thank you housewife,” Adrian called out. I could practically feel his smirk before I slammed the door shut and made my way back to my room.



By the time I had finished getting dressed and was putting the plates of breakfast down on the small island in my kitchen, Adrian had finished from the bathroom and walked into the kitchen in nothing but his boxers, making the spatula I was gripping fall out of my hand and land onto the floor with a loud clatter.



My eyes widened in shock and I quickly bent down to retrieve the utensil just as Adrian began smirking as he caught me looking at his bare torso.



“Smells good,” he commented once I threw the spatula into the sink. I nodded meekly and sat across from him just as he dug into his meal hungrily.



Adrian hadn’t brought up last night yet, and I was beginning to wonder if they were just drunken thoughts. Why would he come here, to my house? It had been over a month since we last spoke to each other, and it wasn’t on good terms either.



I looked down at my scrambled eggs with a small frown. I was hoping the job offer part of his drunken speech was true – I didn’t want to go back to that moldy underwear factory and have to put up with creepy Cooper again. This reminded me that I was going into work tomorrow and quit my job at that factory, and I cringed as I thought of being in the small office alone with the sleazy old man who was my boss.



“Emily?” Adrian’s voice sounded, pulling me out of my thoughts.



I looked up to meet his amused expression, frowning slightly. “Sorry, what?” I asked.



“You tell me. You’re looking at your food as if it just twerked like Miley Cyrus did at the VMA’s.” Adrian chuckled at his own joke, looking proud of himself, and I fought the smile that was threatening to escape my lips.



“I was just thinking,” I replied, taking a bite of the loaf of bread on my plate.



“About my offer last night? You don’t have a choice in the matter. You’re coming back to work for me.”



I almost choked on the piece of bread that I was trying to swallow as he said those words, and I looked back up at his smirk with wide eyes. So he did remember.



“I… I’m pretty sure it’s my choice, not yours.” I glared at him in response. In reality, I wanted the job back more than I could describe – but he didn’t need to know that.



Adrian’s arrogant smirk practically melted away as the words left my lips, and his expression turned to one of desperation. “Shortcake, please.” I bit my lip and tried not to blush at the nickname he had assigned to me. I hadn’t heard it in a while.



“Ever since you left… Well, I haven’t exactly been paying much attention to the business. My mind has been on you the entire time; I need you to come back in Emily. Please.” Adrian had gotten up during his talk to stand beside me.

I looked up at his eyes and inhaled sharply. The amount of vulnerability in Adrian’s expression caught me completely off guard, and my steady breathing hitched in my throat as I looked straight into his hazel eyes. Something hit me just then, and I realised just how much Adrian had an effect on me. I dragged my gaze away from his and looked down at my plate of food before letting out a sigh.



“Okay.”



“No, please, Emily. I need you – wait, what?” Adrian asked, cutting his begging short.



I laughed softly. “I said okay. I’ll come back, but there are going to be some rules,” I replied sternly, giving him a hard look.



“Anything. Okay, not anything. If I don’t like it, I’m not going to listen to the rule.” Adrian smirked, shrugging once I gave him a look of disbelief. “I’m still the boss,” he pointed out, making me blush again.



“Whatever,” I grumbled, trying to stop my blush from deepening. “Number one, no more mood swings. If you have a problem – business or personal related – you tell me straight away. I’m not going to tolerate your PMS Sessions where you’d give me the cold shoulder.”



“No mood swings. Got it.” Adrian nodded, grinning widely. I felt my own lips tug into a smile, catching his enthusiasm as my eyes took in every feature of his grinning face.



“Number two,” I continued, clearing my throat as I felt another blush crawl its way up my neck, “No more women while I’m working. Do it in your own time.” My voice became snippy at that point, and I tried to mask the sick feeling at the pit of my stomach at the thought of Adrian with another woman, before mentally scolding myself for thinking about that in the first place.



“No women. Got it.” He nodded, smirking at my flushed face.



“Shut up.” I scowled, making him chuckle. “Last rule,” I continued, glaring, “Business only. We’re not having a repeat of the last time I worked for you.”



“Nope. I don’t like the last rule, so I’m not listening to it. Now it’s my turn.” His grin widened. “Rule one: you’re sharing my office.”



I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Since you’re listening to my first two rules, it won’t be so bad,” I teased.



He chuckled and his smirk turned into a stern glare. “Rule two; you have lunch with me, nobody else.” Like my second rule earlier, Adrian’s voice turned snappy while he said the rule to me, and I frowned.



“Is this so I don’t interact with Allen?” I asked, “ How is he, by the way? He broke all contact with me after I quit, and I don’t think he did it by choice.” I looked at Adrian pointedly and waited for an explanation.



“Yeah, it wasn’t by choice,” he conceded, but with a glare. “I made him.”



I frowned in response. “Why?! We got along really well!” I exclaimed, giving him a look of disbelief.



“Because you’re mine,” he snapped in reply as his glare hardened. “You’re mine and he was taking you away from me. I’ll let him talk to you when I think he can talk to you.”



“That’s not even fair! You can’t control your best friend!” I cried, still in shock.



“I can and I did,” he replied swiftly, making me huff in response.



“You’re impossible,” I grumbled. “Are there any other rules?” I asked, giving him a sarcastic smile.



“For now, no. You start tomorrow. Welcome back to Kingston Corp.,” Adrian smirked and placed a quick peck on my cheek, “Shortcake.”



My skin instantly tinged pink from the contact, and I looked away from his satisfied expression to hide the effect he had on me.



“I- I can’t start tomorrow. I need to go tell my old Boss that I quit first. He’s not going to let me leave easily, so it’ll take a while…” I cringed as a mental image of creepy Cooper smiling at me popped into my mind again, and I bit my lip to try and figure out a way that will make him let me quit without delaying the process any further.



“He?” Adrian asked, raising an eyebrow before narrowing his eyes. “I’ll come with you then,” he announced, and I watched his shoulders visibly tense.



“Relax, Adrian.” I laughed.



“Who is he?” Adrian pressed, “Has he touched you or hurt you in any way?”



“Oh, he’s really handsome. One of the nicest men I’ve seen in my life so far. You should see him, he’s quite the catch. He has a memorable smile, too.” I tried not to laugh as Adrian’s expression darkened at my description of creepy Cooper, and I left my seat to clean the plates that we had wiped clean of food.

“I’m going to get my clothes for tomorrow and come back to your apartment,” Adrian declared, booking no argument. “Do not leave. I’m sleeping over again tonight.”



I gave him a confused look. “Why? You don’t-”



“Unless you want to come back to my place? My bed and television are bigger, after all.” He smirked, and I flicked some water onto his face, making him chuckle.



“I’m fine, thank you. You can go home – and stay there. I’ll see you at work tomorrow.” I smiled, remembering the fact that I had my job back.



“No. I’m coming back. Or I could always make you ‘lose your keys’ again so you can stay at mine.” Adrian smirked.



I wiped my hands on the tea towel I had hanging near the sink before turning to face him with a frown. “What do you mean ‘you’ll make me lose my keys’?” I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously.



Adrian’s arrogant expression fell once again that morning, turning to a guilty one before he covered it up with a false look of confusion. “What? I didn’t say that,” he mumbled, running a hand through his messy hair.



I tried to avert my eyes from his locks, before snapping out of it and glaring at him. “Adrian! That night when I lost my keys, you purposely hid them from me?!” I exclaimed, giving him a look of disbelief.



“Pft, of course not! Oh, would you look at the time! I need to go get my clothes and come back so we can watch movies and eat lunch together before-”



“Adrian!” I snapped, cutting him off.



He let out a defeated sigh before giving me a guilty smile. “Okay, yes. On the night of the business dinner, I took your keys out of your bag and put them in a pocket on my door so that you could come home with me. But it’s not my fault! You looked hot; I had to see more of you!”



His poor but flattering defense made me blush while I glared at him. I shook my head and hit his bare shoulder, my blush deepening as my hand came in contact with his bare skin.



“You’re an idiot.” I tried to scowl, but it came out as more of a smile as he broke out into a goofy, lopsided grin.



“Only for you, Shortcake.” He smirked, sneaking another kiss on my cheek before leaving the kitchen. I bit my lip and sighed to myself as I felt his kiss linger on my cheek for longer than necessary, before following him out.