Alijah sat in the waiting room a bit impatiently. She'd been there since eight o'clock, and it was now going on eleven. She would have left an hour ago if she hadn't needed a job thirty minutes after her scheduled interview.

For the hundredth time, she found herself looking at her watch. She was tempted to get up and leave. However, after having no luck on the past two days' job search and her other two interviews being a bust, at no fault of her own, she needed this job. So, she had to stay.

Since she moved to Colorado, she seemed to be down on her luck. She'd been staying with her friend Lawrence, and she was more than tired of mooching off of him. Alijah had never considered being someone's assistant, but there she sat, waiting to be called into her interview. Truly a testament to how badly she needed a job.

Though she had been a secretary for a bit while she attended college, this was completely different — something many people didn't often realize.

She had always wanted to be a painter. She'd studied art in college and graduated with her bachelor's degree, but she knew that the road she traveled to fulfill her dreams would not be easy upon taking up that major.

"Ms. Douglas, Mr. Cayman will see you now."

The sound of the voice brought her out of her thoughts. She looked to her right to see a slender, blonde woman looking at her expectantly. Rising from her seat, Alijah followed the woman as she led the way into the office.

The first thing she noticed was brown hair and a voice like velvet that seemed to caress her. That voice she noted, however, was also angry.

The blonde motioned to one of the seats, and Alijah took it as the woman left the room. She was then left to listen to Mr. Cayman, as he had been called, finish his conversation, and, again, she noted he wasn't too happy.

"Resume,” he stated, and his voice jolted her. Alijah hadn't known that she had spaced out. Pulling her resume from the manila folder she held, she handed it to him.

She sat in silence as he looked it over, knowing it wouldn't take him long. She'd only worked a handful of jobs. Her longest being the four years she attended college when she worked as a secretary, a position she hadn't been too fond of, yet it kept extra money in her pockets. However, no matter how much she despised it, here she was again, in almost the same position.

"I see you were a secretary for quite a while. What happened with that job?" Alijah looked up at him and his hazel eyes locked with her green ones.

"I moved,” she replied simply. He said nothing and glanced back down at her resume.

"It says here that you minored in Culinary Arts." Alijah nodded. "That may come in handy."

Silence befell them again, and Alijah began to nibble on her bottom lip. Something she only ever did when she was nervous. Finally, Mr. Cayman sighed and leaned back in the high-backed chair, his eyes leveling on her.

"You're hired."

Alijah nodded her head slowly. "Okay, when do I start?"

"Tonight," Mr. Cayman began grabbing a card from his top drawer. "All of your belongings can be moved tonight, and what you don't need can be put into storage. I want to get an early start tomorrow and-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Alijah stated, cutting him off. "What do you mean move my belongings?"

"You were aware that this was a personal assistant position, correct?" He questioned, raising a brow.

"Well, yes, but-"

"A twenty-four-hour personal assistant position."

Alijah let out a sigh of her own. That part she was not aware of. She had merely thought it would be like any other office job. She had to admit that she hadn't read the entire job posting. She just knew she needed to go for it. Now she regretted that she hadn't.

She contemplated saying no, forget it, but she knew she shouldn't be so hasty. After all, Lawrence was a nice guy; but he would only let her mooch off of him for so long. To Alijah's way of thinking, if she took the job, she could save the money she made and then begin to look for another one when she had enough saved. Possibly even pursue her art career.

"Alright,” she finally answered.

"Call when you're all packed,” he stated, handing her the card. Again, she just nodded before standing and exiting his office.

Once outside the building, she hopped into Lawrence's car and headed back to his apartment. She was mentally drained, but she didn't have much repacking to do on the bright side.

Kieran groaned as he thought about the green-eyed beauty again since she'd left him two hours ago. His mind constantly reminded him of how they sparkled — contrasting against her dark brown hair and succulent deep caramel skin. Shaking his head, he cursed under his breath as he felt his slacks become tighter. Getting up, he made his way to the massive set of windows, peering down at the view.

What was wrong with him? As a grown man, the simple thought of a woman shouldn't turn him on so much, but it did. Perhaps it was the fact that he'd never come across a black woman with green eyes or that he had never been so sexually attracted to one.

Yes, he thought they were attractive. Though never to the extent where he wanted to pound them into his desk, but that was precisely what was happening. Maybe it was because it was all new to him. She was merely a novelty. He knew he would be over it soon and back to his typical milky, skinned blondes.

Kieran rechecked his watch. He'd given her a card to call his driver when she was packed; however, that still hadn't happened, and he was getting a bit frustrated. He wanted her to be at his condo by the time he left the office. Granted, that wouldn't be for quite some time.

Deciding to take his mind off of that, he got back to work. The last two weeks had been hard on him. He'd had to fire his previous personal assistant because she hadn't realized their relationship was one that only consisted of business. She'd thrown hints several times, and he'd ignored her. However, when he found her naked, spread eagle in his home office, that was the last straw.

He had commenced his search for a new assistant but hadn't had much luck until today, using his Vice-President of Operations assistant, Chloe. All of the women and the one man he'd seen had all been more interested in the fact that they would be living under the same roof as him and the possibility of sharing his bed than the actual job. Alijah had been different.

He knew from her shocked expression that she hadn't known the job would require her to live with him, which meant that she hadn't read the entire ad. That should have annoyed him, yet it didn't. It only showed that she was there for the job and not for him. The fact that she was the only one with more than a few months of secretarial experience helped as well.

Kieran didn't have any more meetings for the day, which was a testament to how lax his last assistant had been. He was accustomed to having them scheduled three weeks to a month ahead of time. Not last minute as she seemed to like to do. This was something he would stress to Ms. Douglas.

Going over the numbers for the last quarter, he was more than pleased. Profit had gone up three percent and, by his calculations, was still rising steadily. He knew that if his current deals were to go through, he would gain a profit of over thirty-three percent this year.

It was well after eight o'clock when Kieran noticed the time. It wasn't unusual for him to stay at the office late. However, he'd meant to leave before the sun went down. He wanted to speak with Ms. Douglas about some things. Timothy had called him a little after three to inform him that he was driving her to his condo.

Sighing, Kieran picked up his phone calling the older man and informing him that he was ready. After putting on his suit jacket, he gathered the documents he'd been looking over and placed them in his briefcase before putting his cell phone into his breast pocket. Once he'd turned the lights out, he headed for the elevator.

Timothy was already standing by the car when Kieran walked out of the building. He nodded, acknowledging the older man as he opened the door for him. When he'd slid in, Timothy closed the door.

The ride from the office building took about thirty minutes. Once they arrived, Kieran stepped from the car and headed into the building. Going over to his private elevator, he stepped inside, inserted the access key, and rode it up to the fifteenth floor. Stepping off, he unlocked his door before going inside.

His living room was dark as usual, but a light came from down the hall.

Making his way to the light source, he stood at the open bedroom door. He watched her silently as she sat in the middle of the floor, her back to him; she folded the clothes she continued to remove from one of the few boxes littered around the room.

Kieran didn't feel inclined to alert her of his presence; instead, he stood and watched her for a few more minutes before he realized if she turned around and caught him, she would surely think he was some sort of creep.

Lifting his hand, he knocked lightly on the open door. He expected her to jump, startled by the noise. Instead, she turned slowly, placing the garment she had in her hands to the side.

"Mr. Cayman,” she greeted, standing to her feet.

"Ms. Douglas. Settling in?"

"Yes, I'm almost done unpacking."

"Good. I'll return within the hour, and we can go over your duties."

Without waiting for a response, he turned and left, making his way to his home office.

Alijah exhaled as she turned away from the door. She could already tell that working for Mr. Cayman was going to be a chore. However, she was willing to put up with him and his standoffish demeanor. She didn't have much of a choice, and on top of that, the pay was too good to let slip away.

Closing the door, she finished putting away the rest of her clothes. She'd already put her underwear in the top drawers and hung up her work attire and jeans. All that was left was to place her sleepwear and casual wear into the drawers.

After all of her clothes were put away, she went to the box with her personal and feminine items. She carried it into the en suite and set about putting the contents away.

Alijah was finishing placing all of the boxes in the corner of the walk-in closet when the door to the bedroom opened.

"Come. We have work to discuss."

With her back to him, Alijah rolled her eyes to the ceiling and made a mental note to lock the door when she was getting dressed and sleeping — seeing as he didn't know how to knock. Deciding that cursing him out for it wouldn't get them off to a good start, she merely turned to find his steely hazel eyes penetrating her. She had to admit that it was honestly the first time she had seen such a soft color look so cold.

When she took a step toward him, he turned on his heels and headed down the hall. It took everything in her not to roll her eyes again. Instead, she followed after him into a home office. He gestured for her to take one of the seats across from him as he sat behind his desk. She watched as he opened one of the desk drawers and reached inside, pulling out a tablet and a phone.

"Keep these with you at all times. They're essential for your job. This phone,” he started holding it up. "Should never go unanswered. No matter what is going on around you."

He placed the phone on top of the tablet and sat both items down in front of her. She then watched as he picked up a stack of papers.

"This is your employment paperwork,” he stated, holding up a small stack of clipped papers. "This is a list of duties required of you,” he then told her, holding up what appeared to be a few sheets of stapled papers. "This,” he began, holding up the largest stack. "Is a list of my business associates and competitors. Familiarize yourself with this." He handed her all the papers. "Your employment paperwork is to be returned to me first thing in the morning." With that, he turned his attention to his computer screen.

Alijah mentally rolled her eyes at the dismissal before taking everything he had given her and exiting the office. Once back in her bedroom, she closed the door, remembering to lock it. She decided to go through the employment packet since he insisted on having it in the morning.

Most of it was standard, and she filled it out quickly. She then came to a Non-disclosure Agreement. She wondered for a moment what he would need this for but realized how stupid of a question that was. Of course, you needed one when you owned a multi-billion-dollar company.

When she was finished with those papers, she decided to look at the list of required job duties. Most of it was standard for a secretary as well. However, there were some things that she hadn't done at her other job. The list included accompanying him to events, running errands, and cooking. That one explained why he said her minoring in Culinary Arts would come in handy.

She noted from the list that he was an early riser and liked to be at the office by seven each morning. Alijah didn't have a problem with this. She had always been an early riser, preferring to start painting early before the sun arose. Five o'clock had always been when she rose.

Looking at the clock, she found it was a little after eleven, and she knew she would have a big day tomorrow. She rose from the bed and headed into the bathroom. There were a few towels on one of the racks.

Turning on the shower, she stripped from her clothes before grabbing her body wash and a face towel.

After her shower, Alijah dressed in a tank top and shorts before turning her light out and getting into bed. She double-checked her alarm before getting comfortable on the plush queen size mattress. She had to admit, if nothing else, the man had sweet tastes in furniture, at least what was in her room. She hadn't seen much outside of it aside from his office. She thought it would be best not to snoop around when she arrived without him being present.

It wasn't long before her eyes closed and sleep drug her under.