Chapter 4 — Olivia

I hadn’t worked in a real office for how long?

I came in nervous as hell and all I could think about was my mom and brother at home,. only to find my boss kissing the CFO!

Sure, it was none of my business, and if he so inclined then sure, it was no issue. I did spot a wedding ring on the CFO’s hand, but not on Ross’s. I just thought it was a bit strange because in the last email I got from Scarlett, she told me that she was marrying Mr. Hamilton.

Maybe he swung both ways?

He wouldn’t be the first. I just hoped that Scarlett wasn’t too upset that she had to share him. Then again, maybe that was the reason he needed me in the office; Scarlett had caught him with another man and had to take some time off to come to grips with it. I emailed her after getting his note asking for me to come to the office, but she never replied.

“I came in at seven like you said and I signed the contract.” I tried not to look at him to distract myself from what I’d seen when I came into the room, but it was so damn hard.

I was there for one reason alone.

To work.

Even if the man had a reputation, he was getting married to Scarlett. She even sent me an email telling me to save the date. I could see why she was excited to marry him. He made me weak at the knees the way that he stared at me with his piercing hazel eyes that leaned more towards brown, as I came into his office. But, as he drew closer, I saw that they appeared to be greener. He had on a dark suit, with a black shirt and silver tie. His tanned complexion and square jawline hinted at good health and time spent outdoors. He didn’t look his age one bit. I’d seen him on the cover of 'Forbes' magazine where he appeared to be more mature, older, more somber than he did in real life. I hated the idea of being immediately attracted to him, but I felt as if I’d lost all my senses as I stared back at him in a trance.

He walked over to me and towered over me with his six-foot two height, and I forgot every thought I’d had about what I planned to say next..

“Nice, I mean good…I didn’t…you’re Olivia, right?” he asked. His cologne lingered in my nose and the warm, spicy scent made something in me melt. I couldn’t get it out of my mind as he spoke. I was watching his lips move and the only thing that I was focusing on was his tongue as it moved against sensually full lips. “Olivia, the virtual assistant?”

I nodded but then I needed to do something more than nod as he extended his hand. I didn’t want to shake it. I didn’t even want to be in the same room as him.

“I’ve seen your feet,” he blurted out as I shook his hand.

“What?” I blurted back as if he’d woken me up from a deep sleep.

“Sorry, I was just thinking out loud.”

“About my feet?”

Now, this whole thing was just strange, first the man was kissing the CFO and now he was referring to my feet.

“Your blog. Your feet were on there.”

“So, they were…”

I didn’t know what was going on here. I wondered if I was stuck in an episode of the Twilight Zone or something. My hand was still in his and now he was stroking it.

“I saw your hands too.”

Now he was freaking me out.

My phone was ringing, so I quickly ran out of his office. I mouthed “Excuse me” and he simply nodded.

I knew that there was only one person that could be calling me at that time in the morning. My brother.

“Brett, what is it?”

“Oh, Olivia, I don’t know if I can do this.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. My heart was beating out of control and I wanted to scream at him. What did he fucking mean?

“What?”

“I get here and she doesn’t even recognize me.” My brother whined to me and I wanted to smack him. Really hard.

This was my day practically every day. She didn’t know who I was, she didn’t want me near her, but then she’d come out of the fog and all would be right again. Why did he think I should be the only one to have to deal with this shit?

“Then I fed her, once I’d calmed her down I might add, and she gets angry and throws the food at me,” he said and I tried to stamp down on my agitation.

What does he mean that he fed her? She wasn’t a dog! I’d never fed Mom. I put her meal in front of her and she ate by herself.

“What did you give her?” I meant to ask what he meant by, fed her? Now wasn’t the time or place for that, though. I’d do it later.

“Oh, I went to McDonald’s and got her a breakfast. Pancakes and syrup.”

What the hell? He left her by herself to go to McDonald’s? No wonder she threw it at him. I would have done the same. He couldn’t make it himself?

“Did you take her with you?” I asked, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

“No.” He sputtered, as if he was offended by my question.

“So, you left her alone?” I couldn’t help the growl of anger that came out with the question.

“Sure. She seemed fine when I got here this morning.” He whined some more. It was always the same thing with him. Defensiveness and whining, two things I hated with a passion.

She’d been fine when he got there because she was sleeping. I was kind of surprised that he’d managed to get her up and had gone to McDonald’s in the time since I’d left to go to work. That had taken me twenty minutes, so he must have worked fast. . Then again, there was a McDonald’s five minutes’ walk from the house.

“Anyway, it’s all under control. I mean it was pretty selfish of you to expect me to come here and do all this. After all, I have a job too. Sure, it’s only on the weekends, but I need the week to rest up before I go to work, so I spoke to Aunt Veronica. She’s on her way. She can do it. Just telling you so that when you get home and you see her here, you don’t get pissed. Bye.”

The words were rolling of his tongue so fucking fast that I could barely register it all. What did he mean he’d called Aunt Veronica? He was bailing on our mom. Our mom? What the fuck was wrong with him? I tried to stay calm, though, I didn’t want him to leave her there on her own. “Brett? Hello? Brett, are you there?”

But it was too late. He’d already hung up on me.

That lowlife asshole. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through the anger, but nothing helped. How could he be such a…child?

“Olivia?” Ross asked and put his hand on my shoulder.

I was standing outside his office, still trying to calm down from the call. I nearly had a heart attack because no one else was around to care for Mom. All I could think about was the fact that Brett had left and Aunt Veronica was on her way, which in a way was a good thing. I could have asked her in the first place, but Mom raised us both as a single mom and over the last three years, I'd only asked Brett to look after Mom once. Just once. Never had I put pressure on him. There was a ten-year age gap between us, and I did think that it was too much to ask him to bathe her, but then I decided that I was spoiling him. The same way that Mom had done all his life, which was why he was a spoiled, selfish, irresponsible brat even at the tender age of twenty-two.

Either way, I was stuck with a guy that had a fetish about my hands and feet, and was getting married to his secretary, but liked kissing the CFO, and a brother that I was trying to teach to finally grow up and it was only a quarter-past seven and I hadn’t even started working yet.

“Is everything okay?”

I sighed as I looked at him. “Just peachy.”

I headed back to the desk where I’d dumped my iPad and bag. I picked up the iPad and went into his office. He followed me like a puppy wanting me to throw him a bone, and as I sat down and crossed my legs, he came over and stood near my feet. I needed to take control of the situation. “Mr. Hamilton, I didn’t come here at seven just so that you can stare at my feet. Can you please tell me what was so urgent, I’ll let you see them once, we’re done. Okay?”

He said nothing.

Then again, what else could he say? He seemed to wake up from a dream as he scuttled to his desk and blurted out, “Right. Let’s get this thing started.”