“I understand. You’re twenty-five, correct?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to be blunt here, Lorelei. This job is working for Jack Sutton, CEO of Sutton Magazine. You seem like a great woman with a good head on your shoulders and it seems you’ve had to grow up quick. I’m not sure Mr. Sutton is the right person for you to be working for.”

“Mr.—Garrett, I’ve heard about Mr. Sutton and, to be honest, he doesn’t scare me. I’m not a weak and frail girl. Like you said, I had to grow up quick since I had my daughter at eighteen. I only want what’s best for her and, right now, I’m in desperate need of a job. It’s been two months and my bank account is nearly depleted.”

“You live in Harlem, which is forty-five minutes away. You’d have to be here by eight a.m. and your shift would end at five p.m. with an hour lunch. Would that be possible for you with a daughter?”

“I would do whatever I had to do to make sure my daughter was taken care of. So to answer your question, yes, it would be possible. In a perfect world, I’d love to be able to stay home and devote every single minute to my daughter, but we don’t live in a perfect world, do we? So I have to do whatever I have to in order to give Hope everything she needs.”

He studied me for a few moments before speaking. “I’m sure you get child support from Hope’s father. That should help some.”

I gently smiled at him. “Hope doesn’t have a father. He was killed in a car accident before she was born.”

He looked down and then back up at me with pity. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.” I looked down at my sweaty palms.

“You’re hired, Lorelei.”

My eyes darted up at him with excitement. “Thank you. Thank you very much, Garrett!” I exclaimed.

“You’re welcome. Listen, I’m going to give you a separate monthly check for cab fare. It’s for your own good. Trust me. If you take the subway in, you’ll probably end up being late. This is between me and you, and Mr. Sutton is not to know.”

“I promise I won’t tell him. That’s very kind of you.”

“Good. Can you start tomorrow? He’s really anxious to have a personal assistant again.”

“Yes. Tomorrow will be perfect.” I smiled as I got up from my seat and shook his hand.

Chapter Three

Jack

I met Garrett at Ai Fiori on Fifth Avenue for dinner. When I walked in, he was already seated in a booth.

“So what is this urgent dinner about?” I asked as I sat down.

“I’ve hired you a personal assistant and she starts tomorrow.”

“Excellent. Maybe I should have met her first before you hired her. Your track record isn’t very good.” I smirked.

A waitress with a low cut black top and perky tits walked over. “May I start you off with a drink?” She smiled.

She may start me off with something, but a drink wasn’t what I had in mind. “Yes. I’ll have a scotch on the rocks, please.”

“Coming right up, sir.”

I looked at Garrett as he began to speak. “My track record is just fine. It’s you, Jack, that has the problem.”

I sighed. “You do know that if we hadn’t been best friends since the third grade, I would have fired you by now.”

He rolled his eyes and let out a chuckle. “I’m sure you would have. But to let you know, if we hadn’t been best friends since the third grade, I would have quit.”

“Touché, my friend.”

The perky tits waitress set my drink down in front of me and proceeded to take our dinner order.

“So tell me about my next victim.” I smiled.

“Her name is Lorelei Flynn and she has exceptional organizational skills. She even straightened the paperweight on my desk.”

“Oh. I think I like her already. Is she hot?”

He cocked his head at me with a glare. I smiled. “She’s a very attractive woman.”

“How old is she?”

“She’s twenty-five. Why?”

I shrugged. “No reason. Twenty-five is good. Is there a husband or a boyfriend?”

“I know she’s not married. As for a boyfriend, I have no clue. Why are you asking?”

“Because I don’t need some asshole coming after me when I send her home in uncontrollable tears like two PAs ago.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t be such a dick.” He smirked.

“Can’t be helped. It’s in my nature.” I held up my glass.

“Actually, it’s not in your nature. I knew you when you weren’t such a dick.”

****

After having dinner with Garrett, I arrived at my penthouse and poured myself a drink. I was feeling stressed from the day and needed to unwind. I pulled out my phone and sent a text message to Adriane.

“Can you come over?”

“Sure. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Looking forward to it.”

“Me too.”

Adriane was my go-to girl when I needed last-minute sex. She was the type that didn’t care and she was always looking for a good time. I went upstairs to my bedroom and opened the drawer in my nightstand making sure I had condoms. I was down to two and I needed to get some more ASAP. I heard the elevator ding, so I walked downstairs as she stepped off.

“Good evening. Thank you for coming on such short notice.” I smiled.

“My pleasure, Jack. But we have to talk about something after.”

Uh-oh. I didn’t like the sound of that and, instantly, she killed my mood.

“You just killed my mood, Adriane. What’s up?”

She walked over to me and began unbuttoning my shirt, running her finger down my chest.

“Sex first. Talk later.” Her lips brushed against mine.

I needed to know what she wanted to talk about because I was afraid she wanted something from me. Fear swept through my body, making an erection impossible.

“Sorry, Adriane. You killed it. You need to tell me what you want to talk about.”

She sighed. “Fine. I’ve started seeing someone and I think I really like him. So after tonight, we can’t do this anymore as long as I’m with him.”

I shook my head. “Wait. You’ve met someone and you still came here? Why?”

“I don’t know. One last good fuck with you for old time’s sake.”

I had one rule that I always stood by. Never fuck another man’s girl. And if I fucked her tonight, I’d be breaking my rule and I wasn’t about to do that no matter how much I wanted sex.

“Sorry, Adriane. If you’re with someone, we can’t. I thought you weren’t into relationships,” I spoke and walked over to the bar and poured us each a scotch.

As I handed her the glass, she spoke, “I’m not. I mean, I wasn’t, but Riley came along and sort of swept me off my feet, I guess you could say. He’s a good man and I really like him.”

“If you really liked him, you wouldn’t be here wanting to fuck me now, would you?”

“I’m confused, Jack. Maybe I was using you as the opportunity to see what my true feelings for Riley really are.”

“Thanks a lot, Adriane.” I smirked.

She threw back her drink and handed me the glass. “Have a good night, Jack. I’ll see you around some time.”

“You too. I hope things work out with the two of you.”

“Thanks.” She threw me a smile as she stepped on the elevator.

I sighed and threw back my scotch. “Looks like it’s just me, you, and porn tonight,” I spoke as I looked down at my cock.

****

Lorelei

After I left Sutton Magazine, I headed to my mom’s house to tell her about the job.

“Hi, honey.” She smiled as she kissed my cheek. “I just put on a fresh pot of coffee and I made an apple pie.”

“Sounds good, Mom.”

I followed her into the kitchen and took a seat at the table.

“So what brings you by?”

“I got a job.”

“Oh, Lorelei, that’s wonderful. Where?”

“Sutton Magazine. Full-time, more money than I made at Praline, and I even get health benefits.”

“Congratulations. I’m so happy for you. Are you going to need help with Hope?”

I looked down because asking them for help was so hard for me. “I think so. I have to be there at eight o’clock and I don’t get off until five. I can put her in latch key in the mornings before school, but I was wondering if you could pick her up after school.”