TASTE: A Stepbrother Romance (15 page)

Chapter Six

I wanted to prove I could handle anything Driver Fox could throw at me, at least that’s what I thought.

Jenks met me in the foyer, and I handed him what little clothes I had packed. Getting my first assignment with a pre-arranged flight to land at a surfer contest? I thought that was as far off the personal assistant map as I could get. As I trailed after Mr. Fox’s valet I was led into a pool-sized entertainment room. The main floor at a casino had fewer game tables and flat screen TV’s than this place. I turned slowly, trying to see everything. I spied several arcade games, a shuffle board, and a trampoline. I was tempted to ask if my boss had a gaggle of kids tucked away at a boarding school somewhere.

“The master enjoys recreational time between his early morning meetings with Tokyo and Australia,” Jenks said. He showed me to an elevator. I peeked inside then I stood next to him. The older man seemed to anticipate my growing curiosity. And he glanced at me when I didn’t enter the carriage. “The master will be expecting you to join him. First I must show you to your room.”

Room?
I’d just entered my boss’s house, and saw he had it tricked out like a ginormous Toys ‘R Us. Styled like a Dave & Buster’s with more RPG video games than an arcade.
Now I was given a room?

“Jenks? What exactly does Driver Fox expect his employees to do here?” I asked as nonchalantly as I knew how.

“Your job.”

I turned around and saw Driver. He’d changed into a cotton T-shirt, a comfortable looking sweater, slacks, and boat shoes. Not the typical nine to five, or business dinner fare. When Driver Fox said he enjoyed casual, I knew now what he meant. I thought I was looking at a young Gatsby for a second. And I didn’t mind, he looked,
good
.

“I’m stepping out for a little while. There is a news item circling around
Fox Magazine
that needs my attention. Jenks you have the list of stores we talked about, just have them send a rep here.” I saw my boss give me the once over again, and couldn’t help but feel like I had just been ravished. I worried that I enjoyed him doing it. “We can go over what you will do for me these next several days. You can get started once you settle into your room. That change in schedule I mentioned? It’s happening now. Set it, send word to Aimee. Then BCC Jenks on the confirmation. Any questions?”

Was he kidding? Yeah, I had them. Like, why was I staying in his house? How did he expect me to work, when I didn’t have my laptop, or access to any of the Fox-Regency software? I was going to work for him in-house now, literally. Did he think I would read his mind?

Then there was Jenks. He seemed to know
everything
I would ask, even
before
I had the question. Oh, I’d clicked that there were rules to this new assistant job. And like when I was Driver’s VA, many of the tasks I dealt with—were all unspoken. I knew I was the new kid on
Fox Magazine
lot, and it seemed Mr. Fox was dealing out a hand in Poker. Five Card Stud.

Driver Fox was as straight an arrow as possible when it came to business. But I had no idea this job was going to be a test.

I glanced from Jenks to my boss and smiled. “I imagine anything I need I can inquire from Jenks. Unless there are any other directions you have?” I waited, and watched a grin spread across my boss’s handsome face.

“Good, Skye. You are the right fit.” I rejoined his butler as he turned to the door. “I’ll be in later. We’ll discuss your ideas about how you see us working together.”

He smiled, left, and I stepped into the elevator with Jenks. The Donkey Kong arcade machine around the corner sputtered a circus tune. “You’ve worked for Mr. Fox a long time?”

“Yes. The master and I share a long history. I was valet to his father when the family company was Regency-West. The master’s father, W.T., owned the largest magazine company in Europe. He began the company Regency after he remarried in The States.”

“What does the ‘W.T.’ stand for?”

“William, most say. However, Mr. Fox’s father preferred his personal life separate from hearsay.” In other words, he didn’t know. I guessed the help was just that, no matter where they worked.

From what the media competition reported, ‘W.T.’ had run a tight ship. Right until he had a massive heart attack at sixty. So now Driver, his only son, held the company reins. “Does Mr. Fox have many assistants?”

Pleasurable female company was more like it. “The master has had only two in the past several years. He is selective with whom is welcome into his inner circle. This way.” We walked to a door and I was led into an enormous suite. Complete with plush carpeting, and a brass bed.

“And where does Mr. Fox sleep?”

Jenks blinked. “The master rarely sleeps.” I looked out a large window and saw the ground. We were on the third floor, and the ocean rolled in the distance. “I will return with a menu, and you may have dinner in your room.”

“Wait.” I leaned close. “Are you always so formal? What’s your name?”

“Jenks, is my name.” The man turned and left me alone in the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Great. So much for getting the inside information on my employer. Well, I’d just have to settle in and learn about what made Driver Fox such a big deal.

Chapter Seven

The computer in the room where I was staying didn’t have the USB port I needed. I’d ambled down a hall to see if I could find anything besides my phone to use, so when I saw the laptop, I decided to go for it. I checked to see if my boss had installed the home version of his company software on the laptop. I found it easily and plugged in the flash drive that I carried with me in case of work emergencies.

I saw I had more instructions from the mysterious Mr. Fox. A few lines down were the details of his plans, and did a double-take when I saw the changes he had made to his schedule. Aimee, another person, and I were named as his above the line contacts. Aimee’s name was listed as his executive-in-charge, and I was his executive assistant. But who was the other person? My mind clicked a mile a minute.

Then I read through the letter. Driver Fox was restructuring
Fox-Regency
, and I was handling the scheduling for the entire company. But why, when Aimee did most everything including HR and Payroll. What was Driver up to?

I flashed to the news spot I had glimpsed on Driver’s TV earlier. “Company Magazine Founder Driver Fox to Announce Regency Expansion.” I opened my flash drive and opened a set of older files that the previous assistant had set aside. Or maybe they were files that she had forgotten to erase.

And saw a queue of the biggest names around
23 Wall Street
in NYC. I gawked at the screen. The news and online tabloids alleged that Driver was preparing for a corporate shuffle. But most of them only talked about the different women he dated instead of the real story. I didn’t have to wonder why now. According to the files I read Driver wanted more than the prestige of making
Fox
the biggest magazine in the world. He was going to take it and his company public with an IPO.

Driver was divvying up his intellectual properties to make them private entities. He planned to bring them under one umbrella at
Fox-Regency
. Then have the company available as stock shares to the public. Not one, but two social media giants I knew about had already tried it. Going public was a risk.

If he was able to pull off his plan, he was going to become the richest billionaire in the media world. I leaned against the stainless steel refrigerator in the kitchen dumbfounded. There was so much more to Driver Fox, no wonder he is surrounded by women everywhere he goes. I noticed the throng of beach bunnies sigh after my boss had emerged from the Pacific waves like some kind of aquatic deity. And I also noticed that he didn’t give one of them a glance as he walked over to me. And from the looks of these files they should have been secured? He wanted a first-string of team players he could count on for the big leagues.

The whole thing made me think about jumping back into business. I’d been studying at a tech school. But didn’t feel ready to make the leap.

"Wow.” I added the scheduling Driver annotated. I forwarded letters to Aimee and a copy to Jenks as instructed. Then I erased everything I’d done. I didn’t need anyone seeing I was poking around—especially my boss.

“Everything fine, miss?”

I spun around with my hand over my chest. “Jenks. You scared me.”

The valet walked towards the refrigerator, he retrieved a colander of fresh plums. Then he found two wine glasses. “Dinner was satisfactory?”

“Yes.” The scampi he had served me must have been made by his own two hands. I noticed a garden behind the rear courtyard and I was sure that the fresh thyme I had tasted had come from there. “I don’t think I’ve tasted anything so delicious. Wouldn’t want to share the recipe, would you?” Jenks gave me a small smile.

“Everything is prepared by my hands, except for when we entertain. The master is in the reading room. You will meet with the master there when he and his guest are finished.”

Jenks drifted to another part of the mansion, while I tried to wrap my head around when my boss would have time to read. Between his daily treks to gosh knows where, and his evening jaunts undisclosed. He had me wondering truly where he found time to decompress.

I trekked through the main floor of the bungalow, wound up, and tense after a long day. I hoped I’d find an indoor pool somewhere between all the arcade games, big TVs and leather lounge seats. When I heard giggling behind a door near the large living room.

“Driver? Mr. Fox?” I knocked but nobody answered. I peered around the door frame, and what I saw made me draw in my breath sharply.

The woman was young and Driver looked magnificent. His torso was nude, but I couldn’t see his face. He had mounted her like a stallion on the Persian carpet.

Chapter Eight

I should have fled and tried to forget what I had seen.

I listened at the door more intently. And realized that Driver was giving it to the girl good. At least, I thought it was him. Squinting, I tried to get a better look. Then I gasped when I realized it was a movie. Jenks had said he had returned and I’d see him after his meeting.

The woman on the screen in his reading room was his meeting? My curiosity egged me to sneak around and see why my boss was in the low lit library. Then I thought better of it. If he was into kink, that was his business. I shut the door hoping it wouldn’t creak.

I headed off to find Jenks, cursing myself for being too nosy for my own damn good. I walked in and out of game rooms, a gym, and a laundry. I watched through a window as a dark sedan pulled out from the house. It had to be Jenks. I could see if Driver was not indisposed now—then decided against it. The last thing I needed to do was scamper up to the reading library and find him naked. The man had an amazing body, and the self-discipline to keep it so firm and hard. I tried not to think of him in some acrobatic position pounding the living daylights out of some strange woman.

I saw a path to the west of the secluded bungalow. It looked like it crawled down toward the shore. From the front of the house, the ocean seemed miles away. But I wondered if the rock strewn path went where I thought. My boss was otherwise occupied and from the looks of the movie he’d been watching, he could be busy for a while.

Starting down the steep cliff, I felt my smartphone hum. It was my sister, Kris. She called me only when she wanted something. And we weren’t even close. I switched my phone to silent and continued down the cliff side.

Maybe I could get to the beach for a little bit. I wouldn’t be gone long. I’d have a look around, be back, and Driver would never know the difference.

The shoreline came up to my feet in no time. The path was a short hike down and I was standing on the shore watching the water crash onto the sand. The night air was balmy, and the ocean was often ten degrees or so cooler.

I touched my toe into the water, then squealed. I glanced around the beach and couldn’t see a house. Except for Driver’s, which was yards from the coast. I guessed this scenic shore was why the rich enjoyed their life. It was a perfect place to strip naked and skinny dip without anybody seeing.  I stripped off my clothes and raced into the water.

I dove under the foam, and swam beneath the surface. The tension in my neck and shoulders ebbed away, and I broke the surface, feeling light and free.

That's when I saw my boss staring straight at me.

I spotted my clothes at his bare feet. I stared at him covering my breasts with my arm. The water splashed around my hips and I paused. “Well? You going to turn around?”

Driver stood, then he spun his back to me. I ran through the surf and tugged my clothes over my wet body. I wished I’d had a scarf or a towel to wrap around my hair. Wondering how long it would stay wet before it kinked. I’d got my skirt around my ankles when I saw Driver turn. “Stay still,” I said.

He turned around anyway. “Consider my attraction part of your bonus.”

I stared, wondering what he meant. When I noticed the bulge stretching down one side of his slacks, and it continued to grow. I hiked up my skirt and headed for the cliffside. Driver cut off my retreat.

“I suppose I don’t have to tell you I like the beach. I bought this stretch of land for the view. It’s a nice view.” I glimpsed my boss closing in, and I tried to circle around him. He matched me toe to toe. “And this evening, it has gotten a whole lot better.”

Here we were, on his secluded beach front property, and no one around but the two of us. “I work for you, Mr. Fox. That’s all.” He blocked me again and I looked at him, pissed. “Is this another one of your ‘tests’?” I saw him gaze me head to toe, as a grin spread across his handsome face.

“You passed that test back at the house. And I believe I’m who you’re testing now?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked. Driver gripped my shoulders. “I’m your assistant, Mr. Fox. At your beck and call.”

“Only because I’m paying you.” Driver gripped me tighter and I felt my blouse slip down my shoulders. “That’s no longer enough.”

Driver dipped his head and drew me close, crushing me against his hard chest as he kissed me.