The Temp (2 page)

The elevator dinged behind them and Trigger stepped in before Eve could muster her wits to ask where his office was or who the hell Angelica was. His gaze held hers till the elevator took him.

Gone.

Whoosh, her lungs deflated. She blinked, still standing in the same spot as before, her heart slowing out of critical. She’d just met one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, her direct boss, one of the biggest sharks in the tank. None of which mattered as in the next five seconds she would meet Roman Pierce.

The man who owned the company.

The man who owned a fraction of the world.

2

Eve knew when she saw him who he was.
Who didn’t?
It was Roman Pierce and he was heading right this way. She stood stock still once again. Oh, stupid legs why wouldn’t they work? They wouldn’t even budge. This wasn’t her. Stupid eyes widening, mouth gaping. Stupid little girl in a candy shop.

“Are you alright, Miss?” Roman Pierce stepped in front of her blocking her view and her breathing space. Her head started spinning.

Her mouth opened. Worked. Nothing came out. “Miss?” she was staring at his chest, a dark navy feint pinstripe with a white silk patterned tie and pale grey shirt. She couldn’t help redden thinking her outfit matched his as if it were fate, as if the stars had fallen…

He stepped closer into her space.

This time her eyes drew up like magnets…He was infinite pools of glass, mirroring back on her sparking heat in her cheeks. She couldn’t tell what colour his eyes were, only that she could see herself in them.

He tilted his head to the side. It wasn’t condescending, not like snake eyes. It was…inquisitive, childlike curiosity making him look years younger. He could barely be thirty. His mouth tugged up and his eyes crinkled. His mouth,
oh boy.
If Trigger Raines was an angel then Roman Pierce was the devil with his dark locks and straight angles.

“First day?” he said.

Eve swallowed. “Is it that obvious?”

She breathed out like a tire deflating.

“No,” it was a lie, a reassuring one.

Behind him a woman beckoned for his attention, behind the vampire red desk, her eyes landing on Eve narrowing into slits. The receptionist, Snake eyes number two. “Mr Pierce you’re appointment is waiting on the next floor,” she said. The woman’s face was harsh with thin burgundy lips and black pulled back hair. She scrutinised Eve like gum on the bottom of her shoe.

“Very well,” his hand went to Eve’s shoulder pulling her gaze into his again. “I’m sure I’ll see you around,” he said it like a promise. His mouth worked into a smile and Eve’s knees weakened a bit.

He turned back to the receptionist.

“Angelica, you’ll take care of Miss,”-

“Allure,” Eve supplied.

“Allure,” he whispered her name with a twinkle in his eye.

The receptionist smiled sweetly to Roman before fixing a glare on Eve.

Eve watched the man disappear into the elevator. Their gaze held until the doors closed and like a spell she was released and left instantly bereft.
Oh god.
Her smile faltered back at the receptionist.

Oh god.

“So you’re Trigger’s new secretary,” said Snake eyes number two. It sounded like an accusation, Eve no longer cared. She’d met her direct boss and now she’d met the boss of the entire company and so far so good. Her joints straightened again, renewing her energy.

“Eve Allure,” she said. “I’m the Temp.”

Damn right, snake bitch.

3

“This way.”
Snake eyes number two didn’t look back as she sauntered down the hall. “You’ll be taking over from Natalie, she recently retired.” She fixed her with a glare. “Took everyone by surprise.”

Eve swallowed. Was she accusing her of something?

“-Said she wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren, mind you she was only in her fifties.” Her nostrils flared suddenly, like a snake her coil was out and rattling. “You have some very big shoes to fill.” Eve’s hopes plummeted.
Since Trigger was gone and Roman Pierce was indisposed, Snake eyes was ready for the kill. “Eve, come with me,” she commanded. The woman didn’t look back as she marched through the bleak glass doors, her pencil skirt hips swaying with every step of her five inch heels. Who wore five inch heels to work? Someone who enjoyed stabbing her colleagues with them?

“The kitchen,” she pointed to a corner of the room as she propelled forward. “There’s another one for executives down the other end,” she paused and sneered. “I’m sure you won’t be going there. The office is laid out in a cubicle gridlock. As Trigger’s assistant your desk will be on the outer lane aisle where the cubicles end.” Snake eyes cast Eve a look clearly meaning she hadn’t earned her way out of cubicle gridlock, though she was out of it anyway.

The cubicles were stark white boxed walls, behind each of them sat a desk, a computer and a phone. Seated, there was a smidgen of privacy. Standing, Eve could see everything in a person’s space. Her heart clenched at the prospect of sitting at of those desks where everyone was watching her.

For the next five minutes she listened to Angelica recite all the sexual harassment rules in the workplace. “If you make a claim you will need another employee to verify your statement.”

The colour drained out of Eve’s face. “What? Why?”

“As a warning,” she stilled, “I know how you temps’ like to cash in. All our staff are respectable,” her nostrils flared again.

Then came the meeting. Snake eyes was too happy to get rid of Eve as she deposited her outside Trigger’s Raines office, the boss.

*

“Eve Allure. They told me to expect you,” Trigger said. He sat back in his chair, arms folded behind his head. His sun kissed hair played off the light behind him like a halo. His face portrayed a warmth and his eyes a kindness that would lure anyone in and have them turning over their fortune in no time.

Eve had felt herself relax, if only marginally in the midst of the angelic beauty and then he’d gone and said that.

He sat against a backdrop of the New York skyline dotted with silver and grey buildings basking in the morning sun. He was a model on the front cover of a magazine.

Eve picked up his use of
they
immediately. Her hands folded over each other so as to hide the tremors.
They.

“I’ll be your handler,” he said. He let it sink in. At least he was admitting to it, so that she knew who to answer to and that would explain how she’d gotten the job that she’d so specifically been asked for.

In other words, she was not in control, Trigger was.

“So this is really happening,” her bottom lip quivered.

“It is. Your desk is right behind you,” he nodded over her shoulder.

Eve glanced back through the glass doors, her heart sinking to the level of her shoes. The desk was immaculate with a computer screen and three partition walls. The back was open as she could see so clearly before her, as could Trigger from his office, where they currently were. The message was clear; he’d always be able to see her. No matter what. Those words from the other day came back to haunt her.
Don’t run Eve, we can see you. You cannot hide.

She swallowed. “Ok,” again, only the mundane came into her head. She sat across from him, her hands in her lap, her legs crossed and slanted to portray her in the smallest and most non threatening way. This was Eve, passive, shy and couldn’t hurt a fly and now she was in the big leagues with sharks like Trigger. This was a man as sexy as he was dangerous and disappointing him might cost her more than her job. Eve swallowed and kept her eyes astray from his. Her forehead prickled with moisture, her blouse pressing hot and too tight against her skin.

“It’s not a pleasant situation though I believe in making the best of everything. We need to work together and help each other,” Trigger clasped his hands, interlocking his long fingers and leaned forward on the desk. He had her in his sights.

Her face paled and heated all at the same time.
Work together?
How could she make the best of this knowing this was the man who held all the cards and she none? Was he some sort of sociopath?
Work together-

This was her blackmailer.

Eve didn’t know what to say, what she couldn’t say, what she could get away with. Her gaze strayed out of the office.

“My office is completely sound proof, of course only once you close the door,” Trigger nodded towards the glass door and smiled. “So no one will hear what I tell you.”
So no one will hear you scream.
It sounded so much like a threat that Eve didn’t breathe for the longest time. “I suggest we don’t talk about this here, most of the time you’ll be required to do your job as my secretary and nothing more.”
Nothing more?
She couldn’t make heads or tails out of what he wanted from her.
They.
Him. It was all the same. Her head nodded a fraction, she was stiff all over. “You’ll assist me in my work and some of my long term projects. You’ll be in charge of my calendar and will need to maintain my appointments and schedule.” Eve wasn’t listening anymore. She’d heard the spiel before. “It’s only a few weeks,” he said.
Only a few weeks,
her eyes held his.

“Why even bother if it’s only for a few weeks?” she blurted out. Eve wasn’t accustomed to questioning the boss but in a situation like this she could hardly blame herself. They were lock-eyed for a while. Eve’s heart thumped harder every second. She never got her answer.

Trigger’s phone rang and he picked up.
We’ll talk later
, he mouthed to her like old friends would. It was a slap to the face.

We’ll talk later, as if it were merely a friendly chat, a
tête à tête.

Eve rose off the seat straightening her skirt keeping her trembling hands busy. She left without another word. As she turned from him her façade slackened marginally. Her composure slipped, her best defeated look falling in place.

*

“No,” Eve said.
No, no, no, no.

She swivelled from one side of the desk to the other.

“No.” Eve sat at her new desk, that sinking feeling having invaded her long before she sat down. When she first looked at it she knew this wasn’t going to be easy, ulterior motive or not. There were three phones on the table and at this second two of them were ringing. Eve had experience, plenty of it from working as an assistant for other firms, right now she was way out of her depth. How could she admit she never had more than one phone? And this brand-this a million buttons brand had never been something she’d had to use before.

Bringggg. BRIING.
Oh god,
the phones kept ringing one after the other. She had half a mind to put her hands over her ears and let them ring.

“Hello Mr Trigger’s office, this is Eve speaking,” she stammered into the first phone.

“Eve, answer the other phone.”

“What?” the voice was clipped and familiar.

“Eve, this is Trigger. Answer the other phone,” this time there was an edge to his voice. Eve picked up the other phone while she held the receiver to the first.

Her hands trembled as she held the receiver to her ear. At first she didn’t say anything. “Er, hello Mr Trigger’s office, I mean Mr Raines, this is Eve speaking.”

“This is Layne Briggs I need to speak with Trig.”

Eve’s heart jumped as she put the other receiver back to her face.  “There’s a woman by the name of Layne Briggs who wants to talk to you, Sir.” She added the sir at last minute panic shining through. Like a lamb to the slaughter, calling her blackmailer
Sir
was like giving him ultimate power. Eve scrunched her eyes wishing for it all to go away, a dull pain building in the back of her skull.

Trigger sighed on the line. “Patch her through.”

Eve stared at the buttons, one of them usually had a symbol with a phone on it. One of them usually had the word
hold
on it or
transfer.
“I don’t know how to do that. Which button is”-

A moment later the glass door behind her opened in a dull thud. Eve jumped in her seat.

Trigger walked through and sat on the edge of her desk. His eyes trained on her, honing in on her, every movement blasting her heart into her throat. Without a word he took the receiver Eve held to her chest, his skin grazing hers for an instant igniting that spark. 

“Hi Layne, won’t be a sec,” he pushed a button and put the phone down.

Eve watched with heated cheeks, her face strayed down. She couldn’t tell from Trigger’s voice whether he was angry or disappointed or both. “I’m sorry I’ve never had so many phones at once, I panicked,” her voice was smaller as she stared at her hands in her lap.

She felt the man watching her, looming over her, his legs not far from her own. A closeness she hadn’t expected. She should hate this man, after all he was her handler and forcing her to do this against her will. She should hate him.
Hate.
So she bit the inside of her cheek and stared up, unwavering. Her face hardened as she tried to show anything except the scared little girl out of her depth with pale pink cheeks and a useless Arts degree that wouldn’t get her anything more than a temping job.

Trigger’s gaze matched hers and she knew this wasn’t his first time. He didn’t even flinch. She wondered how many people he’d taken advantage of over the last few years. He was probably a pro manipulator, with every victim on speed dial.

Something in his eyes wasn’t challenging and frustrated her as if he’s seen it all before. He didn’t look put out and maybe she wanted him to be stressed, under some sort of pressure. His shoulders relaxed. His gaze softened to liquid luminescence.

“Remember what I told you about apologising. It’s a weakness you can do without. You’ll get the hang of how we do things around here,” his breath let out, his face softening around the edges. 

“Or I won’t,” Eve bit her lip. She hadn’t meant to say it. Not out loud. It had been her silent retort. She should be defiant. After all he was making her do this against her will. Eve sank deeper into the swivel chair. She was stuck between a hard place and Trigger Raines.

The closeness to Trigger was causing a significant amount of blood to travel to anywhere but her brain and for some inexplicable reason her skin vibrated to his presence.

The man studied her for another moment and this time she did look down regretting having ever said it. He was so close, his body heat radiating through her material and her cheeks flushed. She had no experience with men and here was one within sniffing distance. And
oh
how he smelled like blades of freshly cut grass and musk. He got up and walked back into the office.

Like a magnetic field Eve’s shoulders slumped and she sank deeper into the chair, her chest deflating. She was so out of her depth, so very very out. A thousand and one possibilities ran through her mind.
Stay. Run away. Stay. Run away.
Where would she go?

If she did her job well she’d be under his thumb forever. If she didn’t do her job well, would she get fired? Would the blackmail stop simply because she sucked at the assistant position? She wasn’t sure, though when she’d been defiant he hadn’t responded; maybe Trigger wouldn’t pull the trigger on her. Her previous employers had been smaller firms where many of the desks didn’t even have computers or the latest software. She’d worked for old timers with traditional business values and people skills. Did anyone here still have those?

She glanced to the floor. Eve’s desk was on the outermost wall divided from the humdrum beehive quarters of all the other employees.

Trigger had the biggest office on this floor. It was floor to ceiling glass and a view overlooking New York’s finest skyscrapers.

Eve didn’t have to guess to know he’d be watching her. She had a cubicle right outside his office with three walls and a half wall. The half wall partially obscured her from him if she snuck behind it. She pushed her chair that way and began work. It wasn’t perfect; at least it was something, to have marginal privacy.

And then the idea came to her, her escape plan.