The CEO

SCARLETT

Something very hard is holding me down as I wake up. Seriously, am I sleeping under a log? What the hell? My head hurts from the tequila, and everything feels a little fuzzy.

I open my eyes slightly and see the sun coming in the balcony windows. Balcony? I don’t have a balcony. I try sitting up, but the log is holding me down tight.

I put my hands on the log to try and move it. Holy crap, that feels like an arm! Scarlett, what have you done?

I lie as still as I can, trying to recall what happened yesterday. Thursday. I went to Firefly Industries for an interview. The HR rep was nice. Mary, I think was her name. She said I start Monday.

I told the girls, and they were so excited that we went out clubbing. Club. We were in a club. Shots. Four men.

“Nic!”

“What?” a deep, husky voice mumbles beside me.

“You’re Nic!” I clarify for my own benefit.

“And you’re Scarlett. Go back to sleep.”

Nic’s arm pulls me into him, and I rest my head on his chest. I’m pressed firm to his body, and I can feel…

“We are naked!” I shout, sitting up in the bed.

Nic’s eyes open slowly, and his gaze rests on my chest. “Yes, we are,” he says with a smirk.

“Oh, God!” I quickly try to cover myself with my arms, but Nic pulls me back down and rests his chin between my breasts.

“Uh uh.” He begins to kiss them. “Don’t hide, baby. Besides.” Kiss. “I.” Kiss. “Have.” Kiss. “Tasted.” Kiss. “Every.” Kiss. “Inch.” Suck. “Of.” Suck. “You.”

“Did we…?” Oh my god!

“Yes, Scarlett, we did,” Nic replies, still smirking. “Do you need a refresher?” His hand dips down between my thighs and I gasp, bringing back every magical, delicious moment from last night.

I feel my face heat, and Nic chuckles. “You blush everywhere, baby.”

How embarrassing!

“Uh…don’t you have work?” I try.

“Yup.” Nic pops the p as his hand cups around my crotch. “But I can be late.”

“Oh.” Not sure what to do next, I look curiously around at Nic’s fancy, rich-person apartment.

I wrinkle my nose as I realize that the room is black. Literally every wall, piece of furniture, and accessory is black or a dark shade of gray. “There’s no color in here.”

“Black is a color,” he argues.

“No, black is a shade. You need color.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Ye—” Nic shoves his tongue into my mouth.

He pulls back after a moment. “Maybe I’ll let you redecorate.”

“Really?” I ask. That’s a lot to offer to a random one-night stand.

“No. But I will take you shopping.”

“Nic, you have to go to work!”

“I’ll call in sick,” he says simply. I can’t help but grin; everything about him is just so… Ahhh, I don’t even know what to say.

And he wants to spend the day with me. Willingly. Girls would kill for this, right? Make the most of it while it lasts!

“I don’t have clothes,” I say, surveying his room. I see a ripped top, ripped panties, and a bra with one cup torn in half. At least my jeans are intact. Holy crap, last night was hot!

“What are you thinking, Scar?” Nic asks, snapping me back to the present. My face heats and I use my hands to cover my cheeks.

“I don’t have clothes,” I say again, and I notice Nic smirk.

“You have jeans,” he states.

“But no top, bra, or panties.”

Nic throws me a black, button-up dress shirt from his closet. I catch it in one hand. Nic looks me up and down as I slip out of bed with the sheet covering me.

“I guess you’re going commando,” he says with his smirk still present. Oh, how I’d like to wipe that smirk off his face. Or kiss it off. Or even better, fuck it off. Oh, God, I’m a whore!

“Turn around,” I order.

“No.” Nic raises an eyebrow.

“Then shut your eyes.”

“No,” he says again, sitting on the bed like he’s watching a show.

“Gah!”

Doing my best to keep the sheet covering me, I slip my jeans on and turn, dropping the sheet and slipping Nic’s shirt onto my arms.

Before I realize what is happening, Nic is behind me. He spins me to face him, and his gaze falls on my still-exposed breasts. His hands cup my face before running down my jaw to my neck, then resting on my chest.

He takes one breast in each hand. “These are quite a handful,” he says with a wink before buttoning my shirt for me. I tie the bottom of the shirt up, showing off a bit of my waist before checking myself out in Nic’s floor-to-ceiling mirror.

I turn back to face Nic, who is still watching me. “I guess I look okay.”

“You’re beautiful,” he agrees. No one has ever called me beautiful before. Jase mostly told me I was “cute,” like he wanted to pat me on the head.

“Scar,” says Nic, “please don’t do that.”

“What?”

Stand? Breathe? What am I doing wrong?

“Don’t bite your gorgeous fucking lip; otherwise, I will rip all your clothes off and take you again. I’ll fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk.”

Can I say yes please?

“Mmm,” I say. “I’m a little sore this morning, but I’d like to see if you can make good on that promise.” Nic looks up, smirk gone and surprise evident. “Maybe I’ll just keep biting my lip.”

“Take your jeans off if you want to save them,” he mutters. He locks eyes with mine. His blue eyes are dark. I take in his expression. The smirk is back.

***

“Well, here we are,” Nic says as his limo pulls up outside my apartment building. I can tell by the look on his face that he doesn’t approve. I’m not sure this man has ever been to Brooklyn before in his life. “So, will I—”

“I should get inside,” I say, cutting him off. “Thanks for today.” It takes me an embarrassing minute to gather up all the shopping bags from today’s outing, but I try not to meet his eyes as I bundle everything over my arm and climb out.

“Scarlett, wait,” I think I hear him saying as I slam the car door. But I’m probably imagining that.

Today was magical. No point ruining that by trying to make a one-night stand into something more.

At least he’ll have something to remember me by. In and among the many new outfits he insisted on buying me, I convinced him to get something colorful for his apartment: a two-hundred-dollar, bright-pink vanilla candle from Saks.

I try to slip into my apartment quietly, but… “SCAR’S HOME!” Claudia yells.

So much for quiet.

“Urgh! Why so loud?” Beth whines from the couch.

Jackie barrels out of her bedroom. “Tell us. Tell us. Tell us!” she says, pulling me down onto the closest couch.

“What?” I try to deflect.

“Oh, come on! You spent the night with him,” Beth says, sitting up, “You have to tell us.”

“I don’t kiss and tell, girls,” I say with a wink. I stand up from the couch and head toward my room when Claudia’s hand wraps around my wrist.

“Wait a minute. You got a letter. Big, important-looking envelope, I put it on your bed,” she says, before grabbing the shopping bags out of my hands. “And what the hell are these?”

“Holy crap! Did Mr. Moneybags take you shopping on Fifth Avenue?” Jackie says, literally bouncing on the couch.

I bite my lip. “Maybe.” My three roommates squeal, and I rush to add, “He owed me.”

“Owed you? How?” Beth asks.

“He sort of ruined my clothes.”

“How?”

“He ripped them apart.”

“Fuck!” “Shit.” “That is hot!” the three girls respond.

“Okay, I’ll be in my room,” I say, leaving my squealing, shrieking roommates behind.

I turn to my bed and see the envelope Claudia was talking about. The sender’s address reads “Roberts Enterprises.”

Oh, geez. Is this some kind of cease-and-desist about my new job?

What with my one-night stand, turned all-day sex marathon and shopping trip, I’ve barely had time to worry about the job. But this? Well, better get it over with.

I rip open the envelope and tip out the contents. Several pieces of paper fall out, along with a silver locket. A small piece of notepaper attracts my attention first, handwritten in neat cursive. My mouth drops open as I read.

Dear Miss Miller,

We are writing to you the inform you that your father, Michael Roberts, passed away this morning. Mr. Roberts left everything to you in his will, including Roberts Enterprises.

The board will take control of the company until such time as you are ready to take over as CEO. We are sorry for your loss.

Sincerely,

Anthony Young

Head of Operations

Roberts Enterprises.

I drop the letter onto the bed and scream.