What Money Can Buy

What Money Can Buy

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

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Afterword

H
e had a reputation as a complete bastard.

A gorgeous, rich, powerful bastard. But a bastard nonetheless.

I had been working at King
Enterprises
for just under four months now and
I
had lasted longer than anyone else I had known. The place had a horrific reputation at my agency; girls had literally left in tears and quit temping the very next day, horrified at the thought of having a similar experience elsewhere.

The problem was Jason King. He was everything you would expect a billionaire CEO to be - handsome, smart and dazzlingly charismatic. He was also demanding, difficult and had an unflinching need for perfection.

In short, he was a nightmare to work for.

“
Lauren
!
”
my supervisor shouted from down the hall. “Mr King want
s to see you in his office, now!
”

I froze.
What the hell had I done?
I had barely seen him in the time I’d been here, give or take a few sideways glances and the odd polite “hello” in passing.

I nervously took the elevator up to his 15th floor office. As I walked down the hallway towards his large oak door, my high heels sank half an inch into the plush carpeting outside.

I tapped on the door gently. "Enter," a voice barked. I took a deep breath.
Calm down,
Lauren
. It'
s going to be fine. Everything’
s going to be all right.

I knew what was coming. I had heard the horror stories from other girls
who had
work
ed
here. This was the point whe
re he calls you into his office
to test you
, to see if you break. I'd heard about people who had
been
reduced
to jelly in front of this man; people who had
endured
an endless barrage of question
s thrown at them -
about their personal life, the quality of their work,
the friends they kept,
everything. No topic was
off-
guard
or off-limits. If
he
didn't like your answers, he would fire you on the spot. Simple as that.

But I needed this job. I needed this job desperately.

You're strong
, I th
ought.
He's just a man. Flesh and bone. What can he possibly do? You're
a
strong woman
,
Lauren
. Don't let
hi
m get to you.

I entered the
extravagant
office, bigger than my apartment, and walked towards the huge desk near the corner of the room.

"I don't give a shit what
those clowns in
Germany say," Jason barked into a mobile phone. "Tell them that
if
they don't increase capacity by at least five per
cent in the next four weeks then
we
’re pulling the contract. There are
plenty of
companies
in China that
can
do just
as
good
a
job, just as cheap. No compromise. It's my way or no way. Got it?"

Windows surrounded the room, enveloping the space in a vast expanse of li
ght
.
They
stretched from floor to ceiling, seamless panes of glass that looked out over the city below
.
New York looked
magnificent from up here, like t
he first day I had arrived. I had
never been anywhere outside of my small rural town, and New York was like going down the rabbit
-
hole to me. It's a
cliché
, but the bright lights of the big city seduced me. I
hadn’t had
the
best jobs here, or even made
enough money some months to really live comfortably, but I could never go back to such a narrow world. New York wasn't just my
home now
, it was part of me. It was my beating heart, the blood in my veins.

"Sorry about that," Jason said, switching off his phone.

"That's okay," I replied, taken aback at his politeness. Maybe this was him building
me up only
to knock me down again. Giving me hope before
h
e tore me apart.

"It's
Miss
Wade, correct?"

"Yes," I nodded. "
Lauren
Wade
."

"You're new here, aren't you
Lauren
?"

"I've been here a few months, yes. Not too long."
Where the hell was this leading?

"Good. Then you’re
perfect."

Perfect for what?

"I have a job for you. A little task
,
if you will. I need someone to go with me on a business trip. How fast can you type?"

I was bemused. "About 100 words a minute, I guess."

"You guess
or
you know?"

Here we go. This was where the attitude kicked in. I shi
fted in my seat and sat upright. "I know. I can type 100
words a minute."

"Excellent. Do you have a dictaphone?"

I didn't have much of anything of worth at that moment. Every penny I had was needed to pay for something far more important than material things. "No, I don't."

Jason smiled. "No problem. We’ll
get you one. We will be l
ea
ving in the
morning.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Uh…okay.”

“D
o you want to know where?
” he replied, leaning forward.
“
You know, to tell your family or anybody
who
needs to know what you're up to?"

I shook my head. "There's only me and my father."

"Do you live together?"

"No, he's in hospital. He's been in hospital for a while. So… I'll tell him. He'll be fine."

Jason sat back in his chair. "Okay," he nodded, his face softening. He looked at m
e with cobalt blue eyes, sparkling in the light from the w
indows. He
was
utterly gorgeous.
A s
mall amount of stubble formed a shadow on his face. I momentarily imagined it brushing against my skin as he kissed me.
Snap out of it,
Lauren
, I thought.
This guy is your boss. And he
's an arrogant prick, remember?

"Where are we going, s
ir?"

He smiled.
"I'm not a member of the English royal family, Miss Wade. You can call me Jason. Although, Mr King is probably more appropriate when other people
are
around.
We don’t want the minions thinking we’re up to no good.
"

"Okay," I replied with a
nervous
smile. "Mr King
it
is."

"You need to
be at the airport at 6am
. We’ll
be flying to just outside Milan."

My jaw dropped. "Milan? Italy?"

"No, Milan
in
Californ
ia," he laughed. "Of course,
Milan in Italy. I don't know of any others. We need to check in with a big supplier we have
there
. But we
won’t
be there
for long. We'll be moving on
a couple of days after th
at.”

"Where to?" I asked.

He sat back in his chair again. "All in good time, Miss Wade. All in good time."

I had never been anywhere outside the US before. I
had
dreamed
of going
to places like France and Italy and
checking out the art and the architect
ure, c
enturies of history
that
I wanted to fall in love with. But I simply couldn't afford it.
Maybe one day
,
I had always thought,
but not yet
. However, that day
had arrived
.

"Pack some things. We'll be gone
roughly
three
days
, if you include flights
.
Oh, and bring a
n evening dress. Something elegant."

I stammered. "I… I don't have one."

He looked me up and down. "You look after yourself, don't you? Do you run?"

"Yes," I replied. "Three times a week. Fo
u
r if I can manage it."

"I can tell," he nodded. "You
’re
slim, toned. I like that."

We looked at each other for what seemed like an eternity but was only a few seconds. We didn't break each other's gaze and I didn't let on how nervous and uncomfortable I was becoming. Did he just make a pass at me?

"I can tell what size you are just by looking at you. I'll speak to my contacts at Catherine
Malandrino later and get something sent
over. Okay?"

I nodded.
Had he just said
Catherine Malandrino?

I got up to
leave
and, as I walked towards the door, he shouted after me. "Oh, and
Lauren
– take the rest of the afternoon off. Get yourself ready. I wa
nt you to be fresh
and
alert
for the
flight in the
morning.
You’ll be heading straight
to
a meeting
, so there won’t be any time for jetlag and all that nonsense.”

"
Wow
,
this is
all happening so fast. You don't hang about, do you?"

He stood up and walked toward
s me. It was the first time I'd
really looked at him for more than a few seconds. He was tall,
well
over six foot,
and
I could tell he had
a
muscular body beneath that Hugo Boss suit. He stopped within an inch of me, the smell of his aftershave unmistakable.
Davidoff Cool Water
.