MY POSSESSIVE CEO

CHAPTER : TWO

Clutching the bar, I stared at the closed door for what seemed like forever.

Of all the bars in the world, he had to come into this one! I thought, trying to control the hammering of my heart. I was complaining about the new owner and CEO of Parks Oil Inc when he was sitting right there.

“Well, there goes my job,” I muttered miserably on the way home. We left shortly after, our “going out” mood dashed. I wished that the world would open up right there and swallow me whole.

This was not happening to me.

“I'll see you on Monday?” Brooklyn said, putting her hand on my shoulder as we stopped in front of my building. She cast me one of those looks that told me she clearly felt sorry for me. Brooklyn...She could probably avoid running into Ethan . He didn't know her name, and she didn't work right under him.

Not like me.

“If I don't shoot myself first,” I said.

“Come on, it won't be that bad. I'll bet he won't fire you,” She said, trying to comfort me.

“Brooklyn. I said I wanted to smack him. There is no way that I'm going to keep my job after this. I'm going to spend the rest of my weekend looking for a new job.”

“I'll call and check in on you. Love you, girl.”

“Love you, too.”

I got out of the car and shut the door, then pouted my way up the elevator and to my condo. I dropped my bag on the the bedside table, then flopped face first onto my bed. I let out one loud groan, and rolled over onto my back.

“Why me?” I muttered, looking up at the ceiling.

As if on cue, it started raining. And it wasn't a light drizzle either. It poured down, thunder and lightning coming along right with it. The storm lasted all weekend, and I could only think that it was a sign.

Goodbye, condo. Goodbye, comfortable lifestyle.

I wondered if my mother would let me move in with her. We usually got along.

I spent the weekend locked up in my apartment, sending out resume's and filling out online applications to jobs here and there. Brooklyn called a couple of times to check on me, but I told her I was fine even though we both probably knew that it was a lie. I was about to lose my job, and I knew it.

On Monday morning, my alarm went off at seven a.m as usual.

Miserably, I went through my morning routine.

I turned on the coffee pot and hopped in the shower, wondering what was going to happen today. My nerves were on edge, putting me in a pretty horrible mood. I dressed in a nice black pencil skirt and red button up blouse. I did my hair and make up, ate a small breakfast and headed out.

“Just kill me now,” I muttered when I met Brooklyn in the parking garage. It was early February, and starting to really warm up out here in Nevada.

“I'm sure you'll be fine,” Brooklyn said.

“Yeah, right,” I muttered.

We got into the building and as I pressed the up button on the elevator, I verynearly groaned out loud. I just wanted to crawl back into bed and forget Friday ever happened.

When we got into the elevator, I pressed the 13 button for Brooklyn's floor, and the 15 button for my floor. Today was my last day of employment. I knew it. I could feel it. What was I going to do? I didn't voice my worry to Brooklyn, because she was thinking positively and I just couldn't.

“I'll see you later,” Brooklyn said. “Good luck, girl.”

“Thanks,” I said, a grim smile on my face.

She stepped out and the elevator closed behind her.

Two more floors. I thought to myself.

When the elevator dinged on Floor 15 and the door opened, I took a deep breath. Okay. Here goes nothing. I stepped onto the floor and the elevator door closed behind me and left. I walked into my office, setting my bag down and turning my computer on.

Now, I needed to get some coffee.

I walked out of my office and took a left, heading in the direction of the break room. I had to walk past the CEO's, which I hadn't done before because my office was one door before the CEO's. I was very nearly past it when my name got called.

“Kennedy Carter.”

My heart dropped at the familiar sounding voice. I closed my eyes, wishing I was anywhere but here. Without even looking, there was no doubt about it that this was the man I had met in the bar last night. Ethan DeLuca.

“Come in here,” He ordered.

Shit, s**t, s**t!

If it wouldn't have been for the situation, I would have been irritated at his tone. But right now, that wasn't the first thing on my mind.

I took a long, deep breath and opened my eyes. I turned to the left and walked into his office, trying to look confident. But there was no doubt I was failing. In his office chair, Ethan DeLuca looked as handsome as he did last night.

Ethan DeLuca; Owner & CEO Of Parks Oil Inc. I noticed the new name plate, nice and shiny, sitting on his black oak desk, which was also new.

He was looking at me through his blue-gray eyes in a way that made me want to squirm. Even sitting down, he had a powerful stance. He eyed me for a moment before speaking again.

“I'll take a coffee, two creams and four sugars. After that, there is a pile of of invoices on my desk that I'll need you to take care of.”He said all of this, and tapped a pile of papers on his desk with out even looking up from his computer.

I stared at him, confused.

When I didn't move, he looked up. “You seem perplexed,” He observed.

“You're...not firing me?” I asked.

“No, Ms. Carter. I'm not firing you.”

“But I said all those things about you. I said I wanted to smack you.” I was so confused.

“Do you want to be fired, Ms. Carter?” He asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course not,” I said.

“I am not firing you. And plus, it wouldn't be the first time – nor the last – that a woman has wanted to smack me,” He said, a smirk appearing on his face.

“Now, about that coffee?” I stood staring at him for a moment longer after he went back to his work.

I was irritated, but grateful. He had to have known that I would worry about this all weekend when he walked out of the bar the way he did. As I eyed him closly, his amused expression told me he had done that on purpose.

Because I didn't want to actually get fired, I turned to continue to on my way to the break room. I thanked the high heavens that I didn't lose my job, but the situation wasn't the greatest.

My boss is a smug, too-handsome man who heard me say I wanted to smack him. His good looks weren't a bad thing, but the situation was...awkward. I got his coffee, with the two creams and four sugars, and brought it back to his office.

I set it down on his desk and was about to leave the room when a question popped up in my mind.

“One question, Mr. DeLuca,” I said.

“Yes?” He didn't look up.

“Why haven't you showed up around here in the past week since you've bought the company?” I asked.

He glanced up at me, grinning in a smug way that told me I probably wasn't going to get the answer that I wanted from him.

“Ms. Carter, I have my reasons for doing things the way that I do them.”

I very nearly rolled my eyes.

I returned to my office with out another word. I sent a quick text to Brooklyn to tell her he didn't fire me.I logged into my computer, then started the invoices that were indeed on my desk. It was dull work, but I it needed to be done. I was doing a couple of other things that I knew needed to be done, and somewhere around lunch time, Ethan called me into his office.

“Have a seat, Ms. Carter,” He said, nodding towards one of the chairs in front of his desk.

I wondered what he wanted, but didn't say anything and took a seat. I waited for him to speak.

“I understand that the last CEO of this company was an incompetent moron,” Christian said, putting down a pen he had been writing with and looking at me. Taken aback by his statement, I looked at him with raised eyebrows.

I thought CEO's were supposed to be professional. Especially not saying stuff like that.

“I suppose,” I said, trying to maintain my professionalism.

“Well, I would like to inform you that I certainly am not a moron. I am perfectly capable of running this company, and I will do so efficiently. That means that I will need an efficient personal assistant. I am a very...demanding person. On occasion, I may need you late at night and to travel with me. Are you up to the job?”

“Of course,” I said immediately.

“Do you have a smart phone, Ms. Carter?” He asked.

I shook my head no.

All I had was a simple slide up phone with one of those qwerty keyboards. It was nice enough.

Ethan opened the drawer of his desk, and got something out of it.

It was a white iPhone 5 in a pink and black case. He put it on the desk and slid it across to me.

“This was the cell phone for you I had brought to me this morning. My office and cell phone number are already programmed into it, and I have yours as well.You will need this phone for various reasons, such as keeping track of my appointments in it.”

“Alright,” I said.

“Thank you.”

“You may go now,” He said.

I got up and left, returning to my office and sitting down.

It took me a couple of minutes, but I had to set up my phone. I had practically run out of things to do, and if I needed to use this phone, I was going to have to set it up.I put all of my contacts into it, and sent out a mass text that I got a new number.

An iPhone...Wow!

There were a couple of appointments that I knew Ethan already had, so I put them in there. I had a paper appointment book, but I figured this would just be easier. I put all of the appointments in there, as well as all of his family's birthdays and other important family events.

He was going to be demanding, and I was going to be prepared. I had a feeling Ethan underestimated me, and I was going to hit the ground running.

Ethan didn't say anything to me for the rest of the day. He had stepped out to go to some sort of a private meeting. I hadn't even known he left when the receptionist at the main desk downstairs called for him, and I forwarded it to his office. He didn't answer, so I peeked in there and he was gone.

When five o' clock rolled around, I was happy to be done for the day.

Day one, done and over.

I put my stuff in my bag, slipping it over my shoulder as I logged off and turned off my computer.

“Goodbye, Mr. DeLuca,” I said, stopping by his office.

“Goodbye. I will see you bright and early tomorrow, Ms. Carter,” He said, pausing whatever he was writing to look up at me.

Even though Ethan was devilishly handsome, there was something about him that got under my skin. I couldn't put my finger on it. He seemed conceited. Smug. I could tell that Ethan DeLuca was the type to get what he wanted, when he wanted.

And I was directly under his thumb.