The Assistant's Christmas Wish (The Christmas Wish Series Book 1) Read online

  The Assistant’s Christmas Wish

  By

  Lexi Ostrow

  Published by Hot Ink Press

  This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  ©Text Copyright 2014 Lexi Ostrow

  Cover by Lexi Ostrow

  Edited by Elizabeth A. Lance

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 1

  Her palm pressed against the chilled glass window and she felt the icy sting of winter wrap around her palm and sink like icy daggers into her hand. But she didn’t remove her hand. Instead she leaned forward and gently placed her forehead and the bridge of her nose against the window. Her sigh fogged the window with its warmth and she frowned at not being able to see the winter beauty; a blanket of crystal white, freshly fallen snow, on the streets of Denver, Colorado. It gleamed in the darkness and under the bulbs from the streetlamps. Twenty-Two stories up, in one of the city’s skyscrapers, she longed to be on the ground, dashing through the piles of fluff in a dash to buy a last minute Christmas gift. The sky was long dark and most normal businesses had shut down hours ago. But not her boss, they were working late in an attempt to land a big account after the new year.

  “Miss Kensy, Miss Kensy are you paying attention?” Nick DeMarco’s voice cut through the serenity of her fantasy and she pulled back from the window and turned to look at her boss.

  Leena’s voice caught in her throat as it always did when she saw him all dressed up. Nick was a sight to be seen for sure. His dark hair was cropped close to the sides of his face, with a dusting of a sideburn and a little bit of length on the top. His square jaw was accented by two of the most delectable cheekbones she had ever seen. His eyes were a firestorm of blue; a deep midnight with a ring almost black around the iris. His mouth was full, his teeth were perfect and there was never a growth of manly stubble on his chin. He was clean-cut perfection and one of the cities most eligible bachelor’s. He sat at number fifteen on the Forty under Forty list and ran one of the country’s biggest public relation’s firms. DeMarco Communications, the American branch.

  “Nick, don’t you think we could do this another day? It’s the day before Christmas Eve.” She was never formal with him, hadn’t been from the start and she’d been his right hand girl for almost eleven years. She was eighteen when her father got the position for her. Not to mention she’d grown up fantasizing about him since they met.

  He looked up at her, no sense of emotion in his eyes, and set down the paper on the modern glass desk. “Leena, please. If it’s the day before Christmas Eve that means any unknown hazard could pop up. Just give me fifteen more minutes of your time and then I have a gift for you and I promise you can go home and make snow angels.”

  She flushed, a deep crimson formed on her cheeks and she wished she could push her hair over it so he wouldn’t see it. Too bad it was in a bun. He’d caught her one year, when he’d been personally delivering Christmas bonus’s, playing in the snow. She’d been twenty at the time and had seemed so young to his twenty-six. That was the day she fell in love with him though. He’d laughed and dropped down into the snow beside her, his arms flailing as he joined her in making snow angels.

  “Fine, Nick.” She pulled the leather chair back and sat in it across from him. “I ran the comparables on twelve different companies. If we don’t make a move to bid for the new Rossi account we will lose him to a company that has a younger vibe.” It always seemed strange to her that when he’d took over his father’s company, he’d never done anything to get more in touch with the youthly scene. Not that it had harmed his business any.

  “You’re positive that we need to take on Rossi if we want to gain any segway with Fox Motion Pictures?” He leaned toward her and she was able smell his cologne; One by Calvin Klein.

  “I’m positive, Nick. I just ran everything. If we don’t take on their number one star, Fox Motion Pictures will not budge from their current agency.”

  Nick scrubbed a hand over his jaw and leaned back, his eyes frowning. “I really don’t want to take on the arrogant son of a bitch.”

  Nick and Eric Rossi had gone to school together and there had been some sort of a falling out that he never spoke of. “I understand, but you don’t have to deal with him. Put Matt or even Monique in charge of the account.” His cousins wouldn’t have any issue dealing with a pompous windbag; they dealt with Nick on the daily.

  He frowned and nodded his head, his fingertips tapping together as he thought over the idea. “Fine, while on holiday I want you to draft a proposal, I’ll compensate you for holiday work.”

  One of the perks of being the boss’ assistant was that he took holidays off, so she did as well. “Nick, you never need to pay me. Honestly, if you paid me for all the overtime projects you give me I’d make more than you.” She winked and he chuckled.

  “Touché, Miss Kensy, touché. “ He leaned to the side of the desk and dug around in the open drawer. When he straightened out he had a red envelope in his hands and was pointing it in her direction. “I promised you a Christmas present.”

  She reached out and took the envelope. He never gave her something that wasn’t in an expertly store wrapped box. Traditionally, it was a Mont Blonc pen, an expensive purse or even the occasional necklace. He’d never given her a card before though. Tentatively she took it from his hand and raised a brow at him as she turned it over. Her name was written in a wonderful green calligraphy with holly next to it.

  “Well, go on and open it. I’m dying to see what you think.” His eyes sparkled, the same way they did when he presented a campaign to a client.

  Her finger slipped under the barely sealed flap and ran down it, she felt the little bit of stickiness from when he’d probably licked it. A card was inside, but not a bifold, just a simple cardstock, one –side printed only. She pulled it out and gasped when she read what was on it. Her heart thumped in her chest and her eyes met his. “You’re serious?” She stood up, unsure of why but just feeling like sitting was the wrong way to receive this gift.

  “Of course I’m serious. It’s been eleven years this March, Leena. I think it’s time you got to come to the family chalet for something other than a business meeting.” He rose out of the chair and walked around the desk and took her hands in his before placing a kiss on her cheek.

  Leena had always wanted to go to the family holiday celebration. They were a mixed family; Jewish and Christian, and the celebration always seemed so magnificent when he described it. She’d dreamed for years what it must be like to sit at the opulently dressed table and feast with the DeMarco’s. Nick was still grinning at her when she realized what the real reason for the invitation was. Allison had dum
ped him one week prior.

  “Oh no, not me, Mr. DeMarco.”

  He winced but laughed. “My surname then? Ouch, you saw right through me didn’t you? The gig is up. Please come anyway, Leena. I promise you a real a gift when we get there and you’d be doing me a favor.” His eyes twinkled and she shook her head adamantly. “Oh come on, we both know how much you’ve wanted to come with me for all these years.”

  She scrunched her lips and turned the invitation in her hand around as she thought. Did she really want to be used as his fake date? It wasn’t like his family hadn’t seen her. They ran different branches of the firm around the world, so they hadn’t seen her often, but they had to know who she was. She’d even spent a lot of time with Jake one night. A lot of time.

  “Let me sweeten the deal. They’ll be a spectacular red Valentino dress waiting outside your door when you get home to wear to the Christmas dinner and Loui Vuitton silk pumps to match.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her and grabbed her hands, pulling her into his body. A definite work place no-no, but she wouldn’t open her mouth and tell him that. She’d lusted after him for eight years, she’d take the contact with a smile.

  The truth was, she had always wanted to attend and the dress and shoes were mouth watering. Her own family never did anything for the holidays beyond a nice dinner because her dad was always working on an account and her mom was a nurse; Christmas drinks led to an untold number of casualties.

  “Fine. But only because you’re right, I have always wanted to see the chalet at Christmas time and not just because we’re meeting a client there.”

  He grinned and picked her up, twirling her twice. “That’s my girl. Go ahead and go home now, Leena. I’ll send a car around to pick you up tomorrow at ten a.m. on the dot. We are leaving early because we are the first to arrive and I want to hit the slopes before that storm they’re predicting roles in and they close the mountain.

  She shook her head and nodded. “Remember Nick, this isn’t for you. It’s for me.”

  “Yes, ma’am, assistant, ma’am.”

  She snorted and turned to walk to the elevator, completely unable to suppress the grin on her face.

  “Goodnight, Miss Kensy.”

  Her finger pushed the small round button for the elevator and she caught her blurry reflection in the steel elevator shaft door. Her grin could have lit up an entire room and she needed to breathe and push it back. This wasn’t because he wanted her there. It was because he couldn’t show up single at this age and not get his ass chewed out by his mother. Plain and simple, she was a decoy.

  The familiar ding of the elevator arriving made her twitch, she’d been so far in her head she’d forgotten why she was standing still in the first place. When the doors slid open she stepped inside and when she turned she saw him waving and grinning like a fool at her. To the business world Nick DeMarco was a shark. To his friends he was a frat boy still learning how to grow up; even at thirty-two.

  As the doors were closing he called out to her. “And take your hair out of the bun! It makes you look like such a tight ass!”

  She opened her mouth to respond, but the doors closed and she snapped her mouth closed and fumed. He was so hot and cold, always switching between her first name and her last, but she always looked professional. Fine, if he wanted her to lose the bun when she wore the beautiful gown waiting for her, she would show him just how unprofessional and fake girlfriend like she could be.

  Nick watched out the tall window of the office for Leena to emerge from the building. He didn’t much care for all the people racing along the street like ants who’s line had been doused with water, but he always watched her leave. Something he would probably die from if she found out about. It had started as a habit when she’d first been his assistant. She was eighteen and bounding around Denver and night could be dangerous for anyone, let alone someone with her looks. He’d always found her beautiful, even back when he thought she was nothing more than a brainless sorority girl. Which for the record, she certainly was more.

  She had this delicate wheat blonde hair that she wore to her shoulders and he was always fighting off the urge to brush it aside and kiss her shoulders on the occasion she took her blazer off at work. Her eyes were a light blue, almost grey and he liked they way they gleamed when she was excited. But pair that together with her slender frame and tall height and she looked like a super model, an easy target for any sewer dweller looking for a good time.

  Now he watched her because he liked the way her ass swayed in her dresses and skirts and how he wanted to always know she got to her apartment safely. Not like he watched her the whole walk, but just until she made it to a cab on rainy days or until she turned the corner in the summer.

  He smiled as he saw her walk out into the cold. He watched as her hands immediately went to grab the black beanie on her head and tug it down further. She repositioned her bulky workbag and wrapped her arms around herself. The falling snow might look gentle and pretty from so high up, but on the ground it must sting and the wind whipped through the dead tree branches hard enough for him to know how cold she must be.

  Waiting, he watched her until she turned left at the corner he pulled back from the window to go to his desk. Uncorking the decanter on the brandy bottle, he poured himself a modest glass and took a swig. He relished the strong burn as the amber liquid slid down his throat. He’d drink just about anything, but brandy was what he craved when he was thinking about sliding a certain blonde assistant under him and telling her what to do.

  The party invitation had nothing to do with using her to fool his parents. Yes, Allison had dumped him when he told her in no uncertain terms, they were not going to be getting engaged during the holiday season. But he’d only dated Allison, Sarah, Lillian and Megan, because he’d been trying to unhook himself from Leena.

  She drove him wild with desire on any given day and being his assistant she knew him better and spent more time with him than anyone else in his life. Which meant he knew her and spent more time with her as well. Except, he didn’t really know her because she never talked about anything but business. She could be playful and she could be a straight up stick in the mud depending on what the topic was. And when it was work, well she was so tight he constantly imagined slamming her down onto his desk and kissing her until she unwound.

  Not that he would ever do it. It had nothing to do with her being his assistant either, well not in a financial problem of her being his assistant. His family might own a Fortune 500, but they were far from snobs. His father had built the empire from the ground up and knew what it was like to struggle. He was earned money; not born money. But she was delicate and he was anything but. He’d seen whom she dated, practically forced her to bring them around just so he could mentally size them up. She went for the accountant type. He had no idea how someone who liked to laugh as much as she did could stand to be with someone as dull as a man married to numbers. But date after date she went for the exact same profile. One he would never fit because he liked a dark side of pleasure in the bedroom and there was no way she would ever look at him the same again. Plus, if he crossed a line he couldn’t erase, he would lose the best thing in his life.

  The real reason he’d invited her was because he couldn’t figure out what to get her. So it seemed like an easy out. Nothing seemed appropriate for their strange relationship. It was either too office like or too romantic. He’d caught her staring at him with longing a few times, but he had a feeling it was more a desire to get off work than to actually touch him. So with no gift and no date to bring to his mother’s family gala, bringing her had seemed the natural choice. He would take any chance he could get at trying to change the relationship they had. Maybe some time away from the office, away from work, would have her desiring him.

  A shrill ringing sliced through the quiet office. The desk phone rang again and he picked it up. No one calling this late could be anyone but family.

  “Little brother! How are you doing?” Jake’s cheerfu
l voice grated on his nerves. His big brother had a louder than needed personality that matched the boisterous French city office he held.

  “What’s up, Jake? How did you know I was here?”

  “Because you’re always there late every night. Americans have this habit of overworking.”

  “Oh and what habit do the French workers have? Drinking, partying, love making?”

  They both laughed and Jake changed the subject. “Look I just wanted to let you know I’m flying solo this holiday season so there’s not pressure on you for not being with Allison.”

  His brother had been a seeing a model on and off for the last five years, from the tone in his voice it sounded like it might be well and truly off. “Sorry to hear that bro, but I am not going alone. I have a date.”

  “Oh really? Why bother when you’re just going to get bored with her for that assistant of yours in a matter of months?”

  Nick dropped back into his chair. Jake was the only person who knew he had an unethical attraction to Leena. “No, I don’t see it happening that way this time.” He grinned thinking about it, he certainly wouldn’t want to trade her in for anyone else.

  “Well who’s the lucky girl?”

  “Leena.”

  “Seriously? You finally realized you’re a millionaire and handsome and took the leap?”

  He growled in his throat, his brother loved to remind him how dumb he was about the Leena situation, but he had no idea the real reason he wouldn’t seduce his beautiful assistant. There’d been a tense moment when Jake had wanted her, but he seemed to have moved on from it.

  “Not exactly. But I’m hoping this retreat won’t scare her off. We’re both single at the same time and I’m not getting any younger. I want that family, Jake. I know it’s not your style, but I really want a family.”

  “To each their own, little brother. I’m sitting at the airport and they’re actually going to board us. Rumor has it I might get delayed in New York because of the storm you have brewing. Supposed to be a good five inches coming in around the chalet just tonight. Which means I’m going to kick your ass at some ski races.”