1
“You’re acting like a real prick right now, Matthew. If you worked for me, your ass would be fired.”
That was the very first thing Karina heard when she’d come for her interview a year ago. She should have known then that her boss, Viktor Port, was going to be the hardest, most arrogant man she’d ever worked for.
But to be honest, working at the Imperial building on 54th Street, being able to put Viktor’s name and company on her resume if and when she ever left, would be such a benefit that she’d overlooked her employer’s asshole, and frankly frightening, attitude.
“Honey, he’s in a mood,” Barbara, Viktor’s longtime secretary, said from behind her desk, her tortoiseshell glasses down the bridge of her nose, and her salt and pepper colored hair perfectly pinned back in a bun.
He’s always in a mood.
Despite how Karina felt toward her boss, and the fact he scared her with his commanding and arrogant attitude most days, he treated his staff well.
When you don’t piss him off, that is.
Karina stared at the closed double doors that led to his office, the wood smooth, custom built, with engravings of his name and title screaming out how powerful he really was.
She held the coffee mug in one hand and a bag of pastries in the other. Despite the fact she could have ordered these and had them delivered from the shop down the street, Viktor liked the ones that were twelve blocks over.
That meant she had to get to work, file his paperwork before he even got in, and then leave when the bakery opened to make sure he had them fresh.
She lifted her hand, pushed her glasses up, and finally moved toward his door. Giving it three good knocks, she waited until he allowed her entrance.
“Come in,” he all but roared out, and she immediately heard him start talking again to someone else.
She opened the door and shut it, closing her in with a man who had others’ knees locking as they realized when up against him they would not succeed. He was standing, had his back to her, and she could hear the slight murmur of someone talking on the other end of the phone he held to his ear.
“I don’t fucking care. If you don’t get those files to me tonight then the deal is off, Brogan.” And then he hung up, just disconnected the call and tossed his cell on his desk.
Karina didn’t move for a second and felt her pulse increase, as it did whenever she was in the same room with him, the doors closed, and the full aura of him consuming her.
“It’s about damn time, Karina,” he said in that gruff, husky voice of his, the one that had chills racing up her spine.
Viktor was a gorgeous man, there was no lying about that, and no trying to pretend otherwise. She’d heard people call him an asshole, cocky, determined, and, of course, successful. He didn’t mince his words, and despite it maybe being “unprofessional” that he cursed and had moments of pure rage when things didn’t go his way, he did treat his staff well.
Her benefits were incredible, her pay was well above what she was qualified to make, and all she had to do was put up with a very dominating man who liked to have his way in all things.
“You’re ten minutes late with the coffee and pastries,” he said in an annoyed tone.
She set the bag and cup on the table and looked back down at the ground. “I’m sorry, Mr. Port. They were doing construction, and then there was an accident.” But even after she told him the truth, she knew excuses were not what he wanted to hear.
When silence greeted her after she finished speaking, she lifted her head and looked him in the eyes.
He had the clearest, greenest eyes she’d ever seen, and coupled with his impeccably styled short black hair, he was certainly gorgeous in every sense of the word.
The three-piece suits he wore only seemed to enhance his overall strength, and Karina didn’t try to lie and say it didn’t turn her on to see him wearing them. She could see why they were called “power suits.” Like now, with his jacket off and slung over his chair, the fact his muscles were so pronounced she could see them through his white button-down shirt and vest had this tingling moving through her.
She felt so wrong wanting him the way she did, and although she’d never show it or act on it, it was still slightly humiliating.
And even his older age turned her on, made her want to be “taught” by him. At only twenty-five compared to his forty years, it would seem taboo, maybe even twisted to others if she actually had a chance with him. But she knew that would never happen.