“You must be reading my mind. I could barely reach the third shelf, much less those all the way near the ceiling.”
He smiled warmly and pointed to a silver button behind the bar. “See that? They’re moveable levels. All the girls have to do is step on them and press the button to reach the highest shelves.”
“Cool. They must have great balance,” I joked, picturing women pitching themselves off the levels by mistake.
“They have railings to hang onto,” he said with a chuckle. “But I’d never thought of the balance problem before. I have no idea how the girls walk in four inch heels every night, but they do it and without falling.”
I noted immediately how he referred to the bartenders as girls. “Are all the bartenders female?”
Stefan leaned his back against the bar and smiled. “Not all of them, but most. There are some male bartenders for the female customers, though.”
I couldn’t help but notice how incredible his body was. His muscular arms bulged out from underneath the cotton T-shirt, and I was sure his abs were washboard cut. Trying to act like I wasn’t checking out one of my bosses, I quickly said, “I’m sure if I had to do their job in four inch heels I’d topple over. It would be a big mess.”
His gaze traveled the full length of my body down to the floor and then back up again. With a twinkle in his eye, he said, “You’d be fine. We’d take good care of you.”
Why was it whenever this man spoke, every word came out the way a man would sound when he was on top of me? As I looked away uneasily, I heard footsteps coming close and turned to see Cassian approaching us, his expression far more serious than his brother’s.
“Good morning, Olivia. I see Stefan has already found you. Has he been explaining the workings of the bar?”
If Stefan sounded like he was always trying to seduce me, Cassian sounded like he was always working to control himself, especially when Stefan was nearby.
“Actually, I was telling her that I think she’d be a perfect bartender. She’d love working under me.”
I could have sworn I saw a flash of anger for the merest moment in Cassian’s eyes as he shot Stefan a glance at the mention of me as a bartender. Whatever his look was meant to telegraph, Cassian looked back at me with a smile that soothed the edge still present in his expression. “Let me escort you to your office and we can get started.”
An awkward feeling settled in among the three of us, so I said goodbye to Stefan and followed Cassian toward the back of the building. Just as the last time I walked behind him, I couldn’t help but check out the view. He may not have been all muscles like his brothers, but Cassian March certainly did fill out a suit well. I knew it was wrong, but something about how serious he was even as he stood there looking gorgeous was incredibly appealing.
Before he caught me checking out his ass, I silently chastised myself for acting like Josie and Erin and made a pledge that I’d be all business, just like he was. He stopped in front of an office right next to his and turned around to face me, his expression back to the serious one he’d worn when we’d talked alone the day before.
“This is your office. While it is separate from mine, they both adjoin in a meeting room through the door on the back wall. Feel free to make yourself at home. I have something to take care of, but I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
With that, he walked past me out toward the bar and I entered my new office, immediately impressed with how nice it was. No cost had been spared on the furniture or décor. A stunning deep red teakwood desk and black leather office chair sat in front of matching teakwood bookcases and file cabinets. Still modern like Cassian’s desk suite, it felt warmer and far more luxurious. Two coordinating leather upholstered chairs were placed in front of the desk, and on the floor was a cream colored tile just like in his office.
It was the nicest office I’d ever had. Taking it all in, I couldn’t help but admit I could get used to this.
“I hope you feel comfortable here, Olivia,” Cassian said behind me.
Turning to face him, I nodded to show my approval. “It’s gorgeous. Whoever picked out this furniture has great taste.”
“I’ll make sure to tell her. I’d have gone for a glass desk like mine, but the designer reminded me that you’d likely prefer something a bit more inviting. I’m glad you like it.”
His face was so cool and emotionless, but something about the way his voice lowered when he said he’d tell the designer how much I liked her taste in furniture made me think there was a lot more to their relationship than simply designer and client. Maybe Mr. All Business wasn’t just that, after all.
“We have a large party to get ready for Friday night. Kane has his part under control, but I need you to plan the event that will occur before they head up to the top floor. I realize you don’t have experience in party planning, but not to worry. I’ll walk you through this first event, and then you’ll be fine for future ones. Sound good?”
“Sure. I’m ready.”
“Great. Let’s get started.”
Chapter Four
Cassian
By the end of her first day of work, Olivia had settled in to her new position perfectly. A quick thinker, she was everything I wanted in an assistant. That I’d watched Stefan swoop in on her not five minutes after she walked through the door had started my day off pretty fucking rotten, but after that, I’d enjoyed helping her get her bearings while she assisted me with the annual Lady Godivas’ party the local chapter of that not-so-secret sex society held each year at the club. I could have simply repeated what Kate had arranged the year before since the Lady Godivas had raved about the event then, but there was no better time than the present to initiate Olivia into my business.
As much as I hated to agree with Stefan, I did benefit from the mixture of business with pleasure. That didn’t mean I had any plans to mix them with Olivia, though. I couldn’t deny that seeing her in my brother’s crosshairs rankled me more than I wanted to admit, however. But I knew from watching him create workplace disasters that whatever thoughts that may have crossed my mind as she and I worked together were something I needed to fight.
Still, when she blushed at my mention that the Lady Godivas would likely end up half naked by the end of the night, I couldn’t help but be charmed. How long had it been since anyone had blushed around me? Certainly women like Cheri were long past the time when anything about sex made them nervous or uncomfortable. Watching Olivia’s cheeks pinken charmed me, despite my jaded attitude and insistence that I wasn’t going to allow myself to like her.