"The top floor?" Mikayla gasped in surprise.

Damien nodded as he looked at her. She wasn't sure how she felt about living in the same building as her new boss.

"I hope that you're not planning to take advantage of me and abuse your power. I don't work for you 24/7, you cannot be knocking at my door at 2am in the morning. You call me enough as it is, I do need some me time you know," she huffed.

The only day she mostly got to herself was a Sunday, and by mostly meaning he'd call her maybe once or twice to confirm something.

Damien's loud laughter could be heard all through the inside of the plane, "You're absolutely right my dear, you don't work for me 24/7," he paused as the flight attendant brought them a menu from which to choose refreshments when they were ready.

His aquamarine eyes slowly gazed over her as he said, "Mikayla, you work for me 25/8." The playful glint in his eyes seemed to intensify as he had plans to take advantage of her in other ways, "Rest up, we land in about 6hrs."

With a heavy sigh Mikayla relaxed back into the chair, her thoughts consumed with her soon-to-be new living arrangements. She silently wondered if it was such a good idea to accept his proposal. The mischievous glint in Damien's eyes unnerved her a bit as she quietly contemplated what he might be up to. She hoped that he knew she would not sleep with him. There would be no mixing business with pleasure, at least that's what she kept telling herself.

Mikayla could not deny that living in his apartment building would be super convenient, she would be able to get to work much faster. Not to mention she would be at the centre of London and much closer to her best friend Hannah once again.

Although she doubted that she'd be able to enjoy her new location much since it seemed that Damien planned to work her to death, or worse try to sleep with her. She could just imagine his obnoxious behaviour as now. Instead of calling her phone at ungodly hours, he could just bang down her door instead.

"Ugh!" Mikayla muttered to herself.

She was not sure how she felt about being so close to him both at work as well as out of the office. However, she knew that she would do her best to keep her guard up and be alert at all times.

As her eyes slowly closed, she figured that she'd use the opportunity to do the best job that she could. After all, working for the rich and powerful Damien Arnauld could make or break her career.

————— ▲ —————

Once they landed in New York, they were chauffeured to a fancy hotel. Apparently, Pierce Robotics had only booked one hotel room, which happened to be the Penthouse suite.

"So where will I sleep?" Mikayla's eyes opened slightly in dread; she really did not want to share a room with Damien much less a bed.

"Relax! You'd swear I was trying to kill you and sell your organs the way you panic at the mere thought of being alone with me." Damien said in slight annoyance as they made their way to the elevator.

He could not help but take in the curves of her hips and ass in the leggings as she walked ahead of him. The assumption he had made earlier on the plane, was right, she did look fantastic.

Dragging his thoughts back to their conversation, he explained, "I always have the penthouse suites booked when I'm travelling and, in my experience, they usually come with 2 or 3 bedrooms. In some instances, they can span over 2 floors and have 5 or 6 bedrooms depending on the establishment. I've stayed at this hotel before and their penthouse suite is very spacious, so fear not, we won't have to share a room or bed," though his eyes told her that he was not against the idea.

"So many bedrooms? Overkill much!" Mikayla muttered.

To be honest, she never saw the point nor understood the reasoning behind one person needing all that space. Pushing the thought away, she noticed the way in which Damien continued to stare at her and she frowned slightly.

As her eyebrows furrowed, she asked, "Do you always flirt with your employees, Damien?"

"It depends on what you mean by flirt Mikayla. But if you must know, I've never slept with any of my employees," he said seriously as they got off the elevator and entered into the penthouse suite, "but you know what they say; there's a first time for everything," he joked as he moved aside to let her into the penthouse.

Mikayla's witty response died in her throat as she took in the beauty of the suite.

The large foyer led into an impressive open concept layout where massive floor to ceiling windows lined the walls giving a stunning view of Manhattan, the floors were made out of marble and the light from the windows reflected nicely off of it.

There was a big and beautiful kitchen to the right; the living room to the left had a grand couch that looked like it could sit 10 people. The lights reflected of the shiny black surface of the grand piano that stood in the corner, next to the double door that opened up onto the vast balcony which overlooked the city. A corridor on either side of the living room led into further parts of the suite where she assumed the bedrooms were located.

Once she was done admiring the place, Mikayla turned to look at him, her voice level as she said, "Damien, I know that you're a man of great power and influence, but let me make myself perfectly clear. I cannot be bought, and if you hired me with the sole purpose of getting between my legs, then tell me now so that I can quit and find my way back to London."

She was sure that Damien was joking; after all, he could sleep with anyone, why would he want to sleep with her? Nonetheless, she needed to set boundaries between them, especially after what nearly happened at the club. Mikayla could vividly remember his erection pressing against her and she immediately felt her body responding to the memory.

Damien looked at her for a minute as he leaned against the breakfast bar of the kitchen, "With such a feisty attitude and smart mouth I never pegged you for a prude, Mikayla."

He could not resist teasing her, even though he knew he should stop. He was unable to stop himself, she made it too easy. With a deeper frown forming, Mikayla crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her ample breasts up even more.

"Buh wah di hell is dis..." she sputtered, her Caribbean dialect seeping out a bit as she recollected herself, "just because I'm not into one-night stands doesn't make me a prude Damien, I'm just waiting for something with deeper meaning."

"Alright alright," he said, backing off, his voice losing its playfulness as it returned to a serious and formal tone, "take the bedroom to the left, we leave in an hour," Damien continued without looking at her as he took his luggage and disappeared down the corridor on the right.

Mikayla made her way to the bedroom and, not surprisingly, it was just as grandiose as the rest of the suite, with a beautiful en-suite bathroom to match. Heading into the bathroom to have a shower, she could not help but replay their conversation.

It seemed a bit odd to her that he would even engage in such a discussion with her; she could never really know what his mood would be like when the day came. He generally ignored her, then bossed her around when he could.

On the other hand, he could be playful and relaxed with her. The fact that he offered her a place to live in his apartment building was the most shocking of them all. And now, after seemingly flirting with her, he suddenly reverted to having a cold and dismissive attitude.

"Moody asshole..." she mumbled to herself as she indulged in a hot shower, taking advantage of the large rainfall shower head.

Far from being a prude, she was a very sexual person, but only with herself and in her imagination. After losing her virginity on her 18th birthday to her high school sweetheart Jason, the thought of sex had become unappealing.

What Mikayla had envisioned to be the beginning of a great sexual journey for her, turned out to be one filled with only sorrow and disappointment. Losing her virginity had been painful as Jason only thought about getting himself off. He had done nothing to properly prepare her and after pounding harshly into her for a few minutes he came and then made an excuse about having to head back to campus to prepare for an exam.

Mikayla thought that the experience was just a one-off thing, blaming it on his excitement of finally getting to have sex with her after being with her for all those years. However, the handful of times that they had sex within the next few months proved to be the same. She was often left wanting and after finding out that he was cheating on her, she walked away from the relationship and locked herself away in her dorm room, burying herself in her studies.

The whole situation had hurt her immensely as they had been together for 5 years. He was the first boy that she had liked since moving to England, his blue eyes captivating her almost instantly. It seemed that she clearly had a thing for men with lightly coloured eyes. Jason was bi-racial like herself and they had gone to the same high-school. He had been her first everything, first date, first kiss, first love.

It felt like she had wasted her entire teenage dating years on him. Since Jason, she had not been with anyone intimately, she wasn't looking for a one-night stand.

According to Hannah, Mikayla had wasted her university years hiding in her dorm room, using the excuse of having to study. But it was more in order to avoid Jason as well as to protect her heart from any further damage.

Looking back, Mikayla had to admit that Hannah had been right. She had thrown away the best part of her university years and was probably going to end up wasting the rest of her twenties just focusing on her career.

She spent many nights touching herself, her body wishing to be filled by someone. But not just anyone, someone that she actually cared about and had a physical connection with. Mikayla needed that chemistry, and having gone on a few dates she simply had never met anyone with whom she felt comfortable enough to let her guard down; that and there had never any attraction from her side even though she had often wished that there was.

If she was being honest with herself, Damien was the type of man that she could see herself with. Apart from being devilishly handsome, tall, incredibly smart and successful, his voice made her insides quiver. When he had her pressed up against the wall in the club, him whispering in her ear had caused her insides to melt; she had wanted to kiss him so badly.

Not to mention his signature look, that low trimmed beard, with which Damien had unknowingly made her into a lover of facial hair.

"Well his facial hair anyway," she said softly as she found herself at times wanting to nuzzle her face against his.

The way his eyes roamed over her at times made her feel like he was devouring her, she knew that he would be an attentive lover and that sex with him would be amazing. His gaze made her feel things, things that she had only read about, things that she thought she would never experience for herself. Since working for Damien, these last few weeks had made her realise that, even if her mind was against the thought of him as a lover, her body felt differently as it often betrayed her when they were near each other.

After the incident in the club, she had found herself fantasising even more about what it would be like to be kissed by, him especially when he stared at her lips. She wondered how his immaculately clipped short facial hair would feel against her face as well as other places.

There was no denying that there seemed to be a sort of wild and weird chemistry going on between them. However, Mikayla did not really want to explore the feeling. It was just too risky.

Against her better judgement though, since the episode at the club, she found herself going home most nights and masturbating to thoughts of them together, his body consuming hers and taking her to new heights. She allowed her imagination to run free, confident that such actions would remain a fantasy in her mind since she had no plans to turn them into a reality.

Mikayla was not seeking to just be another notch on someone's belt, she wanted to have a connection with the person, she wanted passion. She knew that she could never fit into Damien's world anyway and would therefore not allow herself to even entertain such thoughts. It would only end with her getting her heart broken again but worse, most likely out of a job she sorely needed.