“You never know; you might find true love.” She pulled me in and squeezed me tight.

“The woman I’m already dating isn’t going to like this,” I lied through my teeth and wondered just where the hell that had come from.

My mom pulled away quickly and measured me with her eyes. “The what? Don’t toy with my heart, Joseph.”

I cleared my throat and took a step back from her. “I’m not. I’ve been dating someone for a little while now.” I continued the lie for no good reason other than I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

“Who is she?”

“You don’t know her.” I avoided making eye contact, peering past my mother’s inquisitive gaze and straight at the wall.

“Well then, I look forward to meeting her.” She patted my cheek before turning on her heel and walking out of my office.

UNBELIEVABLE

JOSEPH

Instead of finding something to throw against my wall, I shouted for my assistant, knowing she’d help me see reason and keep me calm. “Kaylaaaaaaaa!”

“I’m coming, jeez!” she yelled back as she hustled into my office, notebook in hand, and closed the door behind her. “Stop shouting like a crazy person. You’ll scare people,” she chastised me before asking, “Couch or desk?”

The question had become one of our routines even though I never responded with couch and she knew it.

“Desk,” I bit out, annoyed.

All five foot two inches of her hurried to one of the two chairs opposite of mine and sat, tossing the notebook on top of the aged wood with a loud thud. “What is the matter with you? Why were you yelling?” she asked, and I continued wearing a hole in the floor instead of sitting. “Stop pacing and sit already,” she demanded, and instead of glaring at her like I wanted, I begrudgingly moved to my chair.

Bossy Kayla had been hired as my assistant two years after I started as CEO. She was my eleventh hire. We were nearly the same age and had hit it off immediately even though I’d fought against interviewing her in the first place and almost had the whole thing called off. I had naively thought that hiring a woman close to my age was a bad idea, but every other experienced assistant before her hadn’t worked out, and I found myself growing increasingly desperate.

Being the number one staffing company for high-level executives in New York City, you could imagine how ironic and infuriating it was to not be able to find myself someone worth a damn. I needed someone I felt comfortable with, who understood the way I thought about the business, who I could eventually trust implicitly, and who would make my daily life easier, not more complicated. Basically, I needed an assistant who wasn’t hell-bent on screwing her boss—i.e., me.