Her Contract (Romance) by Lara West

 
    Anna
     
     
    “No.”
    My boss, sweet old Reginald Hartz, throws me a cautious look.
    I know I’m crossing the line by saying no to Mr. Hartz. After all, who questions their boss? A fired person, that’s who.
    I’ve been here four years now - two years as an intern while I was still studying business administration and two years as a full-time employee once I graduated – and so naturally, I feel comfortable around Mr. Hartz.
    So much so that I can question his logic from time to time. Besides, he just dropped a bombshell on me.
    And the fallout might be catastrophic.
    “Anna, calm down. Lucas has worked hard these last few years. He deserves the promotion,” Mr. Hartz states with a firm expression on his face. “I started him off as a team leader and the manager of deliveries so that he could prove to me that he’s willing to work hard to get ahead in life.”
    “I know that,” I exhale. “I just don’t share your faith in him. What about Max?”
    “Max has a wife and two small kids. He prefers being the assistant director. It means that he doesn’t have to spend extra hours at the office and go away on business trips.” He pauses and lets out a hearty sigh. “Look, I know you and Lucas have history, but it’d be nice to have you on board with this. You’re the best PA the company’s ever had, and I’d like you to continue in the position when Lucas takes over next month.”
    What?
    Next month?
    That soon?
    The ground may as well open up and swallow me whole right now. My nice, well-paid job might just bite the dust.
    There’s no way I can work for Lucas – a trust-fund jock notorious for blowing his share of his family’s fortune in Las Vegas when he was only nineteen, and the biggest-prick-on-the-planet.
    He may have the body of a Spartan warrior, the face of Adonis, and the voice of a sex God, but I for one am not falling for that smooth, lying Casanova.
    Uh-uh.
    Not again.
    “But he’s not fit to run the company,” I continue to protest. “Can’t you advertise and find someone else? Someone more mature?”
    Mr. Hartz provides a warm, understanding smile but his words are firm. “He’s my nephew, Anna. I need to give him a shot at this. Hartz Brothers is a family business. Ever since Lucas’s dad died, I can’t help but think this is what he would’ve wanted. Jack started this company with me too.”
    “I know,” I say, sinking further into the chair by his desk. “It’s just… Lucas is-”
    “A pain, I know,” he interjects with a chuckle. “But he’s proven himself worthy of a chance and I’m going to give it to him.”
    After I inevitably tell my boss that I support his decision and will stay onboard until his nephew drives me so far up the wall that I’m forced to quit, I walk out of his office and back to my desk.
    And I thought the break-up with Jake last month was hands down the worst thing to happen this year.
    Boy, was I wrong.
     
     
     

Chapter 2

Lucas
     
     
    It’s funny – I always thought my uncle was weak.
    He’s too relaxed and generous. Too nice to people.
    The director of a billion-dollar company should not be “nice”.
    They should be hard-lipped, ruthless when they need to be, and a total player when it comes to women.
    Which is why I know that I am the right man for the job.
    Being the head honcho of Hartz Brothers is going to be sweet. I wonder if my uncle’s penthouse comes with the gig.
    Hello bachelor pad in midtown Manhattan , goodbye Mom’s twelve million dollar, yet cramped, townhouse.
    What can I say - five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a study, a garden with a courtyard and pool, and a private cinema just don’t do it for me. I want more luxury than that.
    I want the view of a King surveying his city.
    Oh, yes. That penthouse better come with a big red bow attached.
    Something that has got me on edge, though, is working alongside Anna. I thought I was done with her – that part of my past never to be revived. But now I’m forced to, at