The Boss’s Unconventional Assistant

It always took Lyner a while to motivate Croix into getting out of bed and off to work on the days she wasn’t working with him. She worked Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She worked Tuesday and Thursday as well, just not at the Blue Zircon Enterprise. While it was true that Croix could just hire someone to clean their apartment and run their errands, he didn’t want to.

And Lyner didn’t want him to.

It was just too risky. High-powered socialites were bad enough. But there were also ‘ordinary beauties’ who would love to come to Croix’s attention by becoming his live-in maid and/or chef where he’d realise that money could not buy everything and only her sweet love and affection could make his life complete. Of course, the only way to show his love was to shower her with pricey gifts and expensive holidays.

Go figure.

“There aren’t any meeting scheduled for today,” Lyner commented as she set about cleaning up their plates and cups from breakfast. “So, you should be safe.”

Shrugging on his jacket, Croix couldn’t help but look sceptical. “If I stay in my office, I should be ‘safe’.”

It was kinda sad how the CEO of his own business and building had to ‘hide’ away in his office to prevent himself from becoming the target of some money-hungry socialites and ‘thoroughly independent’ businesswomen.

Walking with Croix to the front door of their current residence, Lyner straightened up Croix’s tie when she was abruptly pulled into his arms and kissed passionately on the lips. She didn’t hesitate in returning the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“Try to have a good day at work,” Lyner said after she pulled back from the kiss, soothing out his business suit as she did so.

“I always try,” Croix retorted before pulling her in for another quick kiss. He reluctantly pulled away and reached down to pick up his briefcase. “I’ll call you around lunch time. Love you.”

“Love you, too,” Lyner replied with a smile. “Good luck.”

“You, too.”

Lyner lingered in the doorway as Croix stepped outside and moved toward his car. The car’s outward appearance wasn’t anything too flashy, the interior, though, was something else. It was an armoured car, which Croix and Lyner herself had to be trained to drive, and only two keys were in existence.

A man of Croix’s status and wealth could afford his own driver. But again, he didn’t really want to risk it. He would seek out a male driver, but that would be considered sexist. And the last thing he wanted or needed was a woman to enter his life with the intent on ‘taming’ his ‘alpha male’ ways.

Lyner waved from the front door as Croix pulled away and headed down the main driveway of their secure apartment complex. She waited until she could no longer see the car before turning back inside and closing (and locking) the door. She had a few errands to run today, but first she needed to do a bit of cleaning. She was no domestic goddess, but she had been domesticated. She knew how to cook and clean well enough to survive.

But a mere half an hour into her cleaning, there was a knock at the door. She was fairly certain that it wasn’t someone she knew. Her and Croix’s friends and trusted associates always rang or texted before turning up. It was simply because she and Croix were always either moving around or out doing something for work or simply doing something together.

Turning off the vacuum cleaner, Lyner cautiously made her way over to the door and looked through the peep hole. Filling her sight was a woman she didn’t recognise. She was wearing a pair of figure hugging skinny jeans with sandals and a pretty pink halter top that reached just past her navel. In her hands appeared to be pamphlets about maids for hire. There was a number and name at the very top.

If Lyner could see properly the name was Joanneke "Joanne" Ramsey.

Lyner pushed away from the door when the woman knocked loudly again, she realised that this woman didn’t seemed to be going away any time soon. And, honestly, it would be best for Lyner to get rid of her now before she decided to come back later and corner Croix at the door instead of her.

So, reluctantly, Lyner opened the door.

“Oh, good morning!” the woman chirped brightly and cheerfully as she spun around to look at her Lyner in a magically dramatic way, her stunningly shiny blonde hair floating majestically around her heart shaped face. Her bright sea green eyes seemed to sparkle like jewels under the sunlight.

However, her cheerful expression creased into a look of pure frustration and scorn when she realised that Lyner was the one standing in front of the open door. “...Who are you?” she snapped.

Lyner was only a little surprised by her response. She was used to a lot of women immediately gracing her with a look of scorn. Pretty obvious she was hoping that Croix was the one to have answered the door.

“I live here,” Lyner stated in regard to her question. “Who are you?”

“None of your business,” Joanne immediately replied tersely.

Lyner rolled her eyes…That comeback was very common. Apparently, nothing was her business.

“How could someone like you live here?” Joanne unexpectedly asked as she looked Lyner up and down, seemingly baffled that she was living in such a high-end and wealthy part of town.

Lyner, however, wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by ‘someone like you’. She knew nothing about her, so was basing her assumptions of her on face value. While Lyner knew she was no looker, it was still greatly insulting. It was also annoying. It was as if Joanne expected the women who graced the ‘social elite’ and accompanied the wealthy people were all supermodels and blond bombshells.

So what if Lyner was wearing a pair of frayed end denim shorts with a simple blue kaftan? You don’t dress up to clean up.

“Um, rather easily and legally, actually,” Lyner retorted. “I don't see how this has anything to do with you, though.”

Joanne continued to look bewildered and a little suspicious as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Where's the real master of this residence?” she demanded as she glanced inside.

Lyner kept her hand on the front door, moving it in such a way that prevented Joanne from seeing much of the interior of the apartment. “At work.”

“I suppose you're his maid?” Joanne mumbled as she narrowed her eyes further, seemingly sizing up the competition.

“...In a way,” Lyner answered vaguely, having no desire to explain herself or her situation to a complete stranger like Joanne. “Why? Were you hoping that the 'real master of this residence' would be a carefree bachelor who needed to be looked after by a spirited and innocently sexy maid who would live with him, where you would be at his beck and call 24/7?”

Joanne’s mouth dropped open and she gave Lyner a fish out of water expression. After a few seconds of simply gaping at her in surprise, Joanne snapped her mouth shut and glared hatefully at Lyner, while also flushing deeply with humiliation.

Her reaction was enough to tell Lyner that she was indeed plotting and hoping that was the case. “We're not interested in hiring a cleaner,” Lyner said with a sigh.

“I am not a cleaner, I am a maid!” Joanne snapped.

Lyner gave her a questioning look. “What do you think maids do, exactly?”

Bristling, Joanne suddenly shoved a flyer she was holding toward Lyner and gave her a purely disgruntled look. “Give this to Croix so that he can hire a real maid,” she practically hissed.

While Lyner did take the flyer, it was so she could keep the number and name for future references. If she wasn’t suspicious of this woman before, she most certainly was now. She mentioned Croix by name. Obviously, he was her target “Are you handing this out to everyone, or are you simply offering your service to handsome billionaires like Croix?”

If it was at all possible, Joanne’s eyes narrowed further and she gritted her teeth. “Why would someone as handsome and rich as Croix have such a dowdy woman living with him?”

Lyner shrugged carelessly as she reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out her phone. “I'll ask him next time I see him, which will be tonight after he returns home from work.”

“There is no way someone like you could possibly threaten Croix's iron self-control!” Joanne suddenly shrilled.

Lyner blinked, stunned by her outburst. However, as her words sunk in, Lyner rolled her eyes and gave Joanne a pitying look.

“Ah, I see,” she murmured. “You were hoping that he would take one look at your sexy legs and wicked mouth and immediately begin a whirlwind seduction that would lead to him taking you to bed, which would lead to pregnancy and then the happily-ever-after wedding that you've always dreamed about?”

Again, Joanne was rendered speechless by her truthful assumptions and accusations.

Before she could regain what little dignity she had left, Lyner sighed and took a step back into her apartment and all but slammed the door in Joanne’s face. As she locked it, she dialled the security of the complex and pressed the phone to her ear. While this security wasn’t as efficient and skilled as the ones working for Croix at his business, they had enough authority to remove or arrest anyone causing trouble.

And the way Joanne was pounding on the door, shrieking something about how men like Croix needed a natural and ordinary beauty like her to make his life worthwhile and complete.

“Yeah, it's me,” Lyner said into the phone. “There's an unknown woman loitering just outside my door. She’s yelling something and making a racket. Could you send someone to chase her off or something? Ok, thanks.”

Lyner paid little attention to the ruckus just outside her apartment and went straight back to work. Laundry needed to be done and those clothes won’t fold themselves. However, before she got to that she made her way over to her laptop and quickly sent an email off to Croix, telling him to be wary of a woman calling herself Joanneke "Joanne" Ramsey and to get Randolf at security to look into it. After all, how did she know that Croix lived here?

Just as she was about to send off another email to Randolf with information regarding Joanne, there was yet another knock at the door.

Lyner couldn’t help but sigh out loud. While she wasn’t surprised, she was getting annoyed. It was still morning, for heaven’s sake!

Walking over to the door, Lyner peered through the peep-hole once again. She was half expecting to see Joanne again, but instead another woman Lyner had never seen before, but immediately felt suspicious of, stood a good few feet away from the doorstep, standing out in the sunlight in a pose that a professional model might use and busy fiddling with a computer tablet in her hands. She had curly golden brown hair that flowed down to her should blades, with dyed black coloured bangs falling around the either side of her face.

She tried to look ‘professional’ with her black skirt and white blouse underneath a black blazer, but the skirt was a micro-mini and the blouse was rather see-through. A black bra was not something one should wear underneath a white shirt. Not to mention the calf hugging leather stiletto boots on her feet.

What was with MFOSs and stilettos anyway?

And once again, as Lyner opened the door, her emerald green eyes turned from sparkling prettily to narrow with annoyance when she turned dramatically toward Lyner. Clearly she had been hoping that Croix was the one to open the door on her and have his heart lodge in his throat the moment he laid eyes on her as well.

“Who are you?” the woman asked her harshly.

Lyner couldn’t resist rolling her eyes. Man, if she had a dollar each time someone asked her that in a bitter and terse way she’d be a billionaire in her own right.

“The lady of the house,” Lyner answered quickly, making sure to stand firmly in the doorway, preparing herself to physically thrown this woman out by her hair (which she doubted was natural) if need be.

She had done it before.

Folding her arms across her torso, Lyner gave the unknown woman a rather pointed stare. “Who are you?” she asked this time.

The woman glared at her hatefully, almost looking insulted that Lyner dared to ask her of her name. Why, she was so stunningly beautiful that Lyner should probably already know her name. Or something.

“My name is April Wilde,” she reluctantly introduced herself. “But everyone calls me Aphrodite.”

Of course they do.

“But don’t you dare call me that,” ‘Aphrodite’ snapped. “It’s Miss Wilde to you.”

Ah, no, Lyner will either call her April or refer to her as MFOSs.

“I am a freelance journalist,” April carried on saying as she folded her arms defensively under her bust. “I’m here to speak with Croix Bartel of the Blue Zircon Enterprise.”

Ignoring the way April was practically hissing at her, Lyner made no attempt to welcome her inside or even try to be hospitable. Why should she when the woman was clearly very hostile toward her for simply being home in her apartment and answering the door?

“Why do you wish to speak to him?” Lyner asked.

“Not of your business!” April snapped.

Again, something that a MFOS often stated to Lyner in a totally angry and annoyed way absolutely appalled that Lyner didn’t take them at face value and immediately allow them to do whatever they wanted.

A journalist, huh?

The way she was glaring at Lyner, biting out her words while looking around the apartment told Lyner that she appeared to be the type to believe that Croix would take one look at her and her sexy curves and immediately agree to give her a tell-all interview – as long as she lived with him in a beachside penthouse (or some other location that required the need for minimal clothing) and expect her to return the favour by warming his bed every night.

Of course she probably also expected him to be so enthralled by her feistiness in bed and energetic determination at work, not to mention the fact that she really was such a good, sweet girl behind her cut-throat journalistic mask, that he would ask her to marry him so he could make all her dreams come true.

Uh huh, you heard right.

"Croix isn't interested in taking any interviews at the moment, nor in the foreseeable future," Lyner stated firmly, while trying to be professionally polite as well.

“Who are you to make such statements on his behalf?” April asked her with a glare.

“Who are you to ask such questions?” Lyner asked in return, really not like this woman one little bit. She never liked any of the MFOSs or Ordinary Beauties that throw themselves at Croix, some were more irritating and grating than others.

“Look, I don't know who you are nor do I fucking care,” April unexpectedly hissed lowly, taking a threatening step forward. “I need this tell-all interview with sexy bachelor Croix. It will be my big break-out story, which will finally give me the credit and reputation as a professional journalist that I deserve. I will do whatever it takes to get this story.”

Lyner nodded her head. “Including moving in with him, seducing him and becoming an important part of his life? Isn't a journalist supposed to have an impartial view on their subjects?” she asked.

April looked momentarily stunned, gobsmacked that Lyner had managed to hit her true motivation and hopeful outcome. She, however, snapped her mouth shut and gritted her teeth. The glare she sent Lyner would have made a weaker individual shiver from intimidation.

“I am a seriously professional journalist,” April stated. “But because of my sexist boss, who sees me as nothing more than a pair of sexy legs and perky breasts, I've been fired. I will make it on my own and I will get this interview with Croix, one way or another.”

Lyner would not doubt that one little bit. “You will have to go through me first.”

April surprisingly smirked at her. “That won't be difficult.”

“That sounds like a threat to me,” Lyner retorted as she picked up her phone once again. She could barely believe that she had to ring security once again in a matter of minutes. “And I don't appreciate being threatened. I think you should leave.”

“I'm not going anywhere,” April stated as she took another threatening step forward. “I'm going to stay right here and wait for Croix to come home.”

...She was probably expecting to lounge around in his place, going through his belongings to dig up the dirt on him, only for Croix to walk in on her, catch her red-headed and demand that she pay for what she had done - by sleeping with him.

She was a piece of work alright.

“You want a story?” Lyner snapped as she held firm. “I'll give you one. How does the headline 'Intrusive Journalist Arrested Outside of CEO's Private Home' sound to you?”

Before April could push her way inside, Lyner abruptly slammed the door in her face, immediately locking it.

“You can't threaten me!” April shrilled as she began to pound on the door with her fist.

Lyner ran her hand through her hair in an irritated fashion as she waited for security to pick up the phone once more. She was a little unnerved by the woman’s behaviour and aggression, but mostly she was annoyed. Annoyed that April actually believed her appalling behaviour and tactics would win Croix over, that her aggression was the sign of a business minded woman who was bold and feisty.

“Yeah, me again,” Lyner said into the phone as she walked around her apartment, mindlessly picking up things and tidying up. “Yeah, another one. A journalist this time. Apparently she's still smarting from being fired by her sexist boss and the only way for her to be taken seriously as a journalist was to get an exclusive and personal tell-all interview with Croix. Uh huh. Yeah, she probably expected to move in with him while getting this interview. Uh huh, female journalists get this privilege all the time, don’t you know? Ok, see you soon.”

As she hung up the phone, Lyner walked into the bedroom with the powerful temptation to collapse upon it. However, her gaze was inexplicably dawn to the sight of a phone sitting on the bedside table. She immediately recognised it as Croix’s phone. Well, one of his phones at least. He had two. One solely for work. This one was his personal phone, the number of which was only given out to those he trusted the most.

After the morning she just had, it wouldn’t hurt for her to make some lunch and deliver it and the phone to Croix. Hopefully, his morning was far more productive then hers. Besides, she wanted to speak with Randolf about Joanne and April in person. He probably wouldn’t believe her if she told him through email.

She barely believed it herself.

“We’ll probably be moving again if this keeps up,” Lyner muttered to herself as she wandered into the kitchen.