Chapter 1

• Jasmine’s POV
• “This can’t be the proposition she was going on and on about for weeks with her annoying ass voice which always makes my damn ears ring! Miss. Rhino can’t be serious!
• This has absolutely no benefits nor profits behind it and as matter of fact, if we invest, we would be at a loss!
• I’m not interested in this.
• Why the hell I hired her?”
• He looked at the documents in the folder on his desk I had brought in for him by his Chief Operating Officer, Miss. Rhino.
• “Get Ms. Rhino on the line and instruct her to find herself in my office immediately!”
• “Yes sir,” I answered sharply.
• “And Miss. Blackman, reorganize my schedule for the upcoming week. Cancel that nonsensical meeting with Mr. Hoggers since I’m not interested in investing one billion dollars in his shitty business.
• Also, fax those documents to the sixth level and proof read these for me before one p.m.
• And can you send Julia a bouquet of white roses with a note attach to it which reads ′thank you′ and get my father on the line,” he ordered although it may sound like he was asking me.
• I nodded yes and took two stacks of paper from his hands and exited his office immediately.
• I called Miss. Rhino and informed her that she was needed in Mr. Hollen’s office.
• “Sir, your father is on line one,” I said to him through the phone once I had phoned his father.
• “Mmmh,” he answered back and took the other line.
• I ordered the bouquet of white roses and had it delivered over to Julia’s apartment and began faxing the documents to the sixth level as he said.
• Afterwards, I began to proofread the other stack of papers he had given me. I would call Mr. Hoggers lastly because I knew he would request to speak to Mr. Hollen directly and since he was on the phone with his father, and Miss. Rhino was on the way to see him, he wouldn’t appreciate being distracted by Mr. Hoggers’ call.
• Evan Hollen was my boss and a very successful, rich and powerful one. I had been working for the company for a total of one year. Finishing college, it was a dragged finding a decent job that paid well within my city but luckily for me, I applied to Hollen Tower when I saw an ad in a newspaper for a personal assistant role.
• Hollen Tower was established and operated by his father before him. The company was one of the most successful and well developed organization over the globe. Great Cooperative, solid partnerships and a body of well educated and experienced and trained staff took the company to its highest peak and Evan Hollen stood above it with his father’s relinquished crown and well-deserved titles. He would be damned if someone tried to damage what his father started and worked so hard for. He had the temper of a shark, the personality of a dragon and the untimely patience of a baby.
• But let’s not forget about his best features. His dark silver grey eyes were everything.
• His sexy lean body always carved sharply in his expensive Armani suits.
• Okay, you got me. I had the biggest and most unstoppable crush on my boss and I couldn’t help myself.
• Evan Hollen was too fine not to have a crush on.
• It’s okay to have a secret crush on a very attractive man, right?
• Even if he is your boss?
• “Miss. Blackman! Can I be buzzed in please?”
• A voice snapped me right out of my lustful thoughts.
• Miss. Rhino was at my desk, pencils and folders in hands and tapping her left foot impatiently on the tiled floor.
• “Yes, one moment please,” I responded, putting the images of my boss to the far back of my mind.
• I called Mr. Hollen’s line and informed him that she was here. After he told me to let her in, I hit the buzzer and she strolled into his office with her head held high. She always thought she was above everyone else working at Hollen Tower.
• I hated the best bone in that woman. She was a tall, slim woman with pale cream skin. She was thirty years of age but she liked younger men like Mr. Hollen. There was once a rumour circulating about the two of them but I found that very hard to believe. She still had the body of a model but she was utterly not his type. The woman had a personality of a beast and she thought she was better than everyone in the company, except Mr. Hollen of course. She possessed a high job position, she was the COO after all, but she still had to answer to Mr. Hollen.
• I continued to proofread the documents in front of me, making the necessary changes and corrections. I enjoyed my job because it made life easier for Mr. Hollen. He had a personal assistant but he fired her on the spot when she developed feelings for him and began flirting with him in his office and since then, he hadn’t hired another one. I was the one doing the duties a personal assistant ought be doing plus my secretarial duties, but I didn’t mind or complained one bit in view of the fact that I was being paid double my monthly salary until he hires another personal assistant.
• He should get a male assistant who doesn’t have a thing for the handsome boss.
• The ladies always lusted and drooled over him, always wanted his attention and time, always talked about him. He was indeed handsome, one of the most handsome men I’ve ever laid my eyes on. His skin tone was perfectly tanned and I always wondered why.
• Is his mom a black woman...or does he have black people in his family?
• He doesn’t talk about his parents much and he doesn’t like the beach and the outdoors much either, so why the naturally tanned skin?
• Half an hour later, I was already finished. I was a quick but assertive employee. I had to be because the boss hated it when his employees were skylarking on the job or persons not meeting his deadlines.
• My deadline was one p.m.
• I looked up at the wall clock; it showed fifteen minutes to one.
• Then Miss. Rhino barged out of his office and stormed passed me with a frown and unpleasant look on her face.
• I peeled myself off the chair and knocked on his office door afterwards.
• “Come in Miss. Blackman,” he spoke.
• His voice was the ‘Shawn Mendes’ to my ears. I heaved a smile and walked into his office.
• “Here are the papers you asked me to proofread. I’ve made the necessary changes and corrections for you. Before I leave for lunch, I would get Mr. Hoggers on the phone because I strongly believe he would request to speak to you.”
• “Mmmh. I’ve been thinking about something,” he began, leaning back in his big leather chair and stared at me with those beautiful, grey, luminous orbs.
• I gulped my fear but his eyes were easy to read. One thing I had quickly learnt when I began working here, was that his eyes were a tell.
• I avoided trouble, getting mixed up with gossips and falling in with the wrong crowd. I couldn’t afford to lose my job any time soon. It paid very well and my mom and my younger sister were depending on me.
• Mom had a lung failure condition.
• My younger sister was still in college and depended on me financially to put her through. It was just us living together at my apartment in the city.
• Recently, my mother’s condition had gotten worse but with the medication and treatment I was managing to pay for, she always pulled through and felt better again.
• “How would you like to be my personal assistant and I’ll hire someone to fill your place?”
• I was dumbfounded for a moment.
• Me? As his personal assistant?
• I would be honoured.
• PA’s had a higher salary than the basic secretary and I couldn’t do both jobs forever so obviously I was going to pick the one with the higher income behind it.
• It wasn’t just about the money though, I had the knowledge, skills and levels to be his Personal Assistant and that was what I had applied for at the very beginning but the position had already been filled, however since my resume was so impressive and captivating, Mr. Hollen didn’t want me to work anyway else but Hollen Tower so he hired me as his secretary.
• I worked my tail off in high school and all throughout college. I hardly had time for boyfriends and dates and fun. My mom had the lung condition since the beginning of my high school year but it wasn’t that bad back then as it was now. She managed to work and she supported me in every way a child needed support from their parent. I never knew my dad and mom never talked about him much, she would only mention him when I asked about him but as I grew older, I saw the pain in her eyes every time so I stopped when I understood what he had done.
• Bottom line, she was there for me so now it was my turn to be there for her. If I could make enough money, we could afford to get rid of her condition permanently.
• “Thank you Mr. Hollen and I accept,” I said to him as I beamed a bright smile.
• He nodded and gestured for me to leave his presence. He was a man of very few words, he only spoke to me when he was commanding and he hated repeating himself to people, even to his father and the women he dated.
• Don’t get me started on those women he usually dated. He was always spotted with famous celebrities or they were frequently throwing themselves at him like prostitutes.
• The last one he dated, he dumped her because she was annoying and nagging and always popped up at his office without notice. He hated those things in a woman and whenever he was done with them, he sent them white roses.
• I don’t get why he does it. Roses are nice flowers so wouldn’t it just lead the women on even more?
• I took my purse and changed into my flats and went to lunch. I always changed my heels when I left the office. I hated heels, they hurt my feet so much but Hollen Tower had a dress code requirement one must abide by or else one would be out on their ass and searching for another job without recommendation or references from the company.
• As I walked out, Julia Starlet, a famous movie actress and the woman Mr. Hollen already dumped this morning, walked in.