“Not necessarily. I’m at the top. Do I look high to you?”

The deadpan way in which he said it made me laugh. I leaned forward and teased, “I’m not sure. Let me have a look at your pupils.” Surprising me, King rose from his seat, walked around his desk, and came to kneel in front of me. Before I knew it, his face was mere inches from mine.

“Go ahead,” he said, voice low.

Whoa, Oliver King’s face right up close…I wasn’t sure what to do with that. I guess he didn’t realise the effect he had on this very non-gay lady, because he seemed entirely unselfconscious. His eyes were beautiful, his lashes long and golden, his skin smooth with a hint of stubble around his jaw, and his lips were just…I had no words. Sculpted and masculine was probably the only way I could think to describe them.

I realised I was staring at those lips a little too closely when my eyes flicked back to his. A moment ago he was smiling, but now that smile was transforming into a thoughtful frown.

I cleared my throat. “Your pupils look fine.”

King exhaled a small breath, and I watched as his attention went from my eyes to my cheeks, nose, chin, and then finally to my lips. He looked like he was about to say something when suddenly Gillian’s voice filled the room.

“Mr King, Jenson Gellar is on the phone. Shall I put him through?”

My heart beat wildly before I realised she wasn’t actually there. She was talking through the intercom. I watched King swallow, smooth down his shirt, and then rise to a standing position. Walking to his desk, he hit the button to reply to Gillian.

“Keep him on hold. I’ll pick up in a moment.”

“No problem,” she answered, and then the room was silent again. Whatever had passed between King and me, he seemed to be trying to push it from his mind.

Unable to stand the quiet, I asked, “So what did you want to see me about?”

I ran my hands over my skirt, noticing how King’s eyes lingered on the movement for the barest second before he brought his gaze to mine. Another beat of silence passed, and my throat grew dry. Had he been…? I felt like maybe he had a thing for my thighs, because I’d caught him staring at them a number of times now. A moment later, he deftly set two newspapers down in front of me, each open on a different story. “Read both of these.”

I cocked a brow. “Why?”

“Just read them, and then I’ll tell you why.”

“Aye, aye, captain.”

He shook his head at my response and brought his attention to the phone. Picking up, he immediately began chatting a lot of numbers to the guy on the other end, while I tried to concentrate on the newspaper articles. Both were about different companies. One was a silicone manufacturer who had just announced an expansion to its production facilities. The other was a start-up for a new social media website. I read each of them to the end and was done before King was finished with his call. Glancing up, he noticed I was finished reading, and reached for a pad and pen. Still holding the phone to his ear, he scribbled something down, then passed it to me. It read: Which of the two companies would you invest in?

I pondered the question, unsure as to why he was asking me this. Did he need advice, or was it some kind of a test? Looking back at the articles, I tried to come up with an answer. Grabbing King’s pen and paper, I began to write down a pros and cons list, and noticed his lips twitch when he saw what I was doing. All of a sudden, I began to wonder if I was some sort of amusement to him, or maybe a pet project. The thought disgruntled me, but I was determined not to let him see it. I’d told him at the end of my interview that I’d show him I had brains, and now I needed to prove it.

Five minutes later, he hung up the phone and turned to face me. Clasping his hands together, he asked. “Well, have you decided?”

I sat up primly. “Yes.”

“And?”

“I’d choose the social media start-up.”

“Elaborate.”

Had it gotten hotter in here all of a sudden? My throat was feeling unusually dry. “Well, silicone is clearly a good investment, because let’s face it, plastic surgery gets more and more popular year on year, and it doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon. It’s the safe choice if you don’t factor in the possibility of a replacement being created that works better. However, the sky’s the limit with the social media thing. It has the potential to go anywhere. And yeah, it’s more of a gamble, but if it succeeds, the rewards could be huge.”

King leaned forward, looking pleased. “So, let’s say you’re me and I’m my client. I come in and I want invest in either the social media start-up or the silicone manufacturer. You’d advise me to go for the social media?”

Narrowing my gaze, I nodded.

He smiled. “All right. That will be all.”

“That’s it?”

“I have a very busy day ahead of me, Alexis, but I hope to see you at lunch for our game of chess.” His easy dismissal irritated me, and I felt like he was being sneaky.

“King, this was all hypothetical, right?”

The look he gave me when I called him “King” made my knees a little bit weak. He clearly liked it, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d essentially given him an affectionate nickname, or if he just enjoyed being referred to as an all-powerful ruler.

“And if it wasn’t?”

“I’m only an assistant. I know virtually nothing about investing. You shouldn’t be using my advice in any kind of real life dealings.”