Chapter 9

Later that morning I retreated to my room for a shower, letting the cold water brace me for a day of change. My appearance, my manners…Luther had made it sound a bit like I was going to charm school. With him as my teacher.

Which would’ve been a lot more fun as some kinky sex game. Luther wearing glasses, slapping a ruler against his palm as he paced behind me, ready to bend me over the desk if I made a single mistake.

Down, dick.

I groaned as I stepped out of the shower, hard as a fucking rock without any time left to give myself some relief. The clothes Luther had left for me wouldn’t help either. Xavier might consider himself progressive with his ideas of what gender a secretary could be, but he still liked his eye candy.

Since that would be me, Luther had picked out an outfit that would draw Xavier’s attention. Snug, tailored, light grey slacks he’d have fitted later today along with several others, a pale blue shirt, and a grey vest. No tie yet, he had to show me how to tie one. I also had a matching jacket to go with the outfit, but Luther had told me to leave it off. He didn’t want me wearing it around the office, so I should ‘Get used to being without it.’

And I would have to get used to it. Without even looking in the mirror I felt the way the slacks formed tight over my ass, and the vest didn’t cover a thing. My cheeks heated as I left my room, heading down to the first floor where Luther had told me his office was, a couple doors down from the kitchen.

I rapped my knuckles on the thick, wood door.

He opened it, revealing a massive library with a large, antique desk in the center. The light was dimmer in here, with a warm glow coming from the partially closed curtains making it just bright enough to work under, without being harsh. The faint rich scent of cigar smoke and old books was almost soothing as Luther ushered me inside.

Grinning, he looked me over, letting the door ease shut. “Oh yes, this will do nicely. How does it feel?”

“Like I’m putting my ass on display.” I wrinkled my nose and smoothed my hands down my sides. “Which I assume is your intention?”

“So long as you can get comfortable. If you feel awkward, it will show.” Luther folded his arms over his chest and leaned against his bookshelf, jutting his chin toward the large desk. “Walk across the room as you normally would. Let me see what I have to work with.”

Simple enough. I walked across the room.

He let out a heavy sigh. “Alec, are you afraid the ceiling will cave in on you?”

I stopped by the desk and glanced back at him. “No…?”

“Then why do you have your shoulders bowed and your head down? Straighten up. Don’t take each step as though the ground isn’t solid. Sure steps. A confident posture. You’re representing Xavier Ashburne.”

“Hopefully I’ll be wearing a jacket if I’m representing him.” I tugged at the vest and pressed my eyes shut. “I’m not trying to get all his clients to fuck me.”

Luther spat out a laugh. “No, I suppose you aren’t. And you may wear a jacket when you’re not at your desk or in his office. Either way, let’s teach you to walk like you know your own worth.”

Brow raised, I stared at him.

His smile faded. “Nothing will change if you don’t own every bit of progress you make. You convinced me not to turn you into the cops simply by being the honest, loyal—misplaced as it was—man that you are. You convinced Xavier to give you a job. Sure, some of it might have been happenstance, but you were given an opportunity because we thought you deserved it.”

“And I appreciate that, but how does that change how I walk?”

“Once you believe you deserve it as much as we do, it’ll show.” He held out a hand and crooked a finger. “Now walk to me as though you see me as an equal and you have something important to say.”

This was ridiculous, but I kinda got what he meant. Walking around Xavier’s office all slouching and uncertain wouldn’t impress anyone. Least of all, Xavier. If I wanted anyone to take me seriously I had to at least pretend to have some confidence.

I crossed the room again. Straighter. Faster.

“All right, that’s better. Do that if the building is on fire.” Luther’s eyes sparkled with mirth. “Let’s try that again.”

For the next hour I practiced walking, then sitting, then standing, then…drinking. The last was the weirdest, because I’d never imagined someone could drink a glass of water wrong, but apparently it was a thing. I drank like I was dying of thirst and had been given my first liquid in days.

Which had happened, so it made sense.

Everything I did had to be slower. More relaxed. Luther played out scenarios for me. An important investor coming in for a meeting. Going to another department to impart an urgent message. A business lunch with Xavier and someone important.

After the last one, I sat back in my chair, brow furrowed. “None of this is really secretary work. Shouldn’t his assistant be doing all this?”

“He doesn’t have one. And please don’t repeat this, but you will essentially be his personal assistant. He uses the term secretary because admitting he needs any kind of help is hard for him.” Luther sighed and sat on the edge of his desk. “You will still do some secretarial work, so that’ll be important for you to learn. But you’ll spend less time typing and answering phones than you will doing tasks that will make his life easier. I’m hoping you’ll get to know him well enough to anticipate those without him even having to ask.”

“Okay, I can do that.” I followed Luther behind the desk, taking a deep breath as he pulled the chair out for me. “I…I haven’t typed much since high school. I might be a little rusty.”

“Well, Xavier isn’t, and he likely won’t give you more than a quick email to transcribe.” Luther handed me his phone. “I recorded something for you to send as an email. Listen to it, then send it to me. My email address is in the message. Let’s see how you do with this so I know what needs improvement.”

I nodded, took a deep breath, then pressed play. It was hard to listen to Luther in person without being turned on, but he seemed to have intentionally deepened his voice in the message, drawing out each word just a little, as though to make sure they got the message.

The message could have been exactly how he liked his dick sucked for how turned on I was by the end. My hands shook as I typed as fast as I could, watching my fingers way more than I should. He was talking about different dresses that would be chosen for a magazine shoot and issues the agent was having finding the right model. Not a difficult topic, but I cursed under my breath as I forgot how to spell certain colors.

That was what spell check was for, right? Would he judge me on the mistakes I’d made? Would I have a chance to fix them?

“Good, but you forgot how to sit.” Luther squeezed my shoulder when I groaned and dropped my head to the desk. “Relax. You’ll always have a chance to go over what you’ve typed. First you get down the words, then you make sure all the information is there and edit. You addressed this well and even figured out the words I didn’t say clearly. We just want Xavier to be able to walk by you and trust you know what you’re doing.”

“Got it.” I tried to sit up straighter, but my dick still hadn’t gotten the message that we weren’t here to have fun. “This would be a lot more enjoyable as originally planned.”

I’d tried to speak too low for Luther to hear as he crossed the room—probably for another assignment—but he looked back with a slow smile. “You’re thinking of the rewards I promised you.”