Breathe: A Billionaire Romance, Part 1 by Jenn Marlow

Chapter 1
    “Z oe!” I heard his deep voice gruff from the kitchen, which was located down the hall. I giggled. Not because of his urgency or even the harsh sound of his voice; that wasn’t comical. Not in the slightest. I knew it was real, but I giggled because it was like my eyes had instinctively rolled to the back of my head; it was like they had been perfectly honed to detect his voice and immediately reflect the annoyance that it caused me.
    But I knew he meant business, and I knew better than to diddle-daddle when he called.
    Rather than continue to look through the spreadsheets that he told me to look through, I knew I should see what he needed. I sighed, turning my tablet’s screen off. The King was waiting, after all.
    I made my way from the office, towards the kitchen, not paying any mind to the gorgeous view that could be seen through the window to my right. It ran all the way—uninterrupted—from one end of his penthouse to the other.
    I knew what it looked like; I had seen it multiple times over the last couple of months, but I was captivated by it each and every time I walked past.
    I wondered, when I first started working for Mr. Sholts, if he realized how lucky he was to have a view such as that, but it seemed almost lost on him. He had lost appreciation for it, clearly, if he had ever really appreciated it to start with.
    But I knew I couldn’t look. If I did, I would stay there, staring out, for hours probably. So rather than look and then focus on it, I continued on, over the entire length of the hardwood-floored hallway towards the kitchen.
    “What do you need, Mr. Sholts?” I asked, turning the corner.
    I noticed he was shirtless, standing in his kitchen over an array of deli meats, bread, cheeses, and condiments. He really has to make a sandwich shirtless? I sighed.
    “A lot...” he said. “You may want to take notes.”
    You’d think that he’d show leniency on me, considering I was still new. But he hadn’t and he wouldn’t. He had worked me hard from the very first day I had arrived nearly eight weeks ago. However, it wasn’t a surprise. I knew his reputation. He was a hard ass. He wasn’t the lenient type.
    “I’m just kidding...” he said, obviously noticing how much I stiffened.
    I sighed a sigh of relief and relaxed a little bit.
    “If that’s all, I need to get back to those spreadsheets, Mr. Sholts.” I hoped I hadn’t sounded too annoyed—I was, but I didn’t want to sound it.
    “Go on a date with me,” he smirked, leaning his shirtless back on the countertop. Work-place sexual harassment, much?
    I rolled my eyes again and sighed with annoyance. He had been trying to get me on a date since my first day in the office.
    “We’re on about that, again?” I groaned, tightening my grip on my tablet.
    “I think it’d be good for you,” he smiled.
    Ugh . He was so cocky that I couldn’t even stand it.
    But his reputation of being a total jerk of a boss wasn’t the only thing he had a reputation for. With his glorious—yet irritating—good looks and great financial success, it wasn’t hard to believe either. Indeed, Mr. Sholts was what one would call a bit of a ladies’ man.
    And he wasn’t just a ladies’ man, either. He was a ladies’ man with a craving for the ladies, himself. In other words, he was a player.
    I wasn’t sure how he was able to be such a player, though. Sure, he was gorgeous, intelligent, motivated, successful, and young—but that was it. He was a total jerk. I honestly couldn’t stand the man—even from the time of my first interview.
    He really was gorgeous, though. I never had to remind myself of that. He was a pain in the ass, for sure, there was no denying that. However, there was also no denying that he was sexy as all get-out. I had never seen anyone as gorgeous in my life; and it wasn’t just because I was from a small town. There, he would have shined like a movie star. I knew that. And despite what many would think, and much