I frown. “But...” Day and night? “How will that work?” It dawns on me. There is no staff shift trade-off.

Henry frowns. “You look worried.”

“I’m just taking it all in. Will I have to stay in there?” I glance back toward the staff quarters, to the little hobbit room. I’m not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it’s my own room. On the other, I won’t get any sleep knowing Henry is so close.

He smiles. “I’m not a tyrant. I will give you time off, Abbi.” He strolls over to the desk that sits in one corner, overlooking the water, and collects paper and pen. “Before we go any further, I need you to sign this confidentiality agreement.” He sets it on the table in front of me. “It’s pretty standard.”

“I’ve never signed one of these,” I admit, picking it up.

“No?” His fingers move absently over his shirt, fastening his buttons. “I’ve signed a thousand in my lifetime already. Take your time and read through it. I need to finish getting dressed now.” He disappears into his bedroom, leaving me to the paperwork.

It’s pretty easy to understand. Basically, I’m not to talk about Henry—anything he says or does—or he can sue my ass.

“I do require that you not drink while you’re working for me,” he calls out from his room. “Given what I saw the other night, it’s too risky.”

“I think we’ve already covered that I won’t ever be drinking again.” I scroll my name along the bottom, set the pen down gingerly and take a deep breath. This feels somehow monumental.

“Done?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I need you in here.”

My heart skips a beat. He needs me in his bedroom. “Coming,” I say, my voice shaky. All kinds of visions float through my head that I didn’t even know I could conjure up, but that make blood rush through my body. Henry stripped down. Henry, lying on his bed, waiting for me.

I find him standing in front of the dresser mirror, holding two ties in his hands. “Which one should I wear?”

I sigh with relief. “I like the charcoal-and-silver one with that suit.”

“This one?” He holds the navy one up and I frown, earning his laugh and swap. “I’m color-blind,” he admits, looping the one I chose around his neck, tossing the other onto the bed. “So don’t be surprised if I ask you to help me match my socks and ties on occasion.” He pauses. “Are you good with tying ties?”

“I think so.” I tied Jed’s ties all through high school and into college. I make my way over, slowing to take in the wall of glass and the water beyond, hyperaware that I’m about to help Henry get dressed. “What a view to wake up to every day,” I mumble, trying to diffuse my nerves.

“It’s something, all right.” I feel him staring at my face as my fingers begin flying, making quick work of the silk, all while my heart feels like it’s going to leap out of my chest at any moment.

My hands are trembling.

“You have freckles,” he murmurs. “I never noticed them before.”

I scrunch my nose with the reminder. The light smattering across the bridge has always bothered me. “My glasses usually cover them.”

“I’d offer to get my wetsuit on and dive for them, but I don’t think I want to. You should keep wearing contacts. They suit you better.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I say nothing, focusing instead on pulling the end of the tie through, only to find that I’ve made it way too short. “Hold on, I have to redo.”

He waits quietly, as I loosen and adjust, and then go through the steps again, my fingers grazing against his body occasionally. Each swipe makes my skin tingle and my breathing more uneven.

“There. I think that’s perfect,” I whisper, taking a step back to admire him. God, he is stunning. I honestly can’t tell which look I like more: the businessman or the lumberjack. Both are equally hot.

But I’ll bet neither can complete with Henry Wolf, naked.

I’ve never even seen a man naked and I’m thinking about that right now? Ten minutes in to being his assistant? How on earth am I going to work alongside him for the next four months and maintain my composure?

“Good?”

I duck my head, smiling shyly. “Yes. You’re definitely ready for... whatever you’re doing today.”

He laughs. “Exactly how I expect the person managing my calendar to answer. Come.” His fingertips brush the small of my back, the heat from them searing my skin, as he ushers me past his rumpled sheets. “You can make my bed for me later.” There’s amusement in his voice.

Now the comment he made in the truck yesterday after I admitted to not being able to properly make a bed makes sense.

Henry leads me to the desk. He digs out an iPhone from the drawer. “So I can reach you at all times. It works everywhere on the property. And here are my passwords to my e-mail accounts and my voice mail. Save them in your phone and then shred this note. You can access my e-mail with my computer. Feel free to open any e-mail that comes in unless it’s marked confidential in the subject line. Those are not to be opened. Belinda will be by with a laptop and I believe she has already given you an iPad.”

“Yes, last night.” So I could study hours of useless information to be a liaison, it would seem. Why wouldn’t she tell me that I was going to be Henry’s assistant?

“Good. You’re all set then. I have about forty conference call requests in my inbox. Please get them booked in for this week, between 5:00 and 8:00 a.m. Pacific time. Whatever length of time the requester has set, cut it in half.” He scans his watch. “A few key people are arriving this morning. I need to meet them at the helicopter pad shortly.” He collects the suit jacket that lies across his couch and slides his taut, muscular arms into it. “The suit hanging behind my door needs to go to the cleaners. Belinda has already made arrangements for the day, but make dinner reservations for three at Lux for 7:00 p.m. Ensure Cedric is available to us for wine selection, and that Phil is ready with the plane for our excursion tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m.”

My mind is spinning as he’s firing off instructions. Grabbing a pen and pad, I quickly jot down the important names and times, because those will be the first I forget.

He stops at the door. “Oh, one other thing. In here, when it’s just the two of us, it’s okay to call me Henry. But outside of these walls, it’s Mr. Wolf at all times. Is that understood?”

“Yes. Understood.” It’s a good reminder that this man is my boss. I need to douse whatever fire my body wants to stoke for him.

“So?”

“So...”

“I assume you’re accepting this job.”

This is my chance to get out of this predicament.

Oh, who am I kidding? “Yes. Of course I am.” I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, nervously. “I hope I’m what you’re looking for.”

“To be honest, you are not what I was expecting.” He pauses, and a flash of something dark flickers in his eyes. “But I think you’re exactly what I’m looking for while I’m here.”

What exactly is he looking for then? Because if it’s me, then it’s not a competent, experienced assistant. But I will try.

A knock on the door sounds. “That will be your employment contract.” He opens the door and Belinda steps through.

She smiles and then, seeing me standing there, sets the paperwork and a laptop down on the side table. “Abbi, please read over and sign this as soon as possible. The laptop is to stay here at all times.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

She looks to Henry. “Can I have a word with you? In private?”

That’s my cue. “I’ll take that suit to the cleaners,” I offer, rushing to his bedroom to grab it and head for the servants’ door. That was one of Paige’s strict directives: always use staff entrances and exits wherever possible.

I’ve stepped outside, suit slung over my shoulder, and the door is about to close when I realize that I left my key inside. My hand blocks the door just before it shuts and locks on me, relieved that I don’t have to start off on the wrong foot by ringing the doorbell to gain entry.