"Are you out of your mind?"

Several people turn to look in our direction. I smile politely at them and mouth "sorry" before kicking my best friend in the shin.

"Ow!"

"Can you say it any louder?" I hiss.

Kai narrows his brown eyes at me. "Okay, fine," he lowers his voice. "Are you out of your mind? Sleeping with your freaking boss?"

I choke on the salad. "I'm not sleeping with her!"

He snorts. "That's basically the same thing as letting her move in with you."

"You know it's not," I retort, rolling my eyes and wiping my mouth with a napkin.

"Maybe. But that's not what other people are going to think. You know how people gossip over there." He raises an eyebrow at me while poking around his Caesar salad.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "Not you too. Look, I can handle myself just fine."

"You sure about that? Remember when some friend you met on social media kept replying to you for several days with abnormal dry texts without any emojis compared to her usual excited texts, and you kept overthinking for days that something was wrong and even cried yourself to sleep one night?"

With a groan, I throw a piece of lettuce at him and his dirty-blonde curls of hair. He dodges it with ease, causing it to hit the back of one of the poor customers behind him. Thankfully, they don't seem to notice. Kai stifles a laugh, his thin cheeks trembling with the effort, and I again kick him in the shin.

"Ow!" Kai glares at me. "Will you stop kicking me like some freaking goat?"

I scoff. "Then stop exaggerating stuff because you know that's not what happened."

He wasn't exaggerating though. That's what had pretty much happened. Except most of it was that friend's fault. They had said something that hurt me to the core, because during the two years we've communicated over Facebook, I thought they would know me enough to not even think about accusing me of being the type of person who would do that. Then, they had the nerve to dry text me when I'm the one who was offended?

We did settle things and went back to normal texting, but when a person's words hurt you so much that you cry for hours straight, you can never really get back to the way things were. But you continue to try, to shower them with compliments and walk in eggshells around them, being careful what you say or text, and then you end up convincing yourself that it was your fault. Not theirs, not anyone's. Yours. Until you become a people-pleaser and drift further away from your real self, willing to be trampled on to death just to please other people.

What's that saying? "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." What a bunch of horseshit.

Okay, so maybe I am really sensitive, and more often times than not, I'd rather pretend everything is fine to avoid communicating with the other person that they hurt me because of the fear they would turn their back on me. But that's life... Right?

Kai groans. "Point is, you're sensitive." Seriously... "If the slightest change in a person's tone is enough for you to stress over each conversation and wonder what went wrong to the point that your days revolve around that, what's going to happen when those bitches who feed on rumors will talk about you and your boss?"

Pursing my lips, I don't say anything as I chase a stray piece of kale around the near empty plate. As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. I overthink about each of my actions and words, wondering if I inadvertently said something that I didn't mean to. Obsessing over everyday conversations.

And I'd be lying if I'm not freaking out about asking my own boss to move in with me.

Am I crazy? Am I going out of my mind? Am I a joke for trying to pursue my career by being an assistant to the Devil's Mistress and hoping it will open doors to possibilities in not only the fashion world, but publishing and the media overall?

Probably, but I've made a promise to myself when I moved here six years ago that I'll take risks, and face the world and its challenges head on. No matter if an avalanche threatens to bury me or a tsunami will swallow me and spin me round and round until I'm dead from suffocation, I'll find a way to deal with the problems.

And I won't disappoint eighteen-year old me. I won't let that girl down, the one who arrived in the City of Angels with big hopes and dreams.

"Like I said, Kai, I'll handle them."

"'I'll handle them'," he repeats mockingly. "Lainey..."

"Are you my therapist or something, Kai?" I glare at him. "Let me just eat in peace before I have to go back and deal with Satan herself, okay?"

He sighs and waves his hand dismissively. "Yeah, fine."

'I Love It' by Icona Pop rings out through the entire outdoor area, causing everyone to once again whip their heads toward me. I scramble to pull out my phone which is responsible for blasting the ringtone.

Seeing my boss's name on the screen, I immediately press the call button. "Yes, Ms. Seydoux?"

"Where are you?" her voice barks through the speaker.

I wince and hold the phone a little away from my ear. "At lunch, ma-"

"Get your ass over here. You're supposed to show me to your house this afternoon."

I glance at my watch. "But it's 12:2-"

"Now. Just pull up to the entrance where Andrew's car is and you better be there when I walk out of the building. If you even have a car."

Gritting my teeth at her insinuating that I don't have my own means of transportation, I inhale. And quietly exhale.

"Ms. Seydoux, I do have a car. And actually, I was thinking it would be better if I drove you there."

What the hell am I thinking? Drive her up there myself? Am I seriously asking to be fired?

Silence as heavy and deadly as the fog over a cemetery ensues from the other end. Oh god, I'm stupid. I'm so freaking stupid. Why did I say that? Who am I? I'm just the assista-

"And what car do you have?" my boss's voice finally demands. "A battered Honda Civic?"

I flinch at the assumption. "No ma'am... I have a Hummer... I just think it would be better, plus there won't be any risk of Andrew losing his way or an-"

"Okay fine," she interrupts, again. "Meet him there anyway, you'll need to take my bags from the car."

"Yes ma'am."

"And if you're late..."

"Understood."

The call ends, and I turn to Kai with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I have to go."

"No, it's fine!" He waves me off. "Work is work, even for the Devil's mistress."

"Wait, how do you-"

"Come on, it's not that much of a secret you know."

Rolling my eyes, I take out my wallet and leave half of the bill before taking off to my black car parked near the curb. If I want to keep my job and not piss my boss even more than she already is, I need to make sure I will arrive on time. And if it means honking at an old lady to cross the street faster, then so be it.

Reaching my destination in record time while potentially running a red light at the last second, I hop out of my car and approach Ms. Seydoux's ridiculously tall, handsome driver standing next to the black high-end car in which he drives her anywhere she tells him to.

"Hi Andrew!" I call out.

"Ms. Alaina." He nods before picking up two of the six bags standing near the black car and walking toward me. Opening my trunk, I watch him lift the bags into it with ease. His huge muscles strain through his long-sleeve tee, and I would be lying if his bodybuild isn't... quite impressive. Enough to make any woman drool over him. Yet for some reason, I feel absolutely nothing.

"You're pretty brave to be asking Ms. Mylène to be moving in with you," Andrew adds when he stashes the last of the bags into the back.

I sigh, adjusting my glasses. "Maybe."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

Taking a deep breath, I nod and smile. "Yes, I can handle it."

But instead of any further discussion, he simply nods, much to my relief. "Good luck, Ms. Alaina." With a small salute, he walks back to his car and drives off, leaving me behind to deal with my boss. And speaking of the devil, there she is.

Exiting the building, she looks so... mesmerizing. The way the sun embraces her red hair, making it seem engulfed in flames I'd gladly burn in for eternity, the black trousers and white blouse with the top buttons still open revealing her skin shining golden in the daylight, and even the frown plastered on her face... She evokes feelings from me which I can't explain. Feelings I've never felt for anyone before.

She's a walking goddess, burning anything and everyone in her path, and her flames kissing me is something I can't -

"Are you frozen or something?" my boss's voice snaps me out of my daze.

Blinking away my thoughts, I shake my head. "No, ma'am. Andrew already put your bags in my car, so we're ready to go."

"Then what are you standing there for?"

"What-"

"Are you going to open the damn door or not? I swear-"

She continues in some French jimbaroo that I don't understand, but that accent... it does something to me, that despite her cold and nasty demeanor, it's... sexy.

Oh my god, Alaina, no! Down! Bad girl!

I nod a bit too enthusiastically. "Yes ma'am!"

Rushing to the passenger side, I open the door. She glances inside first, inspecting the interior. If she's expecting to find a cockroach inside she'll be disappointed.

She finally climbs in after what seems like ages. Once I close the door, I run to the driver's door and get inside. Starting the engine, I strap on my seatbelt and make sure that my boss does the same. The last thing I need is for her to catapult through the window just because I made an abrupt stop. And my insurance won't exactly cover her millionaire dollar butt.

Pulling away from the curb, I drive to my house, or rather my grandmother's house. When I had moved from Mammoth Lakes where I had grown up to Los Angeles in order to pursue my career in fashion, my grandma persuaded me to stay with her in her gorgeous log cabin with a breathtaking view of the city sprawled miles and miles as far as the eye can see.

But beauty and luxury always come at a price. So keeping this job for Ms. Seydoux is my best chance in helping out my grandmother. And maybe, I'll get a raise for giving her a place to stay.

My phone dings when I stop at a red light. Picking it up, I open it to see several social media notifications with Ms. Seydoux's name on it. I click on one of them, and it takes everything in me to not gasp out loud when my eye lands on one of the headlines on a gossip site:

CEO of Seydoux Trends Mylène Seydoux is sleeping with yet another slut trying to claw her way to the top as they move in together.

"What is it?" Ms. Seydoux asks.

"Nothing ma'am." I scramble to put away my phone when she snatches it from me with the speed of light.

"Hey! That's my-"

"Focus on the road," she snaps at me. Glancing up, the red light is now green. Someone honks behind us, almost making me jump in my seat as I switch gears and drive.

Out of my periphery, Ms. Seydoux scrolls through the phone, her finger swiping the screen at a super focused pace while muttering some French incoherencies. Her tense jaws twitch in anger, her eyebrows scrunching together the more she reads.

"Ces pétasses," she hisses in a vile tone. "They have nothing better to do than spread lies."

I don't know what happened, but the way she said those French words, whatever they meant... A pool of lava gathers in my stomach as my hands grip the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. Returning my full focus on the bright orange Jeep in front of us, it requires all my energy to keep my heart from echoing like a drumming siren in the small space.

It was so... sexy. Hot. And not at all... freaking exhilarating.

She places the phone in the compartment under the radio. "I warned you this would happen."

"Yes ma'am. And I can handle it."

"Are you sure? Because you seem to be on the verge of crying out a waterfall right now."

"I'm fine!" I croak out, my voice high at the end. Clearing my throat, I take a right turn. After a few seconds, the "Strahovski " name in golden letters embossed on a black iron gate engraved with elegant brown swirls come into view. "We're here!"

Pulling up to the gate, I roll down my window to punch in the code. Once we're through, I slowly drive down the driveway, passing rows of blooming flower bushes and gorgeous palm trees, their leaves casting cool shadows over the road. The sweet and musky scents lingering in the air are overwhelming, in an amazing way. I will probably never get used to any of the sights here.

Pretty soon the log cabin comes into view, together with the huge fountain spouting water in the air from the circular structure in the middle engraved with flowers along with various animals including Siberian tigers, wolves, and deer walking in harmony. The water drops back into the shimmering clear pool below, the sound producing a calming flow of energy into the atmosphere.

Judging by my boss's silence and several deep breaths, she probably didn't expect me to live in a place like this, despite the photos I've shown her.

Ha, take that, Ms. Sey- doux.

"I'll open the door for you," I announce out loud once I park. Rushing out the car, I reach the other side and open the door when I notice a rock right where she's supposed to step. "Oh wait, Ms. Seydoux -!"

But it's too late when her heel lands on the damned rock and she falls forward right into my arms, sending us both crashing to the ground with me being used as a human cushion.

Pain sears through my back, but it's almost forgotten when I feel Ms. Seydoux's body pressing against mine, her white blouse unbuttoned just a little more and her face so, so close to mine. Her hot breath blowing into my mouth, so fresh and sweet like warm ripe strawberries on a sunny day. The range of emotions swirling in her blue eyes like a whirlpool, sucking me in until I can no longer breathe. Drowning me in dangerous waves as her lips remain inches away from mine. The world around me disappears as if I'm submerged underwater, holding on to the one person who will never be interested in me.

What would happen if I kissed her right now?