He hated her.

Hiring Mercedes Jones was the worst idea that he had ever had. In the two weeks since she'd started he hadn't gotten a full night's sleep. He had taken so many cold showers he didn't even remember what a hot one felt like. She was slowly driving him insane and she didn't even realize it. He was tired and cranky and it was all her fault. How dare she bounce in every morning looking like a million bucks while he felt and looked like death? Every morning she would be at her desk and she would give him a sweet smile as he walked in. And every morning he would have to grit his teeth and hurry past her and pray that she didn't notice the sudden bulge in his pants that seemed to have a life of its own. The last time Sam couldn't control an erection he was a 14-year-old boy so it made him extra pissed off that this was an issue again 15 years later. Sam had his fair share of women in the past, so control was not something that he had to worry about...until now.

He could almost make his peace with his disturbing lack of control if Mercedes was actively trying to seduce him, but she wasn't! On her first day of work she wore the biggest, slouchiest, most unattractive pants suit that she could find and he was still more turned on than he could ever remember being. It didn't make any damn sense! Women fell all over him. They made fools out of themselves to get his attention. They had to work to make and keep him interested. That was the kind of women that Sam had surrounded himself around for years. He wasn't trying to settle down. He didn't want a wife, or a kid, or a house in the suburbs. He wanted a quick roll in the hay with a woman that knew to keep her mouth shut, enjoy the ride, and get the hell out the next morning without giving him any problems. That was all Mercedes was supposed to be. After their first meeting he knew that there was an attraction between them and he knew that she felt it too. He was well aware of the fact that she didn't like him all that much but it was fine because he didn't like her too much either. He didn't expect them to be friends so the liking part wasn't necessary. He just needed her spread eagle on the first available flat surface he could find, screaming his name.

When he first hired her he was sure that he would have her before the first week was up but he was dead wrong. The attraction was still there but also there was an icy wall that Mercedes apparently put up every time she stepped foot into the office. He wished he could say she was bitchy, or rude, or chilly because at least she would have been interesting, but instead what he got was Stepford Mercedes. She was polite and achingly, cavity-inducing sweet. In other words, faker than a two dollar bill. He had tried his hardest and been his meanest and most hateful self to illicit some type of reaction from her but all he got was polite, sweet Stepford Mercedes. It was driving him fucking crazy! Here he was twisting himself in knots on the inside while she looked right through him anytime their eyes met. It was fucking unacceptable and he wasn't having it any longer. He wanted to confront her but he didn't know how to go about it without looking like a psycho and getting slapped with a lawsuit in the process. He would need time to think of a plan but unfortunately it wouldn't be today. His old college buddy, Matt, was coming into town for only a few days and he wanted to catch up. He decided that taking the day off would not only give him a chance to spend time with Matt, but hopefully being away from the office and away from her would clear his mind a little bit.

If Emma had still been around this would have been the time he would have called her into the office to let her know to clear his schedule but the office was No Man's Land for Mercedes as far as he was concerned. His office was too small and too confined for the two of them to be in it alone together. Plus, he had already had multiple fantasies starring Mercedes and various pieces of his office furniture. He had imagined her bent over his desk, pressed up against his window, laid out on his couch...

Sam groaned loudly as felt his pants suddenly get tighter. He didn't have time for this shit! He started thinking about dead kittens, old women's dentures, babies, and finally Will's bad afro to get his little problem to go away. Once he was somewhat comfortable again he reached over to press the intercom to let Mercedes know his plans today when he happened to glance down and see a sticky note. It said: MEETING WITH SUGGS'S HOME DELIVERY SERVICE FRIDAY MORNING!

"SHIT!"

Sam had completely forgotten to make arrangements for tomorrows' meeting for a new ad campaign for the home delivery service. Sam glared angrily at the door, it was all her fault. He never forgot anything until she came along. If she wasn't busy occupying so much of his mind he would remember simple things like looking down on his desk every now and again so he could see a fucking sticky note that had been stuck there for days! Sam knew it was unreasonable to be mad at Mercedes for something that she had no control over but he was past the point of caring. If he could just fuck her and get it over with then she would be out of his mind just like all of the rest of them. The more Sam thought of his misfortune the madder he got, and the madder he got the less reasonable he became. He needed to yell and he knew exactly who he needed to yell at.

"MERCEDES GET IN HERE NOW!"

Sam got up out of his chair and walked around to the front of his desk. He knew it was a low move to stand over Mercedes while she sat down but he needed to wrest back some of the control that she had unknowingly taken from him. It was all a game to Sam and she was his pawn, it was about time he started remembering that. He was pulled out of his little asshole pep talk by three soft taps on his door.

"May I come in?"

Sam ignored the way his gut clenched when he heard her voice.

"Yes."

Sam had a harsh speech all prepared for Mercedes but words failed him as he lost all grip on the English language. What in the fuck was she wearing? Where the fuck was she going? And WHO in the fuck had seen her like this? Gone was Grandma's old pantsuit and in its place was some sex kitten/librarian hybrid that became the default outfit that Mercedes would wear in all of his upcoming fantasies.

Sam had a shitload of things he wanted to say to her but all he could manage to get out was, "Um...Miss Jones...what...why...wh-"

Sam felt like an imbecile but the words literally would not form. She looked amazing. She looked like a goddess. She looked like she wanted to be fucked every single day of the week and twice on Sunday. He was more than happy to oblige her but the neurons in his brain seemed to be fried and nothing was clicking the way he should. In that moment Sam realized that his quest to gain the upper hand over Mercedes just died a painful and fiery death. She won. Even without knowing the game, even without knowing what was to be lost or gained, she won. All it took was a tight white shirt, a leather skirt, and a hint of a bra and Sam was ready to fall to his knees and offer her everything he owned in exchange for just a taste. What the hell had happened to him? What kind of witchcraft did this woman possess to make him straight up lose his shit over her? He had encountered many women who could do the seduction thing in their sleep and he hadn't felt a thing but when Mercedes simply walked into a room he felt...he wasn't sure what he felt but it was new and different and he didn't like it.

Sam snapped back to attention when he heard her ask if he needed some water. He didn't but anything that got her out of his direct field of vision would be greatly appreciated at that point. He tried his best to keep his eyes forward but like a magnet they were drawn to Mercedes. He watched as she bent over and grabbed a cup and filled it water. The whole task took all of five seconds but it seemed as if time slowed down just so that Mercedes could put on a private show for him. The leather skirt that she had on should've have been illegal because it could be dangerous for someone's health, namely Sam's. He didn't think he had breathed since she walked in the room and he was starting to get light headed.

Just when he thought he was seriously going to pass out he was jolted right back to life by the zing he felt when Mercedes handed him the cup and their fingers brushed. What the hell was that? None of this was making sense to Sam and it was severely pissing him off. He heard Mercedes gasp softly and pull away and when did water sloshed on his hand. She quickly stammered out an apology. Normally, the idea of having her so frazzled would make Sam feel smug but since he was in the same boat it just made him even more pissed off instead. He snapped at her that it was just water and felt instantly bad but instead of apologizing he just changed the subject and asked if she were ready to get their little meeting over with.

After Mercedes got herself settled Sam quickly barked the instructions out to her. He needed her out of his office and he needed her out now. If he thought the way she looked was driving him crazy it had nothing on the way she smelled. He didn't quite know what her fragrance was but he wanted to make it his life's mission to find out. Whatever it was it was distinctly her and he knew it was a smell he would never forget. The second Sam started thinking about the way Mercedes smelled he knew he was in trouble. He listened to her repeat back what he said verbatim but he couldn't even allow himself to be impressed by her note-taking skills because all he could think about was how he needed her to get out his office NOW before he did something he would regret.

When she looked up at him imploringly and asked her if that was all he gave her a vague answer. She took that as a yes and stood to leave, when she did Sam got another look at her outfit and he saw red.

"Don't wear that outfit here again."

The words were out before he could stop them, but he didn't regret saying what he said. He actually thought he was doing her a favor because if she wore that outfit again or anything like it he wasn't going to be held responsible for what he did.

Sam watched as Mercedes whirled around and demanded to know what was wrong with what she had on. Sam bit back his initial response of, "Nothing, although it would look better on my floor." And instead said,

"Can you even breathe in that outfit?"

All though it was an asshole thing to say it was still a genuine concern. There is no possible way that anything could hug someone's body the way that skirt hugged Mercedes' and not be uncomfortable as hell.

"I can breathe just fine, thank you very much!"

Sam didn't believe a word she said but if she wanted to play it that way, then fine they would play.

"Whatever, I explicitly told you to dress professionally and you did the exact opposite!"

"Well, you know what Mr. Evans if it bothers you so damn much you can just fire me."

Sam quickly sucked in a breath. She did it again, without even trying or without even knowing the stakes she turned the tables on him. As crazy as she might make him he wasn't going to let her go. Not only was she an excellent employee but there was something between them that he needed in his life. She drove him batshit crazy, and he knew keeping her around guaranteed even more cold showers but in comparison to the void that he felt whenever he thought of not having her around it was no contest. She wasn't going anywhere but he didn't want to let her know that outright.

"Don't tempt me, Miss Jones."

Sam heard Mercedes scoff lightly at his empty threat and he watched her turn to walk away from him, before he could stop himself he grabbed her arm. He knew that he had no right to be touching her but once he had her arm in his grip he couldn't seem to let go. He felt Mercedes watching him so he met her eyes and instantly wished he hadn't. They were too close and he couldn't think and when he couldn't think he made bad choices. Kissing her would be a bad choice. Peeling that ridiculously tight skirt down her body would be a bad choice. Laying her down on his desk would be a bad choice. Fucking her senseless until she was out of his system would be a really bad choice. Sam knew he was dead wrong and even though he could literally name all of the company policies he was about to break he still couldn't stop himself from leaning into Mercedes. He was so close he could practically taste her. Her full, plump lips where right there and he knew that God himself couldn't tear him away in that moment.

On the other hand, Mrs. Halbright from the first floor could.

"Mr. Evans? A Mr. Matt Rutherford is on his way up to see you?

Sam felt as if he had been dashed with cold water. He jerked back from Mercedes so fast that he saw her stumble back a few feet. As soon as he saw that she wasn't going to fall he turned his back to her and grabbed his desk. He couldn't look at her anymore, what in the hell was she doing to him?

Before he could delve too deeply into all the fucked up reasons why Mercedes now owned him he heard someone knocking at the door. Even though he knew it was Matt and more importantly it was a reprieve from Mercedes he didn't make a move to open the door. Whatever weird, super-charged sexual tension the two of them had between them was like a soap bubble at the moment. The smallest thing could pop it and Sam wanted to experience it for just a second longer. Unfortunately for him, his college buddy had different plans.

"Hey Sam, are you in there? It's me, Matt. Uh...the receptionist downstairs said that your assistant would let me in your office but I don't see Emma anywhere around."

The mention of Emma's name seemed to spark something in Mercedes and she came out of whatever trance she was in and rushed to open the door. Sam turned his head just in time to see his best friend trail his eyes up and down Mercedes' impressive form and give a long, slow whistle. Sam had never wanted to inflict bodily harm on another human being more than he wanted to in that moment. His blood pressure began to steadily climb as he watched Mercedes give Matt a flirty smile. Suddenly the two of them had some nauseating banter going on between them that made Sam want to fling himself out the window. Actually, no, it made him want to fling Matt's sorry ass out the window. When Sam heard Matt call Mercedes a revelation the urge to pick up the crystal paperweight that Emma had gotten him for Christmas and chunk it at Matt's head was overwhelming. What kind of weird twilight zone had he stepped into to? 30 seconds ago he and Mercedes were this close to possibly christening every flat surface in his office and now she was flirting with his best friend and acting like he didn't exist. Who did she think she was? If anybody was going to be ignoring someone it was going to be him.

As Sam stood by his desk and sulked he began to pay more attention to the conversation in front of him and he realized it was headed in a dangerous direction. It took years for Matt and Emma to get to the point where they used each other's first names and it was mostly because their interactions were always brief and only centered around work topics. The fact that 15 seconds into meeting her Matt wanted Mercedes to call him by his first name let Sam know that Matt had absolutely no intention of keeping things professional with Mercedes. When Matt told her to stop calling him Mr. Rutherford because his name was Matt, Sam knew he had to interject.

"She'll call you Mr. Rutherford."

Sam immediately cursed himself as soon as the words left his mouth because they came out a lot harsher than he wanted them to. He knew that Mercedes might not think much of it but he knew that Matt would be instantly suspicious of his motives. His assumption was proven correct when he looked at Matt and saw him raise his eyebrows at him knowingly. To further add to the reasons why he deserved to be tossed out the window Matt turned back to Mercedes and insisted that she call him Matt because Emma always did. Sam almost blurted out that Matt was full of bullshit but he refrained when Matt gave him a challenging look. He knew anything he said to Mercedes right now in front of Matt would be used against him and thrown back in his face later so he kept silent.

After Mercedes agreed to call him Matt she excused herself to go back to her desk. Sam gave a sigh of relief that quickly became a strangled gargle in his throat when he saw that Matt refused to move and Mercedes was forced to squeeze by him to get out of the door. Sam didn't miss the lustful look that Matt gave her as she brushed her body against his and he sure as hell didn't miss the sweet smile she shot to him in return.

Why didn't she ever smile at him like that?

Why did he care?

Why was his chest hurting all of a sudden?

Sam rubbed the sudden ache in his chest as he wondered briefly if he was having a heart attack from all the stress. He didn't even bother looking up when Matt closed the door and they were left alone in the room.

"So, have you fucked her yet?"

Sam's head shot up as he looked at Matt incredulously.

"What? Of course I haven't slept with her!"

Sam didn't mention that it wasn't from a lack of wanting to, but he didn't feel that was any of Matt's business.

"Baby girl has ass for days! I can't believe you haven't tapped that yet."

"She's my assistant and she's a damn good one, I don't want to lose her over some dumb shit."

"Okay, I can respect that. So...do you know if she's single or does she got a man? She must have somebody, right? I just can't see a woman that looks like that not belonging to someone."

She's mine...Sam pushed away that unwanted thought and instead focused on how he was going to deter Matt.

"Um, I think she may have someone. She talks to some guy named Kurt a lot."

Sam was well aware that Kurt was gay otherwise he would have been on his shit list right above Matt a long time ago because Mercedes did spend an enormous amount of time talking to him.

"Oh well...it was too good to be true I guess. So, where are we headed to for lunch?"

Satisfied that he wasn't going to have to kill his friend any longer Sam perked up and told Matt all about the new sushi restaurant that had opened up down the street that he had been dying to try. As they walked out the office Sam had every intention of making their way to the elevators quickly so that they would have little to no interaction with Mercedes at all. It seemed like an easy enough thing to do until he heard,

"Hey, Mercedes we're headed out to lunch, would you like to come?"

What in the actual fuck? Sam stopped in his tracks and turned to stare in disbelief at Matt. He guessed that fucker was going to have to go out the window after all.

"No, she can't come."

Once again Sam cringed inwardly at how gruff his voice sounded. He had to be setting all types of alarms off in Matt's head by now. If he got even the slightest hint that Sam was interested in Mercedes he would be all over her like white on rice. Matt and Sam had been in competition for women since college and Sam usually won so whenever Matt got the chance to beat him he went all in. Sam knew he should tread very lightly around Matt but it was damn near impossible when he was practically forcing himself on Mercedes.

"Uh, man it's not a big deal, besides she has to eat sometime, right."

Sam gritted his teeth in an effort to stop from lashing out at Matt and blowing his cover. That clever jackass had just painted him into a corner. He could either let Mercedes come and deal with Matt flirting with her for an hour or he could be an asshole and tell her she wasn't allowed to join them, either way he loses. As far as Sam was concerned he'd rather continue to be an asshole in Mercedes eyes than watch her get sucked into Matt's web.

"She can eat whenever she wants, just not with us."

Sam tried to ignore the flicker of hurt he saw cross Mercedes eyes. He hated Matt in that moment for putting him in that position but it had to be done. Now, he and Matt could enjoy a quick lunch, Matt could handle whatever business he had to get done and then he could take his ass back home. No harm, no foul. If Mercedes knew the kind of guy she was dealing with she would thank him profusely for helping her out. Satisfied that he had dodged a bullet Sam started to turn back towards the elevators when he heard something that made his blood run cold.

"Well, I hate that you won't be joining us today but how about I take you out to lunch tomorrow instead? Just you and me?

Game. Set. Match.

That motherfucker knew. He knew and now the competition was on for real.

Sam turned to look at Mercedes and he became enraged at the thought of her going out on a date with Matt. Just the thought of her spending time with him in a date setting, of her being with Matt in a way that had never been with Sam made his blood boil. Didn't she feel it? How could she go off and be with another man when they had this thing between them? Concentrating on anything other than her was damn near impossible so he couldn't date someone else if he wanted to. How could she? Was he wrong about all of this? Did he make it all up in his head? Is he really so fucked up that he created some phantom connection with his assistant?

Sam silently pleaded for Mercedes to say no. To give him some sort of a sign that what he was feeling wasn't imaginary. Her brown eyes met his green ones briefly and he tried to convey his silent plea.

It went unheard.

"I would love to."

Sam closed his eyes a searing pain blazed through his chest. When he opened them he had the misfortune of seeing Matt and Mercedes smiling sweetly at each other. He couldn't take it any longer, he had to get out of that cramped office. He had to get away from them with their sweet glances and flirty smiles. He had to get away from her before he screamed at her for not returning his feelings. He began to rapidly punch the down buttons until he heard Matt laughing behind him. After getting reminded about the key card that he apparently forgotten in his fit of rage, Sam shoved it in the key slot and finally got the results he was looking for. As they got in the elevator Sam shot Mercedes a death glare as he watched her timidly wave a Matt. She never waved at him. In the two weeks since she worked here she had never given him more than just a cursory nod when he left the office for the day.

As the doors slid closed Sam watched her until all he could see was his reflection staring back at him.

"Stay the fuck away from her."

Matt gave a slight smirk and turned and faced Sam.

"Well, it's about damn time. I was sure you were going to cave back in the office."

"This isn't a fucking game, Matt."

"Isn't it? She's just another notch on your belt, you know it and I know it. You only want her so bad because she hasn't given any up yet. The second you get some you are going to discard her like you do all the rest."

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

"Oh no? Then what's so special about this one, huh? I'll admit she's got a little bit more junk in the trunk than you're used to but other than that, what is it?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you Matt. Just stay the fuck away from her. You're nothing but trouble when it comes to women and I don't want you messing with her head."

Matt began to laugh loudly.

"I'm trouble when it comes to women? Who did you think I learned it from? Every single dirty trick I know I learned from you. Maybe I should be protecting Mercedes from you."

At the idea of Mercedes being kept away from him Sam snapped. He grabbed Matt by his jacket lapels and slammed him against the wall.

"I'm only going to tell you this once more, stay away from Mercedes. It's not a request."

"Don't get me confused with one of your employees Sam, you can't tell me what the fuck to do. If I want to fuck your secretary...guess what I'm going to do?"

"Stay away from her. You can have anybody you want, just not her."

"Yeah, we'll see about that."

Sam loosened his grip on Matt's jacket just at ding was heard overhead and the elevator doors slid open. Both men regarded each other coolly before exiting the elevator into the parking garage.

"You know on second thought I'm not in the mood for sushi."

Sam stalked towards his black Range Rover without a backwards glance at Matt. That fucker could eat at McDonald's for all he cared.

Later on Sam would come to regret not looking back once more. Maybe if he had he would have seen Matt sneaking back onto the elevator that was headed straight for the 110th floor.