15 So unlucky

Avery's nose picked up a familiar scent, and she could hear a subtle and steady rhythm of something beating, and then together with the voice she had just heard. It immediately dawned on her that she had bumped into someone, and that someone was non other than Ethan.

What made it more embarrassing was that the supposed round, and firm thing she had grabbed was actually… Ethan's butt.

Avery flinched backwards immediately, putting a little distance between she and Ethan, as she looked at him in a frenzy.

"It was the ottoman's fault." Avery spluttered as she pointed an accusing finger at the ottoman that had caused her to trip. "I didn't mean to…" Avery's words were thrown out the window as her eyes took in the sight that was before her.

Ethan was wearing a white tank top, and athletic shorts. He was all sweaty, so the tank top was hugging his body, showing her an outline of what was beneath the tank top. She could see an outline of his ripped chest, and chiseled abs.

Avery's eyes couldn't help but roam his body, absorbing every detail. His arm muscles weren't all that bulky, and was on the moderate side, but it was still alluring — at least that was what Avery thought. His athletic shorts too didn't escape her eyes. Going by it's name, his shorts were indeed very short, exposing the smooth and white skin of his lap.

Avery wasn't the type to exercise, or visit the gym but she could tell that he definitely worked on his legs, because his leg muscles were prominent, and tantalizingly appealing to the eye.

"Mr. Campbell?" Ethan called out in a clipped tone, snapping Avery out of her trance.

She looked up at him and saw that he was looking at her intently with a serious expression on his face. The muscles of his jaw even moved slightly as if he was struggling to stay calm.

Avery swallowed and shifted her gaze away from him, but then her eyes landed on the butler who was standing at the side, and he was looking at her in the same way Christian had looked at her the previous day — a look filled with judgement.

The look on the butler's face made Avery realized that she had slipped up.

Firstly she had not been looking at where she was going and had tripped on an ottoman, causing her to bump into Ethan, mistakenly grabbing his butt in the process, and now she was ogling at him like he was some delicious piece of candy. Of course anyone would be suspicious, especially when they thought she was a man.

'Why am I so unlucky? It's not fair that he is so insanely hot. At this point I might just get fired before I even get my first paycheck. Pull your act together!' Avery scolded herself internally.

Snapping herself out totally, she then began to wrack her brain for an excuse, anything at all that could take away any doubt Ethan might have started to have about her, and would at the same time not make her seem weird. No one wants a weird man as a personal assistant.

But before she could open her mouth, her phone suddenly rang in her pocket.

'Great timing.' Avery sighed in relief as this could give her more time to think of something.

She quickly brought out the phone, and said, "Please excuse me while I take this call." Then without his permission, she turned around and distanced herself enough for her to have a private phone conversation.

When she looked at the phone in her hand, she realized it was Owen's, and the caller was unknown. She still answered it. "Hello?" She said.

"Good morning Mr. Campbell. Are you with the boss right now?" A manly voice from the phone said.

With her eyebrow's raised, Avery asked, "Who is asking?"

"This is Christian!" The voice sounded a bit harsh this time around.

"Oh…" Avery said, suddenly feeling embarrassed as she remembered the events of the previous day, "yes, I'm at his house."

"Of course you are." Christian said, an obvious underlying current present in the tone of his voice, as if hinting at something. "Well, just tell him a call came in from vanguard studios. They would like to meet with him to finalize the contract signing for the collaborative work over the soon to be launched game."

"Oh, okay. Time, and venue?"

"I don't know. You are the personal assistant. Figure it out." He said, and hung up.

"Wait…" Avery said, but he had already hung up, causing her to let out let out an exasperated sigh. She suddenly felt too tired to even get mad.

She then slowly turned around, praying and hoping in her mind that Ethan wasn't still standing there, waiting for her, and she turned out to be lucky this time around.

Ethan was no longer there, but the butler still was. She walked up to him, and saw that he was holding a serving tray, which had a cup of hot coffee on it.

"Young master has gone up to his room. Could you be kind enough to please give this to him?" He still had that signature butler smile on his face, but Avery could still tell that he felt wary towards her.

She felt a bit uncomfortable about that, so she decided to indirectly address the issue, so as to stop any misunderstanding or assumptions he must have had about her.

She chuckled and said, "I was really scared earlier that I might have angered Mr Smith by bumping into him, and grabbing his –cough– by accident. I had already decided in my mind that if I got fired because of that, then I wouldn't leave until I smashed that ottoman, because 'it was all it's fault'."

She paused to gauge his facial expression, but damn, the butler was hard to read. "And Mr. Smith must be so consistent with his workouts. The suits he was wearing the few times I've seen him, didn't do his body any justice. So I was surprised to see that he had all those muscles hidden beneath his clothes. I should really start working out too, am I right?" She laughed when she was done taking, hoping he'd laugh too.

But he just kept smiling, and simply said, "You should really get going now. He doesn't like his coffee cold. You would easily find his room, it's on the first floor."

Avery sighed, seeing that the man wasn't moved by her rattling. 'But at least he is still being polite' Avery thought before smiling back at him, and headed up the grand staircase.

Just like the butler had said, it was pretty easy to find Ethan's room. There was a notice on the door of one of the rooms and it said, 'Master bedroom; DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PERMISSION' Avery rolled her eyes at the absurdity of it as she moved closer to the door.

Holding the serving tray firmly in one hand, she proceeded to knock on the door. First try, second try, no response. She tried the third time, but still no response. Starting to feel frustrated, she decided to try opening it, and it wasn't locked the whole time, but she still stood outside, feeling reluctant to go in because of the warning on the door.

"I'm his personal assistant after all." Avery muttered to herself, and entered inside, shutting the door close behind her.

However, as she stepped her foot into the room, she immediately regretted her decision. No, she didn't see anything scary or weird, but she did hear something.

The sound of water droppings coming from the bathroom could be heard loud and clear in the room which meant Ethan was in the shower. The problem wasn't the sound of the shower, instead it was the thought that suddenly crossed Avery's mind.

'What if he comes out all naked thinking he is the only one in the room?' Heat rose to Avery's cheeks as she shook her head to stop herself from imagining anything scandalous.

She quickly dropped the tray on the side table of the bed, and began to leave, but it seemed she had run out of luck.

She heard the sound of the bathroom door being opened, followed by the sound of Ethan's footsteps. "Where are you sneaking off to?" She heard him ask, causing her hand to pause just as it was about to touch the door knob.