Empire // h.s. au

Changing Overnight

Harry Styles

It was difficult to attend work on Monday for two reasons. The first, was because Alexandria was wearing the lowest cut top I have ever seen. And the second, was because I had the prospect of seeing Samantha and I had no clue how to feel about it.

I shouldn't feel uncomfortable like we'd hooked up, but I felt like this weekend had changed the once professional and slightly teasing relationship we had. Now, it seemed that things were different. Scarily different. Things had legitimately changed overnight.

And I did not like it at all.

"Mr. Styles," Alexandria walked into the room, her eyes covered in chic glasses and her hair done up in a nice bun.

"Hello Ms. Turner," I muttered, clearing my throat. She knew she made me incredibly uncomfortable. And she thoroughly enjoyed it.

"You have a call," she said, she then dropped her voice and finished the sentence. "on line one."

Words that were so incredibly unsexy, were just turned into the purrs of a girl just asking for sex from me.

"Thank you," I said, refusing to meet her eyes. She was trying to trap me into a situation that would ultimately result in both of us hot and sweaty. Sure, it sounded nice, but I couldn't do that with an employee. Not now at least.

"Mr. Styles," she spoke up before leaving the room. "I'll be in my office if you need anything. Really, anything."

With that, she stepped out of the room. All that was left was the soft scent of her perfume and the faint clack of her heels.

I took a deep breath before attending to the call that was on line one.

"Styles," I barked, knowing it had to be one of my awful employees or one of the companies I was invested in.

"Damn mate, someone's got a stick up 'er ass," the booming and British voice of Louis Tomlinson spoke, his laughter evident.

"Shut up, Lou, what could you possibly want? We're going to dinner tonight, tell me then," I said, pulling up my emails and absentmindedly going through them.

Dave Miller: Mr. Styles, I had a question about...

Delete.

Webster - Grill and Bar: We'd like to invite you, Mr. Harry Styles, to dinner...

Delete.

"I just wanted to let you know that Samantha will be joining us, along with her boyfriend. She wants to introduce him to me and I thought tonight would be a great opportunity," Louis chuckled. I heard someone say something and then a rustle and then Louis returned to the phone. "Hope that's okay."

"Oh, no problem, it's not like I'm one of the busiest people in Manhattan. I mean, obviously my life revolves around a 22 year old intern and her God damn boyfriend," I rolled my eyes, probably over reacting. But Samantha seemed to be the center of everybody's life lately.

Including mine.

And, personally, I liked being the center of my own life.

"Ah shut up Harry, she's a cool girl and I'm sure her boyfriend is a mate, I mean he can't be that bad. Besides, I feel as if you've taken a liking to Samantha," Louis said, the chuckle evident in his voice.

"Go to hell, Lou," I snapped, frustrated with him. He was always twisting my reactions into something deeper. Louis was a massive over-thinker which was 100% of the time annoying.

"It's always so pleasant speaking to you," he laughed. I couldn't help but join in on that one, as he was completely right. "I'll see you later, lad."

With that, I heard the final click and I let out a sigh of confusion and annoyance. Why couldn't people just understand I simply did not like Samantha? Sure, this weekend had changed some things, but it didn't change the fact that she annoyed the living shit out of me.

~

"Ms. Turner, you made reservations at my favorite sushi place, correct?" I practically yelled through the speaker phone.

Her sultry voice responded, "Of course, Mr. Styles."

"Okay," I muttered before hanging up and returning to my work. I had a tough investment at the moment. They had turned down my original offer for an investment claiming it was "too low." When, in reality, there was no way they'd get anymore than that. The business was just starting up and it seemed promising, but that didn't mean it deserved anymore than I was offering.

Luckily, I, along with the board at my work, had come up with a great solution. Currently, I was just signing some last papers that would soon be sent out to the owner for him to agree.

Once again, Samantha popped into my mind. Why would she want her boss to meet her boyfriend? It just didn't make sense. Louis normally wouldn't even care enough to know his employee had a boyfriend, let alone invite him to dinner. Something strange was going on and it was frustrating.

Clearly, Samantha had a reason for bringing him to dinner with Louis and I. And clearly Louis had a reason for allowing it to happen. Here I was, just stuck going along with what they wanted. I hated not being in control.

Why had I let Samantha over this past weekend? It seemed at the time like a good idea, but now I regret it immensely. By doing that, I opened up my personal life to her, which swayed our professional relationship into something I didn't intend to ever have with her: a personal relationship.

Samantha was nothing more than an employee.

Right?

Samantha Anderson

Bringing Luke with me to a dinner with my boss and Harry Styles wasn't exactly my best idea. But, I seem to be making a lot of dumb decisions lately.

Currently, Louis and Luke were attempting to make small talk with Harry and I. But Harry was sitting there scowling in my direction with his arms crossed. I was glaring right back, frustrated by his idiocy.

Harry was being immature and rude to Luke, which he had no reason to. Luke was being completely polite and courteous. And, as usual, Harry was being a downright dick. It's like he never learned how to have a polite conversation with someone.

"So, you're an investor?" Luke asked, his voice confident and comfortable. He wasn't phased by Harry like I was, he kept his cool.

"Yes," Harry answered, not looking to make conversation. No matter how much he pissed me off, I had to admit he looked really good tonight. His curls were pushed back, but not in an obnoxious way. His body was accented in a black, sheer button down, a black blazer, and black pants. He pulled off the all-black ensemble far too well.

And his toned chest showing was definitely a huge participant in this. The best part, though, was the large tattoos that were showing on his chest. For some reason, it was insanely attractive that this professional man was covered in tattoos.

The only issue, though, was how under dressed I felt because of it. I was in a simple black dress with a slight pattern at the hem. Other than that, I had on black heels and my favorite clutch. My hair was pulled down and curly, but other than that, I was a plain Jane.

Suddenly, I was reminded that I did in fact have a boyfriend, because Luke's hand trailed up my thigh, landing on it and slightly gripping it.

I reached for his hand and laced it with my own.

"How's the Payne investment going?" I asked Harry, risking the conversation. If I didn't get him talking, this night was not going to be the least bit fun.

"Um, very well actually," Harry said, taken aback that I actually knew about the investment. I wasn't just a dumb blonde.

"Good, that would be a good investment to have. Once the stocks come out, they are going to completely skyrocket, people are going to be betting a lot of money on the company," I said, nodding my head and smiling.

Harry slightly smirked, "Let's hope so."