by J. S. Cooper
"Okay," Finn nodded. "You're on."
"But...”
"Oh, boy. What is it?"
"The lady got to come with us too."
"Who, me?" I said, looking at him in surprise.
"Yeah. Will you come too please, Miss Marcia? I think it'll be fun."
"I mean, if you really want me to," I said softly.
"I do."
I looked at Finn to make sure that it would be okay. "What do you think?"
"I think it sounds like a really great idea," he said. "A really, really great idea."
Twenty-Three
Finn and I stood outside the school gates and I wondered what he was thinking. This was a side of him that I’d never even considered. The soft sweet side. The caring side. Though, it wasn’t like I knew him well enough to be surprised. Maybe his entire being was one of light and compassion. Maybe he went around the city taking care of old women, stray dogs, and little kids that needed father figures.
“You can stop looking at me like that.” He stared at me and smiled.
“Like what?” I blinked at him, confused.
“Like I’m Superman. I’m not Superman or Batman or any sort of savior or superhero.”
“I never said you were.”
“Your lips didn’t, but your face did.”
“I just think that it’s really cool that you’re a big brother to Justin and that you’re obviously quite involved in his life.”
“How do you know that?”
“The headmistress knew you by name.” I grinned. “And so did Justin’s classmates.”
“He’s a good kid.” He shrugged. “I’m trying to make a difference...” He paused. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a soft touch...but Justin is special.”
“You met him through the program?”
“No actually.” He shook his head and I waited for him to finish.
“Are you going to tell me or what?”
“His mom worked for me.” He stared at me for a few seconds. “She was in the accounting department.”
“Oh wow. And she doesn’t work there anymore?”
“No.” He shook his head, but didn’t elaborate. “I hang out with Justin once or twice a week. He’s a little genius. And he knows he can call on me whenever he wants, for anything he wants.”
“That’s awesome.” I tapped my fingers against my leg. “You’re a good guy.”
“I like to think so.” He grinned. “So I was thinking you could have the rest of the day off.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because you’ve been really helpful and I know that this isn’t in your job description.”
“Many things aren’t in my job description.” I stared at him and then looked at the cars driving by in the street. I felt like I was having my New York moment. I was standing in a cute dress on a street corner with a handsome man and yellow New York cabs were driving by and beeping. “Are you going to play hooky as well?” I tilted my head to the side and studied his face. A lazy smile crossed his face as he stared down at me.
“Got a better plan for me than work?”
“Maybe.” I wasn’t sure what plan, but I would come up with one if he wanted me to.
“I canceled my plans for the morning and I really should work this afternoon, but if you want to make it worth my while?”
“I don’t know if I can do that...” I shrugged lazily. “You should go back to work. I think I’m going to go and get myself a cupcake and—.”
“So you don’t want me to come?” He looked so disappointed that I laughed.
“I don’t know. It seems like you didn’t want to come. I don’t want to stop you from making your billions.”
“Maybe I want you to.”
“So then show me New York...” I bat my eyelashes at him. I was officially flirting with Finn Winchester, billionaire, handsome scoundrel, and most importantly my boss. I wasn’t sure what I was doing. Maybe I was out of my mind. Maybe I was finally stepping out of my comfort zone and not letting past hurts stop me.
“So this is turning from you showing me a good time to me showing you a good one?”
“Unless you don’t want to.”
“I’ve wanted to since the first time I saw you, Marcia Lucas.” His voice was gruff and his eyes were penetrating as we stood there. “I just want to make sure that you really want to or if you’re going to bite my head off.”
“I’m not going to bite your head off.”
“Even if I become the most ridiculously handsome man you’ve ever seen in your life?” He chuckled and I laughed harder than I had in a long time.
“You’re so full of yourself, Finn Winchester.”
“Perhaps, but I just want you to give me a chance for me. Don’t judge me based on those other bastards.”
“I won’t, but...”
“But what?”
“The contract I signed? I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“We’ll worry about that when we get to the point where you want to seduce me.”
“Maybe I want to seduce you right now.”
“Do you?” He grabbed my hand and ran his finger across my palm. “Do you really want to seduce me or are you saying that because that’s what you think I want to hear? Because while I would love for you to seduce me. This is not about that. This is about me getting to know you and you getting to know me. This is about us making magic.”
“Why do you want to make magic with me?”
“Because one night, I saw this beautiful woman walking into a bar with a friend and I was lucky enough that she stopped next to me. And all I wanted to do was make her laugh and smile. But when I spoke to her, she didn’t have the time of day for me.” He grinned. “In fact, I annoyed her.”
“Well, just a little bit.” I grinned.
“Well, I haven’t forgotten that moment.” His finger ran up to my wrist and he pressed his thumb against my vein. “I want you to experience the magic of a moment with me, just like I experienced with you.”
“This could be my first magic New York moment.”
“I’d love to be your first.”
“I don’t know what to think when I’m with you, Finn. I don’t know if you’re just telling me what you think I want to hear to get into my pants or if you’re the sort of man that exists in movies.”
“I guess you’ll just have to see.” He stepped in closer to me. “But we only have one life and sometimes we have to live each day as if it were our last.”
“Is that your mountain man philosophy?”
“Don’t underestimate mountain men. When we go to San Francisco next week, will you go camping in the mountains with me?”
“I don’t know.” I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not a nature girl.”
“What if today, we do what you want and next week, we do what I want.”
“Uhm, I guess, but aren’t we going for work?”
“We can spend the weekend in the mountains before we have to go back to the city and sit in stuffy offices.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll give you a chance, Finn Winchester.”
“That’s all I can ask for.” He laughed then and I narrowed my eyes.
“What’s so funny?”
“You said never in a million years, but I have a feeling it will be a lot shorter than that.”
“We’ll see.” I shook my head and laughed. Though he was right. I hadn’t felt so alive and happy in my life. There were a lot of things I was unsure of, but I was pretty confident that I’d be getting to know my new boss more intimately very soon.
Twenty-Four
“What are you doing home already?” Susie looked up at me in surprise as I burst into the apartment.
“Finn sent me home to change.” I was breathless as I started pulling my clothes off.
“You’re calling him Finn?” She raised an eyebrow and put the iPad down on the couch. “Isn’t Finn your boss and the CEO?”
“Yes, yes, he is.” I nodded as I ran my fingers through m
y hair. “And he’s taking me on a scavenger hunt.”
“What?” Susie looked confused. “You and all the other new hires or just you?”
“Just me.” I said as I looked in my closet for my favorite jeans.
“Hold up a second, Marcia.” Susie headed over to me. “What am I missing here?”
“Oh.” I bit down on my lower lip and turned around to look at her. “I forgot you didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“Ugh, hold on, let me get my phone.”
“For what?”
“You’ll see.” I called Lilian and Shantal and then pressed speaker. “Hey guys, you there?”
“Yes.” Lilian responded. “What’s going on?”
“I hope you are all sitting down and paying attention.”
“You’re scaring me.” Shantal said. “What happened?”
“So there’s something I need to tell you all.” I took a deep breath. “I found out Green Eyes real name.”
“Oh my gosh, don’t tell me that he’s Jason Momoa.” Shantal screeched. “I will literally scream.”
“He’s not Aquaman.” Susie laughed. “You forgot I was there when she first met him.”
“Oh yeah.” Shantal sounded disappointed.
“Green Eyes is Finn.”
“Finn who?” Lilian said, confused.
“Finn Finn.” I said grinning at a shocked Susie.
“Finn fucking CEO Winchester?” Shantal gasped. “Oh Lord, I think I’m having a heart attack. Your asshole from the bar is our boss?”
“Yes.” I laughed. “And he’s not as bad as I thought.”
“Oh Lord no, don’t do it, don’t do it.” Shantal cried into the phone. “That man is a heartbreaker.”
“And a dream maker.” Lilian giggled. “He is a hottie.”
“Marcia, this is not a good idea.” Susie looked at me nervously. “You can’t be playing around with your boss. It’s not going to end well.”
“It’ll be fine.” I cleared my throat. “In fact, we’re going to explore the city together.”
“Explore what city?” Shantal asked. “Not New York? Girl, aren’t you meant to be at work?”
“He gave me the rest of the day off.”
“Wow, must be nice.” Lilian sounded jealous and I wondered if I’d made a mistake by letting them all know. Maybe I should have kept it to myself for a little while. It wasn’t like Finn and I had anything going yet. Though he had kissed me. And he’d said he wanted me to feel magic; though I wasn’t really sure what that meant.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I said, feeling a little bit off. I'd been so happy when I'd come into the house to change, but now that I told my friends that Finn was green eyes, I didn't feel like I had their support.
"I'm just joking, girl," Lilian started laughing. "You know how I feel about Finn Winchester. He's absolutely gorgeous. And if I were you, I'd be banging him all day and all night long."
"Oh my gosh, really, Lilian," I started laughing.
"I agree," Shantal said. "I had a feeling you guys had chemistry."
"What are you talking about?"
"When I saw you two today, I felt like fireworks were going off in the lobby. I wasn't sure if I was going to have to call 911 and send for the fire engine."
"You're so dramatic. That is such a lie."
"No girl, I could see that there was something between you."
I looked at Susie and wondered what she was thinking.
"Well, you know I told you to give the guy a chance, and that was before I knew he was Finn Winchester, soon as he smiled. I mean, I don't necessarily want you to lose your job if this doesn't work out, but I want you to go for it. You deserve a shot at love and you deserve happiness."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said anything about love? We're just going to get some cupcakes and hang out at Central Park."
"Finn Winchester getting cupcakes and hanging out at Central park?" Lilian sounded shocked. "Are you joking? That does not sound like the man I've read about."
"Why? What's the man you've read about sound like?"
"Dude, we've talked about him. He loves mountains and he loves hiking and dune buggies and snowboarding and skiing. Does that sound like the sort of man that likes to go and eat cupcakes?"
"No, I guess not. And actually, he mentioned to me that he'd love to live in the mountains and have a ski cabin, but I absolutely would hate that. I hate snow and I don't know how to ski and I don't know how to snowboard and-"
"Hey, Marcia," Susie cut me off. "Stop talking yourself out of it before it's even happened."
"I'm just saying we don't have anything in common. What's the point?"
"Girl, you're not about to marry the man," Shantal said. "Have some fun. And who knows, maybe if he takes you skiing in the Alps, you just might like it."
"I mean, I wouldn't mind going to the Alps, but only so I could have some Swiss chocolate," I giggled. "But I really need to go. I'm meant to be changing and I told him I would meet him downstairs in 25 minutes. I didn't want to go and hang out with him without telling you guys. It wasn't that I was keeping it a secret, but I was just a little bit overwhelmed and shocked when I found out that the guy I told to kiss my ass was my boss."
"You what?" They all shrieked.
"What? When did you tell him to kiss your ass?" Susie's eyes were wide.
"Guys, I'll tell you later, but let's just say I made a huge fool of myself."
"Um, you're going to have to tell us now," Lilian said. "There's no way I'm going to be able to go back to work and not knowing how you told your boss to kiss your ass."
"Well, first of all, I didn't know I was writing it to him. And second of all, I didn't mean to press send."
"You emailed him," Susie said.
"I tried your trick, Susie, and I don't know what happened. Somehow that email got sent."
"Oh my gosh. What did you say?"
"Let's just say none of it was good, but thankfully Finn and I were able to laugh about it."
"Well, that's a good thing he's a good sport," Lilian said.
"Yeah, I have heard that he's a good everything," Shantal said.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lilian said.
Shantal paused. "I don't know if I should say anything."
"Um, please do."
"So there was this rumor couple of years ago."
"Oh gosh, not another rumor."
"Hey, I'm just saying what I hear. It's up to you if you want to believe it."
"You weren't even working there a couple of years ago," Lilian said.
"How do you know?"
"Let's just say that I started working with this girl called Maria Sanchez and Maria-"
"Really? Lilian said. "Maria Sanchez?"
"Yeah. Why, do you know her?" Shantal said.
"Um, do you know how many Maria Sanchez' there must be in the world? Did you just make that name up?"
"No, I did not make the name up."
"Are you sure?"
"Girl, you want to hear this story or not?"
"Go on," Lilian giggled.
Susie and I just smile at each other. "So anyway, Maria Rosita Sanchez."
"Uh-huh," Lilian said.
"Yeah, well she was good friends with Gloria."
"Oh my gosh. Not Gloria-Gloria," I said.
"Yeah, that Gloria, and Gloria knew all the tea about everything going on because surprise, surprise, she's a gossip."
"That totally doesn't surprise me," I laughed.
"Well, yeah, duh. Anyways, there was this woman that worked for Mr. Winchester. Okay?"
"Okay."
"And she was pregnant."
"Okay."
"And one day."
"Yeah?"
"She snuck her boyfriend into the company and attempted to steal."
"No way. What?"
"Yeah, she attempted to steal five computers, but of course she got caught and Mr. Winchester fired her."
"Okay. And that's bad b
ecause why?"
"No, you haven't heard the worst part yet."
"What's the worst part?" I asked.
"Well, the boyfriend took a knife to Mr. Winchester."
"What?"
"Yep, and Mr. Winchester got the knife-"
"Um, I'm going to stop you right there," Lilian, said.
"What?" Shantal said.
"This is starting to sound like an episode of Castle or Law & Order, okay. Someone had a knife and Mr. Winchester took the knife and there was a bunch of laptops or computers being stolen. Like, what does this have to do with anything?"
"I'm just saying that Mr. Winchester then supposedly slept with the lady and the lady then-"
"Oh my gosh, please don't say the lady then tried to pretend that the baby was Mr. Winchester's?"
"What, she did," Shantal said.
"Shantal, you started off the story saying that the lady was already pregnant. How can a pregnant lady convince her boss who she hadn't slept with yet that he was the father of the baby if she was already pregnant before they slept together?"
Shantal paused. "You know, I never thought of about that."
"Oh my gosh. Really, girl?" Lilian started laughing.
"What?" Shantal said. "I guess that just goes to show you, you can't believe everything that you hear."
"Oh my gosh," I groaned. "Shantal, really?"
"What? Just be careful. Okay?"
"Okay," I laughed. "I got to go. Okay? Bye guys."
"Bye."
I hung up the phone and then looked at Susie. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I was sort of overwhelmed and I didn't really know what to think or feel, but I really think I like him."
"What changed, Marcia? Like, at the bar, you wanted nothing to do with him. You thought he was just another handsome douchebag. And I know how you feel about dating really good looking, confident guys and ..."
"I know, and of course that sounds stupid and I know that every good looking guy is not going to be an asshole, but I saw a different side to him."
"What do you mean you saw a different side to him?"
"He's really caring. I met this little boy that he is a big brother to and I could tell that that relationship, their friendship, well, it meant something to both of them. And I've never seen anything like that before in my life."