Delusional Love (2nd Edition)

by Young, Sage

  “You know office hours are from nine to five don’t you? Don’t tell me my brother has you working this late on your first week.”

  “No, I just wanted to make sure I completed these reports before I left.”

  “Well, it’s almost ten o’clock do you want me to wait and give you a ride home?”

  “I’m fine, I have my car and the security guard has been checking on me. I will only be another hour and then I will be heading out.”

  “Okay, but know that we are not expecting you to work these types of long hours.”

  “I know, but I really didn’t have any plans so I decided to work late.” She did not want to explain to one of her bosses how these assignments were over looked. Adam started to walk away, but suddenly turned around.

  “Hey Stephanie, how is Brianna? I was thinking about giving her a call to see if she wanted to go out for drinks.”

  “She’s great, you should give her a call.”

  “I’ll do that and don’t stay too much longer.” “I won’t, good night.”

  Stephanie looked at her watch and it was eleven thirty. She headed down the hall to the restroom. ‘I need to review the report one more time and then I can head home, finally.’

  When she returned from the restroom she heard someone in Mr. Quinn’s office.

  ‘What in the world is going on?’ She reached for the phone to alert security. It was then that she recognized the voice. It was Ivan Quinn. She walked over to her desk, but she could still hear his phone conversation. He was obviously talking to a woman and he was not happy.

  “Look Ashley, we’ve been through this, we agreed no strings. What are you talking about; you benefited greatly from this arrangement so please spare me the victim act. Look, I’m extremely busy and this conversation is over.”

  He hung up the phone. Stephanie felt like she was eavesdropping although the conversation could be heard clearly throughout the office. She sat at her desk and gathered the files she was working on. She wanted to finish her final review and put them on Betty’s desk on her way out. She just needed Mr. Quinn to stay in his office so she could leave before he realized that she was still there. Stephanie did her final corrections and headed towards the door when she heard him.

  “What are you still doing here, you aren’t expected to stay late.” Ivan was surprised that she was still working. He was just thinking about her, ‘no wonder the smell of her perfume was still in the air.’ She spun around slightly startled.

  “Good Evening Mr. Quinn, I was finishing up a few assignments but I am heading out now.”

  “Let me see what you were working on”

  ‘Oh, great!’ She knew this was not going to be good. She moaned as she handed Ivan the folders, which contained the reports. He quickly glanced at the reports and frowned.

  “Why are you just completing these assignments? I left explicit instructions to complete these assignments first. Why are you just getting to these now?” Before she could answer he continued.

  “I am really disappointed, if you are having trouble keeping up with the workload then maybe this is not the right job for you.” He let out an exasperated breath. “Tell me Ms. Young, are you finding this job too difficult to keep up?” He said with a condescending tone. “I don’t have the time or the patience to follow behind my assistants and make sure they are meeting their deadlines. Do I make myself clear Ms. Young?”

  She looked up at him with those amazing eyes, the same eyes that haunt him in his sleep. The same eyes he wanted to look into to as he was fucking her, God, he really wanted to fuck her.

  “Yes, Mr. Quinn, loud and clear.”

  ‘Okay Steph, you had to take this one for the team. Just walk away and keep your mouth shut.’ She coached herself.

  “It won’t happen again. Good night, Mr. Quinn.” She turned and heading out the door. She was fuming. ‘Every time I run into him it’s confrontational. I have truly started off on the wrong foot with him and I need to turn this around.’

  Ivan felt bad about the way he spoke to her and he definitely was not ready for her to leave. He wanted to spend more time with her. Before she could get out the office he spoke again, “It is really late, do you need a ride home Ms. Young?”

  “No I’m fine, the security guard is going to walk me to my car, thank you for asking.” With that said she headed to the security station where Ralph the security guard was waiting.

  Ivan went back into his office, poured himself a drink and sat down in his chair. ‘I don’t know if I can continue to work with her. Why can’t I get her out of my mind?’

  Ivan thought he could come into the office late to get some work done without any distractions but there she was and why was she still working. He turned in his chair to look at the city’s skyline.

  ‘God she’s beautiful.’ The thought of her caused his manhood to twitch. ‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ He drained the remainder of his drink and began to review the file Stephanie had given him.

  “Well, Ms. Young, it appears that you do have a knack for this job.” He said aloud.

  Her reports were thorough, concise and complete. He had to admit that he could not have done a better job himself. He may have actually found someone whose work impressed him more than Bridget.

  -----------

  When Stephanie walked in her door she went straight to the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of wine, decided to forget dinner, and took a long hot shower.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  FRIDAY JUNE 17th

  Betty walked into the office at seven thirty in the morning ready to email the reports to Mr. Quinn. She searched her desk for the reports when she heard noise coming from Mr. Quinn’s office. She entered the office to find Mr. Quinn at his desk.

  “Good morning, Mr. Quinn, did you get the reports from Ms. Young?”

  “Yes, I did. Thank you.”

  Betty started to walk out of the office, but then turned around.

  “Mr. Quinn, I need to tell you something.”

  “What is it?” He said sounding irritated, he was not in the mood for office gossip.

  “Well, the assignments you left on my desk for Ms. Young...”

  “I have them.” He replied as he looked up. “Is that all?

  “No. I wanted you to know that I did not see the Reynolds’s files until yesterday. The folder was under a different pile of work. I gave them to Ms. Young yesterday afternoon, I’m sorry, sir. I thought that I had gone through the pile but I missed those assignments. Betty continued as she stumbled over her words. “I don’t want you to be upset with Ms. Young…” He interrupted.

  “Well, the reports were handed in on time, so don’t worry about it, but going forward we cannot have those kinds of slip-ups. You know the type of work we do here. Everything is time sensitive and one missed deadline could cost this company millions and could cost someone their job. Are we clear?”

  “Yes sir.” Betty responded.

  “Is there anything else, Mrs. Connors?” Betty shook her head and started to walk out of the office. She knew he was angry because he only called her by last name when he was truly upset with her.

  “Mrs. Connors, please tell Ms. Young I would like to see her when she gets in.”

  “Yes sir.” She exited the office closing the door behind her.

  ‘So, Ms. Young, you were just given the assignment yesterday afternoon.’ Ivan was truly impressed that she was able to turn out such quality work in a short period of time. He could tell by their first conversation that she was feisty and did not have a problem speaking her mind. So why didn’t she take the opportunity to correct him when he chastised her about taking this job seriously and questioning her competence? He still couldn’t get over the work she produced. Maybe they could work together after all, if he could just keep his hard-on in check for the sake of the company.

  Stephanie walked into the office and was immediately greeted by Betty.

  “I want to thank you again for yesterday. You did
not have to do what you did and I won’t forget it. If you need anything just ask.”

  “Stop Betty, its fine. We got the work done and no one’s the wiser.”

  “Except for Mr. Quinn,” Betty blurted out.

  “What, how did he find out? Was there a problem with the report?” Stephanie said nervously.

  “He knows because I told him. I could not let you take the blame for my mistake.”

  “That was not necessary Betty, I had it handled.”

  “Well, he is in his office and he would like to speak with you. Good luck.”

  Stephanie put here belongs away and knocked on Mr. Quinn’s door. “Come!”

  She walked into the office and took a seat in front of his desk. His head was down reviewing documents. She spoke first.

  “Betty said you wanted to see me.” He looked up.

  “Yes, it seems I owe you an apology. I had an interesting conversation with Betty, when I spoke with you last night you should have told me that you had just received the assignment. I would not have expected you to complete it in such a short time frame.” He waited for a response but there was none so he continued, “With that being said, I was very impressed with your work. There were a few changes but overall job well done.

  Stephanie looked into his eyes and she could see the sincerity. She smiled, pleased with herself. “Thank you Mr. Quinn, but…”

  “Please call me Ivan.”

  “Okay Ivan, I do have a few questions regarding your comments on the other reports and I would like to discuss them with you.”

  Ivan sat back in his chair trying to control the erection he was getting from just listening to her voice.

  “No time like the present. Get the reports and we can review them now.”

  For the next hour they discussed the reports, new assignments and his expectations of his assistants. When the meeting ended, Ivan said,

  “It appears I owe you dinner, as both an apology and a thank you for going above and beyond what is expected of you.”

  “That’s not necessary, you don’t have to do that.”

  “I know I don’t have to, but I want to and we can make it a working dinner if that will make you comfortable. I can pick you up at seven o’clock.”

  He stood up indicating that the meeting was over. She walked to the door and spun around before exiting, catching Ivan staring at her ass. He immediately looked up to meet her eyes.

  “You don’t even know where I live.”

  “Of course I do. I will pick you up at seven sharp.”

  He picked up his phone and started dialing. Stephanie looked back then closed the door behind her as she walked towards her desk. ‘I believe I was just dismissed again.’

  The rest of the day flew by. Ivan came out of his office about two o’clock and told Stephanie to take the rest of the day off because she worked late yesterday.

  “Don't forget, seven o’clock sharp.” Stephanie gave him a faint smile as she gathered her belongings.

  “What’s happening at seven o’clock sharp?” Betty whispered. Stephanie started to answer the question but decided against it.

  “Wait, what’s at seven o’clock sharp?”

  “It’s nothing Betty. Have a great weekend.” She smiled and waved to Betty as she headed out the door.

  Stephanie called Brianna on the way home.

  “Hey Bri.”

  “Hey yourself, why are you calling me from your cell phone in the middle of the day? You didn’t get fired did you?” She said jokingly. She knew Stephanie was doing a great job because she had just received a report on how wonderful she was working out.

  “No, I was given the rest of the afternoon off because I’m doing such a great job and I was also invited to dinner by my boss.”

  “You are kidding me Steph. You are going on a date with your boss?” Brianna said excitedly.

  “Wow, wait a minute no one said it was a date. It’s a working dinner, that’s all.”

  “Okay, whatever. You are going out to dinner on a Friday night. Call it what you want. I call it a date.”

  “Don’t start Bri. You know he can barely tolerate me, let alone consider asking me out. It is all about work.” Although a small part of her wished it was a date because she considered her boss one of the sexiest men she had ever seen, but she knew she was definitely not his type.

  “Hey Bri. What time are you leaving work, I need to talk to you and I would kind of like to do it before dinner with Mr. Quinn.”

  “Not a problem. Should I call Tara?”

  “That would be good, you both can pull me off the ledge.” They both laughed.

  “See you in a few,” Brianna said before disconnecting.

  This dinner was bothering her, she was definitely attracted to her arrogant boss and that was a definite NO NO.

  ----------

  Why the hell was he complicating his life even more by taking Stephanie to dinner? He knew when he asked her that it would not be a working dinner, but he needed to see and talk to her outside of the workplace. He didn’t understand the strong attraction he had to her. It was definitely a foreign feeling for him and he needed to figure out how to stop it before it became a serious problem.

  -----------

  Ashley was still fuming the next day after her conversation with Ivan. ‘If you think that you are getting rid of me that easily Ivan, you need to think again. I know you love me and you don’t want to admit it. I won’t let you get rid of me because I love you too.’

  She dialed her cell phone and waited.

  “Hey, are you still in your office? Good! I need to talk to you. I am heading over now. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  --------

  The doorbell rang and Stephanie let Brianna and Tara in.

  “So what’s this I hear about you getting your swirl on with your boss?” Tara said while smiling.

  “You can be so crude at times. It’s just a business dinner,” Stephanie said. “You guys want something to drink?” They said “Wine.” in unison. It was five o’clock and she still had time before getting ready for dinner.

  “So, what’s up Steph, why did you need us to come over?”

  “Well, I need some advice. I’ve told you how handsome Ivan Quinn is, but what I did not tell you is that I really feel a strong connection to him. I mean I can’t explain it, but when I’m near him my heart rate speeds up and my palms get sweaty. I don’t know if I trust myself around him. I’m not saying I will turn into Tara and open my legs if he smiles at me,” she said as she eyed Tara with a smirk before continuing.

  “But this is scaring me because he is my boss.”

  “Real funny, Steph. I am not that easy but I will not deny myself the affections of a handsome man if I am attracted to him.” Tara clarified.

  “I’m joking Ty. You know I love you, but seriously, I need……” Just then Stephanie noticed that the side of Tara’s face was swollen. “Ty what the hell happened to your face.” Brianna moved closer to Tara to inspect the bruise.

  “What is that?” Brianna said concerned. Tara tried to use makeup to hide it but it was still a little visible. “It’s nothing, I was making a cup of tea and left the cabinet door open and walked right into it. It looks worse than it feels.” She was hoping her friends wouldn’t question her story because she was close to telling them everything but was too embarrassed and decided against it.

  “This isn’t about me, it’s about your date with your hot boss.”

  “It’s not a date and I do need some advice on handling this situation.”

  “Wow, I have never heard you talk about any of your ex-boyfriends like this.” Brianna said and gave Stephanie a serious look. She continued. “Here’s what I think Steph, you are an extremely beautiful, intelligent woman who deserves to be happy. You are always putting everyone’s needs ahead of your own. I say if the attraction is there, go for it and let the chips fall where they may.” Brianna looked at Tara for confirmation and Tara nodded.

  �
��Okay, Bri I can’t believe that we are actually on the same page. You know I am the first to say do what makes you feel good. Life’s too short but I do say guard your heart Steph.” She said with emphases on her statement. “You tend to open your heart freely and have had it broken in the process. I love you and I just want you to find happiness. Speaking of love and happiness, I have a date tonight with the incredibly handsome and well-endowed Mr. Pierce an with any luck, he will be putting that endowment to work tonight” Tara said as she licked her lips.