Mr Barker was a serious man and he kept me busy but I enjoyed the work and it was nice to have not only the extra money but some responsibility. As his assistant I had to get reports together for him, research cases and attend meetings with him.
He had a big client coming in and by all accounts it was a property development company. American and similar to the Mercer clan. That was just what I needed, more of them in my life. But it was work and I was relieved to hear that the property they were developing was currently vacant. No putting anyone out of business this time.
One of the men kept staring at me. I ignored it but it made me uncomfortable after a while so I kept my head down and took the notes that Mr Barker needed. When the meeting was over I tried to be first one out of the meeting room but the man who had been looking caught up with me and called out before I got the chance to escape.
“Natalie Sharp is it?” he asked.
Mr Barker had introduced me at the start of the meeting so I wasn’t surprised he knew my name.
“That’s right.”
“I’m Neil Johnson,” he said.
I nodded. “Nice to meet you. Now if you could excuse me I need to type up these notes for Mr Barker.”
“Of course. I just wondered if I could have a quick word.”
What on earth could he want? The way he had looked at me made me feel awkward but there were people around us so he couldn’t really try anything.
“Sure,” I said.
He lowered his voice. “It’s just that I heard stories about the arrangement you had with Alex Mercer when he was out here.”
I swallowed. “What is that supposed to mean? Arrangement?”
His hand brushed my arm. “You know what I mean. I wondered if we could come to a similar arrangement.”
I felt the tears well up in my eyes. Was that all I was to Alex or had this dickwad heard about us and decided I was easy? Everything as so confusing but it was clear to me what I had to do next.
My hand hit him hard as I slapped his face and all I could see was the look of shock in his eyes. “How dare you,” he said.
“How dare I?” I couldn’t believe his cheek.
Mr Barker grabbed my arm. “I’m so sorry Mr Johnson, I’ll have a talk to Natalie. I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.”
Great, now this douchebag was probably going to get me fired. Could you be instantly dismissed for slapping a client? The tears stung now as I fought them back and Mr Barker led me into his office and handed me a tissue box.
I looked at him in surprise. “It’s OK sweetheart. I’m guessing he said something inappropriate. Is that right?”
Wiping my eyes, I nodded. “He knows a man I had a relationship with, he seemed to think I’d be open to something similar with him.”
There was no real sign of emotion in Mr Barker as he called for one of the other senior partners. Miss Cruickshank who I had previously interviewed for came in.
“Can you take over the Johnson Land Company account?” he asked her.
“Of course,” she said, “what happened? I heard there was some carry on after the meeting.”
She looked at me with the tissue in my hand and rushed to my side. I looked at her surprised. “How are you Natalie, what happened?”
“One of those snotty upstarts in the meeting propositioned her.”
Her nostrils flared. “Transfer the account to me, I’ll take care of it.” She patted me on the knee. “Don’t worry dear, we’ll take our pound of flesh out of them.”
All I could do was stare, these two had been so serious and seemed old fashioned. I felt like all of a sudden I was in some sort of weird parallel universe.
“Thank you. I’d dump it altogether but it would be much more sense to make sure we get the money for the business.”
“It’s no problem at all. I’ll just tell them we took Natalie out the back and flogged her for misbehaviour shall I?”
Mr Barker roared with laughter. These were completely different people in front of my eyes.
“Just tell him whatever he needs to hear. We’ll just stay out of the way.”
She winked at me. “Us girls have got to stick together,” she said.
When she left Mr Barker looked at me. “Get your things together, we’ll go out for a drink and dinner if you want. My shout to make up for the way my client behaved.” I paused and he laughed again. “Don’t worry, my partner will be joining us. I’m not trying to hit on you. I think you’ve had enough of that for one day.”
I grinned. “This is a whole new side to you I haven’t seen before.”
“I’m sure I’m not anything like you thought. Now get a move on young lady and get ready to go out.”
Laughing, I went to get my bag and coat. This was going to be an interesting night. I could tell. I grinned thinking of the support I’d got from Mr Barker and the surprising sympathy of Miss Cruickshank. I bet she’d seen a thing or two in her time though as a female lawyer. I was sure she’d screw what she could out of that client.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The law firm
We started at a nearby restaurant. I discovered Mr Barker had his own secrets when his partner arrived. While Mr Barker was in his 50’s his partner, David must have been about 20 years younger.
They were a great couple and I don’t think I had ever laughed so hard in the time we were at dinner. By the end of the evening I would know more about my boss than I ever thought possible.
“You never told me your assistant was so gorgeous Roger. How do I know you won’t run away with her?” David said, mocking Mr Barker.
“If you didn’t know by now, she’s not really my type. Besides Natalie is young and needs us to take care of her.”
“I apologise in advance,” I said, “but men are pigs.”
“Oh darling,” David said, “you don’t have to say anything more.” He paused and looked down before saying, “so what happened?”
“Natalie was propositioned by a client today. It was totally inappropriate and embarrassing and not for her,” said Roger as I now knew him by.
David sighed. “Don’t you dare think men are all like that love, most of us aren’t too bad.” He looked at Roger. “I hope you told the client where to go.”
“Worse,” Roger said with a grin, “I gave them to Meryl Cruickshank.”
David looked horrified for a moment and then laughed. “Good. Make them pay through the nose. I don’t know how anyone could behave like that.”
“It’s complicated. He knew someone I used to kind of be in a relationship with so he assumed I would be available to be the same with him.”
“You mean he wanted to be your fuck buddy?” asked David.
“David!” said Roger.
“He’s right,” I said with a sigh, “apparently that’s all I was to this other man. Stupidly I’ve been missing him and thinking that maybe what we had was more than that. If he’s gone home and told people like Neil Johnson that I’m available in that way then I guess that’s not the case.”
“Men are pigs,” David said.
I laughed and he ordered the next round of drinks. This was going to be one long night.
To be perfectly honest I had not had such an entertaining night in a long time including the night I had out with Matt on our double date. Roger and David made me laugh so much telling me stories about their life that I had tears rolling down my face.
They were such a happy couple and clearly very much in love. “Why do you keep it a secret?” I asked Roger.
“It’s not so much the coworkers but some of the clients can be a bit conservative and it’s easier to keep my private life separate from work,” he said.
I nodded. “I understand. Thank you so much for tonight, it has been great and really helped take my mind off things.”
“I’m so sorry about what happened Natalie. Sometimes people with money such as our Mr Johnson think that anything is for sale. They don’t understand that other people have hearts and souls
and are easily hurt by such notions. Be proud of who you are my dear, I for one am glad I saw some spark of life in you when you came for that interview with Meryl. It’s what made me contact you for the job.”
I kissed his cheek. “You’re a good man and so is David. I have loved meeting him and being out with you two though I think I should be getting home before I turn into a pumpkin.”
He nodded. “Very well, I’ll organise a taxi.”
“I can do that. Don’t you worry about it. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Bright and early,” he said, wagging his index finger at me. “Just because we’ve socialised doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.”
“Whatever old man,” I said affectionately and he grinned.
“That’s a good girl. Don’t take crap from anyone. Including me,” he said.
I hugged David good night and made my way outside. The air was cool and crisp and I sobered up quickly while waiting for the taxi. I had enjoyed tonight and I thought our working relationship would benefit from it. If Mr Barker had his secrets, I would not be the one to spill them. I felt honoured that he had shared David with me and I ached inside thinking how much I wanted Alex to love me like that.
When I got home, I crawled into bed and curled up in a ball. Was that really all Alex thought of me? Yes we had agreed to no commitment but did our time together mean so little he told his friends that I would be open to something similar? If it was nothing why would he have even mentioned me at all?
I wanted him in bed with me so badly, the thought of the taste of his cock made my pussy throb. As I drifted off to sleep, I knew he would haunt my dreams. And he did.
My dream was of our wedding. We exchanged vows in a beautiful ceremony and he swore to love me forever. When it was all over he took me to bed and made love to me. He touched and kissed my aching breasts and my body gave in to the demands he placed on it and more.
Fingers stroked my skin and I could feel my nipples bud at his touch before he plunged his fingers into me. “Natalie you’re so wet,” he said, “I am going to fuck you now my beautiful bride.”
“Alex,” I whispered and came on his hand with a whimper. He moved between my legs and I felt his tongue slide up and down me and he lapped up the wetness before gently stroking my thighs while he positioned his rock hard cock to enter me.
He moved so slowly it was torture. “I want to savour every moment my love, our wedding night will be one to remember.”
I moved with him and as the intensity built so did his kisses, his tongue finding mine as he began to pound my pussy into submission. “Alex,” I cried, feeling his cock pulse as he spilled into me.
“I love you Natalie,” he said, rolling to my side.
“I love you too,” I said and he kissed me again. My husband, my life.
Sleep overtook me but I was soon wakened to fingers in my pussy again. “Alex,” I murmured.
“You like that, don’t you?” said a strange voice.
I pulled myself away and turned towards the voice. “Neil Johnson?”
“That’s right Natalie. Don’t you like our new arrangement?”
Rebecca shook me until I woke up. “Natalie, wake up. You’re having a nightmare hon.”
Disorientated I looked around the room. “It was so real, I thought.”
“Who the hell is Neil and why are you having bad dreams about him?” she asked. I could see the concern in her eyes but the truth was it was probably just the alcohol I’d consumed causing me to have weird dreams.
“Just some creep,” I said.
“I can remember when you said Alex Mercer was a creep but you never had dreams about him where you started screaming.”
“I never said he was a creep. He was just creepy the first time we met. Neil Johnson is a creep.”
As I told her what had happened, she was reddening in the face. “He said that to you? What the hell did Alex tell him about you?”
“I don’t know, that is the bit that’s driving me crazy. I love him Rebecca.”
Saying it for the first time out loud turned out to be remarkably easy, even if my best friend thought I was nuts. “Oh Natalie,” she said with a sigh.
“I can’t help it, I made the rules of our relationship and now I want to change them. It’s too late for all that now.”
“I love you Natalie but if he has told this guy that you might be open to an arrangement then Alex really is a douchebag.”
Rebecca wrapped her arms around me. “You’re far too good for that Nat. I’m sorry for trying to push you together with Matt. You’re both nice people but clearly there wasn’t anything there.”
“Well there might have been if we hadn’t been far too drunk to enjoy it,” I said with a laugh, “and now tonight. No more drinking.”
“I don’t think two nights out in months is going to kill you,” Rebecca said, “I am going to keep an eye on you though and make sure you are all right.”
“You are awesome,” I said, “I love you to bits.”
“And I love you,” she said, “I just want you to be happy Nat.”
“I know,” I said, “now I don’t know if I want to go back to sleep just yet. Can we make some hot chocolate?”
“You bet and then I think we both sleep in here in case you have another nightmare. At least then I won’t hear some weird strangled noise coming from my room.”
I laughed. “Was it that bad?”
“It sounded like you were being murdered.”
For the rest of the night I slept like a baby with my best friend taking care of me. Moments like this had been few and far between since Rebecca had met Troy.
They had a passionate relationship, often arguing and loudly but I was sure from the sounds I had heard that the sex made up for it and eventually she would want to move in with him.
Tonight she slept in my bed, keeping me company so I didn’t feel alone and I loved her for it. There was only one person on this planet who I wanted there more and I didn’t know if he even cared.
My job was already great but getting to know Roger and David had made it so much better. I felt so honoured that Roger had let me in on his secret, that took courage to tell me as I was as close to his clients as anyone. I wouldn’t betray his trust, no matter how stupid I thought it was that he felt he had to hide it.
Alex stayed on my mind. No matter what happened with Neil Johnson I couldn’t believe he would do that to me. He had really seemed to care but then I would think of the lies and cry all over again. Love sucks.
Rebecca stopped encouraging me to date. I think she realised I had to get over this in my own time.
In the meantime the amount of time I was spending with Roger had set tongues wagging at work. Not knowing his secret, they all assumed his new assistant was screwing him. I tried to hide it from him at first. I was more concerned with his feelings than my own but whispers made their way back to him and he asked me if I knew about it.
“I had heard things, but even if it was true it’s none of their business. There is no way I would betray your trust.”
There was a piece of cotton on his lapel that shouldn’t have been there and without thinking I brushed it away.
“Excuse me Mr Barker. I have that information you asked for,” said a voice behind me. It was one of the legal executives and she looked at me with a raised eyebrow having seen what I had just done.
“Thank you Janelle,” Roger said, “Natalie, we need to go through this line by line if we have to in order to find the relevant parts. Let me tell you what we are looking for.”
She turned and left, a smirk on her face and I sighed. “I will guarantee she’s got the wrong idea from that.”
“I will say something,” he said.
“No. I’ll not be responsible for pushing you into something you’re not comfortable with. Let me deal with it.”
He nodded. “I’ll give it some thought. Maybe it is time to let people see the real me.”
“Right now, lets get o
n with this so you can get your case sorted and deal with it later.”
We worked into the night. He had a big civil case coming up and was busy looking for previous similar cases to give him some ammo. By the time we had finished it was late and he drove me home.
“Don’t worry about coming in early tomorrow Natalie, if you want you can take the day off.”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“It’s not like you have to impress your boss. Your work is simply brilliant.”
I grinned. “Thank you. Sometimes you just need to hear the words. I’ll see you in the morning.”
When I got to work the staff room was buzzing. I yawned as I entered to put my lunch in the fridge and the noise turned to silence. I turned to find them all looking at me.
“What?” I asked.
“I think we need to have a talk,” said one of the lawyers.
“Sure. What about?” I asked.
“Let’s do this in private.”
I heard sniggering as we left the room and she led me into an office.
“People are talking about you and Roger Barker,” she said.
I laughed. “Let them talk, there’s nothing going on other than work. If they’re too stupid to work that out, it’s not my problem.”
“This could affect your future at the firm,” she said, “no one will want to work with someone who is screwing their boss.”
That pissed me off. “Firstly, I am not screwing my boss. You have no idea how far off track you are with that one. Secondly how can it affect anything when I’m not doing it?”
I turned and walked out, heading to my desk. Roger wasn’t in yet and I pictured him having a leisurely morning with David. The thought made me smile, especially after that conversation. Screw them. They had no idea what they were talking about.
As it turned out, Roger had been given a heads up by someone as to what had happened. At ten o’clock on the dot he walked in the door, hand in hand with David. Ignoring the stares, he made his way to my desk and I grinned at the sight of them together.
“I understand there have been certain rumours about you and I,” he said.
“Apparently my career will be destroyed working for you,” I replied.
After The Fall Page 5