Dirty Boss (An Office Romance) (The Maxwell Family)

by Alycia Taylor

“Yes. She has some great ideas that she wants to run by you, and some important suggestion points. She’ll ride with you, and you can spend those forty minutes prepping for it.”

  Not so long ago I would have balked at the suggestion and told Ralph that I didn’t need anyone to help me prepare for a talk. But things were a little different now. The thought of spending forty minutes alone with Reagan was very appealing to me.

  “Sounds good. Thanks, Reagan. I could seriously use some coaching on this one.”

  I saw that Ralph was looking at me strangely. He obviously expected me to complain. I laughed. “I’ve finally come to realize that Reagan knows her stuff way more than I do when it comes to these sorts of things.”

  Ralph looked delighted. After all, he had been the one to hire her, so he probably took that as a compliment to himself.

  Later that day, I climbed into the limo with Reagan. She looked at me and grinned, and I grinned right back at her. I knew we were both thinking the same thing. If it wasn’t for the driver, we’d have ripped each other’s clothes off right there. It took a lot for me to compose myself. There were a lot better things I could think of doing with my forty minutes. Reagan turned to face me.

  “Okay, are you ready? We have forty minutes, and I have a lot of ideas to go through.”

  Reagan was all business, and I appreciated that. If she had leaned in and kissed me, I was almost certain that I would’ve lost control. I needed her to be the one in control so that I could follow her lead. Thankfully she seemed to notice that and was every bit the professional. She got out her notebook and began running through all her ideas with me. She had a list of subjects that I should concentrate on, as well as topics that I should be avoiding.

  “Wow, this is strict,” I said to her. “It’s not like the places I’m used to talking at.

  She nodded. “Oh yeah. I’ve watched all the old talks that have happened with groups like this, and I know exactly what questions they might ask you, as well as what they like to hear and what they don’t like to hear. This is one of those talks that can go very wrong if you are not prepared. So, if things start going a certain way, then I just want you to address the question with confidence and smiles and move onto a safer topic. There are ways that you can do that easily without it looking like you are avoiding the conversation. And don’t worry, we’re going to run through them all. We’ve still got some time until we get there. Just stop me if you have any questions.”

  Reagan ran through a few more scenarios with me, and by the time we arrived, I felt a bit nervous but also a lot more confident than I had before. I was grateful that we had spent time going through what might happen. Reagan’s theory of always being two steps ahead was exactly what I needed after that disaster conference with Kason. We said our hellos to all the people in charge, and then Reagan went to sit in the audience while I made my way up on stage. It was a small crowd, which is what she had told me it would be. A small crowd meant that the talk was more intimate and that I would have to find a way to relate to them in a different way than I did with a large crowd. I saw a woman smiling up at me from the front row, and I knew immediately that I would be directing a lot of my attention on her. Hopefully her good mood would spread to the other women around her.

  I began my talk and watched as the women all leaned in to listen attentively. For the most part, they seemed happy with what I was saying. There were a few people shaking their heads, but not as many as I had envisioned. There were ten minutes allocated for questions at the end, and I braced myself for the barrage that was sure to come. I was pleased to note that they were all questions that I had run through with Reagan. She’d somehow managed to foresee just what was going to happen, and I felt confident and prepared for each question. I was certain that if she hadn’t prepped me for this, I wouldn’t have been this calm in my answers. When the event was over, the audience broke into applause. I caught Reagan’s eye and grinned at her. She was clapping along with the rest of them.

  We went to say our goodbyes to the people in charge, who seemed delighted that we had come to talk to their group. They told me that I was welcome to come by anytime again. When I climbed back into the limo, I looked at Reagan and exhaled deeply.

  “I’m so glad that is over,” I said.

  “Josh, that went so well!” she said.

  “It did, didn’t it? I was nervous, though. They were a difficult crowd. I knew that just one wrong word could set them off. So the whole time I was just hoping that I could retain my composure.”

  “You didn’t look nervous one bit up there.”

  “I didn’t?” I asked. I had certainly felt nervous. But I’d often been told how confident I looked when talking in public. It was always strange to me because I never felt as confident as I apparently looked.

  “You didn’t. Not even slightly. You nailed it. Those women were lapping you up. The woman next to me was hilarious. I heard her saying that she didn’t care much for you, then when you got on and started talking, I heard her say how she has always been a fan of yours. Although, I don’t blame them. You did look very good up there.”

  “Oh yeah?” I said. I could feel the excitement running through me as I looked at her. I wanted nothing more than to lean over and kiss her.

  “You did great, Josh. I was very proud of you.”

  I wasn’t used to people being proud of me. That was nice. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without you, Reagan. You really are meant for this job.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What are you up to on Friday?”

  “Friday? It’s a work day. I’ll be at the office.”

  I laughed. “No, not in the day. Friday night. What are you doing?”

  “Friday night? Probably still working.”

  I shook my head. “No, enough working. You’re coming to my house for dinner.”

  Reagan’s head shot in the direction of the driver. She was worried that he was listening in, but I didn’t care. I could see that he wasn’t listening to a word we were saying. And asking her for dinner wasn’t such a big deal, anyway.

  “I’m your boss,” I said. “And this is not a suggestion.”

  She looked back at me and smiled. “Well, you are my boss. I guess I’ll have to be there, then.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Reagan

  “Is everything okay?” I asked the moment I saw that Josh was calling. I was still at home, just about to leave for the office, when I saw his name light up on my phone. It wasn’t like him to call me so early.

  “Yes, everything is fine. I’m sorry to call so early, but I knew you’d be up.”

  “I was just about to leave for work,” I said.

  “Oh wow. That’s even earlier than usual for you. I’m glad I called you now, then. Actually, the reason I’m calling is to tell you not to come in today.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Because you deserve a day off.”

  “No, I don’t. I’m still so new to this; I can’t have a day off already.”

  “Yes, you can. You’ve done more work in the time that you’ve been here than most people. And there’s nothing to prepare for today, anyway. You’re already ahead with your work. Go on, take a day off and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “But—”

  “You must consider yourself to be stubborn, but you’ve got nothing on me. I will literally not let you in if you come to work.”

  “But—”

  “Seriously, Reagan. Take the day off. Relax. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “You do realize that you can’t stop me from working at home,” I said.

  He laughed. “I know that. But at least take the morning off.”

  I sighed. “Fine! I’ll try.”

  He laughed. “You’re the only person that I know that would be annoyed for getting told to take the day off.”

  I didn’t know what to do with myself after that. It was very nice of him to offer me the day off, but I probably would’ve preferred goi
ng in over staying at home. Home was boring, and I liked working hard. Although, admittedly, I was feeling incredibly tired these days. This wasn’t unusual for me. I often worked myself until I was too exhausted to carry on. A break would probably do me a world of good, and at least it was only for one day. I decided to do something that I never did anymore. I crawled back into bed, got out a book, and spent my morning reading.

  The only reason that I eventually came out of bed was because I was hungry. The quick toast I had enjoyed that morning hadn’t filled me up for long, and I was now in the mood for something else. I thought about making more toast and getting some work done, but I was feeling good from lying in bed, and realized I wanted to rest a little bit more. So I took a shower, changed, and made my way over to the diner to see Dana.

  I took a seat at the counter and waited for her to notice me sitting there. I chuckled as I watched her walking around, making sure that everything was perfect. She had no idea that I was there, and was so focused on her work that she didn’t see me.

  “Oh, have you been served?” she asked and then jumped in fright when she looked up and saw that it was me. “Reagan! I didn’t see you come in.”

  I laughed. “I snuck in. I was watching you work. You’re really great with this place. You do realize that you have hired staff to do the serving and the cleaning for you?”

  She chuckled. “I know. But I like to help. I can’t help it. This place is a reflection of me, so I need it to look great.”

  “It does look great.”

  “Thank you. What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

  “I have the day off,” I said. The barista waved at me, and I ordered myself a coffee.

  “The day off? That’s unusual,” she said.

  “Tell me about it. I was all ready to go into work this morning when Josh called and told me not to come in. He said I’ve been working hard and that I deserve it.”

  “Wow, he’s a nice boss. I can’t say I expected that from him. I bet you put up a fight, though. I know you, you didn’t even want a day off did you?”

  I laughed. “You know me too well. But turns out he’s a lot more stubborn than I am. And I’ve actually really enjoyed my morning so far.”

  “I bet you spent it working,” she said.

  “I spent it in bed with a book.”

  “No way!”

  “Don’t sound so shocked. I am actually capable of relaxing, you know.”

  “No, I didn’t know that.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, me neither. It was nice. I already feel recharged from it. I think I should do that more often. But not just yet, I am probably going to work this afternoon. It’s nice to have the day off, but there really is a lot of work to be done.”

  “How’s it going, by the way? You’ve hardly been there for a long time and yet I feel like you’ve been there forever. That’s probably because you’ve been so busy.”

  “Yeah, I feel the same way. I can’t believe that just a month ago I didn’t even have a job. But things have been going well. It’s a lot of work, but I think things are going in the right direction. We’ll know soon enough of course, but I think Josh has done great. I’ve been trying to show the public that he has a more human side to him.”

  “And does he? I must say, he seemed very nice when the two of you came over the other night. You barely stopped talking. Every time I looked at your table, the two of you were involved in some deep conversation.”

  “We were talking about work,” I said quickly and hoped that Dana didn’t notice how defensive I was being. Also, I could feel my face getting warmer and wished there was a mirror for me to see how obvious I was being. “You know what I’m like with a glass of wine. The ideas just come streaming out of me.”

  “Yeah, I know,” she said. “So, what’s he like to work with?” she asked.

  “Oh, he’s very easy to work with. He’s definitely a pain the ass sometimes of course, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m good at dealing with him. Also, I think he’s finally realized that he needs me for this campaign, which helps a lot.” I thought of how different Josh was toward me now compared to how he was when I had first met him. He used to get so irritated with me, but now he actually listened.

  “That’s good. He does need you. So, does he actually listen to your suggestions now?”

  “He complains. But yeah, he listens. Things have definitely shifted for the better between us.”

  “Hmmm.”

  I looked at Dana and saw that she was looking at me with an amused look on her face.

  “What’s that look for? And what do you mean by hmmm?”

  “Is there anything going on between the two of you? Come on, you can tell me,” she asked.

  “Going on between us? What do you mean?” I said and tried to act like I had no idea what she was talking about, which was obviously not the case at all. I knew exactly where she was going with this. We’d been friends for too long, and she simply knew me too well.

  “You know what I mean. Why are you going red in the face?”

  “Because you’re insinuating that there’s something going on between Josh and I. That’s why. There’s nothing going on between us,” I lied.

  “Okay, so there’s nothing going on between the two of you. I don’t believe that, but fine, I’ll accept it. But, tell me this then, do you like him?”

  “He’s my boss. I like him as a boss.”

  “But that still means you like him,” she said. Man, she was infuriating.

  I took a sip of my coffee and feigned indifference. “So, what do you think I should order today? What’s good on the menu?”

  Dana laughed and was just about to answer when we heard a man call my name. I turned around to find Frank Hirshman walking toward me.

  “Reagan, good to see you again,” he said, but I noticed this time he wasn’t smiling as much as he was from the previous times he had seen me.

  “Hi Frank, good to see you too. Did you have a nice time at the gala?” I asked.

  “I did, thank you. And you?”

  I thought about what happened after the gala and couldn’t help but smile. “Oh yes, it was lovely. I really enjoyed it.”

  “I must say, I was hoping to spend a bit more time with you, but I see you were hanging out more with Josh and that crew.”

  I frowned. Josh and that crew? What did he expect me to do? He knew I worked for them. “Uh, well, yes, he’s my boss,” I said brightly.

  “Reagan, you do realize that Josh is not the best person to be hanging around with, don’t you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Josh is involved with a lot of shady people. Kason being one of them.”

  Seriously? What was wrong with this guy? I didn’t appreciate him coming over just to talk smack about Josh and his friends.

  “Kason made some mistakes. And yes, I don’t agree with what he did, but he’s still a human being. And anyway, what Kason did is no reflection on Josh himself. You can’t judge one person by the actions of someone else.”

  “You sure can. Life is all about who you hang out with. The company you keep says a lot about you. Anyway, you know I like you, Reagan. I think you’re great at what you do. So, I’d like to propose something to you, if you’d be willing to hear me out?”

  I wasn’t really, but I was curious to hear what he had to say. “Go on,” I said.

  “How about you come and work for me?”

  I was taken aback. That was not at all what I had expected him to say.

  “Work for you? But I’m already working for Josh.”

  “I know. But it’s not too late to switch sides. In fact, there is no time like the present. If you accept my offer, I will make sure that you get paid double what you are getting now. I’d love nothing more than to have you on board, Reagan.”

  I sat back and stared at Frank in shock. He wanted me to work for him? I took back all the times that I had called Josh cocky. This man sitting in front of me had taken
the lead.

  “Thank you very much for the offer, Frank, but I’m going to have to decline.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because I’m a loyal person. Josh is my boss, and I believe in what he stands for.”

  “Well, fair enough, but just so you know there will be a spot waiting for you when you are ready,” he said and slipped me his card. “Call me anytime.”

  I watched as he walked out the door without even ordering anything. I shook my head in amazement and turned to look at Dana.

  “Seriously? Like I would go and work for him instead of Josh.”

  She chuckled. “So, nothing between you and Josh, huh?” she said sarcastically.

  I shook my head. “Nothing. Now, back to what I was going to order to eat,” I said and changed the subject. Dana shook her head at me but didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to keep the truth from her. I just needed this campaign to be over. Then I could finally tell her everything. She was going to kill me for not saying anything to her, but I think she would understand.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Josh

  “Morning, Josh. Not long until the polls open! How are you feeling? Is it just me or has time just gone super-fast?”

  I smiled wearily at Ralph and shook my head. “It’s not just you. It’s gone so fast. One week to go. I cannot believe it.”

  “You’re doing great, though. This has been an awesome campaign. It’s been such an interesting one to be a part of. You were doing well, then you took a major nosedive after the Kason scandal, and after that, you went back up again. In fact, from the looks of things you are doing even better than you were to begin with.”

  “I just hope it stays that way.”

  Ralph looked at me and frowned. “You used to be a lot more confident about these things. I was always the one telling you not to get too cocky too soon.”

  I looked over at Reagan who was grinning into her coffee cup. “Yeah, well, I’m starting to learn that cockiness is not always the best attitude to have. I’m still confident, though, but I know that anything can happen. This next week is absolutely crucial. And, I’m starting to feel a lot more pressure from our opponent. Which reminds me, how much longer do we have until his press conference begins?”