RRC - My Boss

by Jolie Day

  Either way, Avery found herself wishing that her father had been more like Abe, whose eyes were shining now as he looked down at her, pride reflected as clearly in his eyes as it had been in his eyes. On impulse, Avery took a step toward him and wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug, which evidently surprised the big man, who tensed under her hold for an instant before hugging back.

  “Now, now,” he said, “I can’t be caught crying in the middle of my shift.” He chuckled deeply as she stepped back, her face beet red. “Don’t look so ashamed,” he said. “It was a good hug. There’s just…a time and place. Thank you, though; I really needed that.”

  Avery smiled. “Me, too,” she said. Looking down at her phone, she sighed. “But I’ve gotta get going now. Time for work.”

  Abe nodded in understanding. “You take care, Miss James,” he said. “Come by soon and tell me all about it, you hear? Don’t be a stranger.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it, Abe,” Avery chuckled as she made her way back up the street, towards the café. “See you later,” she called over her shoulder as she waved goodbye. Abe waved back with one hand as the other opened the hotel doors open for a young couple holding hands.

  When she got back to the café, Ash was already putting her drinks into two trays. When she saw Avery enter, she waved her over. “Perfect timing,” she said, stacking one tray on top of the other. Avery watched with barely restrained interest as the top tray locked over the drinks. Ash chuckled. “Cool, huh?” she asked. “Mrs. Harper invented these; makes it easier for travel when you’ve got a big drink order. Just be careful taking the top one off; it sometimes pulls off the lids.”

  Avery nodded. “She invented these?” she asked. “Did she get them patented?”

  “Yep,” Ash confirmed. “It hasn’t really taken off yet, though. Not since she got the sickness.”

  “What exactly is that?” Avery asked her. “Edith told me that she was having some mental issues, but she never really explained.”

  “I’m not sure if she’d be okay with us discussing this,” Ash admitted. “Edith was always really protective of Mrs. Harper.” She swallowed thickly. “What, exactly, has she told you?”

  “That it’s kind of like Dementia, but not really?” Avery said. “What does that even mean?”

  “It means that they can’t really pinpoint exactly what it is,” Ash sighed. “One day, she just started to act weird.”

  “Weird how?” Avery asked.

  Ash shrugged. “I don’t really know. I’ve never even met the woman; I just know what I hear.” She took a deep breath. “She used to be really smart. Stuff like this,” she motioned to the stackable carriers, “barely touches the surface. She was all about accessibility and making people’s lives easier. Several of her companies are aimed at people with physical disabilities; devices that make everyday tasks easier on them. She had a really good heart.”

  “You make her sound like she’s deceased already,” Avery said with a frown.

  “Might as well be, from what I’ve heard,” Ash said, lowering her voice as the other baristas spared her an annoyed glance. Avery was now blocking the line of customers from approaching the registers and they’d started to complain. Loudly. Ash either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “She’s not really the same person she used to be, apparently. I’ve heard from several people that her whole personality has pretty much changed on a dime. Like, she used to be so kind and charitable, but now…” She shook her head, trailing off. “Shame, really, if it’s true.”

  “There’s no cure for what she has?” Avery asked, frowning.

  “Like I said, they don’t even know what she has,” Ash reminded her. “Can’t cure something if you don’t even know what it is.” Avery nodded in agreement. “Anyway, uh, you should probably get going. Wouldn’t want to keep Mr. Harper waiting, now would you?” She winked and Avery chuckled, uneasily, a thousand questions swimming through her mind as she picked up the drinks.

  “Right,” she said. “Thanks, Ash.”

  “Don’t mention it,” the barista said. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Avery. Good luck on your first day.”

  “Thanks,” Avery said, as she made her way to the door, leaving Ash to take the orders of some incredibly impatient and irritated customers.

  As Avery made her way down the road to the office, she found herself unable to stop thinking about Mrs. Harper. Wasn’t it odd that her condition came quite suddenly? Didn’t mental illnesses come on gradually? Had it happened gradually? Had it happened so slowly that nobody noticed until her condition suddenly worsened beyond repair? Wasn’t that how Dementia came on? So many questions and so few answers. The more the poor afflicted woman was brought up, the more Avery wanted to know.

  She was once a brilliant inventor and even focused her talents and intelligence on helping those with physical disabilities. That was a noble cause if Avery had ever seen one, right? After her diagnosis, her kids had carried on her legacy, but their technology was more…modern. Their inventions were useful, but probably not necessary for everyday life. Did they ever think about that? Did they ever consider how their mother might react if she was aware of how they had set up their own business?

  Was she aware of how they’d set up her business? Avery knew that she was ill, but was she so ill that she was completely unaware of what was going on in the world around her? Is that what Edith meant when she said that what Mrs. Harper had was comparable to Dementia? But she’d also said that they weren’t exactly alike, as well…

  Oh, Avery was giving herself a headache and it wasn’t yet nine in the morning. She attempted to shoo all thoughts of Mrs. Harper from her mind as she approached the building and made her way toward the elevator, thanking the doorman as he held the front door open for her and greeting the security team as she flashed her new employee badge at them. They let her through the security check-in without a problem and called the elevator for her as she struggled with the drinks in her hands.

  “Thanks,” Avery said to the muscular guard who stood with her, waiting. “So,” she said, after a moment of awkward silence, “have you been working here long?” The man just spared her a single, side-long glance as the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. “Thanks, again,” Avery said as the doors closed. She met her eyes in the reflective surface of the closed doors and sighed, blowing some of the auburn hair away from her face. She’d pulled half of it back with a clip that morning, but she could already feel it coming loose and she doubted she had enough time to fix it now, before Joel arrived—if he wasn’t here already. Maybe she’d just take the clip out and let her hair hang free and loose. It couldn’t be any worse than how it looked now, with several strands of hair falling over her eyes and obstructing her vision.

  Avery did her best to blow the hair out of her face as the doors opened on her floor and she made her way down the hall, towards Joel Harper’s office, where her desk would be waiting for her just outside, not far from Edith’s. Once she put the drinks down, she might have a couple of seconds to fix herself up a bit.

  Edith was already at her desk when Avery walked up. “Lookin’ good,” she greeted. “Nice dress.”

  “Thanks,” Avery said, placing the drinks on the empty desk situated in the corner, caught between the wall next to Joel’s door and the adjacent one. Smoothing her hands down her sides, she checked to make sure that it hadn’t ridden up anywhere, before reaching up to pull the clip from her hair and shaking out the auburn locks.

  “I’m sorry, am I in the wrong building?” a familiar voice asked and Avery immediately froze, her eyes snapping open to see Joel Harper standing in the doorway to his office. “I could have sworn I was standing in my own office just seconds ago, but you don’t look familiar at all.”

  Avery felt her cheeks fill with heat. How did he not recognize her? She almost excused herself in her mortification, but then Joel winked at her and gave her that charming smirk, causing her to relax. He’s just kiddin
g.

  Avery resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead gave Joel a polite smile as she reached for the cup marked Mr. Harper and handed it to him. “Good morning, sir,” she said. “Here’s your latte.”

  “Sir?” Joel wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Please,” he said, “just call me Joel. Or Mr. Harper, if you feel you need to be more professional. But none of that sir shit, please. Makes me feel way too serious. There’s no need for that.”

  Yeah, Avery thought sarcastically. No need for that. It’s not like you run a multi-million dollar company or anything.

  “Of course, Mr. Harper,” she replied. “Whatever you say. What’s on the agenda for today, s—Mr. Harper?”

  “First, please go drop these coffees in the break room. People can pick up their own, I’m sure. Edith can show you where it is, can’t you, Edith?” He gave his secretary an expectant look and she sighed, standing.

  “Sure I can, Mr. Harper,” she said. “I’d be happy to.”

  “Great!” Joel exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “And then, afterwards, Miss James, I’ve left some instruction manuals on your desk. I would like you to read through them.”

  “Instruction manuals?” Avery asked, in confusion. She turned to the desk, noticing a small pile of thin little booklets pushed off to the side. She hadn’t seen those before.

  “Yup,” Joel said. “I need you to know how to work most of our technology. Those are pretty basic, but that’s where you gotta start, right? Soon, you’ll be making the first notes on a proposed design from one of our seasoned engineers. Now won’t that be exciting.” It would be, but Avery kept her features schooled as she nodded.

  “Yes, Mr. Harper,” she said. “It would be.”

  “Great!” Joel said, clapping again. “Now, if you lovely ladies would excuse me, I will be in my office. Thanks for the coffee, Ashley.”

  “It’s Avery,” she corrected, gently, as he made his way into the office. She frowned at his retreating back and she allowed herself a single, aggravated eye roll.

  When she turned, she found Edith grinning at her with a knowing look. “He can be annoying sometimes,” she said. “But you learn to tolerate him.”

  “I find that increasingly difficult to believe,” Avery said. “But I guess I’ll take your word for it.” She turned back to the coffee trays and carefully extracted the top one, then turned back to Edith. “Care to make some introductions?”

  Chapter Eight

  He had no face, but his body was as familiar to Avery as her own. His tan skin was grid-lined with scars and his muscles bunched under her curious fingers as she boldly ran them over his chest and abdomen. For a long moment, he was perfectly still, just allowing her hands to explore, before suddenly he was reaching for her. His longer fingers wrapped around her hips and Avery inhaled shortly as she was lifted in the air, her legs immediately wrapping around his waist as her arms curled around his strong shoulders. Avery closed her eyes as she felt him turn them around and then lower her onto her bed.

  When she opened her eyes, they were surrounded by a soft, comforting fog and she could feel the man’s lips against her neck, his teeth scraping over her pulse as she moaned, her nails digging into his back. His lips continued to descend, creating heat that rippled out from every place they touched. His hair brushed her chin and tickled her nostrils as she pressed kisses of her own to the top of his head. She moaned as he ran callused fingers over her bare stomach and sides, dragging them roughly over her hips until he hooked them into the band of her panties, tugging them down slowly as his lips lowered to meet the skin that he unveiled. Avery’s head fell back, her eyes closing on their own volition as her hands buried themselves in the man’s hair, her grip firm on the fine strands, her spine arching towards his mouth. His lips evaded her, however, and instead skirted around where she really wanted him, his smile curved against the curves of her hips.

  She felt the growl rising in her throat and did nothing to stop its escape from between her lips. That infuriating smirk widened against her skin and then she felt a pair of lips pucker against her thigh, as if rewarding her, egging her on. Avery continued to moan and plead with him, her body arching and thighs clenching as his lips descended with the line of her panties. He kissed down one thick thigh, sucking and nipping and setting her body aflame, before kissing his way back up the other one; he left goosebumps in his wake and Avery shivered, her toes curling as he lifted her legs over his shoulders and anchored her with one arm over her waist.

  Still, he skirted the area where she really wanted his lips and tongue and teeth. She moaned louder, attempted to arch up into his mouth, and felt the vibration of his chuckles move against her as he pulled his lips from where she so desperately needed them and continued to hold her hips down with one arm. He nuzzled the sensitive skin at the crease of her thigh and she whimpered, attempting to wriggle out of his hold and away from the havoc he was currently wreaking on her body.

  “Please,” she cried out as he swiped his tongue just below her belly button, chuckling again at the agony in her voice as she attempted to tug his head back to where he should be. “Please touch me.”

  She felt his smile before his lips descended on her, at long last, his tongue swiping through her folds. Once, twice…

  On the third time through, she glanced down her body at where his head was nestled between her thighs, his mouth open over her. Her breath froze in her lungs as she met his gaze and his icy blue eyes settled on her face. It felt as if he was looking straight into her soul, his tongue swiping through her wetness as the familiarity of those eyes finally clicked in her brain, simultaneously sending a flood of warmth and an icy chill through her veins.

  The man, whose face was now as familiar as the back of her own hands, where her fingers continued to tug at his dark hair, raised his head and, licking his lips, spoke just three words:

  “Say my name.”

  It was more of a command than a request and Avery found herself unable to deny him. She swallowed thickly and took a shaky breath, licking dry lips before whispering, so low she almost couldn’t hear herself, “Joel.”

  She was rewarded with another long swipe of his tongue through her folds and Avery threw her head back, calling out his name as her eyes shut tight and she gripped his hair. Her voice was drowned out as a shrill shriek filled her consciousness.

  Avery startled awake to the sound of her alarm. Every inch of her body was covered in sweat. It dripped from her forehead and beaded on her collarbone, sent chills down her spine as it cooled on the back of her neck, making her hair stick there. Her hands were curled around the sheets at her side, pulling them loose from one corner of her mattress. She swallowed thickly as she loosened her grip on one and reached over for the alarm clock, tapping the button on top to turn it off.

  When she was finally enveloped in silence again, Avery allowed herself to fall back and catch her breath, staring up at her ceiling. The room around her was just starting to fill with light as day broke, but Avery still felt as exhausted as she’d been the night before when she’d closed her eyes after a long day. Joel had been taking a lot of late nights and she’d been expected to stay until he left. He’d been nice about it, though; always ordered her dinner and paid for it out of his own pocket, even when she told him that it wasn’t necessary.

  She’d been there a month now, working as his assistant and learning as much as she could about technology and engineering and…and Joel. Joel Harper was secretive, but slowly he’d begun to open up, revealing tiny tidbits about his own life. Nothing huge or life-altering. Just small things, said offhandedly like the fact that his favorite ice cream was rocky road, or that he was allergic to grapes. Tiny factoids that had no deeper meaning than they were just a part of how he lived and operated.

  She still didn’t know where he’d gotten the scar that marred his otherwise perfectly symmetrical face. She knew that he had more, though, and that they disappeared somewhere under the perfectly t
ailored suits that he wore. She saw them when he rolled up his sleeves and loosened his tie after long day at the office. Neither of them ever acknowledged their existence, though, so sometimes Avery would be certain that she had just imagined them.

  Laying in bed now, she couldn’t help but think about the lines that ran across his body (or, at least, across his collarbones and up his arms, since she had no way of knowing if there were any present on or around his chest) or the way that his muscles bunched when he…

  Avery sat back up and shook her head, pressing the heels of her hands up against her eyes. That’s not something that one should think about their boss. Those were not the kind of thoughts that were appropriate for the workplace.

  But it had been so long since her last romp. Avery was no virgin, but she might as well have been. Only two men had made it to the space between her legs and she’d left both of them in Illinois. It was no wonder that she was fantasizing about Joel like this. There weren’t many men that worked on her floor and, of the few that she did see as often as her boss, there was nobody with the same piercing blue eyes or welcoming body. After all, she couldn’t exactly fantasize about Greg from Accounting; the man was practically a corpse.

  Maybe, the tiny voice in the back of her head said, you should try to find somebody to…satisfy that need within you. Somebody that you don’t work with or for.

  Avery did a mental calculation of all the bars, pubs, and clubs within walking distance of her apartment. There were plenty of places to choose from where she might be able to pick up a guy—whether it be for a casual hookup or something a little more long-term—and she had most weekends free. Joel didn’t require her to come into the office, even when he worked on Saturday and Sunday nights. It shouldn’t take too much of her time to put on a nice dress and head on down the street. She wasn’t a model or anything, but she was fairly certain she could get a guy back to her place with little to no effort.