by Iona Rose
She immediately becomes defensive, all the light and elegance in her eyes and frame disappearing. “Who says I’m hitting on him? Sheesh, take it easy.”
I keep my gaze neutral even though I am subjected to her sharp eyes, until she hands the folder to me. Then she turns around and storms out of the reception.
I eye her retreating frame and pull the folder open to look at the one page memo. Cognizant has indeed become a massive IT consultant and digital solutions provider with about fifteen billion in yearly revenue. So, there is no doubt that I stand to learn a lot and gain some exposure from the deal. I quickly study the memo and after memorizing what I need to about the company, I knock on his door and walk into his office.
He is however on his feet and putting on his suit jacket.
My heart lurches seeing that he is about to leave. His gaze meets mine and I momentarily freeze.
“What is it?” he asks.
This is the cue that I need to get myself back together. “T-the memo came from the ground floor. On the call from Cognizant?”
“I don’t need it,” he says as he grabs his phone. He starts to round the desk and I take several steps backwards as though I’m the one he’s approaching. It’s only at the slight confusion on his face that I halt my steps. My mouth then immediately blurts out what I want it to, “Can I come along? Please?”
His face goes blank.
Cold chills begin to crawl down my arms. Why are you so goddamn intimidating? I cry inwardly. If it isn’t for the fact that he has been inside me, I’m not sure that I would have been able to take the pressure of working for him. “I apologize if I'm overstepping but I—”
“You are,” he says. “You are overstepping.”
“I-I’m sorry,” I stutter and step away from him. I focus on calming my state as he walks to the door.
He stops at the door to look at me. “Do you know how to play golf?” he asks.
“Uh, no but uh, I can do everything else.” My mind goes blank at the utterance. I can do everything else? What does that even mean?
“Everything else like what?”
“I can uh… uh, I c-can get your drinks or uh… help carry the bags. The golfing bag I mean.”
He stares at me.
I squirm like a worm under his piercing gaze.
“Can you at least drive the golf cart?” he asks.
This is not a question to ponder on as I can see that he is already getting impatient. “Yes sir! I can! Most definitely.”
“Alright. Come along then.”
At his words, my spirit nearly leaps out of my body. “Yes! I mean… thank you.”
He continues on his way out.
I do a quick, little girly swirl before going after him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Grady
‘Distraction’ is an understatement for what Blair Tatum is in a caddy’s attire.
I truly didn’t expect her to change into the outfit since this is still a business meeting regardless of the location. But on a positive note, Sasha Vasiliev took one good look at her and lit up like a bulb.
Therefore, before I had the chance to inform her that she didn’t have to be too friendly to the older man, she took it upon herself to indulge him as much as he desired. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and neither could I for that matter, except of course when she is looking in my direction.
We have an official caddy assigned to us, but she insisted on driving us herself.
Her skills with the cart are jerky and bumpy at best, but not much else can be fully noticed with how short her plaid skirt is. It just barely rests above her ass. The creamy length of her legs, disappearing underneath the material to converge at a place I am no stranger to is more than enough to set my blood boiling. The skirt is complemented with a tight white shirt that hugs the fullness of her breasts, and on her head sits a white baseball hat.
“So, Miss Tatum, how long have you been working for Mr. Abbott here?”
“About two weeks,” she replies with a dazzling smile.
I pause at the smile that I do not think I have seen on her before. It is sweet and bright and against my better judgement, pulls at something in my chest. I almost can’t look away.
It sure brings to mind what Allen said about her being a goofball. So is this a confirmation then? I wonder. That she is full of light but then when it comes to me, she becomes withdrawn and somewhat timid?
“Do you enjoy working over there?” Mr. Vasiliev asks her. “How does the highly acclaimed Mr. Abbott treat his staff?”
She glances back at me, and then slightly purses her lips at the older man. “My title is the executive assistant, sir, but I’m sure we can all see exactly what that entails, seeing as I’m the caddy for the afternoon.”
He throws back his head to release a booming laugh, while I on the other hand can’t think up a response.
So, I just rest my gaze on her but she seems too shy to look at me.
Soon, we arrive at Sasha’s putt, a tricky, downhill 20-footer. We both stand to the side as he readies himself for the hit but I can see already that he is going to miss the hole. True enough, he swings the club and it breaks about four inches to his right. The ball rolls right past the hole and stays out.
“Fuck me!” he curses.
Blair sends me a worried look.
I hold her gaze for as long as she has the guts to do the same, unmoved and relaxed.
“I’m missing some good luck today aren’t I?” He laughs.
Blair sends a sweet smile over to him.
It makes him stop and myself too, for that matter.
The short, balding older man just stares at her. “Thankfully, these are the only times when I sometimes have trouble getting my stick to fill up a hole.”
At the comment, shock instantly flashes across her face.
I move my gaze from her to meet the slimy grin on his and it takes every ounce of my self-control to keep from swinging my club at his head.
“You’ve been doing quite well, sir,” she replies. “There’s just four more holes to go and I’m sure you’ll certainly win.”
“Hey! You can’t say that in front of your boss. He has ten thousand dollars riding on this game.”
“I believe in you, sir,” she says.
He turns to me with unconstrained delight. “Abbott, you just might have the greatest secretary of all time.” Then his gaze roves down her body. “And they most definitely do not come like this anymore. All curvy and lively, and willing.”
Blair excuses herself to go over to our assigned caddy.
I can overhear that she is speaking to him about replenishing our refreshments. Her phone suddenly falls from her hand so she lowers to retrieve it and as she does, neither myself nor Sasha can look away from the jut of her ass against the material.
At first, I didn’t think much about this outfit but now, I’m strung between ordering her away to change, or finding somewhere secluded so I can fuck her brains out.
I’m slowly losing control of my mind and this is a problem given the nature of this meeting. I return my attention to Sasha but he too, doesn’t seem to be in the mood for discussing business either. I resolve to bring all of this to an end as quickly as possible.
“If you hire them like this at your office Abbott, then I’m ready to sign everything to you right now, just so that I can pay visits to check up on my investment.” He winks at me.
I nod in response.
He then slaps me across the arm with a grating laugh.
I can’t help but to glare at him.
“You don’t talk much do you young man?”
“I don’t,” I reply and walk ahead with my club to attempt my putt on the green. My strike pushes the ball right into the hole and as a result, I hear a little clap from her. To preserve my sanity, I ignore it and continue on my way.
Half an hour later, we’re at the last hole and the scores clearly indicate that I am in the lead.
Given that I’m he
re to discuss a very important business collaboration, it wouldn’t be wise to let the man lose so outrightly. But at the same time it wouldn’t help his ego either for me to pretend to fall back, just so he can win. So I turn to him and say, “I’m going to win this one. So how about we double the initially agreed pot, so that when we have a rematch, you’ll be extra motivated to win your money back?”
He regards me coolly. Then the light changes in his eyes and he bursts out into laughter. “You’re not even going to try to lose so that you can get my business?”
I position the head of the club at the ball, as I get ready for my strike. “Those kinds of antics are for people that have nothing to offer.”
“But having something to offer young man, isn’t the only thing at play in these dealings.”
I hit the ball and it rolls straight into the final hole.
The game is over.
There’s a smile on my face as I straighten and turn around to face him. “It should be because that’s what truly matters. For instance before I left, I told my team to attack your system with a maze ransomware. Your internal security is currently battling with the service disruption to your banking and logistic clients.”
At my revelation, the shock that creeps onto his face makes the base of my stomach curl with excitement.
“What?” he asks.
Before I can respond, the calls start coming in on his phone, which he promptly pulls out of his pocket. He turns away with a malicious look at me and quickly responds to one. He begins shouting instructions in Russian.
I return my club to the kit and by the time he’s ready to face me, I have a smile on my face too.
“What is the meaning of this?” he asks.
“Not to worry,” I reply. “I’ll order them to exit your systems soon. They didn’t steal nor encrypt your data, so you’re fine but I just wanted to show you exactly how vulnerable you are. If someone else had been behind this, you would have been battling a ransom disaster right now.
A smile begins to spread across his face. “I invited you here to prove that you’re worthy of my business, and you’ve done exactly that.”
“No, Mr. Sasha, you invited me over to lobby you for your business. But again, as I said, those antics are for people who have nothing to offer. If you still feel after this short demonstration that you don’t need us then of course, I’ll respect your decision and look away which will of course leave your company vulnerable to such a potentially devastating threat. And as for our game, I will always be ready to answer your call for a rematch, regardless of whether we proceed to work together or not.”
He walks over to me with his hand held out.
I then proceed to accept.
After the firm handshake, he once again hits me across the back.
I don’t like the way he keeps doing that, so I’m about to open my mouth to tell him this.
Before I can make things very uncomfortable for him however, Blair steps in and completely distracts him. “Thanks again for the invitation, sir. It was a great game and it would of course, be such a pleasure for our two companies to collaborate.”
“Yes, I am sure that it will be.” With his gaze on her akin to someone eyeing a steak they wished to devour, he brings the hand she held out for a handshake over to his lips and presses a kiss on it.
I watch her do all she possibly can to hide her irritation at the gesture, and it is incredibly impressive just how she is able to maintain a friendly demeanor until the end.
Soon, we all return to the club house.
He goes on his way while Blair and I head off towards the changing rooms.
Just as we are about to go into the respective areas for the sexes however, she stops and turns to me. “You know, you could have given me some sort of heads up,” she says.
I stop and turn to face her. “What do you mean?”
“I know it’s my job, but seeing how you handled things in the end makes me realize that I didn’t have to butter him up as much as I did. Especially, since he was…” She stops and inhales deeply. “Anyway, a little heads up that you have things under control next time would be great.”
“I always have things under control and for the record, buttering him up is not your job. You chose to do that all on your own.”
I watch the hurt flash across her eyes, so I decide not to drag the matter on any further. I can’t deny though that I feel somewhat conflicted. As to why exactly, I’m not sure so I turn around and head into the changing room.
"You might fire me,” she calls to me. “But I’m going to say this; I think you’re a dick. And I don’t know if you’re doing it on purpose, but intimidating and belittling the people around you, doesn’t make you look cool, just so you know.”
Silence.
I turn to face her. “What did you say?
She turns around to leave, the fear back in her gaze but it is too late.
I grab her hand and pull her with me into the changing room. In no time, she is pressed against the tiled wall and my heart is racing in my chest.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
My voice lowers dangerously. “What exactly do you mean by I’m a dick? Are you saying that you didn’t enjoy the attention that he gave you all afternoon or are you pissed off because it didn’t draw mine?”
She smiles. “Well, apparently it did.”
The jibe is brutal, but it’s also undeniable that I’m hard and have been for the better part of the last few hours, unable to control the rage of my libido at her appearance. My gaze runs down the glistening sheen of perspiration on her neck, and all the way down to the opening of her shirt that exposes her ample cleavage. “Well maybe I did,” I admit. I am spiraling too much out of control so I shut my eyes and fight to regain my restraint. It works so I’m able to move away from her.
Before I can get too far however, she grabs onto my shirt.
I stare into her eyes looking for answers but I find nothing. All I see is a similar rendition of the fire that is raging in the pit of my stomach. “We work together,” I remind her. “We can’t do this.”
“Okay,” she says, and slowly lets go of my shirt. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” She walks away.
Somehow, I find the strength to let her go.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Blair
I cannot believe myself.
I almost made the same damn mistake with him again, and I can’t believe it. What’s worse is that I don’t even understand how things progressed so rapidly. One minute I was at his throat and in the next, I was fisting his shirt.
All I recall is feeling hurt and somewhat mocked, and then his response translated those feelings to anger. Then it all boiled down to the vehement need to either kill him or fuck him.
A few minutes later, I’m changing back into my corduroy slacks and silk blouse when his message pops up on my phone.
You can take the rest of the day off. I’ll return to the office with Andrew.
I stare at the message and before I can stop it, my eyes burn with tears.
I most definitely have a problem. I look around in despair, not knowing how I’m going to be able to go back to work with him in that office. I know that our crossing the line is not completely my fault but at the same time, he is my boss and I shouldn’t have made any advances whatsoever.
At the ball of anxiety scorching me from the inside, I release a heavy breath and make up my mind then to resign. This decision seems to bring me some element of peace, so I wipe the tears from my eyes and make my way out of the club.
I head straight to Jodie’s diner, since for once I’m not yet ready to face Layne, and secondly I need someone to drink with.
Four Bahama Mama’s later and a long narration of my woes and plight, and all she does is stare at me in confusion. “Um... again, you’re resigning because?”
“Can’t you imagine how awkward it’ll be between us?” I wail. “I don’t even know how I’ll be able to face him tomorrow.”
“But what did you do that was so wrong though? Be attracted to him?”
“We’re supposed to be professionals.”
“Oh, I get it now. You’re at fault for coming onto him even after he rejected your advances, several times. I get it. Yeah, you should resign.”
My face is straight as I glare at her.
She’s not moved. Instead, she rolls her eyes and continues, “Do you know what is wrong with your kind of demographic; the goody two-shoes, do everything proper type? You all still feel shame. And shame my dear is a buzzkill. You need to get rid of that shit and do what you fucking want.”
Her words resound inside me but at the same time, it feels so very wrong and almost foolish, so I scoff it off, and drain my cocktail. “How can you live life without feeling shame?”
“Well, that’s how I'm living right now and I’m having a blast. That’s why I didn’t slave away like the rest of you and incur thousands in debt, just to attend some fucking college. “
“No shame Jodie,” I respond. “You know I love you but, we need to talk about your hopping around. From jobs to places to people. Isn’t it exhausting?”
“It isn’t,” she replies. “For now. But when I eventually get tired of it, I would have gathered a lot of insight into just exactly what I want to do with my life. My point is that none of you can do this because you’re still afraid of being judged for being a loser… still afraid of feeling shame, so it stagnates you and keeps you in a box. I say embrace that crippling inner judgement and discomfort and soon that bitch will disappear. Then you can start truly living your life.”
“Really?” I ask dryly. “So how would you handle this situation if you were in my shoes, and missing your shame nerve or bone or whatever.
“I would walk into his office and fuck him. Then put my clothes back on and get back to work.”
I stare at her, dumbfounded. “Wow. I thought that coming here would console me, but now my headache just tripled in size. Thanks a lot Yoda.”
“Anytime,” she beams at me.