Touch Me Boss: A Single Dad Office Romance

by Aria Ford

  Megan sat at a small table in a corner of the kitchen. The neighbor bustled about, setting a teapot on the stove to boil.

  She sat down in the chair across from Megan. Megan pulled out her notepad. “Okay, state your name, please.”

  “Lindsey Coolidge.”

  “Okay, Lindsey. How long have you known Charlotte Mortez?”

  “I met her last summer when I moved here from Oklahoma.” She crossed her legs. “She and her husband have always been nice people, they smile when you see them and such.”

  “Did it ever seem like they had any marital troubles?”

  Lindsey got up to grab the tea kettle that had begun to whistle. “Green or black tea?”

  “Green tea is fine. So, did you notice anything strange about Charlotte at all?”

  “No, not really. Her husband is a really handsome stock broker.”

  “Okay. Is he faithful? Have you noticed any strange women visiting their residence?”

  Lyndsey blew on her chamomile tea and shook her head. “No, I haven’t. He’s a very nice man.” They almost always seemed that way on the outside, in Megan’s experience.

  “How long has she been missing, Detective?”

  The bitterness of Megan’s tea lingered on the center of her tongue. “The last time anyone heard anything from her was on Monday at work.”

  Lyndsey stirred her tea and furrowed her eyebrows before asking, “Wait. She came home Monday night, I saw her come home and then a couple of hours later she left in a black dress. I thought she might be meeting her husband for a dinner date.”

  “She went out on Monday?”

  “Yeah, she was all dressed up like she was going on a date. I saw her husband’s car pull up maybe two hours after she left. I remember because I’d gotten up to make some tea,” she said, raising her cup in punctuation.

  “Was she with him?” Megan asked, jotting down notes.

  “I’m not sure.”

  Megan drained the rest of her tea and smiled at Lyndsey. “Thank you so much for your time. I’ll see myself out.”

  Megan walked through the living room to get to the front door, and the porcelain dogs and cats grinned at her as she shut the door behind her. It kind of creeped her out. She stretched once she was back outside and glanced around the neighborhood.

  She didn’t see any of the other neighbors out and a sleek black car was parked in the Mortez’s driveway. Megan ventured over and rang the bell.

  It was silent for a moment as the bell finished singing. She peeked through the windows that flanked the door and rang the bell again. This time, she heard faint footsteps and a dog barking.

  The cream-colored door was pulled open and an English bulldog stuck its head out. “Well, hey boy. ?” She reached down and scratched the dog behind an ear.

  She lifted her eyes and was met with the sweatpants-clad Mr. Mortez. For his wife to have such famed looks, he was an average looking man. He was on the shorter side, but lean. His long, black hair was like an oil slick falling just in front of his eye.

  “Can I help you?” He coughed.

  “Yes, I’m Detective Megan Lowe. I’m investigating the disappearance of your wife, Charlotte. May I come in?”

  His eyes lit up with hope and he nodded with vigor. “Yes, please. Can I get you anything, Detective?”

  The living room was decorated with a sleek, modern look. Megan invited herself to a seat on a small suede loveseat. “I’m fine, your neighbor just gave me some tea.”

  Mr. Mortez sat on the sofa across from her. The English bulldog jumped up into his lap, and he stroked his back while keeping his eyes on Megan. “Have you heard anything about her?”

  Megan shook her head. “I’m just trying to connect some dots so far. So, Lyndsey said that on Monday night Charlotte came home for a couple of hours and left pretty dressed up. Did you guys have any plans?”

  Mr. Mortez narrowed his eyes while he toyed with the bulldog’s ears. “ No, we didn’t. I came home from work at about nine, I fed Stuckey. When I woke up the next morning, she still wasn’t in bed. I thought that she had come home late from LoveConnect and then set out early the next day. Her boss, Gabriel, usually has her running errands during their busier periods.”

  “Mr. Mortez, did you and your wife have a healthy relationship?”

  He shrugged. “I think so. I mean, we have this nice house together and a dog. We both have pretty good jobs, and we don’t really fight.”

  “No disagreements lately?”

  “Not really, even when we do disagree on something we don’t fight. Charlotte will just become pretty distant and I wait for her to come back.”

  Megan scribbled on her pad. “So, she does this often? Just leaves?”

  “No. She’s never just left. She usually just stays later at the office and dives into her work so she doesn’t have to think about the problem.”

  Why didn’t anyone at work mention that she was a workaholic? Megan stood up and stroked Stuckey’s forehead. “Well, thank you very much for speaking with me. If you can think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to call,” she said, handing him a business card. “I’ll let you know if I have any new information..”

  “Thank you, Detective. I’ve been lonely without her, I just want her home safe.”

  Megan nodded. “I’ll keep in touch.” She walked out of the front door and back to her sedan. I need to lay everything out, she thought, as she put the car in drive and headed toward the station.

  After a half hour in traffic, she finally made it back to her office. She walked up the steps and waved at Georgina as she left for the day. She strolled to her department and to her messy station. I’ll organize everything else later. She wrote down all of the facts about Charlotte’s case that she had so far on large index cards. She laid each card out in the order she received the information on her desk.

  Megan dragged her pen from the first notecard to the fourth one, formulating different hypotheses in her mind as she went. She called the husband’s work and they confirmed that he had been at the office until 8:45. She asked for their address and was able to determine that it would only take him about fifteen minutes to arrive home. His story seemed to check out.

  So far, Lindsey was the last person to see Charlotte alive and she stated that she’d been dressed like she was going on a date. Megan had a hunch that this was the direction she needed to go in. Her husband had claimed that she often worked long hours. Perhaps she needed to start looking into a possible workplace affair. Wouldn’t be the first one she’d come across in her career. Chief Cole shut his office door and passed Megan’s desk on the way out. “Better get a lead on this case quick, Lowe. I’ll keep a patrol car warm for you.”

  Megan slammed her hand down on the hard wood of the desk once he left. “I’ll tell you what you can do with that patrol car Chief.”

  Chapter 3

  “Hi? Yes, this is Megan Lowe. I’m a Detective, I came by the other day? No, no I cannot hold. Don’t put me on hold!”

  Megan let her head fall on her desk and Georgina’s snickers could be heard from across the aisle. Clearly, the receptionist had no respect for authority. Megan spared her a glare and ended the call on her phone. In front of her, were 52 pages of phone records.

  She had been skimming Charlotte’s phone records from three days before she went missing since dawn. Even the effects of the chocolatey coffee she had this morning began to wane, and she found herself losing patience. And sleep.

  Charlotte Mortez had been missing for four days now. This clearly wasn’t a case of a wife who just needed a day or two away. At this point, foul play was definitely suspected. Megan rubbed her eyes and tried to refocus. Everyone, especially the chief, was just waiting for her to screw this up. She had to solve this case. Had to.

  She sighed and peeled the corner of the reports and let her fingers walk her to the second to last page. “The night before she went missing she called her manicurist before the time she arrived at her home. Right be
fore she left again, she sent a text to her boss?”

  Georgina rubbed her shoulders. “Hey, at least you’re closer.”

  “If I can’t even get past the damn receptionist, how am I going to get to the friggin’ CEO?” she nearly whined.

  “I’m going to grab a coffee, do you want a refill?” Georgina asked, pointing to the empty paper cup. Clearly, she was feeling sympathetic toward Megan; at least for now.

  “No, I need to see if I can get an appointment with the elusive Gabriel Geroux.”

  Georgina nodded and headed out for lunch. Megan sighed again and dialed the number that the internet turned back for LoveConnect Corporate. This might be easier than going through that ditz at the switchboard.

  “Hi, I’d like to make an appointment with Mr. Geroux.”

  The voice on the phone said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Geroux is completely booked for the next six months.”

  “That’s fantastic- I’m not trying to propose a business deal to him, I’m actually a Detective. I just want some information from him on his employee, Charlotte Mortez? She went missing earlier this week?”

  “I can schedule you in for May?”

  Megan’s fingers flexed and she squeezed her bright red stress ball. “I cannot wait until May, this is an investigation- she could be dead by May.”

  “End of April okay?”

  “No! No, it is not. What part of ‘I am a Detective and I’m investigating a missing person’ do you not get?” she yelled into the phone. Nothing but silence answered her.

  Frustrated, she slammed the phone down on its cradle. She had to get in to see Gabriel Geroux. From what she could tell, he was the last person she’d talked to.

  “I need a solid lead,” she said to herself. Chief Cole walked by and smirked. “I agree, Lowe. You’re going to need a real solid lead to find that poor woman because you clearly can’t rely on your skills alone.”

  Megan stood up, ignored her boss, and collected the phone records, her notes, and her gun. “Here goes nothing.”

  She drove down to LoveConnect Corporate and once she entered the building the high fashion receptionist waved at her.

  “Oh, hello Detective Lowe! What can I do for you?”

  “I just need to go upstairs and ask some more questions.”

  “Sure! Who are you looking for? I’ll page them?” she was much more cooperative than before and it almost threw Megan for a loop.

  Megan leaned over the desk and the directory was in view. “Mr. Geroux,” Megan mumbled.

  “Oh, Mr. Geroux is all wrapped up-”

  “Do you think I give a shit what Mr. Geroux is doing? A woman’s life is in danger.”

  “I can’t just let you up to his office-”

  Megan snatched the directory sheet and jogged onto the opening elevator.

  “Miss! You can’t do that! I’ll be in so much trouble!” the receptionist howled as Megan punched in the top floor on the elevator. The doors slid open and Megan was released into a penthouse office. Glass windows sectioned off different rooms, and it was really more like a second apartment at work. She could see the tile of the kitchen peeking out from the entrance and if she looked to her left she would find a shower room.

  “Hello?” she called out. She passed the shower room where she found another set of glass barriers. Behind those doors was a lush private office. The desk was an intimidating glass design and the camel colored leather chair swung back and forth just slightly.

  She cleared her throat. “Excuse me? I’m Detective Megan Lowe and I need to speak with Gabriel Geroux.” She tried to sound as authoritative as possible.

  The chair swung around all of the way, and Gabriel’s harsh hazel eyes focused on her as he spoke into his phone, “Yes, I see her now. Looks like security wasn’t fast enough. No, it’s fine.” He ended the call and appraised her.

  Megan had long, brown curls that fell down her back and around her shoulders. She was a petite woman, but she looked muscular under her suit. She was pear-shaped, with round breasts and if she turned around he’d probably get an eyeful.

  “Megan Lowe,” he drawled. “What can I do for you, Detective?” he smiled at her and it came off as predatory.

  Megan nearly shuddered as his eyes grazed over her. He was definitely a good-looking man, but something about him seemed a bit dark and dangerous. She wasn’t sure what kind of dangerous just yet, though. Was he ‘murder your employee’ dangerous, or ‘rip off your panties and bend you over his desk’ dangerous? She found that she had a really strong desire to find out. Before her facial expressions could give her away, she cleared her throat.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve caused your employees any difficulties. I seem to have thrown some of them into a tizzy,” she said, trying to sound apologetic even though she wasn’t.

  He shrugged. “They get like that. No worries, Detective.”

  She nodded. “I’m here to ask a few questions about Charlotte Mortez?”

  His expression darkened and he sighed. Megan made a mental note of his reaction. “Yes, I suppose this is unavoidable. What would you like to know?”

  “Well, Mr. Geroux-”

  “Please, call me Gabriel,” he interrupted.

  “Very well, Gabriel. According to Charlotte’s phone records, you were the last person she spoke to. Can you tell me what that was about?”

  Gabriel appraised her again, deciding how much he should admit. He knew enough not to out himself as Charlotte’s lover; it would make him the prime suspect. He also knew that if he gave too little information, he would look suspicious as well. Finally he gave his carefully considered answer.

  “I needed her to drop off a contract for me early the next morning at the LA Note. I was just reminding her of that. Honestly Detective, Charlotte is one of my best employees, I’m quite concerned for her.”

  Megan decided to tip her hand just a bit and see how he reacted. “And did she need to be in a slinky little black dress for that errand?” she asked him sweetly.

  She caught the slight flare of his nostrils. “Do I need a lawyer present, Detective Lowe?”

  “No. Not unless you’re guilty of something.” She smirked, and pulled her notepad out of her purse. “Okay, Gabriel. So you asked her to deliver some contracts to the LA Note?”

  He nodded and reached into his desk for a thick packet of papers. “This is a copy of the documents I asked her to get notarized. They made it to the newspaper Tuesday morning, but I don’t know what happened to her after that.”

  That stopped Megan in her tracks. “Tuesday morning?”

  “Yes,” Gabriel replied, looking at her like she might be stupid.

  “So she was here Tuesday morning?”

  Gabriel sighed and rose to his feet. He stretched and pulled off his brown suit jacket. Megan allowed herself a small internal gasp at his muscular build. He looked like walking sex.

  “No, she was not here Tuesday morning, hence the text Monday night reminding her to drop off the documents,” he said. “Now Detective, if you have any other questions, you might want to talk to Allen West at the Note since he talked to her before she went missing. If you’ll excuse me, I am late for a meeting.”

  With that, he stalked past her, leaving Megan alone in a cloud of $500 cologne.

  Chapter 4

  Megan had spoken to Allen West at the LA Note as Gabriel had suggested and had gotten pretty much nowhere. According to him, Charlotte had arrived around 7:30 am, dropped off the contracts, and left without much fanfare. Megan had no new information and was beginning to grow frustrated.

  She called Gabriel again and demanded that he give her more of his time. She was still holding firm to her suspicion that his and Charlotte’s relationship was more than just professional. He had agreed to meet her at the coffee shop around the corner from his office.

  Gold-colored curtains fell from the ceiling and barely grazed the ground before being lifted up again in a U shape. The smell of madeleines wafted through the air, and you could taste th
e treat before it even made it to your plate. Waitresses walked around with frilly white aprons tied tight to their waists, and the bustle of patrons and the click of a waitress’s heels were all you could hear.

  Megan groaned as the waiter pulled out her chair and she eased herself into it. I’m not against a regular cup of coffee with mocha in it. Why does he have to pick such an extravagant place? Café Don costs a fortune.

  She skimmed the menu and her leg bounced up and down underneath the table. Why does all of the coffee start at 8.00?

  It wasn’t long before he appeared, in a silver cardigan and blue jeans. His hair hadn’t been gelled down, and the tousled chestnut locks looked boyish on him as he eased into the chair across from her.

  “You beat me here.” He smiled genuinely at her, like they were old friends.

  “Are you ready to answer more of my questions?” Megan asked him, ignoring the pleasantries.

  He flagged down the waiter and said, “Could we have a French press please?” He turned to Megan. “How do you like your coffee?”

  “With mocha, and a lot of cream.”

  The waiter nodded and scurried off to find a freshly cleaned French press.

  Gabriel noticed how two of Megan’s fingers constantly toyed with some of the ringlets in her hair. The way she sat, like she would have to spring up at any moment, left her with one arm just below her breasts. She offered a hard expression. She clenched her jaw and he saw her forget to smile when the waiter came back with a French press of light roast and a short cup filled with mocha pumps. He could see that he wasn’t going to be able to charm her that easily.

  “Okay, Megan. Here’s what I can offer you,” he poured some coffee into the bright green mug that the waiter had slid in front of him. “I was with Charlotte the morning she disappeared. She was at my home.”

  She whipped out that famous notepad and copied down what he said. I knew it! she thought.

  “We spent the night together, and no, it wasn’t the first time. The last time I saw her was when I left for my jog at 7:00 am. She was supposed to have the contracts notarized and deliver them to Allen West at the Note. He called to tell me that you spoke with him so I know that you know she at least made it there.”