Fool Me Once: A Bad Girl Romance

by Samantha Westlake

  "How long was the last one here?" I asked Marcus.

  He counted back on his fingers, frowning. "Week and a half, I want to say?"

  "Not too bad. Maybe we should send her some flowers, or a card to say congratulations."

  "Yeah, but for three of those days, Walker was out of the office. She just had to deal with him by phone."

  "Ah." I considered this new wrinkle. "How did that affect the betting pool?"

  "There are some fierce debates going on between some of the senior sales and marketing execs over it, but most people decided to just let it slip. But they're taking new bets, if you want to put some of that new dirty money of yours to use."

  I straightened up in my chair. For some reason, that little warning voice at the back of my head was starting to murmur. What could be setting it off? "Wait, he's got a new girl already?"

  "Yup. Just started this morning, in fact, barely an hour after the old one left." Marcus's frown deepened a little. "Now, normally I'd say that it's just coincidence, or maybe Walker had this one picked out already as deserving of his dirty little salami, but given who she is-"

  That warning voice in my head grew stronger. "Marcus, there's something that you're not telling me," I said, and saw my arrow hit its mark as my best friend winced. "Don't be like that, man! Tell me!"

  "I suppose you'd find out at some point," he murmured, maybe to himself. "But I don't think that this is something I can tell you. I think that you-"

  "Ugh." I hoisted myself up from my chair, stretching out my hands. "I'm just going to go see for myself. If Walker has her in the usual spot – right outside his office so he can ogle her while he's at his desk – then I'll go right down and say hello."

  "I'm not sure that's a good idea," Marcus tried, but I paused at his side only long enough to snatch the Queen of Hearts playing card out of his fingers.

  "Thank you," I said acidly, slipping it back into my wallet. "Now, excuse me."

  Marcus put up his hands. "Whatever. Don't say I didn't warn you."

  He hadn't actually warned me of anything, but that voice in my head certainly was going loud and strong by now. It kept on shouting, telling me to be careful, that this was some sort of trap, to keep away-

  I rounded the corner, finally getting a clear line of sight down to the secretary's desk that guarded the entrance to Walker's private office.

  And froze.

  Even from this distance, I recognized the curvy, voluptuous figure parked behind that counter. I recognized the blonde hair with that slight tint of reddish-brown, the confident posture that seemed almost supernatural, the ever-present little smile around her lips that suggested that she knew something you didn't.

  "Ruby?" I gasped, feeling like I'd just taken a punch to the chest.

  Coming up behind me, Marcus winced. "Yeah. Definitely should have told you ahead of time. My bad, man."

  Chapter Fourteen

  RUBY

  *

  Karson Walker looked like the kind of guy that tried a little hard to command attention, I thought privately to myself. Short, going a bit soft and pudgy around the waist, and wearing a suit that, although fabulously expensive and presumably custom tailored to fit the body he'd had back when he bought the outfit, now stretched a bit too tightly across his stomach and looked a little baggy around his arms.

  In short, he looked more like the sort of dude who might get arrested for going on a cocaine-fueled rant at some McDonalds, rather than the CEO of a huge company worth many millions of dollars. I gave people the respect that they earned, and he was sinking further and further into the negative with each obvious glance that he shot at my chest.

  Of course, I didn't let any of these inner considerations appear on my face. Instead, sitting at my new secretary's desk, I gazed rapturously up at him, nodding along as he rambled about how important he was, and how I couldn't screw up a single one of the million tasks he assigned to me. If I did, I'd lose this company incalculable amounts of money, make him very personally disappointed, put my own job on the line, yadda yadda yadda.

  Really, despite my bright-eyed expression, I wasn't listening.

  After all, I'd worked jobs like this before, although never for too long. Most of it just came down to walking that fine line between "sexy suck-up underling" and "dominating dragon mistress." Flirt and tease the boss, but don't give away the goods – and act as a door guard, keeping all the plebian undesirables from obtaining an audience with the head honcho.

  The most important lesson from this first day – the one that Karson Walker wasn't going to tell me outright, although his obvious, lingering glances gave it away – I already knew. It was an easy one to figure out.

  Wear a low-cut shirt and something tight across my ass.

  Ugh. Men. Honestly, when it comes down to it, they're all the same.

  I heard a little sound off to one side, faint but still clearly detectable as a gasp. When Karson next took his eyes off of my face, puffing himself up with another one of his stupid anecdotes, I flicked my own gaze off to one side.

  Yep. There, mostly hidden behind the nearby cubicle wall, I saw a pair of wide eyes looking back at me. Even with most of his face hidden behind the gray fabric cubicle wall, I still recognized Dane.

  I lifted my hand up, waiting for Karson to next look away, and then gave him a little wiggle of my fingers. Even from this distance, I saw his eyes widen a bit further. My smile as I turned back to Karson was genuine, this time.

  Maybe all men weren't totally the same. Dane wasn't nearly as bad as this fat sack of overdressed shit in front of me.

  "It all sounds wonderful, Mr. Walker," I finally managed to smoothly interject, when Karson next paused for breath. "But why don't you head into your office and let me get set up? I'm sure that I need to handle a few more things so that I can adequately serve you." I dragged out these last couple of words, giving them just the slightest hint of a double entendre.

  The little modification of my speech wasn't overlooked. "Maybe I'll have to call you in, one of these nights, for a private briefing," Karson suggested.

  I covered my groan with a fake little titter of a laugh, holding my hand up in front of my mouth. "Oh, Mr. Walker! You're so funny. Now, go get to work, making millions of dollars for this company."

  He looked a little sad to leave me, probably mostly because he was enjoying the view. It was true, I admitted to myself. I even distracted myself a little bit when I glanced down. I'd picked out a blouse with a loose scoop neck that, although demure at first glance, gave an impressively deep look whenever anyone looked down at it from above. That, combined with a push-up bra to really emphasize the swell of my breasts, gave me a rack that could challenge any trashy magazine cover model.

  It was this outfit, more than any of my totally fictional skills on my resume, that got me this job. I'd just had to walk into Karson's office, give him a big smile, and then lean forward when I 'accidentally' dropped a pen. Instantly hired.

  I kept the stupid, smarmy smile plastered across my face until I heard the click of Karson's office door closing. I carefully rotated so that I faced away from him, making sure he couldn't see me out of his big floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

  Not that I needed to bother. A minute later, the shades closed, apparently at the push of some button on a remote at his desk. Karson apparently felt a sudden need for privacy.

  "It's because he's jacking it in there, you know."

  I glanced up as Dane's black friend (Marcus? Was that his name?) approached my desk, grinning. "One of the other secretaries walked in on him once," he went on. "Incredibly, Karson didn't even get embarrassed. He asked her if she wanted to lend him a hand – or better yet, a mouth."

  I lifted my own hand up to my mouth, trying to hold back giggles. "Really? Did she say yes?"

  "She did not. She did, however, snap a picture on her phone, which she emailed out to the entire company-wide mailing list." Marcus chuckled. "And strangely, despite Karson's best attempts to fir
e anyone who even mentions it, photocopies of that picture seem to keep on popping up here and there occasionally. Often at the Christmas parties."

  "I'll have to make sure that I knock before entering," I said, glancing over Marcus's shoulder. Dane had followed his friend in approaching me, but still hung back a couple of steps. I couldn't read the expression on his face. Wasn't he surprised to see me here?

  "Like that will stop him. Hell, just make sure you have your phone out and open to the camera app before opening the door. The old photo is a bit blurry, and it would be great to get an updated version for this year's Christmas bash."

  "Noted." I noticed Marcus's eyes also straying towards my neckline, although he at least did a better job of not making it as obvious as Karson. "Your friend seems to be a little shy, by the way."

  Dane heard this, of course, and started forward. "Ruby! What the hell are you doing here?"

  I smiled back at him as I considered how I'd answer. "What's the matter? Aren't you glad to see me?" I stuck my mouth out in a little pout. "You know, you haven't called me, even though I left you my number. I waited all weekend by the phone."

  I saw Dane's hand twitch down towards his wallet in his pocket, and guessed that he still had my card tucked away in there. To be honest, a little part of me had hoped that he would call. Not that I wanted to get attached or anything, but there had been moments with him that were... less than awful. If he wanted to take me out for another drink at The Local, that bar of his – or maybe do something else more fun than filing papers – I wouldn't have turned him down.

  "That's not important right now," he said after a second, refusing to be sidetracked by my diverting tactic. "Come on, Ruby, why are you working here? What's your game?"

  Marcus, still standing beside my desk, looked sideways at his friend, his eyebrows climbing. "Dane, what are you talking about?" he asked. "I thought you'd be excited to see this chick here. Didn't the two of you, after the poker game, well..."

  "Yes," I answered.

  "No," said Dane at the same time. He glared at me, but this time, I glared back. What bee had gotten into his bonnet?

  After a moment, Dane turned back to me, but just as he opened his mouth, I heard the crackle of the little speaker installed in my desk. The other end, I'd been informed, was connected to Karson's desk, so that he could relay commands to me or summon me in at a moment's notice.

  "Ruby, can you come in here?" came the crackly voice through the speaker.

  "First name basis," Marcus commented. "Did you hear how he sounded a little out of breath? Watch out for any wet spots on the carpet."

  "You're a disgusting man, aren't you?" I asked Marcus as I stood up in my seat. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the shades to Karson's office once again opening up.

  He grinned back at me. "Yes, yes I am. But at least I'm upfront about it. Welcome to IDS, Ruby – you're gonna hate it here."

  I gave him a last beaming smile, stuck out my tongue at Dane, and then stepped out from behind my desk before either of them could react. As I walked over to Karson's office, I put an extra little saunter in my step, an extra little swing to my butt in its tight skirt, and I heard Marcus grunting as he nudged Dane to point it out.

  To tell the truth, I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing here, working for IDS as this sexist pig's secretary. But when Dane had led me out of the office on that Friday night, I'd seen all of the wealth, the opulence, of Karson's office – and it screamed out to me, just begging for me to see about getting my hands on a bit of it.

  As soon as I met Karson Walker himself, I knew that I needed to take him down a couple of pegs. He was exactly the kind of puffed-up, self-important asshole who had gotten fat off of oversized bonuses, probably while many of his underlings struggled to make their paycheck last the month. If the pay offered to me as his secretary was any indication, he was definitely a skinflint in the payroll department.

  Somehow, I'd make sure that he learned his lesson.

  For right now, however, I knew that I just needed to keep my eyes open for the perfect opportunity. I needed to win him over, earn his trust, so that he wouldn't think twice, or even once, when I asked him for the little bit of information that would bring him crashing down.

  And also, hopefully, make me a very rich young woman indeed.

  Stepping into Karson's office, I once again plastered that fake, smarmy suck-up smile across my face. He sat heavily in his chair behind his desk, and I couldn't help but notice that his shirt was no longer fully tucked into his pants, and his belt looked only partially buckled. Marcus had been telling the truth, it seemed, about what the CEO did in the privacy of his own office.

  Disgusting.

  "What can I do for you, sir?" I asked Karson, making certain not to let any of my disgust for the man show in my voice or on my face.

  He grunted. "I need to get a reservation at a really good steakhouse downtown for tomorrow night. I'm taking some clients out to dinner, and they need to be impressed." He shuffled a couple papers on his desk. "Make it happen, okay?"

  Clearly, the honeymoon period of my employment had come to an abrupt end, probably thirty seconds before he called me back into his office. "You got it, boss," I said brightly. "I'll get right on it!"

  "Great." No thank you, of course, not from the mighty Karson Walker. "And listen, while I've got you here, there are some other tasks that I need you to take care of for me. You got a notepad or something? You can't fuck up any of these, understand, or else bigger heads than yours are gonna roll. Got it?"

  This just kept getting better and better. "I'll remember everything, sir," I told him, putting my hands behind my back and clasping them together. It seemed that working for Karson Walker wasn't just going to consist of sitting around and sticking my chest out whenever he looked at me.

  Controlling my sigh so that the priggish CEO in front of me didn't notice (although I doubt he would have noticed anything I did, even if I'd made horrible faces at him), I focused on listening to his tasks, committing them to memory. I couldn't get fired yet, not until after I'd figured out how to rob him blind.

  I just needed some time to think about the problem. I'd walk away from here with everything I wanted – and more.

  Chapter Fifteen

  DANE

  *

  I didn't get much work done for the rest of the day, mostly because I kept popping my head up over my cubicle wall to check and see if Ruby was still at her desk. I had a decent line of sight on her, but by the time that five o'clock rolled around, I was starting to feel like a damn prairie dog.

  Finally, however, my efforts paid off. Shortly before six o'clock, I popped up to peep at her – and saw her standing up at her desk, pulling her coat off of where she'd draped it over her chair! Perfect. I hastily locked my own computer and sprinted down to catch her at the elevators.

  I reached the elevators – and looked around, frowning. Where was she? Ruby should have gotten here before me, but she couldn't have caught one of the rides down; they weren't that fast-

  The stairs! My eyes lit up as I saw the door to the stairway just clicking shut. I hurried over and yanked it over, plunging down the stairs heedlessly. My feet flew under me, and I thought darkly that I might end up breaking my fool neck here if I wasn't careful.

  "Ruby!" I shouted, catching a glimpse of blonde hair, another two flights down.

  A second later, her head popped out into the central open area, looking up at me in surprise. "Why, it's Dane!" she exclaimed, as if she hadn't been totally expecting me to come chasing after her like an idiot. "I didn't realize that you were still here!"

  I managed to catch up with her. "Yeah, well, I am," I answered. It wasn't the most graceful response, so I moved on past it quickly. "But more importantly, you never actually answered my question about what you're doing here!"

  "Going home, at the moment. Thinking about dinner-"

  "Ruby, you know what I mean," I interrupted her. "At the company! What are you doi
ng working here? This definitely isn't you, unless you're up to something!"

  She blinked back at me, her eyes so big and bright and innocent that I couldn't even begin to consider trusting her. "Why, I'm working for a living!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together in front of her. "After losing my money to you the other night-"

  "-which I gave back to you-"

  "-I thought, you know, maybe this criminal life isn't for me!" She beamed back at me, well aware that we both knew she was lying. "So now I'm working for my dinner, earning an honest wage! And it's rather refreshing!"

  "Oh, knock it off," I snapped. "We both know that you're full of it, Ruby. So just come on and tell me the truth."

  "Dane, ever heard the expression that you'd probably catch more flies with honey than vinegar?"

  "So you're a fly, right now?" I fired back. "Funny, because I was thinking more of you as a flea. Or maybe a mosquito."

  She clasped her hands to her chest, widening her eyes at me. "Oh, Dane, that wounds me," she exclaimed. "But you know what? Maybe I could forgive you if you helped a girl out by buying her dinner." She grinned cheekily, totally without guilt. "After all, I haven't gotten my first paycheck yet, and I'm a little strapped for funds."

  "You can't use all that money you took back from me this past weekend?" I couldn't resist asking.

  "Alas, rent money," she complained, shrugging in a 'what can you do?' gesture. "I'm living with my friend Kelsey, but she insisted that I needed to put down some money up front to secure a bed of my own."