by Ashlee Price
“It wasn’t like that. You need to calm down. I can see it in your eye. What is it with this girl?”
I was pissed, but I wasn’t going to hit him. Not for touching her arm.
“Did you try anything with her?”
“No, but I hear that you have had a taste or two.”
“Who did you hear that from?”
“Everyone. I got back earlier and heard several people talking about it. I had to meet the little slut myself.”
His words made me want to hit him. I told him if he didn’t stop talking that was exactly what I was going to do. “Don’t ever touch her again. She is not a slut, and I haven’t done anything with her. It’s all of those damn gossiping interns that started it. I took her to a meeting, that’s it.”
Don was getting nervous, and I was trying to lower my voice, which was louder than I had wanted it to be. I shouldn’t have been so mad, but I was, and I knew that if my old friend said the wrong thing, I was liable to do to him what Desiree had done moments before.
“Well, she is crazy. I don’t want her working for us.”
“She just quit, and now you’d better worry about a lawsuit if you were in the wrong. This is going to be like Lisa all over again.”
He shut up then, and I was torn between dealing with him and dealing with Desiree. I decided on the latter when I started to get mad again while I was looking at Don. He wanted me to feel bad for him, but I didn’t. I felt bad that he was still doing those types of things.
“We are not done yet, Don. Don’t go flying off before I get back.”
He had done so in the past, but this time I was going to chase him. I was done going around with him, and Desiree was the final straw. Something had to change in the arrangement, and I thought of the paperwork that I had written up and gotten ready for his signature. It was time that the name on the sign was just Jefferson.
***
When I got downstairs, I could tell that there was a ruckus. She had left in a huff and her car was gone when I got down to the parking garage. I called Tommy and had him tell me her number and address. I was not prepared to lose her. I hadn’t even gotten her yet, but I knew that Desiree had come into my life for a reason.
I gave the driver the address when I got to my car. I was trying to figure out what I was going to say. There was a problem with everything going on in the office, but I didn’t think that getting rid of Desiree was the way to do it. To me the course of action was clear. I just needed to get rid of the other interns and hire Desiree for good. I didn’t know if she was going to be happy with that, but I didn’t know what else to do.
When I got to her place, it was a small shotgun house as was common in this part of the city. It was not far from the place that I grew up, and I felt a wave of nostalgia when I got out. The driver stayed put and I walked to the door. There were a couple of cars out front, and one of them was Desiree’s. I paused for a moment and wondered if the other one belonged to a boyfriend that I didn’t know about. Maybe that was why she had blown me off when I had tried to start something with her.
A tall brunette opened the door and I stopped. The woman was pretty, but she was not who I was there to see. She looked up at me through her glasses.
“Is Desiree here?”
“Are you that jerk from her work that made her so upset?”
I was a little surprised by the ferocity of the woman, and then she took a step forward. I didn’t know if she was going to hit me, but I was starting to see that there was a pattern. The women in Desiree’s circle were fierce.
Taking a step back, I tried to explain that it was the other partner. “My name is Greg. I just found out what happened and am trying to make sure that she is okay.”
I wasn’t sure if I had convinced her.
“Stay here and I will see if she wants to see you.”
I nodded my head. I didn’t really have a plan, but I hoped that she would at least see me. When a few minutes stretched by, I started to think that maybe she didn’t want to see me after all, and the feeling of loss settled again in the pit of my stomach.
Chapter 3 – Desiree
“You can’t stay in here all day. Come on. I think you should go out there and at least see what he has to say. Why are you giving up so easily? I thought you wanted this job.”
I did want it, but not the way it really was. I didn’t want to be known as the one who slept her way up to the top. “Just tell him that I’m not here.”
“Your car is out front and I told him you were here.”
I glared at Fran and I knew that she wasn’t going to let me languish. I hadn’t even been home fifteen minutes. I thought I deserved a little more time than that.
“Get up or I’m going to let him in and take him here.”
I looked around the room and then at my reflection in the mirror of the vanity. “You wouldn’t.”
She shrugged. “You should know better than that.”
Getting up, I watched her shut the door and knew that I didn’t have a choice. I could hear her opening the front door and I quickly cleaned the smeared mascara under my eyes. I didn’t want to see him, but I especially didn’t want him to see me like this. My eyes were a little puffy, and again I wished that my complexion would hide my feelings a bit more.
Going out to the living room where he was waiting, I steeled myself for him. Greg’s green eyes met mine and I knew that he knew instantly that I was upset. He rushed to me and I paused before letting my hands go into his. “I’m sorry for what happened earlier, Desiree.”
I pulled my hands from his as I felt the familiar shock from the touch. I didn’t want him touching me because then I wouldn’t be able to think. Fran was in the kitchen and I knew she was trying to eavesdrop. I gave her a look, and after a bit of silent negotiation, she finally left us alone and went to the back of the house.
“Is that your sister?”
I looked back at Fran’s retreating form. She looked nothing like me.
“No, she’s my roommate. Why do you ask?”
He chuckled. “Because I think she was ready to clock me when I came to the door. She thought I was Don.”
I smiled for a moment. It sounded like something Fran would do. I knew that she was protective of me, and she was already railing against Don about the incident. “Sorry about that. Fran can be a little intense sometimes, but her heart is in the right place.”
“No trouble. I think it’s sweet that she cares about you like that.”
I went to the kitchen and poured a glass of wine. I almost didn’t ask him if he wanted any, but my southern hospitality won out. “Did you want a drink?”
He seemed relieved and nodded his head quickly. “Yes I do. It’s been one of those days.”
I couldn’t have agreed more and topped off my own before corking the bottle. “So what can I do for you, sir?”
“I want you to come back.”
There was no way that it was going to happen. I was not about to deal with those girls and men like Don anymore. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to be there. Maybe I was supposed to be back with my own kind of people. At least them I understood.
“No, thank you.”
He frowned at me and I tried not to smile in response. I really liked the way he looked at me then. I felt like I should give more of an explanation, but I didn’t want to.
“You have the job. Not the internship, but as the newest junior member of the accounting team. I wanted to come over here and tell you in person.”
“The six weeks isn’t even up yet.”
“I don’t care. The rest will be told the program is over for the year and they are no longer needed. I meant it when I said that you would be valuable to the company. I don’t want to lose you.”
I paused with his choice of words. I knew it was going to be hard to deny him, but it was harder than I could have ever imagined.
“It would just be too weird. Besides, I don’t want to work for a man like Donald.”
“Donald is
not going to be with the company much longer. You will work for me.”
I bit my bottom lip. I knew I was doing it, but the urge was just too strong to stop it. Had he really gotten rid of the other partner? Was he going to do it because of me? I needed the job and I wanted it, but could I really come back from all of that? Could I really work at a place where everyone thought I was a slut? I didn’t really think that I could.
“I can’t, sir. I just can’t. You don’t know what people are saying about me. About us.”
I leaned in to tell him so that it wasn’t broadcast out loud, not considering what it meant to be so close to him. I was on my third glass of wine already, and I don’t know why I didn’t move back when I was finished talking. I just stood there looking up into his emerald eyes, unable to move. I wanted him to kiss me so badly. I thought he was going to, and I readied myself for the touch, but it never came.
By the time I realized it wouldn’t, he was standing farther away from me. I looked away. I felt like such an idiot. Why did I always feel this way around him? He made me feel so crazy.
Taking another drink, I willed my hands to stop trembling. I finally just put the empty glass down on the table and tried to get myself together. I forgot what we’d been talking about and when I looked over, I swore that the shade of his eyes was darker than before.
“What do I have to do to get you to stay, Desiree?”
I put my hand on the table to steady myself a little and tried my best to get a grip. I wasn’t drunk, but the feelings were similar as he devoured me with his eyes. The look bothered me in several ways, one of them being that he seemed to want me so badly but wasn’t making a move. It was frustrating, and after the day I’d had, I just wanted a kiss. In another way I felt like if I was going to get blamed for it, I might as well do it.
“I just don’t think it will work, Greg. Thank you for the opportunity and everything, but I think it’s better for me to find something else.”
He shook his head like he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “I need you, Desiree.”
I heard the words and thought I had heard wrong, but he was coming towards me and I knew I had heard him right. His eyes lingered on my lips before going to my eyes, and I felt the same spark that I had from across the room. He was blinding to me in a way, and when he finally grabbed me and pulled me to him, I was able to feel everything that he had to offer.
Greg’s lips were soft but insistent, and his grip was so tight I couldn’t have moved away if I had wanted to. I heard a low moan and wasn’t sure if it came from me or him. I didn’t care as his tongue flicked in my mouth. Another sound was added to the air and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss. My mind had shut down long before, and I wasn’t even thinking about what I was actually doing. I knew that I should stop, but I just didn’t want to.
Only when I felt his hands moving lower, cupping my ass, did I push away from his chest. I wasn’t ready for that kind of encounter, even though I wanted him badly. He growled at me and pulled away, his arms still on my shoulders as I tried to disentangle myself from his neck. My body was humming and it was hard to even look at him or talk. I wanted him too badly.
“You have to come back, Desiree.”
I knew that if I went back, everything that had been said about me would become true. I wasn’t going to be able to keep him at bay for long, and I honestly didn’t want to. The more I looked at him staring at me in such a way, the more I wanted to tell him to never stop. It was not something I was proud of, the need that I felt, but it was unstoppable.
“I just don’t know, Greg. I don’t think we should work together.” Not the way he had just kissed me. Maybe it was better if he was not my boss.
“I’m not leaving here until you tell me that you are going to come back. I have seen your work the last couple of weeks, and I know that I’m making the right decision. I know that you are supposed to be here with me.”
I wasn’t sure what he was really asking for, but it was not hard to see that he was sure that he wasn’t going to leave. The man was used to getting his way, and I wanted the job. I wanted him. Why didn’t he just take me?
Finally I nodded in agreement. We both knew that he was going to win anyways.
Chapter 4 – Greg
I left her house hard and in need, but I held myself together. It wasn’t only that I didn’t want to get slapped by her; I didn’t want to upset her so much that she didn’t come back to work. It was the closest I had come to begging in a long time, but I wasn’t as bothered as I should have been. I would have done anything to have had her, and there was no shame in that. There would have been before, but everything with Desiree was different.
So I went home and thought about her. It was something that I did basically every day now, and it was becoming part of my routine. It had gone so far that I didn’t even respond to late-night texts from old flings and current ones that I had taken out from time to time. Nothing sounded good. It was only Desiree that I wanted. Only Desiree who could take away the ache that I felt constantly in her presence.
The next day I went to work earlier. Tommy was there already and had a cup of coffee waiting for me. “So how did they take it?”
His look told me not well. I should have done it myself, but I had been too worried about talking to Desiree to take care of what I was supposed to.
“They were not too happy. I think there was talk about complaining to HR.”
“And?”
“And one of them brought Desiree up. She wasn’t very loud about it, but she was one of the ones who’d been talking about it pretty openly.”
I nodded and sat down. It was not ideal that there might be some complaints going in, but I didn’t really mind much. I just wanted them out of the building, and all of their venom with them. The last couple of weeks the atmosphere had changed, and I sure didn’t like it.
“Well, they needed to go. None of them were really going to fit in.”
“Are we starting another program, or did we find the candidate for hire?”
He was asking me if I had gotten her to agree to stay. The fact that she had hit the other partner across the face was surely out in the rumor mill, and I just nodded my head that we had. “She should be here in a little while. Make sure she gets a nice office on the fourth with Paul.”
Tommy didn’t need to know who she was. I had never made so much of a priority of another employee, but there really was just something about Desiree. Now, I just had to wait to make sure she came in and my plans would be right back on track.
It wasn’t but half an hour later that I saw her come through the doors downstairs. I wasn’t likely to admit how much I kept checking to see if she was there. I knew her car, and when she drove into the parking garage, I felt a little more at ease. I didn’t go to her then like I wanted to. I knew that it would make more people talk and make it harder on her. Instead, I waited until she was leaving for lunch and hurried out to catch her. It was underhanded, and more than likely it didn’t fool anybody, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t care too much about how I looked or how wanting her looked.
When I caught up to her, she was about to get into her car. “Going anywhere good for lunch?”
I watched her start and grab her chest a little, showing me that I had frightened her. Her surprise made me smile, and she smiled back before she even seemed to realize who it was she was talking to. When she did, Desiree went back to her business smile, and I was a little saddened by the change.
“I don’t know, sir. I think I was going to just grab a sandwich at the deli down the road. Did you want one?”
I was the one surprised by the offer. She told me to get in, and I looked longingly over to the car waiting for me. Her car was a tiny two-door subcompact, and when I got into it I felt like a giant. She laughed at me a little and I knew it was because my head was only a couple of inches from the roof.
During the ride, I felt myself looking for somewhere to grab a few times.
I’d never pictured her driving like she was in NASCAR, but it was clear that Desiree liked a little speed. It was just another part of her that I liked. Everything I learned just seemed to reinforce the initial feeling that had come over me when we met.
She giggled at me as she pulled into her parking spot and I braced myself for impact. “I take it you don’t like my driving.”
I wasn’t sure if she always drove like that, but it was clear that it wasn’t the first time she had. I was feeling a little woozy and seasick, but I would never admit such a thing. Instead, I just laughed along with her and tried to keep my cool. Desiree was full of surprises.
The sandwiches at the deli tasted better than my lunch did most days and I wondered why I’d never tried the food there. It wasn’t fancy and certainly didn’t cost much, but I found the lunch very enjoyable. I didn’t know if it was the food or the company, but when she was ready to leave, I was not.
“Come on, we’ve got to get back or we are going to be late.”
When I protested, she laughed at the absurdity or it, but then shook her head and told me that she needed to go. “I know that you’re the boss and no one cares, but I don’t need anyone else thinking that I’m getting special treatment.”
I agreed, but wondered if she realized that just being out with me was new. I had gone out with a few of my assistants, and even Paul a couple of times, but nothing like this. She was going to get special treatment whether she wanted to or realized that I was doing it.
Getting up, she insisted on paying for her meal, another new one for me, and I just went with it. After the kiss the night before, she had changed a little towards me. Before, she found it hard to meet my gaze, but now she was meeting it more often and there was something hidden in the looks she returned my way. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that Desiree was coming around. I couldn’t be sure, but once I was sure that she was ready for me, I knew that I was going to pounce on her the first chance that I got.
The drive back was as fast as the drive there. She seemed relaxed behind the wheel, her blonde hair down and flowing back with the wind. Desiree made me realize how much I missed driving. At first the driver had been a luxury, a way of showing that I had arrived, but I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed it.