Stud

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  I should have known there was something up when Janet wouldn’t look at me. “He’s expecting you,” she said in a terse, short snap.

  I tamped down feelings of unease and closed the door behind me. I refrained from locking it. I didn’t think Mick had couch antics on his mind.

  “Sign these,” he said, pushing a pile of paperwork in front of him.

  Like Janet, he didn’t look up from his computer.

  “What is it?”

  “Employment paperwork.”

  “Did you change your mind about hiring me?” I refused to get excited.

  “Curtis changed my mind.”

  I wasn’t sure what to do. On the one hand, this was the best news ever. On the other hand, I got the feeling that Mick was pissed off. Walking over to the desk, I flipped through the pages. The job offer was for a one-year contract. No vacation days or paid days off. No benefits. I was a contractor. On the other hand, the salary was competitive to what I had been making at Bradley, and according to the contract as long as I worked forty hours a week, it didn’t matter when those hours were.

  “I still can’t have you telecommuting at the moment. Our IT department has to figure out the logistics of that,” Mick said. “But we can accommodate your brother’s appointments as long as you give me your schedule a week or more in advance.”

  “Am I going to be working on the World of Legends account?” A trickle of hope coursed through me. This was really happening.

  “And only that account. I expect you to work as close to normal business hours as possible. Luckily for you, with Lemmingware being on the West Coast, you can start later in the morning than normal.”

  I nodded. That would be helpful for Billy’s morning appointments. And if I took my lunch hour for his evening appointments, I could make this work.

  “Do you have any questions?”

  “What crawled up your ass and died?” I asked. He was cold and back to being the authoritative prick. I almost expected him to snap his fingers at me when I didn’t sign fast enough for him.

  The pure shock that washed over his face at my words should have been worth it, but the anger that replaced it wasn’t. “I am your boss. You will knock off your smart mouth or I will write you up for insubordination.”

  I blinked fast. Okay, then.

  “I didn’t think I’d have to explain this to you, but perhaps it’s better so that there is no misunderstanding. Our affair is over. From now on we have a solely business relationship. I am your boss. You are my assistant. I tell you what to do and you say, ‘Yes, sir.’ ”

  I couldn’t stop my eyebrow from raising, but I kept my snarky comment to myself. Did I really want to work for this prick? My thoughts drifted to Elaine. I guess bosses all over were like diapers—always on your ass and usually full of shit.

  Mick scowled at me. “If this is too much for you, I can tell Curtis that you weren’t interested in the job.” Then his face changed and I saw the anger turn into something that had my heart pounding and moisture pool between my thighs.

  Why? Why was I so attracted to him?

  “And we can continue on as we’ve been doing.” His voice was a husky rasp and it absolutely did not make my nipples hard. It was cold in here. But while I could probably talk myself into having a three-night stand with him, I needed this job. And if I networked myself into a position over Mick Wentworth’s better judgment, so be it.

  “I am looking forward to the opportunity of working with you.” I pulled the clipboard over to me. “Sir,” I added innocently.

  I ignored the weight of his brooding gaze while I filled out the Human Resources paperwork.

  Chapter 10

  Terri

  Two weeks into my new job and I loved it. Well, most of it. I had forgotten all about office politics and the cliques that roamed around the office like street gangs defending their turf. I had no time for drama. I barely saw Mick, which was both a relief and an annoyance. I thought about him a lot, though, especially when I caught a whiff of his aftershave in the hallway or late at night when I couldn’t wind down and sleep. For his part, he was avoiding me like the plague, when he wasn’t growling or snapping at me. It really burned his ass that after not hiring me during the interview, Curtis forced his hand into bringing me on board.

  Not my problem.

  Except, actually it was, because he was my boss now. Luckily, I was able to arrange my schedule around Billy’s appointments, and working with Lemmingware was so much fun, I couldn’t believe I was getting paid for it.

  “Enjoy it while it lasts,” I told myself. “After a year, it’s back to the Beanery.”

  Elaine hadn’t taken it well at all when I gave my notice, until she found out that I was going to work for Mick and I agreed to work weekends for a month in lieu of a more traditional notice. Two more weeks and I could actually have two days off. I could feel the exhaustion creeping up on me, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

  For my first project, I commandeered an unused conference room and linked a bunch of gaming rigs together so the staff that was working in-game to promote the release could all work together. We were waiting for the programmers to drop the goods in with the new patch, but I had all the continents spoken for and we’d be able to hit the ground running as soon as the game modifications went live.

  When I had to report in to Mick, Janet gave me tons of attitude. I tried to talk about it with her, but she shut me down. I put it down to pregnancy hormones. I saw that not only did Mick get her that stupid coffee drink every morning, but he also got her a cold-cut hoagie for lunch. I wondered if there was a sandwich girl with big tits out there that he fucked over the bologna cooler after work. I tried not to care, but I did miss the attention—even if he didn’t want me anymore. I had no one to sass and obsess over and I was beginning to feel a little reckless. How firm were Mick’s rules about screwing around with an employee? Did I dare try to seduce him? Could my ego take it if he turned me down?

  His brother, Simon, was just the opposite of Mick. He was charming and helpful. It was his signature that got the purchasing department to expedite the bank of computers in the conference room. The rumor was he was going to be the next CEO of the company, taking the place of their father, who had had to step down abruptly. Simon took me out to lunch on my first official day in the office and he made it a point to check in with me on a daily basis. It made me feel less like a social pariah. As a contract employee, I was treated a step above an intern—barely.

  Because I was only a temp, none of the other marketing assistants really wanted to establish a relationship. I was just looking for someone to go to happy hour with, but I wound up feeling like Rudolph when they didn’t invite me to their reindeer games tonight.

  It was probably for the best. I had to make up some time this week anyway. So what if I spent my Friday night looking for the best place to advertise the release in-game? I probably would have been home playing with Billy anyway. Of course, if I was home I could have a pint of ice cream next to me and be in my pajamas. And I would feel like less of an outcast when the last of the laughing staff of the Wentworth Agency shut off the lights on me on their way out the door.

  “Why are you sitting here in the dark?”

  I jumped a foot. I hadn’t heard Mick come into the room.

  “I couldn’t be bothered getting up and turning them back on. I can see what I need to by the computer screen. Is there something you wanted, sir?” I hadn’t given him an inch on that bullshit.

  He leaned against the doorjamb. I could see that his jacket was slung over his arm and he had loosened his tie. Rubbing his hand over his face, he said, “I saw the lights from the computer monitor. I thought someone had forgotten to shut it down.”

  I didn’t say anything, just continued gathering materials. I might as well get some of my questing in while I monitored what people were saying in the trade channels and city chats. Still, I was aware that he continued to watch me. As most of me was slumped in a cha
ir, I was pretty sure he wasn’t checking me out. Which was good, right? He didn’t want an office affair and I’d had my fill of him. Or so I told myself, because my nose twitched at that sexy cologne he wore.

  “I wanted to ask a favor.”

  I raised an eyebrow and looked up from the computer screen. He had a five o’clock shadow, which my treacherous brain reminded me felt awesome between my legs. He tossed a small box at me.

  “What’s this?” Inside was an external hard drive and a USB cord.

  “That’s the pre-beta version of the Egyptian release.”

  I grasped it to my chest, fatigue falling away. I would pretty much do whatever he wanted for the chance to download the contents of this drive onto my computer. As far as I knew, Lemmingware wasn’t ready to put the expansion out to their beta testers yet. “Wouldn’t it be more secure to give you a key code to download it from?”

  “This isn’t the actual final release. This is the expansion plus some extras they put in that they’re not sure they’re going to keep. They want us to wander around the existing world and see what kind of attention the new characters and gear draw and to keep track of the data of where and when and what was said.”

  I nearly swooned. “I can haz epix?” Visions of elite armor and matching outfits danced in my head.

  “What?”

  “Never mind,” I said, shaking myself out of it. “I’m tired and being silly. I’ll be glad to install this and play around on it.” My Friday night was looking up.

  “I’d like to do some in-game work myself.”

  That surprised me. “Why? You’ve already got a team on it.”

  “I like to know how things work. All of this is very new to me. Like, I didn’t know you had to have a copy of the original game installed to play the expansion.”

  I nodded. That was how it worked.

  “I almost made a fool out of myself in front of Lemmingware because I didn’t know that.”

  Now I got it. This was all about his ego. “So, what do you want?”

  Mick coughed self-consciously. “I don’t have a version on my laptop.”

  Waving my hand toward his laptop, I said, “I can do the new installation for you before I go.”

  “It’s not that simple.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve never played the game.”

  “Really? It’s so much fun.” Of course, he wasn’t the videogame type. He had Very Important Places to go with Very Important People.

  “Anyway, I was wondering if you could teach me,” he said, in such a rush that I almost didn’t hear him.

  Closing my work laptop, I stood up and stretched. I decided to fuck with him to get back at him for being such a prick. “I’m not doing anything tonight. Why don’t you come over to my apartment? I’ll order a pizza. You bring the beer and we’ll set you up with a character and run you through the opening quests.”

  The silence was deafening. I had to school my face and control myself from chuckling at his expression.

  “This version can’t leave the office,” he said.

  Damn.

  I handed it back to him. “That’s okay.” I could come in on the weekend to play it. “You need to play the original version in order to understand how the new world will change the dynamics. You can download the original World of Legends on Steam while we wait for the pizza.”

  “Tonight?” he said.

  “Unless you have other plans?” Like getting a blow job in the VIP lounge or banging the salami girl at the place where you got Janet lunch.

  “I’m flattered and tempted,” he finally said. “But I don’t think it’s appropriate based on our past activities if I come over to your house. I’m your boss and I think it could backfire on us if anyone found out.”

  I snorted. He was so predictable. “You’re also very arrogant. What makes you think I still want you?”

  Mick gawked at me. This time I did laugh. “We had fun. We both got what we wanted out of the two quick dates we had.”

  “Quick?” His voice lowered in that growly way.

  I busied myself shutting down the equipment. I was going home. He could come with me, or try to figure the game out himself. I suddenly had a deep need to be in my comfy home instead of this cold office. “There’s no reason for us to continue screwing around,” I added. This was fun. He could use some lessons in humility.

  “No reason,” he said faintly, and it almost sounded like a question. “Because you got what you wanted from me?”

  “I’d say we both got what we wanted. But that’s all in the past.”

  “It was two weeks ago,” he said, his voice brimming with outrage.

  “Tonight wouldn’t be a date. It’s work. I was going to expense the pizza and I’m going to be wearing my Bugs Bunny fleece pajama pants. I won’t tell my boss about the beer, if you don’t.”

  “Of course it’s not a date,” Mick said quickly. “You can put in for overtime too.”

  I rolled my neck, wincing at the popping noises it made. “Okay.” Time and a half, sitting on my couch. Cha-ching! Beat chatting up customers looking to buy the AbMania fitness equipment. Brushing by him, I refused to acknowledge any tingles. “I’ll see you in about an hour.”

  My bravado lasted just as long as it took to drive home. Holy shit, what did I just do? The only times we’d ever been alone together—not counting business hours—we were fucking like sex-starved rabbits. And I just invited him to my home. I was pretty sure he had been going to make me teach him in the office, because he didn’t want me to work from home. But this was an exception. I was helping him out. Too bad he wouldn’t be bringing that preliminary beta version over. I would have loved to install that on my home rig and play around with it all weekend. I understood, though, that if any of the stuff leaked, it could jeopardize the release of the new expansion.

  When I got home, I took a quick shower and got dressed in my PJs. I made sure that my T-shirt wasn’t too revealing and that I wore my bunny slippers. Mick arrived just as I was picking up the phone to call for delivery. I let him in after a self-conscious look around to make sure that my bra wasn’t hanging off a chair and that I had stashed the junk food wrappers in the trash.

  “Hey,” I said, refusing to let on how good he looked in casual clothes filter any deeper than surface thoughts.

  “I got a six-pack of Corona. I hope that’s all right. I didn’t know what kind of beer you like. I also got a bottle of GSM just in case.”

  That was the weird part of a two-night stand. He knew what I tasted like but not whether I liked beer or wine.

  “What the crap is GSM? I mean, I can see it’s a red wine, but is that the thing that makes the squirrels not eat the corn?”

  “No, that’s GMO. GSM is an acronym for the grapes used in the wine: Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre.”

  Yeah, this is why we made it only two nights. I didn’t even recognize those things were even grapes. He was so out of my league.

  “I asked Siri what kind of wine goes with pizza,” Mick said with a sheepish grin.

  And then he confessed to something like that and my stomach did flip-flops. I smiled and took the bottle from him. “Well, if Siri says it’s good, I’ve got to try it. The Corona is fine too. I think I’ve got some limes in the fridge, if you want to cut them up and put a slice in the bottle.”

  He followed me into the kitchen while I rustled through the drawers to find my wine bottle opener. It was a little unnerving to have him next to me in the little space. I even held my breath so I didn’t have that seductive cologne to deal with.

  “You want me to do that?” he asked.

  “Sure.” I handed him the bottle and opener. “I was just about to call for a pizza. What do you want on it?”

  “Cheese is fine. But get whatever you want.”

  “Cheese it is.” I placed the order. “Twenty minutes. Just enough time for the wine to breathe, right?”

  He shrugged. “I guess so. Although I think you need to decant it to get the best
flavor.”

  This time I knew the difference, but I decided to fuck with him anyway. Maybe it would help ease the awkwardness a bit. “Recant the wine? Why? Is it heretical?”

  “Decant. It’s…” He paused, caught my grin, and then smiled. Pure devastation. Damn him. “It’s like detox. You take the can’t out of the wine so you can drink the whole bottle.”

  And he was funny too. Life isn’t fair. In the meantime, I found a lime in the fridge and cut it into wedges. “Unless you’d rather have a lemon?” I opened two bottles of the Corona and stuck a wedge into the neck of mine.

  “The lime’s fine.”

  We took our beers into the living room. “I set up two snack trays for the laptops, but if you want to ease back in the recliner, just move the table aside. That’s what I’m going to do.” I put my beer on the table and fired up the computer. “So the first thing we need to do is install the software and that’s going to take about an hour after all the patches download.”

  “I did that already,” he said, sitting on the other end of the couch where the other recliner was. Kicking off his shoes, he eased the seat back.

  “What name did you pick?”

  “I don’t know. I let it give me a random one.” He squinted at his screen. “Starkad.”

  “I’m Yrsa.”

  “Pretty. But why not Terri?”

  “Well, one, have you ever heard of a Viking named Terri?”

  His lips quirked in a grin. “I haven’t heard of one named Yrsa either.”

  “It means she-bear. Grrr.” I made claws out of my hands and bared my teeth at him.

  “What does Starkad mean?”

  “It means you were too lazy to research a name.” I took a big swig of the Corona. It was icy cold and tasted like the weekend had finally started. “Google it.”

  Mick started typing. “Huh.”

  “What?” I asked after another long swallow.

  “It says man with an exceedingly large dick.”

  “Uh-huh. You sure it didn’t say a man who is an exceedingly large dick?”