by Chanel Ivy
The door opened to what looked like a sitting room with couches in one corner and a smaller desk against the far wall.
Matt pointed to the desk. “This is me, and you’re right through here, Mia,” he said as he opened a large dark wooden door.
What I saw before me blew me away. The room was bright from the floor to ceiling windows along one side, and there was a large desk to my right. The whole place must have been forty feet long and fifteen feet wide. This office... my office... was huge!
“Your bathroom is right through there. There’s a binder on your desk for you to pick out your decor. Choose whatever colors you want on the walls, for the rugs and the furniture, as well as the artwork. I’ll send someone for your boxes right away, and I’ll let you get settled in. All of your computer logins will work on your new laptop at your desk, and I had IT set up the double monitors already, so you should be good to go. I’m already in your email contacts, so as soon as you pick out the colors and other stuff you want the decorators to do in the office, just email it to me, and we’ll have them come in over the weekend to get everything done for you. Oh, there’s a meeting in the main conference room today at noon that you’ve been requested to attend. Do you have any requests for lunch?”
“Wait. What? A meeting already? What’s the meeting about? Who’s going to be there?” I shot out questions faster than my brain could catch up.
I was so nervous about being up here, let alone having to attend a meeting with a bunch of important people I didn’t know. I instantly felt like I was going to throw up.
Matt laughed, “It’s nothing to worry about, Mia. It’s just a general check-in meeting to see where everyone is at for the quarter and to introduce you to everyone.”
I felt my stomach sink at the thought of meeting face to face with all of the executives.
“Oh, is that all?” I laughed, trying to sound like it didn’t bother me.
I looked at my watch, and it was already ten-thirty. I only had an hour and a half to psyche myself up and prepare for meeting all of these important people.
“Lunch, Mia?” Matt asked again.
“Oh, yeah. Just a grilled chicken salad for me with light Italian dressing on the side if that’s not too much trouble.”
“I’ll make sure that’s what you get. Let me know if you need anything else at all, Mia. I’m really looking forward to working with you. Congratulations on the promotion, by the way,” Matt said before he headed to the door.
I had the sudden urge to pee, and apparently, I had my very own private bathroom in my office to do that in. As soon as Matt left, I rushed to the toilet to pee and hyperventilate in private.
After I had my panic attack in the bathroom, I found myself sitting at my enormous desk and leafing through the decor binder. There were some really lovely items to choose from. I had never really decorated before and found myself lost in the pages. I picked a gentle dark lavender paint for the accent wall behind my desk, a tasteful cream-colored sofa with glass coffee and end tables, and a lavender and ivory area rug to go underneath the sitting area furniture.
I was flipping through the bookshelf choices when the phone on my desk chirped, and Matt’s voice filled the room.
“Would you like lunch now or after the meeting, Mia?”
I pushed the intercom button on the phone. “Oh my goodness, after. Definitely after, please, Matt. When do you go to lunch, Matt?”
“Whenever you do, Miss. Blackburn, ugh, Mia.”
“Okay, thank you.”
I suddenly needed to use the restroom again.
I was so nervous about this meeting. I felt like a kid on the first day of school. I didn’t know whether these people were going to welcome me or if they were all going to be backstabby jerks. I never really found myself chatting with incredibly important people before. Unless you consider a conversation I had once with a four-star general when I was at one of my father’s military dinners. That wasn’t really a conversation though, it was more him talking about his military career and my father and I pretending to listen.
I had to pull myself together. These people were just that, people. They were now my co-workers, and if I got this position, then I must be doing something right to deserve to be up here.
I washed my hands, splashed some water on my face, and looked at my watch. It was eleven fifty. Here goes nothing.
I marched out of the bathroom and out to Matthew’s office area.
“Where’s the meeting, Matthew?”
“I’ll take you, Mia.”
“Thanks,” I replied nervously.
Matt must have noticed how anxious I was because he gave me a smile and a ‘you’ve got this’ nod as he escorted me out of the room and down the long marble hallway.
We arrived at a gigantic glass conference room, and there were already twenty or more people inside huddling in groups and politely chatting with one another. The views from up here were outstanding. I could actually see all the way to the Catawba River. The water was mesmerizing as it glistened in the bright sunlight.
“Miss. Blackburn, this is your seat here,” Matthew whispered as he pulled out a large chair for me next to the window near the head of the massive conference table.
Matthew excused himself and exited, leaving me alone with a room full of people who knew each other, but I knew nothing about. The sudden need to vomit had returned, but I poured myself some water from the carafe and quickly took a sip to re-wet my drying lips and swallow the urge to puke.
A beautiful, tall, dark-haired woman entered the room, and the entire place fell silent. All of the other people sat in their chairs quietly. This commanding female rounded the edge of the table, her black heels clicking sharply on the marble below her feet, and she stood behind the chair at the head of the table. The chair which happened to be right next to me.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I thank you all for joining me today. I know you’ve all got very busy schedules, so I won’t keep you very long. I’d like to start by welcoming our newest member to the fortieth floor, Miss. Mia Blackburn.” Everyone began clapping and welcoming me to the team. I felt my face turn red as I nodded around the table and mumbled a thank you. “Mia has been doing great work on the fifth floor in our Investment Banking Analytics Department, and she will now be the new Director of Account Management. Thank you for agreeing to join us, Mia. I’ll introduce you to everyone individually, but do you have anything you’d like to say before we get on with our quarterly meeting?”
That accent, those bright blue eyes... I knew this woman. Oh, my God. The Emma from the sauna, it was Emma Cross... the CEO of Cross Financial. Holy shit! I had a sexual encounter with the CEO. I put it all together in my head quickly after I heard her speak, and I was totally and utterly floored. Emma must have noticed the exact moment I realized who she was because she gave me the same sly smirk as she did last night before she suckled my breast into her mouth. I looked at her, and that was all I saw, those heavy bedroom eyes, batting her thick dark lashes at me as she licked my nipple intimately.
“Mia?”
I shook the image out of my head quickly and stood to address the crowd of bewildered executives. “Hello, everyone. I’d just like to say thank you for this amazing opportunity to work with you all. I look forward to meeting each of you personally and seeing what we can do together to enrich our clients and their experience here at Cross Financial. Thank you.” I smiled awkwardly and sat back down in my chair.
The rest of the meeting was way over my head. They were all talking about growth and fiscal stability figures. I half-listened, but mostly I played with my fingernails uncomfortably under the table while I tried to appear interested in what the others were saying. I avoided looking at Emma because every time I did, I got butterflies. At one point, I started completely zoning out, and Emma brought me back into the here and now by placing her hand on my thigh under the table.
I jumped slightly, hitting my knee on the bottom of the table, and thankfu
lly, everyone else was too busy talking finance to notice. I smiled at Emma because I had no idea how else to react.
What the hell was she doing? I knew I confided in her last night that I was underappreciated and underpaid in my job, but I didn’t think anything like this was going to happen. I just thought I was venting after a long day. Oh no... I just realized that I didn’t deserve this promotion at all. I had gotten the attention of the CEO and not in an ethical way, and she gave me a promotion for it. How could I have let this happen? I felt so stupid having ever thought I may have actually earned my promotion.
I wanted to crawl in a hole and die. I’d have to wait for the meeting to be over to slink back to my office with my tail between my legs, though.
Chapter 5
As soon as the meeting was over, I jumped from my chair, power walked to the door, down the hallway, and back into my office. I slammed the door behind me, forgetting that Matthews’s office was right there.
“Are you okay, Mia?” Matt asked with a confused look.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’d prefer not to be disturbed for the rest of the afternoon if that’s at all possible. I’m... I’m not feeling well,” I quipped back as gently as I could without bursting into tears.
“Do you want your lunch?” he asked, holding up a tray of fresh greens and grilled chicken that made at least my stomach forget how shitty I felt.
“Thank you, Matt. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” I replied as I took the tray from him, turned, and walked into my office, closing the door behind me.
I stood with my back to the door, barely holding myself together as I took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind. I felt the tears building in my eyes, and I refused to blink for as long as I could. When I finally did, the tears rolled down my cheeks in a torrent of deflated emotions.
I sat at my desk and scarfed down my salad. Wallowing in self-pity or not, I’m not one to pass up eating for anything. The food was delicious, and it made me feel a little better, but looking around at the empty space in my office made me feel hollow again.
I didn’t deserve to be here. Why would Emma put me in this position after knowing me for less than an hour? Was this some kind of sick joke for her? Was this punishment for leaving so abruptly last night? Did she think I was going to report her for sexual harassment, and she figured she’d buy me off with a promotion before I could?
I sat with my head in my hands, still crying when my office door opened.
Emma walked in, carrying herself with the power and grace of a strong, confident woman who was definitely in charge. I wiped away my tears as best I could, and Matt poked his head through the door behind her.
“I’m sorry, Mia. I told her you requested not to be disturbed, but... well...”
“It’s fine, Matt. I understand. She’s the boss, after all,” I said, emphasizing the word with as much venom in my voice as I could muster.
Emma looked back at Matt and closed the door on him.
“You didn’t stay after the meeting. I wanted to introduce you to everyone.”
Her tone was playful, and it really pissed me off.
“Of course, I didn’t stay. You think I want you to introduce me to a bunch of executives so they can really get to know me and see that I don’t belong up here? This was a fun experience and all, but I’d like to go back to my old job now if you’re done playing your little joke on me,” I spit out angrily with tears building in my eyes again.
“What are you talking about, Mia? What joke?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb with me. I know your type. You plan everything meticulously, and you use people for your own enjoyment. You have so much money that you can buy anything you want, but things aren’t enough for you anymore, so you have to mess with people’s lives for fun. Well, I don’t appreciate being part of your game, and I am most certainly not here for your amusement, Miss. Cross.”
Emma held her hands up in surrender. “You’ve got me all wrong, Mia. I would never put anyone in a position of power at my company if I didn’t have full and complete faith in their abilities to meet and exceed my expectations. I’m no stranger to playing games, but not with my company and certainly not with people’s lives like you’re suggesting, and I take offense to your accusation.”
Her words stunned me completely. I sat back in my chair and rehashed everything I had just said in the last few moments, and I wanted to die for having said them.
“You mean you intentionally gave me this promotion thinking I could actually do the job?” I questioned.
Emma looked at me like I had three heads. “Of course, Mia. Why else would I have promoted you?”
I let my head fall onto the desk with a thump. I had just made a complete ass out of myself for the second time in front of Emma.
“I... I thought you were punishing me for walking out on you last night,” I said, meekly, hating the words even as I spoke them aloud.
Emma laughed. “That has to be the funniest thing I have ever heard. I knew you were going to be coy, and unsure of your own potential, Mia, but holy shit. You’re on a whole other level than what I expected.”
It was my turn to look at her like she had three heads. “I’m not sure how to take that exactly.”
“Listen to me. When I saw you yesterday in the steam room, I saw a beautiful, strong woman with vast potential. I could tell right away that you didn’t see it in yourself, so I thought I’d help you find it. That and I wanted to get in your pants,” Emma said bluntly.
I was again lost for words. Emma sauntered over to my desk, looking amazingly captivating in a black pencil skirt and loose-fitting red blouse as she leaned on my desk next to me.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush here, Mia. I want you. But I also want you to want me. This has to be a two-way street. I can tell that you’ve never been with a woman before, and I’ll be honest, that’s incredibly exciting for me. The Director position you can do with no issue, I promise you that. I’ve looked over your work and your history with us here for the last few years, and you’re more than capable. But are you capable of freeing the woman I know is inside of you? Can you see yourself being intimate with me, Mia?” she asked.
Her accent and the way she spoke with such confidence made my thighs tight. I was surprised at myself for wanting her this much.
“I do want you, Emma. I just... I’m not sure about... oh, I don’t know. I feel lost. You’re right, I’ve never been with a woman before. I’m divorced, I have a son I never get to see, and I’m not in a good enough place mentally to be sleeping with my boss and changing everything I’ve ever known about my sexuality,” I replied sheepishly.
Emma put her hand on my shoulder and stared deeply into my eyes. “You don’t know anything about yourself, do you, Mia? How many men have you been with?”
“Excuse me?”
“How many? Honestly.”
“Just my ex-husband, why?”
“Did you enjoy yourself? Did he make you cum, Mia?”
I was taken back by her direct question, and it excited me a little, which was confusing.
“I... no. I always did that myself.”
“So, you’ve only been with one man before, and he never made you cum. That means you’ve never felt the pleasure of having your partner so in tune with your body that you fully experienced sex and intimacy on a level where every part of your body is free and alive with ecstasy. I want to give you that.”
I didn’t even think about my response, I just blurted it out. “Why?”
Emma didn’t even bat an eye at my question before answering. “I have my reasons, and you don’t need to know them because they are just that, mine. All you need to know is that I want you, and I usually get what I want, so will it be it now, or will it be later? That’s entirely up to you, my pet.” The words dripped from her mouth like warm honey.
I wanted this woman like I had never wanted anyone before. She was right, I didn’t know myself. After thirty-two years on this planet,
I had not figured out my own sexuality. I had it dictated to me by society, by my parents, and by my ex-husband. I was told what I was supposed to like, and when I didn’t, I just thought that was normal, that everyone was miserable. Emma could be my awakening, the gateway to who I truly was inside. I had to take this chance.
“So, what’s next? Do we go out on a few dates, or...”
Emma laughed, interrupting me. “Oh, Mia. I don’t do dates, per se. How about after work today, you come home with me, and I’ll introduce you to some of the finer things in life?” Emma asked as she ran her finger down the side of my face and around my chin softly.
“I guess so, but aren’t people going to talk about how the new girl is going home with the CEO?”
“We’ll be discreet, but I don’t care if they know. Let them talk. I couldn’t care less what any of those wankers think. It’s my company, and I’ll do with it as I see fit. As long as they’re making money hand over fist, they won’t care. Plus, I know too many of their secrets for them to try and come at me. You’d be surprised how many deviants there are in the finance and business world. So, I’ll come get you around four then?”
I smiled up at her as she stood. Her hand pulled away from my face, and her absence left a cold spot. I instantly wanted to feel her touch again. Why did Emma have such an effect on me? What was it about this woman that made me so drawn to her? Who was I kidding? Look at her, tall, dark, and mysterious. What’s not to be intrigued by?
“Okay, it’s a non-date, date. I’ll see you at four then, Miss. Emma Cross.”
“I like it when you call me that, pet.” Was the last thing she said as she took her leave.
As soon as she was gone, I sat back in my chair and took in a deep breath. I couldn’t believe this was really happening. I was actually falling for my boss, and I think she felt the same way about me. I felt like a silly little high school girl crushing on the most popular kid in school.