Falling For The Boss (4 page)

I got to my apartment just before three, and all I could think about was the gossip surrounding Nathaniel and me. I’d caved to his appeal within the first week. I felt like a fool. Someone had caught us kissing—well, practically dry humping. Gosh, I was such an idiot. Quitting was sounding really good.

Stripping down to get into some jammies and losing the bra, I decided I should take a hot bath and think. But first, I needed to kill this ache pulsing through my body. I climbed into bed, wanting to just think about what I was doing. Did I want to be his woman? Was he lying to get me into bed, or did he mean what he’d said? Fucking sexy bastard.

I took out my trusty friend that I kept in the drawer for times when I was super sexually frustrated—which seemed to be daily since I met Nate. It was only a few moments before I was crying out Nate’s name as my body sang.

As if he knew what I was doing, my phone rang. I tried to calm my breath, but I couldn’t. “Hello,” I breathed.

“What’s the matter, babe?” he asked anxiously.

“Mr. Hendricks, I was working out.” Yes, it was a good lie.

“Well, I just called to remind you that I’ll be gone until Thursday night. Have dinner with me when I get back.”

I wanted to say yes, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. “Are you asking or telling me?” He was a little bossy for my liking, or so I wanted him to think.

“Which way will get you there?”

“You could ask,” I offered.

“Fine, Jess. Will you have dinner with me on Thursday?” he asked with a bit of an attitude.

“Um… no.”

“What? You said to ask,” he cried, his voice cracking. I tried not to laugh.

“You’re a smart man. I said you could ask. I never said I’d say yes,” I replied insolently.

“Smartass. Well now, I’m going to demand you go with me.”

My resolve was weakening. The man’s voice was like a direct hit to my lady bits. “Call me Wednesday, and I’ll see.”

“I suppose that’s going to have to do for now. Just so you know, I’m not giving up.”

I knew I wasn’t strong enough to keep resisting him, so I had to hang up. “Bye, Mr. Hendricks.”

“It’s Nate, babe.” The way he said it brought my arousal back to the surface.

To tease him, I whispered, “Bye-bye, Nate.”

Then I hung up and turned my little friend back on. The bath could wait. I still felt like getting dirty.

The weekend flew by. He called me only once because of the time difference and because he was already working. I walked into the office on Monday and found a big surprise waiting for me. The smile on my face stretched from ear to ear. If anyone saw me, they would probably tease me about how happy I felt. On my desk was a huge bouquet of roses. I picked up the card, already knowing they were from him. No one else knew where I worked. I squealed then took the card from its tiny envelope.

Nate,

I wanted to thank you for Friday night and Saturday morning over the Thames,

-Love,

your dirty Lola

Crushed wasn’t the exact word for what I felt because part of me already knew that I was in over my head, but it still hurt. In a short week, I’d fallen for him. For the first time in my life, I had been willing to let someone in. To show the hidden side of my soul and my naked flesh. Damn him. Quitting sounded even better now. In fact, it was a must.

After tossing the roses and pretty vase in the trash, I started getting all of the emails answered. Thank heavens for caller ID, because I made it through the morning without answering his calls. He could tell I was there because of the emails I responded to, but I knew he wasn’t happy I wouldn’t talk to him. As it happened, neither was I.

I was about to respond to his angry emails and tell him to go fuck himself when the server crashed. I called IT to inform them of the crash, but they were already on it. “We know, Ms. McNeil. We hope this doesn’t inconvenience the boss. If you can send emails or texts through your phone, that’ll have to do for the next hour.”

“It’s nothing that can’t be handled after the system comes back.”

“Great. I hope he doesn’t need anything before it comes back. We don’t know why the air conditioning went out in the server room, but it happened. Many of the individual servers failed. We have backups of the data since five this morning. I can’t guarantee the programs you were last in managed to be saved.”

“It’s fine. I promise.” The elevator chimed, and one of the HR people walked out and into the office. “I’ve got to go, but thanks for letting me know about the situation.”

I hung up the phone and asked, “Can I help you, Hannah?”

“Yes, Erin wants to see you for a moment.”

“Absolutely, as a matter of fact, I was coming there to see her first.” I planned on quitting. I could manage ramen for another week.

I stepped into her small office, and she had an annoyed expression on her face.

“Jessica, it seems the boss is doing favors for his special assistants again. This check is for your first week.” She handed my one week check.

“Actually, I came down here to tell you that I was quitting. I’m not one of his ‘special’ assistants and I won’t be.”

“That’s a smart move.”

“Maybe have a man as an assistant next time. Is there anything I need to do?”

“No, you can gather your things and leave your work as is. He’ll manage when he gets back.” She gave me the creeps, so I nodded then dashed off as fast as I could to get my belongings. I left a note in Nate’s desk drawer. I was about to close it when I noticed a picture in it. I looked at it, like the nosy woman I was. The young woman in the photo was beautiful and the complete opposite of me. I turned it over, and there was the only answer I needed.
To my dearest Nate, I’ll love you forever, Lola.

That was the last time I’d let a man make a fool of me. I walked back to the trash and took the card from the roses as a keepsake of my gullibility.

All weekend I’d missed her. From the moment I walked out of my office and she was already gone for the day, I missed her. There wasn’t a moment when I wasn’t thinking about her. It was so shitty that I had to send her something to make sure she was remembering me. I was halfway across the world, making business deals with potential clients, and all I could think about was the fact that she wasn’t answering my calls.

Frustrated, I called my trip short. On no sleep, I showed up at the office two days early only to find out she’d quit. I didn’t know what had gone wrong, but I had to get some answers. Was it the flowers? After she developed an attitude on Monday, I’d called and the security desk said my flowers had arrived. But she obviously still doubted me. I should’ve squashed those rumors from the start and sued anyone who lied. I hadn’t realized the ramifications they could have in the long run. Dammit, without her, I was empty.

I opened my desk drawer to look at my piece of strength—my mother’s photo. It was the last one she’d taken before her untimely death. It had helped me through the rough years of raising my little sister with nothing to my name except an insurance policy that didn’t pay as much because of my father’s suicide.

Living without my mother was too much for him. He’d ended his life when she died, without any consideration of what it would do to us. His love for her was all-consuming. Her death destroyed him.

It was the reason I’d never dated. Well, that, and I had to raise a six-year-old when I was only eighteen. My life changed completely, and the middle-class life we’d lived disappeared under our feet. Becoming as successful as I could became my mantra. I wanted to never lose it all again—including my heart. But it seemed it was too late. Jessica had taken my heart when she left.

I went to put the picture back, and I saw a sheet of paper with my name written on it. Having seen her notes, I knew this was from Jessica.

Mr. Hendricks,

All the documents I completed are saved to the normal file folders on the drive.

Have a nice life,

Never yours,

Jessica McNeil

Immediately, I gripped my chest. I’d never felt pain this strong. It wasn’t a heart attack, but I felt as if my heart was breaking. I understood now what my dad felt when he lost my mother.

What the fuck had gone wrong? Over a weekend, I’d lost her. It wasn’t that I’d lost an assistant—I’d lost the love of my life. I’d thought we were on the same page. What could have made her run? I’d told Jessica that I wanted more than just to sleep with her. By the time I left for my trip, I was looking at engagement rings online.

I didn’t understand why she’d quit. I hadn’t done anything to make her leave. Hell, I’d done everything I could to keep my feelings for her hidden. I’d treated her like a normal employee—well, I tried at least. Until that last day when I’d kissed her in the parking garage and office. Dammit, even on the only call we’d managed to have all weekend, she hadn’t sounded like she was going to run. So what happened?

I packed up my belongings the moment my lawyer called to tell me my check had arrived at his office, then I picked up my money. I deposited the large sum into my account and used the check the HR department had handed me this morning to get out of town.

I had to make a call before I left. “Hi, Aunt Rita.”

“Hi, beautiful. How are you doing?”

“I’m okay. I was wondering if I could come for a visit?”

“You know you can. We miss you.”

“Great. I’m going to head out on the road tomorrow. I love you and can’t wait to see you all again.”

They’d come down for my mother’s funeral, but my aunt couldn’t stay long because the pain was too much. They had been close. I missed my family. Every time I talked to my aunt, she tried to convince me to move in with her, my uncle, and their two teens, but for some reason, I couldn’t leave Chicago.

Before hitting the road, I Google Mapped my trip. It was going to be a mini-vacation, and I’d stay until I could clear my head of Nate. Once I erased him from my thoughts, I could come back and clear out my apartment, then find a new place—a house in the suburbs maybe. That was my plan. Then again, the best-laid plans don’t always work.

~~~~

New York City was fun for a day or so, but nothing took Nate from my mind. It got so bad that any bald guy in a suit on television or the streets would make me think of him. Hell, I couldn’t even watch MMA. Tears came to my eyes when my cousins put it on. After two weeks, I couldn’t take anymore and came home.

The settlement check had cleared while I was out of state, so the first thing I did when I got home was purchase a new car. The lot was full of beautiful metal babies, but my eye caught on the sleek muscle of a dark grey Dodge Challenger. It had a shiny, smoky look. I wanted it, but the sales guy tried to talk me into getting the Durango because it was slower.

“Do you want the commission or not?” I finally asked. “I’m sure there’s a boatload of Dodge dealers around the city.”

“Sorry, miss. So are you looking for the V8 or the V6?”

“The V8. I want to open this bad boy up on the road.”

He took me for a test drive, and the Challenger was everything I wanted and more. My uncle Larry had the 2014 model that he kept locked in their upstate New York property. My aunt kept telling him to get rid of it since he didn’t use it unless they were at the house. There was no sense in owning a vehicle in New York City. When I visited their property, I’d driven it and got to speed up the backroads. I knew this was the one I wanted. I had no idea how sexy the latest model would be. I wasn’t a car girl by any means, but maybe this was my conversion.

“Well, this is definitely the car for you. Unless you’re interested in the Viper?” His eyes and smile looked greedy. Yeah, the commission on that bitch would be huge.

“No, I love the body and the headlights on this one.” I ran my hand along the warm hood of the dark beauty. My eyes met his, and he knew this was a done deal.

“Great. Let’s the paperwork done so we can hand you the keys.”

~~~~~

Five weeks had passed since I saw Nate’s handsome face. Bastard. Being away from him was killing me, but I needed to move on. He wasn’t the right man for me, and it was clear I was just a side chick to him. Lola had to know about the rumors. I wondered if she was one of those women who didn’t care or if she was just too gullible. I wouldn’t, couldn’t be either.

I loved him. I knew that from the first night I broke down in tears after reading that card. It hadn’t gotten better since then. I felt torn apart from the inside out. Just thinking about him brought a range of emotions that shredded my pride and trust in men. Not that I really had much faith in them to begin with. Men had sucked since I was little. My dad ran out on my mom, then she couldn’t find a good guy worth shit. Growing up, boys professed their love because they wanted to get into my panties, but the moment I turned them down, they were on to the next chick willing to buy their bullshit. After Nate, I didn’t know if I could ever trust a man again. A life as a modern-day spinster was in my cards. But fuck it, at least I had a badass ride.