Naughty (20 page)

“
DID YOU
buzz Nigel’s office?” Mira asked her often absentminded secretary. The only reason why she kept the girl on the payroll was as a favor to the Human Resources Director, since she was his niece.

“I buzzed him, Ms. Rhone, but he said, uh”—she hesitated a few seconds as if trying to think of the message she was to relay—“he’s on an important call.”

“Well, did you remind him that he’s supposed to be in my office for a nine-thirty meeting?” Mira didn’t wait for an answer. “Buzz him back, and tell him I don’t plan to wait all morning.”

“Yes, Ms. Rhone.”

Nigel’s unprofessional behavior was totally unacceptable, and Mira was going to put an end to it posthaste before the situation escalated. Pacing in front of her desk, she impatiently watched the sweeping minute hand on the desk clock. It was now nine-forty.
The nerve of this guy! How dare he not show up for our meeting?
Mira pushed the intercom button, “Buzz Nigel again,” she directed her assistant.

“No need to.”

Mira turned around to face Nigel standing in the doorway of her office with a smug look plastered on his handsome face. “You’re late,” she spat out.

“Chill out, Mira.” He strutted in nonchalantly, as if
he
owned the company, and planted himself on the sofa in the corner seating area.

Mira swung her head in his direction. She wasn’t accustomed to
anyone
speaking to her in that manner. “Excuse me? Nigel, you’ve worked here long enough to know that when I schedule a meeting, it begins on—”

He quickly cut her off. “Are you going to stand there bitching me out, or are we going to start the meeting?”

His tone was entirely too cocky. “Look, Nigel, let’s get one thing straight.” Mira zeroed in on him with a penetrating death stare. “
I’m
The BOSS,” she said, raising her voice.

“There was a time when you were calling
me
The BOSS.” He returned her gaze with a death stare of his own.

Walking within inches of him, Mira squinted her eyes, lowered her tone, and in a tight voice said, “Why can’t you leave the past where it belongs? In the past.”

“Because it wasn’t that long ago when we were signing the gift registry at Tiffany’s. Tell me, Mira, did you ever return the wedding presents after you left me at the altar?” he hissed with venom punctuating every word.

“Stop being dramatic, Nigel.” Mira turned away from him and walked back to her desk. “I didn’t leave you at the altar,” she said, retrieving a file from her desk.

“Semantics. At the altar. Three days before. What’s the difference? The point is that you left me and for . . . what’s her name again?” Nigel tried to sound cavalier, but the pain of being jilted still stung. He had been deeply in love with Mira, and when she called off the wedding, he had been devastated.

“Samantha. And I didn’t leave you for—”

“That’s right, Samantha. How is good ole Sam? Are you two living happily ever after in your deluxe penthouse in the sky?” he asked sarcastically.

“We’re not together anymore. Look, enough of my personal life. Let’s get—”

“Does that mean you’re into men this season?” he said with another dose of venom.

Mira could tell by his harsh tone that he was still wounded, and she wanted to set the record straight once and for all. “I was up front with you from day one, Nigel. I told you that I was bi, but that didn’t seem to bother you. You pursued me anyway,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

He raised one wooly eyebrow. “Aren’t you leaving out one little fact?”

“And what might that be?”

“The dreaded four-letter word—L.O.V.E. You said that you loved me.” He looked down at the floor, and then looked back up at her. “And wanted to go straight.”

“I did love you, Nigel, but not in the way that a wife is supposed to love her husband. The love I had for you was more like love for a good friend. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was trying to change my lifestyle for GG, and now that she’s gone, I can be true to myself,” she said in a caring tone, trying to soften the blow.

This was the first time that Nigel had heard this explanation. “So you used me to appease your great-grandmother. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Not exactly.” Mira sat next to him and reached for his hand. “Nigel, I truly cared for you, but I couldn’t live a lie. I had to be true to myself.”

“Yeah, yeah, you already said that.” He snatched his hand away and took a stack of papers out of his briefcase. “Here’s the R & D update on the new line,” he said, ready to change the subject.
He had heard enough. Besides, reliving the past was a gross waste of his time.

“I’m sorry that I hurt you, Nigel. That was never my intention,” Mira said, trying to ease the tension between them. They worked well together and Mira wanted their collaboration to continue. Now that she was embarking on a new project, she couldn’t afford to lose her head chemist.

“Who said I was hurt? Let’s just drop it and get down to business,” he said, handing her the research report.

Mira could tell by the sullen look on his face and the hurt in his voice that their breakup was still a painful memory, a pain Mira wished she could erase. The truth of the matter was that she never meant to get involved with Nigel in the first place, but that was GG’s master plan when she hired him.

Her great-grandmother had a sixth sense about Mira’s attraction to women, probably because her granddaughter, Mira’s mother, was man-hungry, devouring anything with three legs, and Mira was just the opposite, often bringing a “girlfriend” to their beach house in Sag Harbor for the weekend. Occasionally, Mira would invite a platonic male friend to keep suspicions at bay, but GG was no fool.

When the Vice President of Research and Development retired, GG hired Nigel away from BOD E. Ltd., the competition. Though he came with impressive credentials, GG was also impressed with his undeniable good looks and charming personality. She wasted no time scheduling the two of them for one of her infamous twelve-hour “think tanks.” With their heads locked together brainstorming over new products, she would comment on what a good team Nigel and Mira made. As usual, GG was right. Not only was Nigel handsome, he was extremely intelligent and on top of his game.

Initially Mira had been attracted to his mind, but over time, she developed a genuine affection for him. Soon their working
relationship developed into a personal one—and since she liked a side of dick now and again, it wasn’t hard to fall into bed with Nigel, which pleased GG to no end. Mira saw that her great-grandmother took immense pleasure in their dating, so when Nigel proposed, Mira accepted, knowing that their union would send GG over the moon. Mira figured it was a small sacrifice to make for the woman who had been more of a mother to her than her own mother, who was too busy playing socialite to play mommy. And in true GG fashion, she took over planning the wedding and reception, thriving on the minute details. Oftentimes Mira thought it was all of that excitement that caused GG’s massive stroke. She lay in a coma for five days before passing away in her sleep. Mira was heartbroken, but content in knowing that GG’s last days had truly been happy.

“As you can see on page six, the focus group gave the children’s product line a negative rating,” Nigel began.

“And why is that? You didn’t use those tainted shea pods, did you? This is the first time we’ve gotten less than stellar ratings from a focus group,” she said, staring at the report as if it were erroneous.

“No, I didn’t use those pods. That’s why I’m going back into the lab to reanalyze the formula,” he said defensively.

“Are you telling me we have to start over from square one?”

“Basically,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Nigel, I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that we don’t have the luxury of time in our favor. If we’re going to beat BOD E. to market, then we need to ramp up production of the new line,
not
start over.”

“What’s the use of being first on the shelves if the product isn’t any good? But you’re the boss,” he said sarcastically. “If you want to go ahead with the production schedule as planned, then that’s what we’ll do.” Nigel began stuffing the reports back into his briefcase.

Mira sat there for a moment weighing the odds. He was
right. If they went to market with an inferior product, sales would suffer and BOD E. could blow them out of the water. Mira couldn’t risk the company’s reputation with substandard products. FACEZ had always led the cosmetics industry in terms of quality, and she wasn’t about to jeopardize GG’s years of hard work just to be first on the market with a new product. “How long do you think it’ll take to correct the problem?”

“I won’t know that until I reanalyze the formula. I’ll expedite the process, so basically we’re looking at another week or two before we’re back on track.”

“That’s not too bad,” she sighed. “Thanks, Nigel.”

“Not a problem. I’ll get the results to you ASAP.” Nigel could have quit after Mira ended their relationship, but he deeply cared for and admired GG. Since she hired him personally, he was sure that she would’ve wanted him to put his feelings aside and stay on board.

After they broke up, Mira had begun to doubt Nigel’s loyalty, assuming he would act the role of the scorned lover. But she should have known he was too much of a professional to let personal issues cloud his judgment.

Once Nigel left her office, Mira sat at her desk dreading the next meeting. Speaking of personal issues, she had one of her own to deal with, which was extremely embarrassing.

“Ms. Rhone.” It was her assistant speaking through the intercom.

“Yes, Janette?”

“Mr. Reed is here to see you.”

Mira exhaled. “Send him in.” This meeting had nothing to do with FACEZ business. She had called the meeting to clear up that fiasco in London. During the board meeting the day following the “shower scene,” she and Jacob had averted eye contact. Afterward, Jacob scurried to the airport like a dog with his tail between his legs. He checked out of the hotel with such lightning speed that Mira didn’t get a chance to offer him a lift back
on her private jet. She had called several times since, but he was always unavailable. So she scheduled an appointment with him to resolve their little misunderstanding.

“Hello, Mira,” he said, looking down at the floor, again averting his eyes. “How’s it going?” he asked, making a lame attempt at small talk.

“Jacob, let’s cut to the chase,” she said, choosing not to prolong the inevitable. “We need to talk about what happened in London. Have a seat.” Mira pointed to the small sofa.

“First of all, I apologize for, uh”—he sat down and nervously fumbled with his hands, putting the right hand over the left, then quickly reversing positions—“intruding on you and your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Mira said, taking a seat in the chair across from the sofa. “Anyway”—the image of Jacob standing there in the buff flashed through her mind—“what were you doing in my bathroom in the first place? Didn’t your room come with a shower?” Mira couldn’t help but joke about the radically kinky scene, both of them being caught with their pants down, per se.

Jacob must have been reminiscing as well, because a wide grin spread across his face and quickly turned into a chuckle, which turned into a hardy roar. The robust laughter broke the tension in the room, putting them both at ease. “Oh,
my
room had a shower? Who knew?” He laughed. Jacob was relieved that Mira found the incident humorous and wasn’t pissed at him for barging in.

“Obviously not you, since you came across the hall to my suite. But seriously, Jacob”—Mira stopped laughing—“what were you doing in my room?”

Now that she had switched her tone back to serious, Jacob felt sheepish, and started fumbling with his hands again. He didn’t quite know how to answer the question without sounding like he was smitten. So he just said, “I thought you were sending me signals.”

“Signals?” Mira looked confused. “What type of signals? Jacob, you’re a married man, and I don’t flirt or have affairs with married men.”

“Yes, I am married and should have kept my feelings to myself, but the way you came dressed for dinner without a power suit on . . .” He hesitated a second, trying to find the right words. “I mean, you were so casual, and sexy. Your hair was loose, and your usual uptight attitude was gone. Well, I just thought we shared the same feelings.”

Mira had no clue that Jacob thought of her as anything other than a client, but seeing him blush, she now realized that he was smitten with her. “And what feelings are those?” she asked, even though she knew the answer.

“I think you’re extremely attractive, and to be honest, I have, or should I say had, a major crush on you, Mira,” he admitted.

“What’s the matter, Jacob? You not into gay women?” she teased, trying to lighten the mood.

“No, I’m not, but I’m not homophobic either. As a matter of fact, my sister is gay.”

Mira raised an eyebrow in surprise. Jacob was always so professional, she assumed that he came from one of those super-strict uptight families, and didn’t expect Jacob to say that he had a lesbian sister. Mira hadn’t been on a date since she and Sam broke up. And they had hardly ever ventured out, preferring to spend most of their time in bed. Even though she fucked around at the Black Door, Mira was ready for another relationship, and not just random sex with servers. “Really? Is she seeing anyone?” Mira asked, cutting to the chase.

“No. She recently broke up with her girlfriend. Why?” He leaned forward. “Are you interested in meeting my sister?”

“Well, since I’m not seriously seeing anyone, why not? Besides, she comes with a top-notch recommendation.” Mira winked.

“I don’t believe this,” Jacob said, shaking his head.

“What?” She smiled.

“A few minutes ago, I was slinking in here with my head in my hands, begging your pardon. Now, I’m playing matchmaker, setting you up with my sister. Talk about a dramatic turn of events.”

“So when are you going to arrange a meeting? The sooner the better.” Mira smiled broadly, warming up to the idea of a blind date.