by Gabbi Wright
WHATEVER HE WANTS
by Gabbi Wright
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
First edition. January 4, 2021. V1.0
Copyright © 2021 Gabbi Wright
Special thanks to my editors and proofreaders. You are awesome.
Kindle Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 2 – ANTHONY
CHAPTER 3 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 4 – ANTHONY
CHAPTER 5 -BROOKE
CHAPTER 6 - BROOKE
CHAPTER 7 – ANTHONY
CHAPTER 8 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 9 – ANTHONY
CHAPTER 10 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 11 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 12 – ANTHONY
CHAPTER 13 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 14 – ANTHONY
CHAPTER 15 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 16 – ANTHONY
CHAPTER 17 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 18 – ANTHONY
CHAPTER 19 – BROOKE
CHAPTER 20 – BROOKE
ALSO BY GABBI WRIGHT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER 1 – BROOKE
There was a fine line between looking like you were working and actually scrolling through your Instagram feed, and Brooke Rogers had perfected it to an art. Though her computer monitor featured one of their clients with the PR firm, her cell phone rested next to the keyboard, hidden by her ever so slight slouch.
She scrolled lazily through picture after picture, liking some, ignoring most. Her sister, Emily, had just posted pics of her ski vacation in Snow Valley. She paused, staring at all the snow on the slope. Though winter had come to Boise, Idaho, there wasn’t any snow tonight, just a cold wind and general miserableness.
Brooke sighed. She missed the snow. And how long had it been since she’d had allowed herself a real vacation?
A text popped up on her screen from her mother.
We need milk and cat food.
Sure, mom. Brooke didn’t bother answering. Her mother knew she was at work, and therefore too busy to answer.
She could hear Emily’s voice in her head – “C’mon, sis, you’re twenty-three and still living at home? Why don’t you date?”
“Cause I just don’t,” she said out loud.
Carl, the code monkey in the cubicle next to hers, glanced up, thinking she’d been speaking to him. “Yes. Brooke?”
“Nothing, just reading out loud.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding weirdly disappointed.
She stretched, stifling a yawn. Oh, who was she fooling, anyway? Nobody was working very hard tonight, anyway. They’d put in long hours all week and were ready for the weekend. Even the bosses were goofing off.
There they were, behind their glass walls, laughing and joking around. Her eyes drifted to one in particular – Anthony Johnson.
Was there any guy at work as perfect?
For a brief instant, their eyes met. Even for that one second, she felt her breath catch in her throat and her cheeks turn red.
And then he looked away, returning to his conversations with his partner, Michael Adams, and two of the supervisors.
Brooke didn’t have eyes for anyone else. Even though he didn’t wear a tie, even though it looked like he hadn’t shaved at in a week, he was the one in control, the office alpha. He radiated self-assurance, completely at ease, the master of his world. Like a lion lording over his kingdom, his thick dark hair framed his handsome face.
She momentarily gave into the fantasy of him standing in front of her, staring into her own brown eyes, giving her that sweet, dashing smile. It was a common fantasy, and one she liked to lose herself in often. It didn’t matter that he was way out of her league. In her head she was the only thing he was interested in.
“Brooke?”
Her name didn’t match the movement of his lips. Yes, she loved hearing him say her name… even from across the office.
“Brooke!”
It didn’t sound like him though.
“Brooke!”
“Huh? What?”
Her heart skipped a beat at hearing her name yelled in her ear. Dina, her best-friend and fellow co-worker, broke through the daydream and shattered it like a dropped glass, before it could progress any farther.
Good thing too. Had she been staring that hard? She almost felt as if she’d been drooling.
Drooling over her boss. Oh god…
“Damn, Earth to Brooke, come in Brooke.”
Brooke rolled her eyes and look back at the semi-filled spreadsheet filling her screen. “I’m here, what the heck, Dina? Can’t you see I’m thinking? About work stuff, obviously?”
“More like fantasizing. Thinking about Anthony? You can’t just stare at him like that, others will notice!”
“I wasn’t,” Brooke argued, “I was just thinking strongly in that direction. Just kind’a staring off. I wasn’t staring at anyone in particular.”
Dina laughed and rolled her own eyes, not believing a single word. And why should she? She knew Brooke about as well as she knew herself.
Brooke brushed her blond bangs from her eyes and pushed back from her desk and stretched again. “I’m getting sick of staring at numbers all day. Think they’ll close the office early?”
“Doubt it,” Dina replied, “They already did for Christmas and New Year’s. Why would they for just another Friday in January? Remember they made that speech about working extra hard for the new year?”
Brooke sighed. Heavily. “I remember. I’m sick of work. I need a week’s vacation.”
“Then maybe you’ll win the two weeks’ vacation at the company party tonight.”
“See? That’s why they need to let us off.” Brooke spun around in her chair three times, as though she might be whisked away from work like a magic spell. All it did was make the world spin.
“So, what did you get for the white elephant gift exchange?”
Brooke opened the bottom left drawer of her desk where she’d hidden a present, wrapped in red paper decorated with grinning reindeer. “I can’t tell you. What if you choose it?”
Brooke gave her a wink.
“It’s a bath bomb gift set, isn’t it?”
“Of course, the best gift ever.”
Dina laughed. “I didn’t think you had me?”
Brooke snorted. “It’s a game, remember? You choose randomly? And if you really want it, and you will, take a quick peek.” She opened the drawer wide enough for her to see.
Dina bit her lip. And it wasn’t because of excitement to get the gift, more like an uneasy look like she might break out in nervous giggles. “You didn’t read the email?”
“What email?”
“Oh, shit, Brooke, you didn’t. HR sent out the letter two weeks ago. We’ve each been randomly assigned somebody this year. What if you’ve got a guy?”
“I didn’t see any email!”
“Quick, look it up.”
Brooke quickly opened her email. A mess of checked and unchecked messages greeted her, sorted by importance. She needed to do some deleting, which made scrolling through the some twenty thousand built up emails a force of chaos. But it couldn’t have been
that long ago.
She scrolled down. “You said two weeks?”
“Yep.”
Argh! Two weeks ago, almost right before Christmas.
There it was, unread.
Brooke opened it and did a search through the list of names. A guy in accounting had her – Danny. Danny was a typical number-crunching nerd with glasses that wouldn’t stay on his nose. She paused, wondering what he had gotten her.
“Check it out,” Brooke said, pointing, “I bet I’m getting another festive coffee mug and hot cocoa mix. Same as last year.”
“You chose his gift on purpose last year, remember?”
“Yeah, I really like cocoa. Not a sin, is it?”
Dina snorted. “Who do you have? Hope it’s somebody into bath bombs.”
“Here it is. It’s… holy fuuu…. I mean, fudge.”
Dina leaned in to read the line by Brooke’s name. “Anthony Johnson. Oh shit, Brooke.”
“Isn’t there another Anthony? The security guard, right? I know for a fact he’d dig a bath bomb.”
“No, that’s Tony Jones. But yes, he would’ve really liked your gift.”
“So I got the boss.”
“You got the sexy boss,” Dina confirmed, “El Jefe.”
Brooke quickly closed the email like a dirty photo she’d once found on an ex-boyfriend’s computer. Yes, she had gotten her boss and had screwed up, big time. “I got him a Girly. Bath. Bomb. Oh shit. Guys can like bath bombs too, right? Right?”
“Yeaaaaahhhh…” replied Dina, not sounding convinced, “I’m sure he’ll love it.”
“I’m doomed. He’ll hate it.”
“No, it’s a great gift. Maybe he’ll give it to his girlfriend.”
“He has a girlfriend?”
Dina punched her in the arm. “That’s what you’re worried about? The party’s right after work. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go home sick.” Brooke clenched her stomach. “It won’t even be a lie.”
“You don’t look sick.”
“Give me a second.” Brooke closed her eyes and forced herself to hyperventilate. This could work. And then she could shove a finger down her throat for good measure.
A few seconds later, Brooke opened her eyes. “No good. I feel fine. Wanna switch gifts?”
Dina shook her head. “No good, I got Linda. I got her a bath bomb.”
Linda was one office over from us. “Oh, she’ll love it,” Brooke said with a sigh.
“Right?”
Anthony, though, not so much. She was hosed.
Brooke glanced at the clock hanging above the boss’s door. Just one more hour. Then they’d all go downstairs to the conference room where the party would be waiting. There was talk about there being booze this year. To celebrate a very profitable last year.
I have an hour. I can do this!
“Okay,” Brooke said, “I’m going to get up to go to the bathroom and get him a present.”
“In the bathroom?!”
“No, not in the bathroom, try to keep up. I’m going to slip out and go shopping. The bathroom’s just a ruse.”
Dina stared back at her, mouth hanging open. “Are you serious? You’ll lose your job!”
“Only if they catch me. Besides, it’s not like we’re prisoners here, are we?”
“No, but they’re not going to pay you to go shopping. If they find out…”
“They won’t. I’ll be like a ninja. Out and in. No one will even notice. Maybe make a distraction.”
“I am not making a distraction.”
“Yes, this will work.”
“No, Brooke, this is ridiculous.”
“I’m thinking maybe stand up and announce you’re going to puke?”
“I’m not sick.”
“Or burst into song. That might work…”
“Brooke, listen…”
Brooke leapt to her feet in excitement. “Or accidentally knock your computer off onto the floor!”
“You don’t need a distraction,” Diana interrupted, seizing Brooke by the shoulders, “Just get up and say you’re going to your car for something.”
“Yeah, not bad.”
Brooke loudly announced, “Just going to my car for a sec. I forgot some papers there.”
A few coworkers glanced up, staring at her curiously, and then went back to work. This was already working.
As Brooke speed-walked across the office to the elevator, she continued with her distraction. “Yep, just forgot some paperwork. I need it for my project. It’s somewhere in my car, so I might have to search for it. Car’s a bit of a mess. Shouldn’t be too long. Might have to hit the bathroom, you know how it is.”
Sarah, the receptionist, looked up from her game of solitaire and said, “Just go, already! We don’t need a play-by-play! We get it, you’re acting like you’re suspicious.”
“I am not!” Brooke answered, though maybe she thought she did sound just a little too defensive.
The elevator arrived too slowly, the doors staying open for what felt too long, and the ride down two floors felt like forever. Brooke rushed for the front door barely keeping herself from running.
She nodded at the security guard, Tony, where he sat reading the newspaper.
She was almost out, her plan coming to fruition, when her cell phone rang.
Shit. Brooke stared at the screen to check the caller id, barely slowing down.
It was Dina. Brooke hit answer and said, “Hey, I’m almost clear. What’s up?”
“They announced we’re finishing early to start the party just as you left! You gotta get back here ASAP, or you’ll be locked out!”
“Fuck!” Brooke cursed. The exit, mere feet away, mocked her. She thought maybe she could still slip out and get a decent white elephant gift. Maybe she still could make it back in time. Outside the office, the traffic was thick. Maybe there’d be a nearby shop in downtown Boise that would have something good. Maybe she didn’t have to drive.
No, this was a disaster. They wouldn’t even miss her. They’d lock her out without a second thought.
There was nothing to do but head back up, get her bath bomb, and take it to the party where some time in the all too soon future she’d give her very feminine gift to her very masculine and hot boss.
Or! Maybe he would love a bath bomb. She just had to play the odds.
No, he didn’t look like a bath kind of guy.
Brooke sulked back to the elevator and headed back to the office. The ride back felt much quicker, and she felt panic rising.
Dina met her at the elevator. “Well? Anything?”
Brooke shook her head. “No, I didn’t even reach my car.”
People were laughing and mingling already, and the computers were shutting down for the night. In mere moments, the entire office would be gathered in the conference room.
“Maybe he’ll get super drunk and not remember my gift?”
In all solemness, Dina replied, “He’ll never forget your gift. Or you.”
“I’m dead, Dina. I’ll never live this down.”
“It’s not that big a deal.”
“Nope, just gonna give my sexy boss a bath bomb.”
“Yep.”
“Oh god.”
Dina laughed and Brooke felt her face turn several shades of dark red.
Anthony, from across the office, announced, “Caterers say they’re ready. Hope ya’ll are hungry.”
Brooke thought she might stress eat, if they had anything she could even eat. Maybe if she gained thirty to fifty pounds before they opened presents. Maybe then he wouldn’t recognize her.
CHAPTER 2 – ANTHONY
Anthony Johnson held back after the announcement to hang with his friend and partner, Michael Adams. The atmosphere in the office was electric, what with the party coming. They would move down a floor to the conference room with the buffet waiting, the doors would be locked to keep people from coming in off the street, and though his employees could leave at any tim
e, they wouldn’t be able to come back in. The smokers were the ones who would suffer, unless they had a friend stand watch to let them back in.
“When’s your plane leave?” Michael asked. His partner reached into his jacket and pulled out a flask.
“Really? You know we’ve got booze downstairs, right?”
“I know, I just want to get my buzz on.” He took a quick swig and his face twisted at whatever powerful liquor it contained. “You leaving tomorrow, or what?”
“No,” Anthony replied, “Monday. And I tell you what, I can’t wait to get on a hot, tropical beach for two weeks. You sure you can handle this place without me?”
“Shah. It’ll run better than ever, and you know it. So, what plans do you have this weekend? You going to see Sheryl?”
Michael shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “No, I think it’s over, this time for sure. We haven’t talked for a month.”
“She’s seriously passing up a chance to join you in Hawaii?”
“I know, crazy, right? But I think it’s for the best.”
Michael snorted. “I’d say. Besides, you don’t want her hanging around when you’re staring at all those scantily clad hot bodies.”
Anthony fought and failed to hide a grin of his own. “Yeah, you’re right. No pressure.”
“And no worries about broken hearts. What happens in Hawaii stays in Hawaii.”
“I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“Of course it is.” Michael took another swig and offered it to Anthony.
Anthony declined. “No, man, I’m good.”
“I insist. Everyone’s heading to the party. You might as well get started now.”
Anthony hesitated. It wasn’t like he planned on getting drunk tonight. It wouldn’t do to have their employees see him get wasted, though it wouldn’t stop Mike. He’d likely take an Uber home, afterwards, anyway.
“What the hell, give it to me.”
“That’s the spirit,” Mike said, laughing, as Anthony took a long pull. The liquor tasted of Tequila, strong enough to almost make him choke as it set his throat and stomach on alcoholic fire.
As the two of them made their way to the party, he wished Mike hadn’t brought up Sheryl. He would’ve rather had her by his side in Hawaii. Though he wouldn’t let his friend know it, he missed her, terribly. She accused him of putting work ahead of her, and she was right. But how could he not? Last year had been a profitable year, thanks to everyone’s hard work.
