Bossy Neighbor

by Erika Lynn

  “Right, I should go.” I tried to stand but stumbled. My traitorous feet had fallen asleep underneath me.

  “Whoa there,” said Dante, steadying me. “You got it?” His large hands practically circled my waist as he waited for me to tell him I was fine. My back was pressed to his chest and I could feel the strong muscles that lay underneath.

  For just a second I leaned back, pressing myself further into him, my eyes fluttering shut, relishing the warmth.

  Reluctantly, I pulled away. “Yep, fine!” I told him, my voice higher pitched than normal.

  Keep it together Kate, I admonished myself, needing to make my escape before I did something dumb like try to kiss him.

  Together, we made our way to the door.

  “Thanks for the briefing,” Dante said, as we walked into the hallway, our bodies side-by-side.

  I smiled at him. “Anytime.” As I walked the few steps towards my door, Dante continued the short trek with me. “Are you walking me home, Mr. Inferno?” I asked, keeping my chin to my shoulder.

  “I thought it would be a nice thing to do, Ms. Kincaid.”

  A giggle escaped my mouth, which I tried to cover with my hand.

  After a bit of a struggle, I unlocked my door, sliding inside but holding onto the frame for dear life. Only then did my gaze drift up.

  Confusion and frustration seemed to war with each other on Dante’s face.

  “What’s wrong-” I started to ask when Dante bent down, his lips capturing mine in one fell swoop. When my brain caught up a second later, I withdrew from where I stood between my almost closed door and the door jamb, placing my hands on Dante’s shoulders as I returned the kiss.

  It started off tender and sweet, his lips lightly brushing against mine. I released a sigh, my body humming from the wine and from our bodies pressed together.

  Then the kiss deepened, his tongue on a mission. When I felt the gentle prod, I opened my mouth, allowing him entrance.

  Our tongues clashed, a give and take.

  One of Dante’s hands slid through the hair at the nape of my neck, while the other held firmly to my hip. I had no idea how long we stood there, our bodies molding to one another.

  Eventually, our lips parted and I placed a hand on his chest, my breath shallow and uneven.

  The reality of the situation dawned on me. “Wow.”

  “We shouldn’t have done that,” he said at the same time.

  His words were like stepping under a cold shower, instantly sobering me up.

  I swallowed hard, nodding absently. “I’m going to go,” I said, turning away and shutting the door swiftly behind me. Running to hide as fast I could.

  Back against the closed door, I brought my fingers to my swollen lips.

  I can’t believe we just did that.

  Did it mean that Dante had feelings for me as I did for him?

  Or was it just a drunken mistake? Something he’d get over by morning, while I’d punish myself by thinking about nothing but that moment for weeks to come.

  One thing was clear: I needed to stop drinking wine. And I especially needed to stop drinking wine around Dante.

  ***

  I called Quinn as I walked to work the next morning.

  Stomach in knots, I skipped breakfast not wanting to upset it further. I was liable to throw up anything if I tried to put any food down my throat.

  But coffee I needed. Even if it would add to my gastrointestinal distress. Without it, I’d have a caffeine headache by nine in the morning and turn into a raging bitch.

  I dressed conservatively for the day, as if that might fortify myself against Dante.

  What would I say when I saw him?

  But more importantly, what would he say to me?

  My stomach lurched again.

  “Kate, you bitch. It’s way too early for you to call. I closed the bar last night,” Quinn answered the phone groggily.

  “I kissed Dante,” I whispered, looking over my shoulder to make sure the man wasn’t somehow nearby. I’d left for work extra early to avoid any awkward hallway run-ins.

  Even just being in the hallway to lock my door brought back a rush of memories of the kiss we shared.

  “You what?!” Quinn squealed, suddenly sounding more awake.

  “Uh yeah, it kind of just happened.” I didn’t want to get into the details now. “Can we do happy hour and I’ll tell you all the gory details?”

  “You know I love the gory details,” Quinn said on a laugh. “I’m working tonight, but I can save you a seat and you can tell me all about it between customers.”

  I promised to do just that and hung up as I opened the door to The Coffee Library.

  After placing my order, I waited for my drink at the bar, calling up my last text message to emphasize to Quinn just how much of a surprise it was kissing Dante.

  Me: I still can’t believe I kissed him. Panty melting kissing, no less. How am I going to face him today?

  I pocketed the phone in my purse, as the barista called out my name. Normally, I was a plain coffee kind of gal. But some days, like ones directly following a massive brain aneurism resulting in you kissing your boss, called for a little something extra.

  Dante: Interesting. Come to my office as soon as you get in.

  All the air rushed out of my body.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” I swore as I read the message. Then reread it ten more times.

  I texted the wrong person.

  I texted the wrong fucking person.

  I never did that.

  I never made those kinds of mistakes.

  Dante was messing with my head.

  Damn my uncaffeinated brain.

  I sipped my full fat vanilla and caramel latte, extra pump of both, nearly spilling on my cream blouse and red pencil skirt.

  My heart raced and my palms sweated as I made the slow approach to the Inferno Construction building.

  Which Dante would I get this morning? The warm man who trusts me with his secrets or the cold-hearted boss hell bent on preventing me from doing my job?

  And who says interesting after receiving a text about a shared kiss? Did that mean he didn’t enjoy the kiss as much as I had? That he hadn’t been equally stunned by the connection?

  Calling in sick suddenly seemed like a good idea. I never did it, so I had plenty of paid time off to dip into. And clearly, I was going mental, so it wouldn’t even be a lie, really.

  But my calendar was packed. Every night before I left work, I checked it to make sure I knew what I had ahead of me.

  There were more meetings than ever for Dante’s first week.

  No, I needed to go to the office. That much was certain.

  Regardless of how good the kiss felt, it couldn’t happen again. I knew it and I’m sure Dante did too.

  I shifted my coffee from one hand to the other as I double checked to ensure my blouse lay flat and fitted against my stomach, sliding neatly beneath my pencil skirt.

  Clothes served as my defense mechanism. A good outfit could make me feel stronger and more empowered than a bad one.

  Today’s outfit was no exception.

  I entered the elevator at Inferno Construction alone. I took the few seconds to close my eyes, bracing myself for the day.

  When the elevator doors opened, so did my eyes. With one final nod to myself, I stepped out of the lift and into the lion’s den.

  Most of the desks were still empty this early in the morning.

  Jeanine, however, sat at hers, applying her signature red lipstick. The woman had a decade on me, but looked amazing for it, taking pride in her appearance. Jeanine made her career as an executive assistant and seemed to enjoy it.

  She did what she was asked and nothing more. Efficient at her job, Jeanine held the respect of her colleagues, myself included, even if I couldn’t understand wanting to be an assistant forever.

  My ambition to serve on the leadership team at Inferno Construction was known by Victor and Darrell, and a few other key people who
had no problem mentoring me.

  “Morning, Jeanine,” I called as I walked by her desk.

  “Good morning, Kate,” she said in return.

  I doubled back to her desk, needing to ask the question that had been on my mind all week. “Jeanine, do you know why the meetings about the mall project keep being moved last minute?”

  She shrugged. “I’m just told to change the time. Not given a reason why.”

  I nodded in understanding. Trying for nonchalant, I asked, “And who was it that did the asking?” My body was turned to leave, as if I didn’t really care about the answer.

  “Joel,” Jeanine said quickly, clicking on a new email.

  I sucked in a quick breath then forced myself to smile.

  “Oh, okay. Thanks!” I waved, heading towards my desk.

  Well, that settled that.

  With this new information in hand, it’s no wonder I burst right into Dante’s office like I owned the place, only realizing a half a second too late that I meant to avoid him at all costs. And that he must have left his apartment even earlier to beat me here.

  I guess the caffeine I drank on the block over here hadn’t kicked in yet.

  Dammit.

  Dante didn’t miss a beat. Slowly, as if dragging through molasses, his head lifted and so did one of his eyebrows.

  “Good, there you are.” He motioned for me to take a seat.

  He looked good. His tailored navy suit fit his muscular body to a tee, his hair gently mussed as if someone had played with it in bed.

  I wanted to be the one to run my fingers through his hair in bed. The mental image of it made my knees weak.

  I realized my mouth was open like a fish as I let the fantasy play out in my head. Closing it with a snap, I took a seat, making sure to keep to the edge of it in case I needed to escape.

  Tapping his pen on the desk, he gave a hint of a smile. “I thought you might keep your distance after last night.”

  I gulped. I had planned on doing just that, but then I went and messed it up. But instead of admitting that, I plastered on a smile of my own. “Of course not.”

  We sat there in silence, with me squirming a bit in my seat as I felt his assessing gaze.

  DANTE

  “Well, thank you for coming,” I said, cringing at my word choice.

  But then, I wasn’t myself.

  It felt like my mind had been racing since I kissed Kate last night.

  I needed to play this right.

  Kate was good at her job and I couldn’t afford to lose her.

  But I couldn’t afford to kiss her again either.

  It was damn near impossible to stop myself from taking it further last night.

  The urge to have all of her unbelievably strong. My body ready to stage a revolt against my head.

  A kiss was not enough.

  It was nowhere near enough when it came to Kate.

  The desire coursing through my veins felt like a bucking bronco underneath my skin.

  Fortunately, Kate broke the kiss first and by some miracle I leashed that bronco long enough to make it back to my apartment and shut the door.

  But my desire for Kate didn’t disappear once she was out of sight.

  A cold shower and a good release helped settle me down enough to sleep. But that desire returned with a vengeance in the morning.

  All eight inches of it.

  It took every morsel of my self-control to not walk across the room, lock the door and lay Kate out on my desk.

  The urge was primal.

  But instead, I sat behind my desk, where my thickened cock could be hidden from view.

  Kate’s nerves were as frayed as mine if her slack jaw was any indication.

  Her chest heaved up and down quickly as I took my time relishing her presence.

  “I don’t want things to be weird between us. It shouldn’t have happened and I’d like us to forget it did and move on,” I said.

  I was a hypocrite because I knew forgetting that kiss would be easier said than done.

  Kate appeared relieved. Nodding enthusiastically, she said, “I couldn’t agree more.”

  Well, that was easy. Was she not as put out about it as I was?

  Never mind that.

  I opened my mouth to say more, but she beat me to the punch. “I found out who changed the calendar items for the mall project meetings.” She looked rosy and flushed with the news.

  My ears perked up, my body tensing. “Who was it?” I asked, not bothering to hide the menace in my voice.

  Kate visibly gulped. Was she afraid of me?

  “It’s probably who you suspected. Joel,” she said.

  My jaw clenched. Kate was right, I did suspect as much but thought he wouldn’t be so stupid as to pull something like this.

  Trying to intentionally sabotage me spoke to his character. I couldn’t believe my father trusted him as much as he did.

  “That will be all, Kate. Come back in an hour for the daily briefing,” I said, my tone brokering no argument.

  I needed to speak to my father, but I knew his chemo treatments had already started for the day.

  On the verge of grabbing my suit jacket and heading to the cancer clinic, I thought better of it. My father didn’t need this drama. He needed to focus on his health and his treatments.

  I could handle Joel on my own.

  I quickly sent an email to Kate asking her to set up a lunch with Joel. We were meant to have lunch the other day but that had canceled unexpectedly. While I didn’t think much if it at the time, now I found it highly suspicious.

  Kate’s reply came quickly, informing me that Joel had an off-site meeting and was therefore unavailable.

  I blew air out of my nose, as if I were a fire-breathing dragon, stood up and flung open my office door. The built-in springs were the only thing preventing the large piece of wood from ricocheting into my face.

  Joel’s office was just around the corner from mine. I approached the door only to find it open and the office empty.

  “Damn,” I swore, turning around to find Joel’s assistant at her desk, her lips pursed.

  “Can I help you Mr. Inferno?” she asked.

  What was her name again? I know Kate just mentioned it. Jean? Jenny? Jeanine. That was it. “I just wanted a quick word with Joel,” I told her, motioning towards his office.

  One efficient nod from Jeanine. “As I mentioned to Kate, he’s out of the office for a few hours.”

  Aggravated, but not wanting to take it out on the woman in front of me, I tried my best to smile. “Will you let him know I stopped by and have him swing by my office when he gets back in?”

  Jeanine’s lips pulled into a straight line. “Of course, sir.”

  With that taken care of, I went back to my office and tried to concentrate on work. But my mind kept thinking about Joel’s motives.

  Just then, the man himself called. “Joel, I’m surprised to hear from you. Jeanine said you are off site.”

  Joel’s voiced sounded far away. “Actually, that’s why I’m calling,” he said. I sat up a little straighter.

  “Oh yeah, why’s that?”

  “Well, you’re supposed to be here too. It’s the mall site walk through we talked about with Sam earlier this week.”

  “Excuse me?” I practically growled into my phone, anger rising to the surface. “You scheduled the walk through and didn’t inform me?”

  He clicked his tongue. “Whoa, I thought you knew. I guess I assumed it was on your calendar,” said Joel.

  I ran my hand across the back of my neck. “Yes, I wonder why it isn’t in there.” I opened my calendar app on my computer to double check my schedule for the day. “You stay right there. I’m going to come join you.”

  This time I did grab my suit jacket, cold, hard adrenaline propelling me forward. Stopping by Kate’s desk, I barked out my orders. “Cancel my meetings for the next three hours. I’m going to the mall site. Once you're done with those changes, take a Lyft and meet us
there.” I wrapped my knuckle on her desk and left.

  I was getting really tired of things not going my way this week. Changes to the schedule and meetings happening without my presence were so far from okay.

  This would never happen under my father’s leadership. Nobody would dare.

  I wasn’t even a week into my new position and had several instances of someone trying to undermine me and my position.

  I needed to put an end to it.

  As I hopped in the company town car, I thought about Joel. He seemed genuinely surprised that I didn’t get the memo about the meeting.

  But then again, he could just be a good liar.

  I stewed about it during the twenty-minute drive, heavy traffic making the trip longer than it would otherwise be.

  What I couldn’t understand was why Joel would want to deliberately sabotage me. Sure, we’d butted heads over the years, but was that motive enough to mess with me just as I was taking over for my father?

  We’d started at Inferno Construction around the same time. I’d been interning for my father over the summer during college and Joel had started working as a junior associate. Our paths crossed often. Neither of us were in a position of power, although you wouldn’t know it given the size of our egos.

  Competitive by nature, I always felt like Joel and I were trying to one up each other. Back in the day it took the form of proposing ideas in meetings and sucking up to the senior managers.

  But what happened now that we were the senior managers?

  These thoughts warred within me as the car pulled up to the construction site. I thanked the driver, making sure he knew when to pick me up.

  In the distance I found Joel, Sam Mendelson and Kate. Wait. How did she get here so quickly?

  I snagged a hard hat from someone on the ground team, thanking them as I continued to walk towards the group, irritation spiking once again.

  As I made my final approach I said, “You got here awfully fast.” Accusation thick in my voice as Kate blanched at my words.

  Lifting her cellphone in the air she said, “I was able to reschedule everything on my phone. I left just after you did.”

  Well, damn. I felt a wave of guilt for not asking her to just come with me.