The Boss(hole)

by Bloom, Penelope

  “Yeah,” she said. “My father and I had a huge fight because I didn’t want to play the arranged marriage game. I wanted a position at the family company. Imagine that,” she said, grinning crookedly.

  “Russ Coleton didn’t ask me to hire you,” I said dumbly.

  “I’m aware. That’s because he has no idea I’m working for him. Just like he has no idea I’m planning to keep climbing the ladder in his dumb company all on my own. Eventually, he’ll realize I was capable of making it by myself and he was a misogynistic asshole for assuming otherwise.”

  I chuckled. “Wow.” Except my stomach was turning. Fuck. I just bent Russ Coleton’s daughter over my desk and made her come for me. I should’ve got some sick satisfaction from that, but all I felt was the sick part.

  I thought back to ten years ago when my team and I had done a deep dive into Russ Coleton. We’d searched for every possible thing we could find about the man, but discovered he kept his privacy guarded as well as his billions could manage. We’d known he had kids, but the only pictures available of them had been years old at the time. There were names, and I even knew he had a daughter named Juliette. But meeting “Jules Adams” had done nothing to trigger my memory of the picture I’d seen of Juliette Coleton when she was six or seven years old.

  “So?” she said. “You said there was more to your secret, but you have to admit it’s pretty funny that our lies kind of canceled each other out. I mean, can I really be upset with you for lying about your last name when that’s exactly what I was doing?”

  She looked so goddamn relieved. I could see the weight that had lifted from her shoulders. All I felt was heavier, practically bent over from the new burden pressing down on me. I couldn’t come clean to Russ Coleton’s own daughter about what I was planning to do. The risk was far too great. She’d have to have almost no interest in money at all to shrug and let me bring her family business down and probably shrink her inheritance in the process.

  “It’s just that my father used to work for Coleton,” I said. My insides twisted as I prepared to tell a half-truth to get myself out of this. I needed time to think. To plan. At the very least I needed to run this by the guys and my sister. They were all tangled in this mess with me and had invested a great deal of time and effort. It wasn’t my call to make on my own.

  “Oh,” she said.

  “And,” I added, when I could tell she was still wondering what more there was. “It’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but it didn’t end well for him. He, uh, got let go unexpectedly.” Understatement of the fucking century, right there. “And I always wanted to get a job here, kind of for the symbolic reasons?”

  Jules scrunched up her face, smiling, but looking confused. She clearly didn’t want to hurt my feelings, but thought my explanation made little sense. “That’s sweet of you.”

  “Yeah. Don’t tell anybody. I’ve got a reputation to keep up.”

  She motioned zipping her lips. “I won’t tell anybody about that anaconda you keep hidden in your slacks or that their grumpy boss has a sweet and tender side. Promise.”

  I chuckled. “Good. I heard several emails come in while I was fucking you.” I waited, watching her as she planted her fists on her hips.

  “I’m not going to abuse this, but seriously? Can I at least get a ‘please’ when nobody is watching?”

  “Go clear out my inbox and make sure Mr. Halladay is still free this afternoon for our meeting. Please,” I added.

  She smiled, clearly pleased with herself. “See? Feels kinda good once you do it, doesn’t it?”

  “No,” I said. “It feels strange.”

  Jules rolled her eyes. “Well, get used to it. At least when the door is shut.” She winked. “How’s my hair?”

  I stepped closer, smirking. “You look like you just got fucked. Here,” I ran my fingertips carefully through her hair, trying to tackle the worst of it. She’d had it in a ponytail, but I’d pulled most of it loose. I took off her hairband and let her hair down, then fluffed it with my hands, quietly enjoying the silky feel and smell of her hair.

  She stood stock still, watching me with amusement twinkling in her eyes. “Enjoying yourself?”

  I cleared my throat, then patted down a place where her hair was bulging out. “You look good enough, now.”

  “That’s all?”

  I bent until my lips were beside her ear. “You look good enough that if you don’t leave and get back to work soon, I’m going to be fixing your hair again.”

  She bit back a smile. “I probably should get to work, then. My boss can be the most demanding asshole when I don’t stay on top of things.”

  When she turned, I saw her blouse was halfway tucked into the back of her skirt. I reached out, pulling it free but accidentally spinning her to face me in the process. She looked like she was begging for a kiss with her cheeks flushed and her lips parted like that. But all I could think about was who she was.

  Russ Coleton’s daughter. The daughter of a man I’d once sworn to ruin, no matter the cost.

  But I don’t think I understood how high the price could climb. I didn’t feel like I deserved to kiss her with the thoughts swirling in my head, so I playfully slid my thumb down her lower lip, then opened the door for her. “Get to work. Please,” I added sarcastically.

  “He can be trained,” she sing-songed just before walking out of my office with a newfound spring in her step.

  I walked back to my desk and noticed her arousal-soaked panties still on the floor there. I picked them up. She was out there with no panties on with my cum still deep inside her.

  Suddenly I was hard again and wishing I hadn’t let her go so fast.

  But I needed to figure out what the hell I was going to do now that I knew who she was.

  20

  Jules

  I hummed to myself while I set up Adrian’s calendar for the day. “Adrian Terranova,” I muttered under my breath. I had to admit it was a much more fitting name for him than Adrian White.

  I popped up from my chair and went to the breakroom. I’d been so focused on surviving that I had been taking my lunch at my desk. The breakroom was a hub of activity during the lunch hour, and I’d seen enough dirty looks from my colleagues to guess I wouldn’t be entirely welcome there. I felt socially stunted when it came to this sort of thing.

  When I was Juliette Coleton, I never met somebody who didn’t want to butter me up and become best friends. I’d needed an entirely different skill set to survive. I had to figure out who was genuinely interested in being my friend and who was looking to use me. The fact that none of my “friends” had made a serious effort to reach out and connect told me all I needed to know. Yes, I’d dropped off the grid, but I was still screening calls and texts on my old phone. I’d told them I was on a little vacation, and they’d all been happy to accept that and forget I ever existed, apparently.

  Now I had Anastasia and that was essentially it. I made a mental note to find time to hang out with her soon because ever since we’d had lunch together, I’d let work and Adrian consume everything. Other than a few texts, I’d barely talked to her since before New Orleans.

  It was time to give the breakroom a try, I decided. I took my lunch into the breakroom to microwave it. Today’s lunch was Salisbury Steak in a cheap little black plastic bowl with mashed potatoes and gravy. It looked deliciously disgusting and I couldn’t wait. One of my favorite parts of my new life was getting to eat all the processed garbage my parents would’ve never let me touch before.

  I stepped into the breakroom and heard conversation immediately die off. There were four people waiting around a large table in the center of the modest sized room. I recognized everyone’s faces by now, but didn’t have all the names pegged down.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I said.

  Everybody except a woman who was waiting on the microwave ducked their heads, gave that distinctly awkward pressing the lips together that sort of functions as a smile look, and shuff
led out of the room.

  “Don’t worry about them,” the girl said. She was maybe in her early twenties and wearing a cute black dress with tennis shoes. She had on thick glasses and her blonde hair was long and wild. “I’m Lythe, by the way.”

  “Jules,” I said, sticking my hand out. She grinned at it, then reached out and shook it. “Why do I get the vibe they don’t like me?”

  “There are two sides here. You’re either in his inner circle, or outside it. Nobody really wants to risk talking to someone in his inner circle. Or associating with them in any way, honestly. Too risky.”

  I thought about protesting but didn’t want to reward Lythe’s good will by lying to her face. “I get it,” I said, lifting my little microwave dinner box. “I just need to heat this up and then I can go back to eat at the front desk.”

  “Nah, it’s okay. I’m this close to quitting.” she held up her index finger and thumb a hair’s width apart. “If you get me fired, it’ll save me the trouble of putting in my notice.”

  I grinned. “I’m not sure if I should be flattered, insulted, or something in between.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said simply. “So, what’s he really like, anyway?”

  “Who, Adrian?”

  Lythe flicked her eyebrows up and shook her head like she’d just had a sip of something far too strong. “Wow, you’re really in that inner circle of his, aren’t you? Right up his ass, practically.”

  “What? Why?”

  “You two are on a first name basis. That’s unheard of. Rumor was a guy called him Adrian by mistake on his first day a few months ago. He didn’t even get a chance to clean out his desk. Adrian hired a moving company to carry down a stapler, two folders, and a rolled up motivational poster that same afternoon.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “He can be really intense, but I don’t think he’s as bad as everyone around here seems to believe.”

  The microwave dinged and Lythe pulled out a steaming cup of soup. Judging by the smell, it was broccoli and cheese. “That’s probably what I’d say, too. If I was riding on a shark’s back while it devoured helpless swimmers at the beach, that is.”

  I squinted. “Why wouldn’t you poke it in the eyes and try to get it to stop murdering people?”

  Lythe raised one eyebrow. “Good question, actually.”

  “And for the record, the reason he hired Walker back was because I said I wouldn’t take the job unless he did. So I haven’t just let the shark eat everybody.”

  “Wow. Now I feel bad we’ve all been avoiding you.”

  “So you guys have been avoiding me on purpose?”

  “It’s nothing personal,” Lythe said. “Think about it this way. Mr. White’s personal assistants don’t usually last long. And when they go, they tend to go down in flames. Would you want anything to do with an airplane you knew was almost statistically guaranteed to crash?”

  “What’s with all the depressing metaphors?” I asked.

  “I think it’s less offensive to tell someone via metaphor that they are cursed and you’ve been too scared to be dragged down with them when they inevitably get fired. Don’t you?”

  I ran my tongue across my teeth, nodding. “Now that you put it that way. Yeah, actually.” I laughed, and Lythe smiled in return.

  “It’s not like he really takes my advice or anything,” I said. “But if there’s a chance for me to get him to take it easy on you guys, I’ll do whatever I can.” At that moment, I felt something between my legs and remembered Adrian’s seed was still inside me. Worse, I wasn’t even wearing panties. I pressed my thighs together, suddenly feeling ridiculous for trying to downplay my connection with Adrian when I’d just given my virginity to him in his office that same day.

  “I’ll tell you this much,” Lythe said. “If you get him to lighten up, you’ll be a hero around here.”

  Lythe tipped her cup to me like a salute, then left the breakroom. I was still microwaving my lunch when Adrian opened the door.

  The small room didn’t feel big enough to contain him. He loomed in the doorway for a moment, seeming to decide whether it was wise to come in. Then he entered and looked around. “It’s a mess in here.”

  “Don’t visit much?” I asked.

  “No, not much,” he said.

  I tilted my head. “Then what brings you today?”

  Adrian ran his thumb across the stubble on his chin, grinning like he’d been caught doing something wrong but wasn’t about to apologize. “Some of the men in the office treat the breakroom like a place to pick up women. I wanted to make sure you were able to use the microwave in peace.”

  “So you’re trying to scare any men off from hitting on me? Lucky for you they already seem scared of me. Everybody but Lythe scattered like cockroaches as soon as I walked in.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “Believe it or not, your employees are so terrified of you that they don’t even want to associate with your assistant.”

  I expected a smart ass comment from him, but he just hung his head and shook it. “I’m sorry, Jules. I’ll speak with them about the way they’re treating you and make sure they are more welcoming.”

  “That’s okay,” I said quickly. The microwave dinged and I reached in to pull my lunch free, blowing away the steam. “I think you might just scare them even more if you try to help. But I appreciate the offer.”

  Adrian turned his lip up at my salisbury steak. “Jesus Christ. What is that?”

  “Lunch,” I said.

  “No. It’s not.” He took the tray from me and carried it to the trashcan, dropping it inside. “You’ll get some kind of chemical poisoning from eating that shit.”

  I stared at him, mouth still hanging open. “You threw away my lunch? Seriously?”

  “I’ll take you to get a real lunch. I won’t have you eating that.”

  “Now you’re watching my weight?” I asked with a dangerous edge to my voice.

  “We can get cheeseburgers and fries for all I care. I just won’t have you eating out of microwavable plastic dishes.”

  I folded my arms. “Next time you want to make a point, maybe ask me first. We could’ve given that food to a homeless person outside at least.” Even though he was dangerously close to taking the same stance my parents had on processed food, I had to at least give him a pass for saying we could still get cheeseburgers. I guess I couldn’t fault the guy for not wanting me to ingest little bits of microwaved plastic and probably poison myself, even if he was being overprotective.

  He sighed. “You’re right. We’ll buy some takeout from wherever we go and give it out on our way back. Fair?”

  I smiled. “That’s fair. Yeah. So do we have to put on masks and sneak out of here like ninjas? Do we go separate? Maybe work out a code word so we can secretly communicate which route we’re taking out of the office?”

  “Um,” he said. “I was thinking we could just walk out a few minutes apart. I go first, then you go. We meet outside the building.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Yeah. That makes sense, too.”

  21

  Adrian

  I wasn’t sure what had come over me, but I was beginning to get used to that. As soon as I had eyes on Jules, all my ability to function logically seemed to evaporate. She was my fucking kryptonite.

  The plan I’d formed after I learned the truth about her was to immediately meet the guys and my sister. We’d all talk and form a plan about what to do. I knew I needed their level heads to see this straight, and I’d sworn to myself I’d keep my distance from Jules until then.

  And only an hour later I’d watched her from my office window as she walked her tight little ass into the breakroom. I saw the way the men in the office leered after her, eye fucking her.

  I’d managed to last about five minutes before I burst out my door and went after her. Now I hadn’t just tried to scare off the men in the office, I’d made it worse by inviting her out to lunch.

  Idiot.

  B
ut Jules was waiting outside with a sweet little smile when she saw me.

  It was pleasantly warm and sunny out. The city was bustling with people in business attire heading out for lunch and a mixture of others walking dogs or standing outside buildings to chat with food in their hands.

  The look on Jules’ face told me she’d already put my outburst over her lunch behind us and seemed completely excited for the moment. I appreciated that about her. She was a creature of the present, always ready to put the past behind her and live in the moment.

  I could’ve used more of that myself. I spent my days with my eyes everywhere but in the now. I looked back at the way Coleton had ruined my father’s career and life. I looked forward to the way I’d return the favor. But I rarely stopped to smell the roses, and maybe that’s what was so addicting about Jules. She forced me to be present. There was nowhere else to be with those glowing eyes and her infectious smile.

  She dragged me, kicking and screaming right into the here and now. The problem was I couldn’t afford to forget my mission, and all these little detours were adding up. They were distracting me, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it bit me in the ass.

  “So, where to, boss?” Jules asked.

  She actually reached out and grabbed my hand, interlacing her fingers with mine. I grinned down, unable to even fake a glare if I wanted to. “We’re doing this?” I asked, looking at our hands.

  “I’m a girl with a certain idea about what it means to be in a relationship. And yes, I hold hands with my boyfriends.”

  I chuckled. Boyfriend. I ignored the totally irrational jealous itch at the thought of boyfriends she’d had before. Don’t be a dumbass, Adrian. You can’t be annoyed at the thought of men getting a taste of her before you even knew her. You especially can’t be upset when you’re halfway sure you’ll wind up having to end this because she’s the daughter of the fucking guy you’re trying to destroy.