“It’s okay; I don’t mind staying here. I still have a few things I want to go over.”
“That was not a request.”
I looked back up at him and shook my head. What an idiot. I was there to help him. I had no idea what his problem was. I didn’t say a thing. I just stood up, gathered my papers, put on my coat, and headed out without giving him another look. He was lucky that I didn’t just quit on the spot. If I weren’t so desperate for the job, I would’ve done that, but he didn’t need to know that.
I went straight to the diner, still fuming mad. When Dana saw me, she seemed surprised.
“Oh, I didn’t think you were coming over,” she said.
“I wasn’t. I still had tons of work to get through at the office. But that idiot told me to go home.”
“Josh?”
“Yeah. He has such a chip on his shoulder. I swear, he just hates the fact that I’m not all giddy around him. He’s obviously never met a woman that wasn’t interested in him before. It’s so childish. I’m here to help him, and he asks me to leave the office. Seriously? He’s so annoying.”
“He sounds awful.”
“He is. Want to join me for something to eat?”
Dana shook her head. “I wish I could. But it’s a madhouse here. I’ve been running around like a headless chicken all day. I’ll bring something out for you, though.”
“Thank you, that would be great. And that’s okay. I have some notes to go over, anyway. Seeing as though I didn’t finish what I wanted in the office.”
I was irate about what had happened with Josh, and when Dana brought me a cup of coffee. I took it from her gratefully and took a few big sips before carrying on with my work. It helped, although what I really needed at that moment was a big glass of wine. I spread my notes over the counter and started going through them, and worked that way for the next ten minutes before I was interrupted. I almost jumped out of my chair when a man sat down next to me.
“You look busy.”
I jumped and turned to see Josh’s competitor sitting next to me. Frank Hirshman was smiling at me, with teeth that seemed a little bit too white for someone his age. He’d clearly done something to them. No wonder he always looked so good on camera. I quickly gathered up my notes and smiled back at him.
“I am busy. But thankfully I’ve got some food coming my way,” I said.
“This place makes the best food, doesn’t it?”
I smiled. “It sure does. The owner is my best friend, so I tend not to go anywhere else but here.”
“Your best friend? Lucky you. She sure knows what she is doing. I come here all the time too. Well, how about you break protocol for once?”
“What do you mean?”
“How about I take you out for dinner tonight? We can go somewhere else and complain about how much better the food is here.”
I laughed. “Thank you for the offer, but I’m actually not dating right now.”
“You’re not dating at all, or you just don’t want to date me?”
“I’m not dating at all. I’m too busy.”
“I can see.”
“I’m sorry. But thank you, that’s very nice of you to ask.”
He smiled at me with those extra white teeth. “Such a pity. But I understand. Good luck with everything. I hope life gets a little less busy for you soon.”
I looked at the papers in front of me and shook my head. No chance of that happening. Dana came back with the food and asked me what that conversation was all about.
“He asked me out on a date.”
“The silver-haired fox asked you out? Tell me you said yes.”
I chuckled. “Of course not. He’s Josh’s competitor.”
“I thought you said Josh was an idiot.”
“He is. But I’m not exactly going to date his competition. Anyway, I’m seriously too busy to date right now.”
“Are you too busy to eat?”
I looked at the steaming bowl of curry that she’d put down next to me and grinned. “I’m never too busy to eat.”
Chapter Nine
Josh
I’d always been good at my job, but there were times when I wondered if I had gone into the right line of work. As much as I hated to admit it, the work was sometimes exhausting, and being in the public eye wasn’t always that easy. I had made a promise to myself from the very beginning that I wouldn’t become fake. I wanted my media presence to be the same as my personal one. I envisioned people talking about me and saying, “Oh, with Josh it’s always what you see is what you get,” and for the most part, I thought I had gotten it right. But still, despite trying to be myself at all times, I still sometimes found myself smiling a little too much, or trying a little too hard. There was always something that I had to please. But, despite all that, I enjoyed what I did, and I liked my job. I truly believed in the mentality that one person could make a difference. I was more than happy to be that person.
It was Monday afternoon, and I was sitting with my head down looking through some paperwork. I often marveled at how much paperwork there still was in such a digital age. A few years ago someone in the office had signed some papers without reading through them properly and had gotten into a whole lot of trouble because of it. Ever since then, I was adamant that I’d go through the small print before signing anything. I also made a promise never to trust anyone. No matter what happened, I would be the final person to read through the document and sign it. This was the smartest thing to do, but also the most time-consuming.
“Josh, I have a few things I’d like to run through with you,” Reagan said as she walked through the door and sat down.
“Don’t you knock?” I said. I couldn’t help but notice that she was in a pencil skirt that day. It was long enough to cover up her thighs, but still short enough for me to get a good look at her legs. As I suspected, she had great legs.
She didn’t answer me but got up to close the door and sat back down again.
“Closing the door? Why? Do you want some alone time with me?” I teased. I was still very interested in seeing her guard down, but it didn’t seem likely that it was going to happen anytime soon.
She glared at me. “It’s so noisy out there. Those phones never stop ringing; it’s enough to drive anyone insane. Anyway, it’s better to speak to you without a million ears at the door. So, I’ve been looking over some of your history.”
“My history?” I said and groaned. “Why on earth would you care about my history? If you want to know about what’s going on in the office, I’ll tell you. We should be concentrating on work-related matters, not personal ones. And we should be talking about moving forward rather than looking back. You really don’t need to spend so much time looking up my past. It’s not interesting, I promise you.”
Reagan, once again, completely ignored me. Instead, she fixed me another one of her stares. “Tell me about your personal life with women.”
I laughed. “Are you serious?”
“I’m very serious,” she said, and I noticed that her pen was poised above her notepad, ready to take notes. Did she really think she was going to take notes about my personal life? What was wrong with this woman? I was starting to regret letting Ralph hire her.
I shook my head. “Why? Are you trying to find out if I’m single? Is this your way of hitting on me? Because, I must say, it’s a very interesting approach and not one that I’ve ever seen used before.”
Reagan, however, seemed immune to my charm and my banter. She shook her head and asked me once again to clarify a few things for her. She seemed adamant that she wanted to know about my history with women, and by her tone of voice, I knew that she wasn’t going to flirt back with me.
“Look, if this is your way of trying to find out if I have any scandals coming my way, you don’t have to worry. I’m not a cheater, and I’m not married. There’s no dirt on me. What you see is what you get and all that.”
“Josh, I wish you’d realize how important it is for me to k
now all about you. That’s the only way that we can move on and concentrate on the future.”
“And I wish you’d realize what little importance my dating life has on everything. And that I have nothing to hide. A fact you clearly don’t believe.”
“Fine,” she said and put her pen down. “But you better believe me when I say that I’ll find out if there is anything lurking in your past. It will come out. It always does.”
I laughed. “Go ahead. There isn’t a scandal lurking in every corner, you know.”
“Okay, fine. We’ll see about that. Anyway, that’s not the only reason why I wanted to talk to you today.”
“Oh yeah? You still want to get that dinner with me? Although I’m not sure it’s such a good idea anymore. You don’t seem all that interested in small talk.”
“No, I don’t care for dinner right now. And I definitely don’t care for small talk. Actually, what I wanted to talk to you about was your image.”
“My image? What’s wrong with my image? I think I look pretty good, actually.” I resisted the urge to tell her that I’d recently seen a magazine in which I was rated the hottest political figure of the year. I’d kept the magazine aside in case I ever needed to refer to it again. I wondered if she had seen the magazine too. “Oh, I see, I look too good. Is that what it’s about?”
She rolled her eyes. “No, that’s not it. And yes, you look fine,” she said, and if I wasn’t mistaken, I was sure that I saw a slight blush appear on her cheeks. It faded as quickly as it had appeared, though, so I couldn’t be too sure. “I’m not talking about your looks really. I’m talking about the way that you present yourself to the public. I don’t think you realize just how important it is to look a certain way.”
“And what way is that?”
“Oh, there are plenty of ways. But I’d like to smooth out your image a bit more. Edgy is good, but you’re a little too edgy for this line of work, and not everyone can relate to that. Brighter ties, darker suits, that sort of thing. There are a lot of things we can do to change things without being too obvious about it.”
I groaned. “Are you serious? This is crazy. Do you honestly think that it’s going to make a difference?”
“I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t think it would,” she said.
“I’m fine the way that I am, and anyway, my supporters are more worried about my actions than they are about my wardrobe. I’m a lot more popular than you seem to think I am. You’re not giving me the credit that I deserve. I’m the most popular by a long shot.”
“That’s what you think.”
“What does that mean?” I asked. She was beautiful, but she was really starting to get on my nerves now.
“It means that I’ve checked the latest poll and your competitor is right on your heels. That’s what it means.”
“No way. I’m way ahead,” I said. I was certain about this fact and more than happy to argue it.
“Oh yeah? Are you sure? When last did you check?”
I thought about it. When was the last time I’d checked to see who was in the lead? It couldn’t have been longer than a few days ago, maybe more. “I don’t know. I think I checked last week.”
“Josh, are you kidding me? Last week? How long have you been in this business? You know that the results change on a daily basis. No, scratch that, they change on an hourly basis. And the last time I checked, which happens to be just a few hours ago, showed that the two of you are very close. You’re still in the lead, I’ll give you that much, but not by a lot. It won’t before he passes you.”
“But I was way in the lead not so long ago.”
“Exactly,” she said. “The media can easily sway the public to go one way. That scandal hurt you.”
“But it had nothing to do with me.”
“You’re his best friend. It had everything to do with you. You need to be a lot smarter about this right now. I think you have what it takes to win this thing, but you’re going to have to be willing to change. It’s good to be confident, but it’s also good to be smart.”
Then, before I had the chance to say anything, she stood up and walked out the door. I sat there open-mouthed, trying to figure out when someone had last spoken to me that way. I thought about her calling her back in but thought better of it. Instead, I shook my head and carried on working, trying desperately not to think about the fact that I had lost so much of my lead. Had I been too confident? Not so long ago, I had been winning by a landslide.
Later that day, as I was about to head out, I saw that Reagan was still at her desk. Most people had either left or were on their way out, but she didn’t seem to be budging. Her head was down, and she was scribbling something into her notebook. She didn’t even notice me as I walked past. I found Ralph at his desk and went to talk to him.
“Hey, Josh,” Ralph said. “Good day? How crazy are things at the moment? I feel like every day is crazier than the next.”
“Tell me about it. I feel like everyone is surviving on no sleep and too much caffeine. Ralph, I wanted to ask you about Reagan.”
“Reagan? Sure. She’s amazing, isn’t she? I cannot believe how much she has done in such a short space of time. She really knows her stuff. Although I’m not surprised, she’s always been like that. If ever you want anything done right, you go to Reagan. She won’t rest until she succeeds, which is why I wanted her on this case.”
“Uh, yeah, she’s a hard worker, that’s for sure,” I said. It was a fact I couldn’t deny. “So, the two of you went to college together?”
“Yeah, I was a few years above her, but we still attended most of the same classes together. She was the smartest person there. My age had nothing on her. She just had a knack for things that the rest of us didn’t have.”
“Hmm, yeah I can see that. She’s very focused. And the two of you stayed in touch?”
“Sort of. Something happened right after college that she had to take care of, so I didn’t see her for a while.”
“Something happened? What?”
Ralph shrugged. “I honestly have no idea. We were friends, but we didn’t hang out much other than at college, so I didn’t feel it was my place to ask her. But we kept in touch and tried to see each other every now and again. We’ve stayed connected. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just wondering. I’ve just never met anyone quite like her before. She’s not here to mess around, is she?”
“Oh no. She’s here to do her job.”
“Well, she’s doing it, that’s for sure.”
I thanked Ralph and walked out. As I left, I turned back to see what Reagan was doing, but as per usual she had her head down and was concentrating hard. In all my years, I had never met anyone who worked as diligently as she did. Such a pity she was trying to change me so much.
Chapter Ten
Reagan
I was dying to phone Mack to find out what was going on, but I didn’t want to rush him. So when he called me on Monday morning before work I almost jumped up excitement.
“Sorry for calling you so early,” he said. “I didn’t want to bother you when you were at work. Anyway, I figured you’d be up already.”
I laughed. “You know me well. Yeah, I’ve been up for a million years already, or so it seems.”
He laughed. “I thought so.”
“I was just about to head out to the office, so you got me at a good time. So, do you have anything juicy to tell me?” I had a strong suspicion that I was about to get some big news from Mack. I wasn’t sure what it was about Josh, but he just seemed to be holding back something important.
“I must say, I was expecting to find a whole lot on this guy. I mean, most people have something that they’re hiding, and I had a feeling he’d have a whole bunch of skeletons in his closet. I know he says how he likes to tell the truth, but I thought that was just a ruse.”
“Are you saying that he’s totally clean?” I asked. I wasn’t sure why I was so surprised or what I had expected to find out about h
im, but I had definitely expected something.
“For the most part. I really did a lot of digging around, and he is pretty much what he says he is. The only thing that I couldn’t find anything on is about his mother.”
“His mother?”
“Yeah. There just doesn’t seem to be anything on her, which is kind of strange for a man at his level. But it could just be that there’s nothing to tell. Other than that there really is not much about him out there. He’s clean.”
“Wow. I’m surprised. I do realize that’s not a very nice thing to say about my boss, but I definitely expected to find out something about him.”
“You and me both. Well, this is a good thing, isn’t it? Isn’t this good for the election? The less bad things there are, the less you have to worry.”
“It is. For sure. And I definitely don’t agree with backing up someone who is doing things I don’t agree with so this does make me feel a whole lot better about everything.”
“Of course, sometimes things are harder to find than others, so I’ll definitely keep looking.”
“I’d appreciate that. At least until the election is over. If you come across anything, please let me know. And thanks for doing this for me, Mack. I owe you big time.”
“Anything for you, Reagan. It’s the least thing that I can do for you after everything. Anyway, hopefully there won’t be a need for me to call you. Maybe there really is nothing at all on this guy.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
I put the phone down and got ready for work, thinking about how interesting it was that Josh had nothing to hide. Maybe he really was the person he kept saying he was. That would be a welcome relief. But still, no matter what was true and what wasn’t, he could still benefit from some polish. Getting him to change was going to be the next big challenge. I chuckled as I thought about it. I wasn’t sure why, but I quite enjoyed getting under his skin. He was my boss, and I would retain a level of professionalism around him, but I’d also been hired to make sure he won, and I would do anything to make that happen. Even if that meant driving him completely up the wall.
Dirty Boss (An Office Romance) (The Maxwell Family) Page 6
