Just Me

by Graysen Morgen

  “You once told me you’re a Wiley. Wiley’s don’t quit and they don’t back down. If you really love her, then you will love her no matter what the consequences are.”

  “Thanks Giles.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Monday morning Ian came down the stairs dressed in a black business suit with an olive green blouse underneath, the silver Rolex shined against the tan skin of her left wrist.

  “Morning Miss Wiley, can I get you anything?” The butler stood at attention in his usual ascot style tuxedo.

  “Mimosa and a piece of toast.” She sat at the head of the table in her ordinary seat.

  “Yes ma’am.” He returned with a large glass of chocolate milk and a stack of blueberry pancakes. Without another word spoken, he went back to the kitchen cleaning.

  An hour later they picked up Ian’s new assistant, Clark Watkins, a moderately muscular built man with light brown hair and boyish good looks. He slid into the back next to his blond superior.

  “Good morning.” He spoke nervously and she ate it up. If her assistant seemed scared of her then so would the rest of the world. This alone made her smile.

  “Looking forward to seeing the operation behind the brains?” She grinned.

  “Most definitely, I’ve heard a lot about the plant from the directors.”

  “It’ll hold up to the talk I’m sure.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Two and a half hours later the black Bentley pulled through the round driveway around the bronze statue of Ian’s great grandfather and stopped parallel to the main double doors. Giles gracefully opened the door, Ian strutted into the building with Clark hot on her heels.

  “Good Morning Miss Wiley.” The receptionist stood at attention.

  “Hello Mrs. Cragen.” Ian smiled kindly. “This is my new Executive Assistant Clark Watkins. He has replaced Fraiser Higginbotham.”

  “Yes ma’am, nice to meet you.” She smiled.

  Ian proceeded down the hallway. She stopped periodically at different photos when Clark questioned her about one of them. He’d spent the better part of a day looking at the photos and reading the captions in the corporate office. She stopped in front of a large desk where a sandy haired secretary sat. She was staring and smiling ear to ear.

  Ian searched her brain for the woman’s name. Kathleen. “Kathleen, this is Clark Watkins, my Executive Assistant.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.” Clark said.

  “You too sir, Miss Wiley, Mr. Masters is expecting you.”

  “Thank you.” Ian walked passed the door to Cassidy’s office. Her heart skipped a beat, jumped into her throat and caused her to cough to catch her breath as she walked into Richard’s office.

  “Good Morning Miss Wiley.” He noticed her obvious choking. “Everything okay?”

  “Oh yeah, yeah, went down the wrong pipe." She cleared her throat embarrassingly. "Richard, this is my new assistant Clark Watkins, Clark this is Richard Masters, Production Director.” Rich stood an inch taller than Clark. They shook hands and returned awkward grins at each other.

  “It’s nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you.” Rich spoke with a deep voice.

  “Where’s Cas…uh…Miss Harland?” Ian cut in.

  “She is aware of the meetings, she’s probably out on the floor somewhere, I can never keep up with that woman. I swear she stays in shape from running around this place all day long.” That brought a playful smile to Ian’s lips, she could remember every inch of Cassidy's trim body and silky smooth skin. Snap out of it, my god you look like a love struck teenager!

  “Let’s go ahead and take the tour of the production floor, maybe we’ll run into her over there.” They began walking through the maze of hallways until they reached a heavy metal door. On the other side of the door Rich took them through a second, smaller maze of offices. Clark was introduced to the design crew, then shuffled along to the production floor manager’s office.

  “Hey Darren, this is Clark Watkins, he’s Miss Wiley’s new assistant.” The white haired man stood up from the chair behind his desk.

  “It’s nice to meet you, and it’s good to see you again Miss Wiley, as always it’s a pleasure.” He smiled. She remembered seeing him a few times before when she came to the plant with her father. Rich and Darren had been with company probably close to twenty years each.

  “Have you seen Cassidy?” Rich asked.

  “Yeah, actually she was just down here going over a deal that we need to ship out tomorrow. She had to switch carriers at the last minute and wanted to make sure that we’d be able to ship at eight a.m. instead of ten a.m. like originally planned.”

  “Oh, is everything taken care of?”

  “Of course.” He smiled.

  “Good, well if you have a few free minutes do you mind taking us on a tour around the equipment? I’m sure Mr. Watkins would like to see it.”

  “No problem, look in that room over there and grab hardhats and safety glasses for everyone.”

  ~ ~ ~

  An hour later, Ian and Clark were back in Richard’s office with him. “Let’s move into the conference room so we can all sit down and go over the numbers for the first quarter with you since I’m here.”

  “Sure, let me go check Cassidy’s office, if she’s not there I’ll call her cell.”

  A few minutes later the door opened to the small room, Ian was sitting at the head of the table with Clark on her right. Rich walked in and sat next to Clark, leaving the seat across from Clark and on Ian’s left open.

  “Nice of you to join us, Miss Harland.” Ian said with a hint of sarcasm.

  “I’m sorry, I’ve had some problems with one of our carriers this morning, it seems their drivers decided to go on strike this week.” Ian could see the pain in Cassidy’s gray eyes starring daggers at her. “It’s nice to see you again Miss Wiley.” Cassidy said as she sat next to Ian, careful not to touch her.

  “Cassidy, this is Clark Watkins, he’s Miss Wiley’s new assistant.” Cassidy extended her hand in a friendly gesture, Ian noticed Clark hold onto her hand longer than he should have.

  Hmm…watch out baby boy, you’re in uncharted territory and the shark that swims in those waters will eat you alive! “Well, now that we’re all here, let’s get started.” Ian went through the first quarter numbers in both departments. She broke each month down based on the budget, and gave them the running total for all of the departments as a whole. So far, with the first quarter behind them, they were up over ten percent. This was much higher than expected after the announcement of the inside fraud and embezzlement scam. Ian noticed Clark staring at Cassidy off and on throughout the meeting. He seemed to smile widely each time the brunette spoke. I’ll allow you one fuck up, let this be it. Please don’t become a ‘rat bastard’ on me. I think I’ve been through enough hell for one lifetime and I’m about to board the bus to hell one more time. Who am I kidding? I’m driving the damn thing. “Well, that seems to be all I have, how are things here? Any problems or questions I can help you with?”

  “No, nothing new. How’s the lawsuit going, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “No Rich, not at all.” She pursed her lips. “Honestly, it’s going at turtle speed right now, hung up on politics. I’ll let everyone know as it progresses. Just keep in mind that if we do go to trial, both of you will be asked to testify.”

  “I’ll be glad when all of that is over.” Cassidy added.

  “Me too.” But it’s about to get a hell of a lot worse. Is that even what you want? What if having a life with me isn’t what you want or need? Then what? Ian stood and straightened her jacket. “I’m going to leave Clark here for a few days, I’d like him to work with each of you so that he understands what you actually do here.” She handed a business card to her new assistant. “This is the car service that will be bringing you home, just give them a call today and they’ll take you over to the hotel. My butler, Giles, took your suitcase over and left everything for you with the concierge. You’re in the hotel
tonight and tomorrow night, so go ahead and come back late Wednesday. We’ll meet Thursday morning.”

  “Sounds good. Have a safe trip back.”

  “Thank you.” Ian stood and began to exit the room. “Rich, you and Clark get started, I need to speak with Cassidy alone please.” As soon as the men left the room she turned her head towards the eyes that threatened to choke the life out of her.

  “Can we talk?”

  “Yes ma’am. What can I do for you?” Cassidy remained in employee mode. Damn you if you think I’m that easy!

  “I’m sorry Cassidy. I never meant to hurt you.” Ian tried to cover Cassidy’s hand, but she pulled away.

  “Don’t be Miss Wiley, it was a simple misunderstanding. I’m already passed it.”

  “Cut the professional shit Cassidy, talk to me.”

  “I can’t, I’m sorry. You’re my boss and I will treat you as my boss and only my boss.”

  “Fine, if that’s how you want it to be. I never meant for things to end up this way between us, I don’t regret anything that happened. I… I’m sorry.” Ian stood up and walked out of the room without looking back. Well that went well.

  ~ ~ ~

  “You should talk to her honey.” Trina said as she waved to get the waiters attention.

  “I agree with Trina. You’re heartbroken, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this.” Wendi held back from slapping the shirtless muscle-bound waiters' ass as he walked away. “Mm, I swear the men are to die for in here.”

  “Yeah but they’re all waiters.” Trina added.

  “Perks of coming on ladies night, great drink specials and hot waiters, but no single patrons.” Wendi laughed. Cassidy ordered another round for herself before the strapping young man left their table.

  “He’s not a piece of meat ladies.” Cassidy finally spoke.

  “So, he’s still a fine looking specimen.” Wendi added with a twist her head and a grin from hell.

  “God I wish one of you would fall in love, this side of the fence sucks major ass.” She knocked her drink back as soon as the glass hit the table.

  “Whoa, drunky monkey, slow down! I don’t know how you drink that shit.” Wendi cringed.

  “Why don’t you call her Cass?”

  “And say what?”

  “I don’t know, try I love you.” Trina tried the straightforward attempt. The brunette laughed, just about spitting the last of her bourbon all over the table.

  “Yeah, that’ll go over well! She left in the middle of the night and never bothered to contact me until she walked into the office. What the hell am I suppose to think? On top of that she sat there trying to apologize. Who the fuck knows how she feels about me. Besides all of that, I’m her god damn employee! I slept with my boss, how stupid am I?” She whistled loudly to get the waiters attention again. Round three baby!

  “You can’t drown her or the memory of her in that nasty shit you drink, slow down Cass.” She could hear the concern in Wendi's voice.

  “Look, I know what you guys are trying to do, I’ll get over this. I was the idiot that slept with her boss and fell in love.”

  “I’ve seen the way she looks at you Cass, she can’t deny it. Besides, I’m sure you could feel it when you two were together.” That brought the images and feelings right back to the surface. The brunette closed her eyes and smiled.

  I can still feel her skin against me, her fingers inside me, her tongue on me, oh my god I want her again.

  “Hello? Earth to Cassidy!” Wendi and Trina both noticed their friend go off into another world. Her tight face loosened and an endearing smile crossed her face.

  “Huh? What? I’m fine.”

  “Sure you are.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Three weeks since her meeting at the plant, the snow was finally gone, no more salting the roads meant no more riding in the Land Rover. Of course Ian would still be chauffeured to and from the office in the Bentley, but YLESGRL was about to roll out of the garage.

  “Be careful in that thing Ian Leland.” She turned around and shot a look at the older man behind her. He’d never called her by her name unless he was trying to get her attention. “I’m sorry…Miss Wiley.”

  “No, don’t be. You just sounded like my mother. She’s the only one that ever called me Ian Leland. But, she only did it when I was in trouble or she was worried about me.” She walked over and gave him a tiny reassuring hug. “I’ll be fine Giles, I’m only going to the lodge to have a drink or two. I need to air out the cobwebs in the Lotus.” In myself too, but I’m not in the mood for company, unless she’s a beautiful brunette with unstoppable gray eyes.

  The sleek black car rolled out of the garage and crept toward the iron gates, once she was through, Ian barked the tires for a good two hundred yards. “Woo hoo!” She yelled into the darkness. The open top caused her short hair to blow around wildly. Free at last, thank god I’m free at last! The Lotus pulled into one of the many open spots in front of the Snow Drift.

  “Evening.” Ian parked her tight little but on the corner bar stool. The regular bartender with thinning dark hair slowly made his way down to her, he was probably only her height, which was short for a guy, and his tight white tee shirt clung to his muscles. She knew he thought she was arrogant and treated her like she was no one special, she always liked that about him. She also figured he’d seen her pick up more women than he ever could have imagined for himself, that made her smile. ‘Shrimp dick’, hmm…that’s a good name for you.

  “What can I get for you?” He spoke without looking at her.

  “Southern Comfort on the rocks.” He made the glass and slid it down to her. Way to go ‘shrimp dick’, you didn’t spill it. I’m so impressed. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. As soon as Ian finished her glass she tossed a ten on the bar and walked out.

  Two and a half hours later she found herself parked in front of Cassidy’s apartment. She’d only decided to go for a ride to clear her head, not drive to the problem. I shouldn’t be here. What the hell am I thinking? I’m definitely not drunk. I’m stone sober and sitting in front of her apartment at midnight. I’m hopeless. This is pitiful. She stepped out of the tiny car and walked towards the door. Get back in the car and drive off, this is stupid, she hates you. She knocked softly. See she’s asleep, just go home, no one will ever have to know you were here…The door opened.

  “What are you doing here?” Cassidy stood at the door in a tiny pair of blue shorts and a thin white tank top that revealed everything since it clung to the skin with nothing under it.

  “I…uh…can we talk?” Ian fumbled for words, she wasn’t expecting her to answer the door and especially not half dressed. That sent an ember to the already heated flesh between her legs.

  “You show up at my house at midnight on a Friday night to talk? You could’ve called me at the office, unless it can’t wait until Monday.”

  “Damn it Cassidy, this has nothing to do with Wiley Steel!” Ian tried not to raise her voice, but it still went up an octave or two.

  “Then why are you here?” Cassidy’s voice also went up.

  “I want to talk to you, can I come in?”

  “No. I don’t know…” She stepped back and let the taller woman inside. “What do you want to talk about that couldn’t wait?”

  “Us.” Ian hope Cassidy didn't notice her trembling in the dim light.

  “Us? There is no us. You’re my boss and I’m your employee, we may have had a lousy attempt at a friendship once, but…”

  “Look at me Cassidy.” Ian stood a few feet away, Cassidy stared at the ground.

  “I can’t.”

  “Damn it, I’m not your boss when I’m outside of that office.”

  “Who are you then? Who’s the woman that was in my bed? Who’s the woman standing here now?” Cassidy looked up to meet sparkling blue eyes. God you tear me up just looking at me.

  “I’ve always told you Cassidy, it’s me, just me, when we’re together.” Ian stepped closer but didn�
��t dare touch her.

  “Why did you run away, and not even call me?” A tear escaped her eye, she cursed it as it ran down her cheek. Ian reached out then, stroking soft skin to wipe it away.

  “I’m so sorry Cassidy. I was scared. Everything changed for me that night.”

  “It changed for me to you know.”

  “I know, I hate myself for reacting the way I did. It’s so hard, I’ve had to live my life backstage in the closet for so long, now I’m the center of attention day in and day out. I’m still not sure how to deal with that, much less bringing you into it.” She cupped Cassidy’s jaw with both of her hands tenderly. “But, I want to try.”

  “What’s that suppose to mean?”

  “It means I’m ready to have a relationship, and I don’t care who knows about it.”

  “You mean come out of the closet?”

  “I mean I’m going to live my life the way I want to, no matter what the consequences are. Wiley Steel is my legacy, but you...Cassidy I’m in love with you.” A few tears finally fell from her deep blue eyes.

  “Oh Ian.” Cassidy threw her arms around Ian’s neck, Ian reciprocated by threading her arms around Cassidy’s waste and pulling the smaller woman tightly against her. “I love you too.”

  “You don’t know how good it is to here you say that. Can you repeat it? I just want to be sure…”

  “I love you Ian Wiley.”

  Ian smiled from ear to ear and leaned back, still holding the other woman. “I love you so much.” She pressed her lips against Cassidy's softly at first. Cassidy’s lips parted and Ian probed deeper. They frantically undressed in the middle of the living room as their lips barely separated, tongues jousted for position.