Overworked: An Office Reverse Harem Romance

by Dark Angel

  “I won’t try to contact her, either. She can come running back to us on her knees,” Killian says, laughing a little sadistically at the end.

  Xane reaches his hand out, and all of us shake on the plan. We’ll forge forward, but none of us will contact Julia until we know that she’s ready to talk.

  One by one, we all leave the ship. I’m the last one to go—on purpose. I want to check the room Julia was in before leaving. Not that I expect anything to be left behind, but in a way, I hope there’s something for me to take with me.

  It still smells like her. Her memory lingers on everything she touched. I’m not sure why I’m taking this so personally, other than the fact that I know she’s the one.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see it.

  Black silk, thin straps, and waiting for me to take it home. A pair of panties. I use the tip of my finger to lift them, almost not wanting to tarnish what I’ve found.

  “Well, then, look what I have,” I smirk. I’m talking to myself as though this is a prize worth framing.

  I tuck the panties into my jacket pocket. These are mine now. If I can’t have the woman, I’ll at least have the memories of her.

  “Sir, your car has arrived,” the first mate says as he walks by the stateroom.

  “Thank you. Tell him I’ll be right there.”

  I grab my bags, finally leaving the ship, but this won’t be the last time. I’ll have my Princess again. We all will.

  Chapter 34

  Julia

  The moment I walk through the doors of my office building, I feel at home. I’ve spent so much time here that often I wondered if I should just add a bed to my office space. Not really, but as many times as I fell asleep on the overstuffed couch in the corner, it wouldn’t be the most illogical decision I’ve made lately.

  “Welcome back, Julia.”

  “Welcome back, boss.”

  A warm welcome from the staff makes me feel good. After all that has happened, I need a few words of praise from those who know me so well.

  “Coffee, please? I’ve so much to catch up on,” I say the moment I see my assistant lurking around the Keurig.

  I spent the last month in and out of hotels, planes, and boats that wearing heels again makes me miss the comforts of vacation life. The first thing I do is slip the shoes off, wiggling my toes to celebrate their freedom.

  “Much better now,” I say. Of course, I’m talking to myself. I seem to do that a lot lately, as well.

  It’s odd being back in my office. The four walls seem a little confining and lackluster, even though I’m the one who decorated them in the first place.

  My assistant brings in coffee, sitting it on the desk, but she doesn’t leave.

  “So, how was the trip? Tell me all about it!” she says excitedly.

  How do I tell her that I spent the past month fucking four of the hottest men in the world? Or that I ran away from them because I didn’t think it would work, even though they begged me to stay?

  “We can talk later over coffee. I have so much to catch up on, and please, hold my calls for the next few hours. That means everyone,” I say, smiling, giving my assistant a shove out the door with my words.

  As the door to the office shuts, I begin to breathe again. I only want to be alone with my work right now. I’m sure there’s some disaster waiting for me to clean up.

  How could there not be?

  A buzz on my phone, and I almost drop it.

  Derek has sent me a picture of my black panties. Fuck. I was sure I took everything.

  I delete the photo.

  I’m not going to reply to his message. I don’t want to give him hope, though it’s killing me inside to let it all go. The ceiling fan above me sends a stray lock of hair blowing freely in the breeze, and I’m suddenly taken back to the salty sea air on the beach as I dig my bare toes into the—

  I shake my head hard. I need to focus here. I didn’t come all the way home to miss where I was. I came to work, and that’s what I plan on doing

  I take a moment to let the coffee wake me up to reality. It’s strong and makes me miss the subtler blend back on the island. I make a mental note to order myself some Kona blend; I’m sure the girls in the office will love it as much as I do.

  For the first time in almost a month, I boot up my laptop, expecting no less than complete insanity when I do. I expect that it’ll take a week to get through all the messages that I’m sure are waiting for me.

  One click on my email, and I hold my breath, preparing for the inevitable bombardment…but it doesn’t happen.

  Sure, there’s a lot of emails, but nothing with urgent in the subject line. Status updates, a handful of efficiency inquiries, and the monthly birthday reminder.

  “What the hell went on while I was gone?” I ask myself out loud as I click through all the emails.

  One by one, I go through the emails left for me, and the most important one is a company dinner that we hold each year. I’m sure they must be hiding something from me…right?

  An hour later, I have responded to every email, pulled up the sales report, and found nothing wrong.

  I don’t know whether to be happy or sad that my business can run just fine without me hovering over them. I guess they’re all trained well enough to handle this? Somehow I’ve accidently created a machine of complete automation.

  Just like theirs.

  I turn my chair to face the full wall window that overlooks the city below. Leaning back, watching as the little matchbox-sized cars zoom by, I can’t stop myself from thinking about the events of the month. How I ended up back at work today is the focus right now.

  I look down at my nails, the color so not me. I had them done when I spent time with Derek. He picked out a shade of purple that I would never have chosen.

  It was cute at the time, but now I wonder if I should’ve it changed to something that’s more neutral, or even nude. Picking at the nail, I decide I’ll leave it. It’s not too bad of a color, I guess.

  One thing I do need to do is get rid of all the pictures on my phone. I filled my storage and might need the space.

  I open my phone. Even the background is taunting me. It’s a picture of the five of us on the yacht.

  With a deep breath in, I delete the photo. It automatically changes to a generic abstract art picture that came with the phone. I feel a pang of regret the moment it’s gone.

  Have you ever had your heart broken only to find that you were the cause of it?

  I open the gallery and the memories flood through me, as though the Niagara Falls popped the cork to my soul. Each photo is a moment in time where one of them showed me how to live for real. Or one where I figured out that work’s fine, but if you don’t live, you’ve wasted a gift.

  I can’t bear to delete these pictures. Not yet. Instead of keeping them on my phone, I send them all to my online photo account.

  I’ll still have them, but at least, I won’t see them every time I open my phone. I have become everything I never wanted to be—I’m a runner.

  Someone who can’t handle reality, so they just flee. One day though, life’s going to catch up with me.

  I’m overthinking everything. As I pace around my office, I realize all this overthinking is getting me nowhere. Did I honestly think everything would suddenly change?

  But it did, didn’t it? I haven’t had sex in over 24 hours, and I’m going insane. I miss them.

  Even the slightest brush of my hand across my nipples sends a shiver through my body.

  “Stop it, Julia,” I whisper to myself.

  I need some fresh air. Maybe that’ll clear my head and allow me to focus on work.

  I take a quick trip downstairs to the little food cart on the street and bring back a couple bagels with cream cheese; one for myself and one for my assistant. The moment I set it on her desk, she looks stunned.

  “What? You need a break, too. Chill out. And stop looking at me like that,” I say, laughing as I go back to seclusion of
my office.

  I turn on music. Again, something I never do.

  I put my feet on my desk, enjoying my breakfast in peace. I suddenly laugh out loud, realizing that Spencer rubbed off on me. I have my bare feet on my desk and the sounds of the island playing in surround.

  If I start meditating, I just might have myself committed.

  As I sit there eating, I wonder what the four of them are thinking. Do they miss me? Or have I already been replaced in their world?

  I know I could never replace them; not even for a brief second would I want anyone else.

  Who could ever give me what they did?

  A knock on my door brings me crashing back to reality. My assistant is standing there with a wide smile on her face.

  “Julia, you have a meeting today with the board at two p.m. I’ve ordered a late lunch for the meeting. Anything else that you need me for before then?” she asks.

  Can you mend a broken heart?

  I shake my head, answering both her and myself. I don’t want to explain what happened to anyone other than Nicole. I know she’ll be asking soon, but I’m not ready yet.

  I’m not ready for my meeting or to see anyone, but I need to get back on track with everything. I rushed back here for a reason, and now I’m going to make sure that it was worth leaving those four men behind.

  I spend the rest of the morning getting ready for the meeting. I’m sort of surprised that no one has shown up at my office, but then again, I didn’t expect them to chase me. Still, I find myself disappointed that they didn’t.

  Chapter 35

  Xane

  “Black coffee, two sugars,” I say idly.

  The Starbucks clerk looks like she’s getting her panties wet just from the three of us standing there. Of course, we always get that reaction from women; this is nothing new.

  Derek and Killian asked me to meet here for coffee this morning. Something we need to talk about. I’m sure it’s about Julia, though that subject is hard to discuss these days.

  I still can’t fucking believe she blew us off like that. Usually, I don’t give a fuck, but something about Julia got under my skin something fierce.

  I haven’t slept much in the last week, so the coffee might help pick me up right now. Even after working out at the gym, I can’t seem to stop thinking once my head hits the pillow at night.

  Not even when I was in high school did women frustrate me to this point. I’ve always been the kind of man who could walk away without ever looking back.

  I’m not sure why they chose this place to have coffee other than its trendy, but the coffee’s decent. This place isn’t my style at all, though: I don’t go for the latest trends.

  We take a seat in the corner, the one that’s the most out of the way and can ensure us at least a little bit of privacy.

  “Anyone hear from Julia?” I ask, knowing they would’ve told me right away if they did.

  Both shake their heads, but before either could speak, Derek grabs his phone to check the text he just received.

  I watch as Derek sits up straight, studying the phone screen before talking.

  “It’s Julia…” Derek says.

  “Are you serious?” I ask, placing my coffee cup back on the table now.

  “Yeah, listen to this. Julia says she’s sorry for the way she left. Everything just went too fast for her. She also says she misses us and wants to catch up soon,” Derek says.

  All three of us smile. I’m relieved that this standoff is over. Julia finally came to her senses.

  After all the torture of the past few days, I can finally breathe again.

  “She needs to have her ass spanked,” growls Killian.

  “I was thinking of tying her down till she begs,” I add to the punishment.

  Derek’s face shows anguish as he rereads the screen.

  “No. Julia needs us to show her why she can trust us,” Derek says, surprisingly trying to be the voice of reason.

  All the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. What the fuck did we spend a month doing? Every one of us gave her no reason to leave.

  I can’t believe he would say that. What the hell is he thinking?

  “What the fuck, man? She got everything we had, and then some. She took parts of me I swore I would never allow a woman to have. I gave her my trust,” I say, leaning in, my voice now an angered growl.

  Derek waves his hand as though it’s a white flag. “Shut the fuck up. All I meant is that we need to make sure Julia realizes we’re here for good. Not fucking leaving,” Derek says.

  I know I have a temper. Having no sleep has dulled my normal sense of control, and that isn’t good for anyone. Especially not me.

  I knew what he meant, but the irrational asshole side of me kicked in for a moment. I really do need a good night of sleep.

  Now that we know what’s going on and that we can see her again, it’s time to get together and put a plan of action in motion.

  For a few weeks now, we’ve been thinking about helping Julia out—but we knew she wouldn’t allow it. We figured if we just do it, she won’t have any choice but to accept change.

  “I need a refill on the coffee. Give me a minute, and we can discuss plans,” I say, already up.

  I flash the barista, the girl who still has that deer-in-the-headlights look, a wide smile.

  “Refill, sir?” she asks.

  I nod and toss a twenty on the counter and walk off. I hear her telling the other girls she just got a 16-dollar tip from ‘that sexy guy over there.’

  I smile. On another day, in another world before Julia, I would’ve turned right back around and showed her where real power comes from, but…it hardly seems worth the time now.

  “I need to call Spencer and tell him our plans and that Julia wants to see us,” I say, grabbing my phone.

  “Call dumbass,” I say to the voice commands on my phone with a smirk.

  It takes three rings for him to pick up. He’s probably meditating.

  “Spencer, good news. Julia texted Derek. She feels terrible about what she did and wants to see us again.”

  I swear I can feel his smile through the phone.

  “SWEET! Man, I can’t fucking believe it. I was just about to call my assistant in for a little relief. I was bad off. Fuck, you saved me. Thanks, bro!” Spencer says.

  He must be one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met. Sometimes, I’m even envious of how relaxed he can be. Not everyone can find the simplicity in life as Spencer can.

  He actually manages to calm his inner self. I secretly tried that meditation shit once, but I’m not wired that way. I can’t relax just because someone tells me to, even if that someone is me.

  “So you need to meet us down at Starbucks so we can figure out our plan of action and—”

  I stop the moment I mention it.

  It’s Spencer. It’ll be a clusterfuck if we leave anything up to him. Not that he’s not bright, but because he’s smart as fuck.

  He’ll just say we’re overcomplicating things and try to water the whole bit down. The guy has a different thought process than the rest of us.

  “You know what, man, how about I just send you a bill?” I say, hanging up before he can agree or reject to the plan.

  We all know how he is.

  “Spencer said bill him for whatever his share is,” I say with a smirk. They both know the deal with him.

  I sip the brew, relaxing in my seat for the first time since getting off the ship. The world already seems a little brighter since Julia’s text. I don’t feel like I want to punch a wall anymore.

  In fact, I wish she were here right now. I could bend her over this little table and fuck her till she screams. Punish her till she realizes the error of her ways.

  “So, who’s calling the building management? Wait, Derek, you need to do that. I heard that agent has a thing for accents. Lay it on thick,” Killian says.

  We all laugh, remembering that with some women, it’s as easy as a simple accent and a
little smile to get them to hand over anything and everything. All the more reason we love Julia, I guess. There’s so much more to her.

  In the next hour we delegate who’ll do what and how much we all need to pitch in for our little plan. If, after this, Julia doesn’t see what she means to us, then she never will. I know that for a fact.

  I have never once gone this overboard for anyone. Then again, I’ve never cared for a woman like this in the past.

  Watching the others, it seems like years melted away. A woman can twist you up like nothing else can. Julia did that to us, but the moment we have her back in our arms, she’ll never let us go again.

  “I need to get back to the office. I have a three p.m. meeting with some investors,” Derek says.

  “I should go, too, but I’ll get with both of you tonight. We can discuss this more then,” Killian adds.

  After shaking both their hands, they head back to the office to finish up. As for me, I lean back in the chair and close my eyes for the first time in days. The pressure behind my eyes lessens.

  I’m happy she’s come to her senses about us finally. Not one of us would ever hurt that girl.

  I pull my phone out and slide open my picture gallery. The one of her sunbathing naked on the deck of the yacht is the first one to come up.

  “Damn you, woman. You need a good spanking!” I say quietly.

  Guess who’s going to do it? You bet your sweet ass it’s me.

  Chapter 36

  Julia

  The first sip of coffee hits me, sending a shiver up my spine.

  So much has changed in my life. I don’t even know who I am right now, and that scares the fuck out of me. I’m not the same woman I was when I left.

  Maybe that’s what scares me the most, that I had the time of my life…but is it even possible to live like that forever?

  A deep sigh comes from me when someone knocks on the door. It’s nothing, but I’m already longing to be back with the men. Daydreaming has never been part of my life till now.

  “Julia, you have a two p.m. meeting today. Do you want me to reschedule it?” My assistant peeks in the door, her face showing signs of concern.