Sucker for the Boss

by Blue Sky Books

  “I don’t,” he confirmed.

  She bared her teeth, as she often did. She had the appearance of a feral squirrel when she did that. Her tiny fists were clenched at her sides, and a horizontal line appeared on her forehead. “You never want to do anything with us,” she said, her voice shaking. “Never. It’s not their fault, you know.”

  “Don’t, Emily,” he said. “Just don’t. I don’t want to get into this even a little bit, okay?” Because I don’t love you.Because I have never loved you. Because I love Zari! I love her more than anything on this planet, and she’s going to have my child!

  Emily exhaled through her nostrils, making a harsh hiss noise. “Fine, run and ride, like you always do!” she snapped. “One day you’ll come crawling to me, I know it!”

  You’re wrong, he thought but did not say. That will never happen. I don’t love you!

  He watched her leave, waited for the door to close, and then walked around the house, looking for Zari. She was in the kitchen, making herself a sandwich. “Don’t worry,” he said, as he walked in. She turned, startled, and then smiled when she saw it was him. “I won’t tell anyone.”

  “You left me hanging pretty seriously earlier,” she said, slicing the sandwich in two. She offered him a half. He took it. “Oh, by the way, Zari, they’re not my children. See ya!What’s going on, Bill?”

  He sighed and bit into the sandwich, swallowed, and then sighed again. It was all a tangle of betrayal and old wounds in his mind. “Let’s go into the lounge,” he said. “Let’s sit down.”

  He led her into the lounge and sat on the arm chair. She sat opposite him, on the couch, and leaned forward, her beautiful brown eyes locked on him, her plush, kissable lips locked in the cutest pout he had ever seen. It took all of his self-control not to leap across the room and kiss her right then. But he couldn’t kiss her, not yet. They had to talk about it, the Secret he had kept for so long.

  “Emily and I met in high school,” he said, images of those days whirring through his mind, images of a girl and a boy too naïve, too stupid, to know what they were getting themselves into. His dad had told him, too, had sat him down and explained that he shouldn’t marry the first woman he kissed. But had he listened? No! “We were sweethearts,” he said, the words like acid on his tongue. “But pretty soon after high school, we realized that all those feelings of love and devotion were teenage angst. I never knew what the phrase falling out of love meant until then.” He shrugged. “I was moving up in my company – I wasn’t partner then – and a divorce would have made me look bad, especially a divorce that came as a result of my wife cheating on me. In that sort of environment, it would have made me look weak. So we didn’t get divorced. We were not at all close by this point.”

  He shook his head.

  “Go on,” she urged. “I’m listening.”

  “It was a yoga instructor!” he laughed. “How cliché is that, for God’s sake? I know the kids aren’t mine because we haven’t had sex since we were nineteen. Seriously. There’s no way they’re mine. And what’s more, she still sees him, pretty regularly. Before I met you, before you started working here, I followed her one night when she was going to her friend’s house. And there he was, her yoga instructor. Most husbands would barge in there and demand that he get off of her. But I didn’t care at all. He could have her, as far as I was concerned. I didn’t think I was capable of loving anybody, and then I met you. You changed everything, Zari.”

  He rested his head in his hands, and thought back to the man who had been terrified of getting a divorce for his company. That man had had things to do, objectives, obligations. That man had kept his head down and had become partner. Now a divorce would not hurt him anywhere near as much as it once had.

  “You’ve changed everything for me, too,” she said. “I used to hate my job. Now I look forward to coming to work.”

  “Do you see why I wanted you to keep the baby, now?” he said. He walked to the couch and knelt beside her. She shivered when he placed his hands on her belly, sliding them under her shirt. But he knew her well enough to know it was a shiver of pleasure. “I don’t have any children, and the idea of having one with you excites me more than I can even believe.”

  “But you’re still married,” she whispered softly.

  “Yeah,” he said. “That’s the problem, isn’t it?”

  *****

  Zari could hardly process what the love of her life was telling her. There was a nasty part of herself which was gladdened by the news, was happy to know that Elise and Chuck were not his children. It was a cruel thought, she knew, but she could not push it away entirely. Since they had fallen for each other, his family had always been hanging over them like an omen, had always threatened to ruin what they had. But now that threat was gone. It made sense, too, that Emily could go for a yoga instructor. She was exactly the type of woman to fall for a yoga instructor.

  She laid her hands atop Bill’s, and together they felt for the life that even now grew inside of her. “I wonder if it’ll be a boy or a girl,” Bill said, smiling.

  “A girl,” Zari said, “and we’ll call her Faith?”

  “Why Faith?”

  “Because we’ve had faith in each other since we took our first step,” Zari said, moving her fingers over his hands. “We’ve had faith that, no matter what, we’ll always be true to each other. It hasn’t been easy. Many people would say we’ve done wrong. But we’ve always had Faith. That’s why.”

  Bill leaned across and found her lips. She opened her mouth and kissed him in return. Their tongues danced in each other’s mouths; she moved her hands from his and onto his knees. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the neck, on the shoulder, down toward her breasts. “Do you want it?” she said, craning her neck as he nibbled it softly. “Do you want it here, baby?”

  “I do,” he breathed. “I want to look into your eyes as I make love to you.”

  She maneuvered so that she was sitting atop him, and then looked at him. He pulled down the front of her dress, pulled down her bra, her breasts flinging free. He suckled on one and massaged the other. From there it went on, as it had hundreds of times before, their lust making them forget their surroundings, their circumstances, their lust making it so that all they knew was the fell of the other’s body, making it so that all they could think about was the press of the other’s body.

  When they were done, Zari fell away and Bill fell with her. He held her in his arms, and whispered into her ear. “I want you forever, Zari. I want to always be with you.”

  Eyes heavy, lips curling into a contented smile, she replied: “You will.”

  *****

  Despite their lovemaking, despite their promise that they would be together, not much changed for two months. That is the way of it most of the time, Zari thought, day after day. We make plans and then all-too-easily we fall back into the regular routine of things. But the time was approaching where Zari and Bill could not simply sink into the regular routine of things. Zari’s bump was beginning to show, morning sickness was coming, and all the signs of pregnancy were assailing her. They had coasted for two months. When she looked back, she hardly believed that it was the case. How could they have allowed that to happen? And yet they had. Somehow, they had done nothing toward being together for two months.

  She was glad, then, when she found a note from Bill under the cutlery holder. Guest room, two o’clock, Emily at yoga. Zari could not help but smile at that, even if it was a pessimistic smile. His wife was at yoga, which meant that she was bent over on the yoga mat whilst the instructor taught her some very complex moves indeed. She spent the day dusting, vacuuming, cleaning as she always did, until two came when she walked up the stairs and waited in the guest room. After about five minutes, the door opened and Bill walked in.

  He wrapped his arms around her, and though she had told herself she would take a stand – as she had every day for two months – she found herself answering his hug with her own arms. It was al
most impossible to stay angry at Bill when he opened his arms like that. They were too welcoming, too comfortable, too right. “I’m sorry we haven’t spoken for a few days,” he said. “I’ve been really busy at work.”

  “Are you pushing me away?” she said, not caring that she sounded more desperate than a self-conscious teenager. “If you don’t want me, don’t want this baby, just say. I’m three and a half months pregnant!”

  “Don’t be silly,” he said. “Of course I want you. I only want you, nobody else. You have to believe that.”

  “Maybe I would,” she said, “if you showed me.”

  “That’s why I asked you to come here,” he said. He cupped her chin with his hand. “I need you to quit your job, Zari.”

  “Quit?”

  “Yes. Don’t worry about money. Look.” He reached into his pocket, brought out a bulky envelope, and handed it to her. “There’s twenty-thousand dollars in there.”

  “What the hell? What’s going on?” Even as she spoke, she took the envelope.”

  “I’m going to tell Emily everything the moment you quit,” he said. “I can’t have you here when I tell her, though. She will go crazy. She won’t understand that it’s not your fault. She won’t want to understand. She’ll just go crazy. If you’re here, I’m afraid she might do something . . .”

  “Drastic?” Zari offered.

  “Yeah.” Bill nodded. “Drastic.”

  Zari moved her hand over her lover’s face. He hadn’t shaved for a couple of days, and his hairs prickled her palm. “And then we’ll be together?” she said. “You promise?”

  He took her hand and kissed it. “I promise,” he said. “You, me, and Faith.Forever.”

  “Then I’ll quit as soon as she gets home,” Zari said.

  “Thank you.” He rose to his feet. “I have to get going. Work really is hectic. But I’ll call you soon, very soon.” He kissed her on the lips, and Zari closed her eyes and savored the kiss. Then he bent down and kissed her belly. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” she said, as he left the room.

  Zari passed the rest of the day as she normally would, but she could not ignore the bulge of the envelope that pressed against her thigh. She had always known that Bill was rich, but she had never realized how rich until now. Over the past two years he’d given her necklaces and bracelets and rings, small presents which of course she had not been able to wear at work, but how casually he had given her twenty-thousand dollars showed that he was truly rich. She passed the day, and then she heard the door open downstairs.

  She took a deep breath, like somebody about to dunk their head under water, and made her way downstairs. “Ma’am,” Zari said. “May I have a word?”

  Emily looked flustered, her lips trembling, her hands shaking. She looked, Zari thought, like a woman who had had sex not that long ago. Her hair was in disarray, and her clothes were crumpled. She did not look like the neat, pristine Emily that Zari was used to seeing. “A word?” she echoed, as though she didn’t understand what Zari was saying. “A word about what?”

  “I am afraid I am going to have to resign, ma’am,” she said, forcing herself to look Emily in the eye. “I am grateful for this position, and have enjoyed working here, but I cannot work here any longer. I—”

  Emily waved a hand. “Is that it?” she barked. “P-lease don’t waste my time!”

  “Ma’am?”

  Emily walked toward the kitchen, stopped, half-turned. “Go, if you want to go,” she said. “Women like you are not hard to find, you know.” She shrugged. “Look at you! I bet you thought this would be a pretty big moment for you, didn’t you! Ha-ha! Sorry to disappoint!”

  With those words she disappeared into the kitchen. Zari watched the empty doorway through which her rival had exited, and then shrugged to herself. Fine, she thought, and opened the front door. She had half-thought that she would catch a glimpse of the real Emily, of the human side of her, but she had not. All she’d seen was the cold, heartless woman who had cheated on her husband and treated Zari as subhuman for two years.

  Fine, she thought again, as she walked down the driveway to her car. That works for me.

  She climbed into her car, started the engine, and for the last time, she drove away from the Dunn residence.

  As the little suburban street diminished in her rear-view mirror, she knew she wouldn’t miss it. Not a damn bit.

  *****

  She had expected to have to wait for a long time, but only two hours passed between arriving home and her phone ringing. She picked it up. “Hello?”

  “It’s me,” Bill said. There was a short pause, and then: “It’s done. I’m on my way to your apartment now.”

  Zari felt her mouth fall open. Dreams she had thought would never come true were coming true right before her eyes. She had often dreamt that Bill would choose her – really and truly choose her – over his family. Maybe these were small, mean dreams, but she had dreamt them nonetheless. And now he was on his way to her apartment. He had only ever visited her apartment twice. She found herself running around the place, tidying frantically, stuffing clothes into drawers, and pushing dishes into the sink. She was only now realizing the irony; she was a maid and her apartment was a mess.

  She had just finished collecting her underwear and shoving it into the laundry basket when the buzzer to her apartment sounded. She walked from the bedroom across the lounge, heart pounding. She was close now, too close. If something awful was going to happen, this was the time for it. If something dreadful which would shatter her dreams was going to happen, it would happen now. She missed the button for the intercom, her hand trembled so much. On her second try, she hit it. “Hello?” she said.

  Now it will be Emily’s voice, she thought. Emily will answer, and she will tell me that she has known this entire time. They’ve been playing me, both of them. This is some elaborate trick. This is all a joke at my expense. Bill has never loved me. He only did it for some sick pleasure.

  “Hello,” he said. He! “Are you going to let me up?”

  “Yeah, sorry.”

  She pressed the button, and a loud buzz sounded. There was shifting at the other end of the intercom, and then just the sounds of distant cars. Zari didn’t know what to do with herself in those moments between letting him up and him arriving, so she paced up and down, hand absentmindedly on her belly, feeling for little Faith.

  She stopped pacing, the door opened, and her lover entered. His ice-blue eyes were alive with energy and happiness as she had rarely seen them. They were normally only like that in the moments after sex. “We had faith,” he said calmly, and walked across the room to her. He engulfed her in his arms, and kissed the top of her head. “We had faith, Zari,” he said, “and now our faith has paid off. She was happy, you know. She was happy to break it off. I should have done this a long time ago.”

  Zari didn’t know she was crying until she looked up at Bill and he was blurry. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, wiping her eyes. “You’ve done it now.”

  “Forever?” he said, his hand war on her belly.

  “Forever,” she agreed.

  Hunter’s Catch

  When she had first learned that her Dad’s boss was called Clint Hunter, she had thought he sounded like somebody out of a movie. I mean, how often do you find someone in real life called Clint, let alone followed with Hunter? she’d thought. It sounded like the name of somebody from a porno flick. Ladies and gentleman, please welcome the ten-inch iron . . . Clint Hunter! She’d laughed about it in her teenage way, and thought little else of it. And then, on her nineteenth birthday, she had been at the local gym, and had seen Clint for the first time, and she hadn’t been laughing then.

  She must have had a mind blank. She was walking from the gym to the changing rooms. The male and female changing rooms were opposite each other, and for some bizarre reason intelligent Miss Rebecca Langdon decided to slide into the male locker room. It was late, and the front of the locker room was empty; she e
asily could have been in the women’s locker room. She walked further in, thinking only about the heat of the shower, and a soft towel, and then the short drive home and her welcoming bed. There was nothing better than an intense workout followed by a long, peaceful sleep. Perhaps she would make herself a hot chocolate before bed . . .

  Her jaw dropped. Her legs wobbled. Her palms sweated.

  “Sorry,” she mumbled.

  The man who stood before her was the most muscular, ripped man she had ever seen, and he must have been at least forty-five. His hair was cropped short and steel-colored. He wore a long, white beard that did not look at all like Santa. Last time I checked, Santa didn’t look rugged as a frontiersman. He held a towel around his waist, but she could see the start of his leg muscles, and the top part of his black-gray pubes. She had never been attracted to an older guy before, but, hell yes, she was attracted to him. But she couldn’t be here. She had made a dreadful mistake.

  “Sorry,” she repeated.

  “Wait a second,” the man said. He had the voice of a man who is used to being obeyed. It was not a pleading voice, or a whiney voice. It was hard, calm, cool, and level. This was a man, Rebecca knew instantly, who was used to giving out instructions. She found herself standing completely still, waiting for him to talk. His voice had a magical property, apparently; it could turn her into a statue. He walked forward a few steps, close enough for Rebecca to see that he had ice-blue eyes, a blue so pale they were almost snow-colored. “You’re Rebecca Langdon,” he said, raising his eyebrows slightly.

  “I am,” Rebecca said, a shiver crawling up her back. “How do you know that?”