Bad Boss by Stella Rhys

10

SARA

There wasprogress in the elevator by Thursday morning, and it came with the riders I’d nicknamed Gucci and Bald Guy – Gucci for her bag, and Bald Guy for, well, obvious reasons.

Alright,I congratulated myself after both got in and gave me that silent but cordial greeting. Two nods. I’d collected two whole nods and a few lunch buddies during my first week at the very clique-y Hoult Tower. The developments were small, but it was still something in terms of knocking the wall down.

But upon getting into the office, I found that a new one was officially up.

Like yesterday, I got no hello from Julian as he passed me with Colin and a few others. He was dressed to kill in a three-piece suit that stopped my heart for as many beats, and yes, he was busy, but he did take the time to flick those blue eyes over to me and slide them down the front of my wrap dress. He remained thoroughly stoic in the process, and while the others managed a nod or a “morning” as they passed, Julian opted out of either.

It could mean nothing, I tried telling myself.

But then there were the two occasions during which my entrance to a particular room resulted in his exit within the minute, with barely a glance in my direction. Again, no solid confirmation of bad blood, especially since we still spoke cordially about the Roths, but still.

The strict lack of non-work eye contact or conversation was enough to have me consider that we were in some kind of office Cold War – some bid to out-professional one another, and to be honest, it was a well-matched battle. We were both proud, tenacious and stubbornly single-minded. We could very well do this dance forever.

That idea didn’t interest Lia.

“I don’t think you’re bringing it hard enough,” she decided as we sat in Hoult Tower’s tenth floor pantry – the fancy word for their cafeteria. “This could be a double date right now, but it’s not.”

As if to offset Julian and my Cold War in the office, the weather all week had been sweltering, and by Friday, we’d finally reached a hundred-plus degrees out – nasty anywhere, but particularly Manhattan. You could pretty much stick your tongue out and lick the humidity, so thanks to that, the cafeteria had been unusually crowded of late. Even the higher-ups were forgoing their two-minute walks to the usual steakhouse to eat lunch in the building.

Unlike my fellow caf regulars, I didn’t mind the crowd. The luxe room was far too big and beautiful for the meager amount of people it usually attracted. Like the offices of Hoult Communications, it was a sleek, blindingly white double-height space with a second floor and matching double-height windows to let the sun pour in. Filled with people, it felt much less like a sterile, futuristic museum.

And, of course, the crowd was also better for people watching, which I got to enjoy with Lia this afternoon since she was in the building to visit Lukas.

“Sorry, love.” I forked around my salad before digging in. “Pretty sure the boss and I are at a standstill.”

“I should have known you two were too similar,” Lia crinkled her nose. “You and Julian having sex would probably be nonstop rolling over to fight for the top. You would need wrestling mats and an entire gym.”

I choked on a crouton. “Please keep in mind the man works in this building.”

“He owns the building. What do I care?”

“Yeah, also, please don’t remind me that he owns the building.”

“Why not?” Lia grinned, studying the frustration on my face. “Because his power turns you on?”

“Yes, very much so, actually. And right now, I’m trying to manage my arousal for the sake of maintaining utmost professionalism.”

“Right. How’s that going, by the way?”

“Swimmingly. Hence the standstill.”

“So you’ve officially mastered the casual-despite-my-wet-panties look?”

“You’ll be proud to know that I have.”

Lia popped one of my croutons in her mouth. “Well, that’s good because here comes my boyfriend and your boss looking like an Armani billboard.”

For the second time, I nearly asphyxiated. Coughing sharply, I found myself with just enough time to shoot Lia daggers before Lukas approached our table with Julian trailing two steps behind. His eyes were already fixed tight on me, and unless I imagined it, he didn’t look pleased.

“Hey, Julian,” Lia greeted him brightly. He was humorless as he slid his hands in his pockets and looked at her like he knew she was talking shit a second ago.

“Hello.” From her, his eyes turned to me. “Sara.”

“Mr. Hoult.”

“Oh, God,” Lia grimaced. “Do you really make her call you that?” she asked Julian, who looked decidedly elsewhere, as if looking for an escape. Seeing none, he answered Lia blankly.

“I don’t, actually.” He lifted his gaze to me. “I remember telling you as much, Sara.”

“My apologies. I must have forgotten.”

“Oh no. Couple’s quarrel?” Lia cringed. I shot her a look. “What?” She played dumb. “I can tell you guys what Lukas and I do to fix things after we fight.”

“Lia,” I warned in unison with Lukas. Hardly a rare occurrence anymore, considering the balls she’d grown of late.

“Seriously. You all know I ignored this advice for too long myself, but sometimes you just gotta bang it out and – ”

“I’m getting a coffee,” I announced, making a beeline for the bar while texting furiously along the way.

ME:Holy shit woman cool it. He’s still my boss. Remember that whole professionalism thing?

LIA:I do.

LIA:Makes me wonder why he’s mentally removing your skirt as you walk away.

I turned around to catch Julian staring at me. There was no flicker of apology in his eyes, which I found oddly daunting, so I averted my gaze and focused on approaching the coffee bar. I started to order, but I could tell by the way the young barista paused and looked past me that Julian was approaching.

“I should have considered Lia before hiring you.”

My pulse picked up. I didn’t need to turn around to gauge his proximity. Hit with his masculine scent, my entire body tensed up.

“What about her?”

“She’s here enough as it is for Lukas,” Julian said before finishing my coffee order with the barista and adding a double espresso for himself. “But aside from that, I’d prefer you two refrain from discussing whatever it was that you clearly were just now.”

I stepped back to stare in disbelief at him.

“I would think this was obvious, but forbidding certain topics of conversation with my friends is way outside the realm of what you’re allowed to do as my boss.”

“I’m aware of that,” he said dryly. “What I’m asking is for you to not discuss anything sexual that happened between us while you’re on work premises. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but this large building is a rather small community. People talk, and I have no interest in giving them anything to discuss.”

“Fair enough. I apologize on Lia’s behalf,” I said tartly. “She’s not usually like this.”

“I know her as well, Sara, and she’s always like this.”

“You’ve only known her for as long as she’s been dating Lukas,” I argued. “And it’s only because of him that she’s gotten this carefree and outspoken, which, in her defense, is not a bad thing. I guess it’s just what happens when you’re in a happy and fulfilling relationship.”

“You guess?” Julian repeated.

My reply was clipped. “Yes. I can only guess.”

“That’s right.” Julian leaned back on his heels, offering a cordial smile to the barista as she set our drinks on the counter. “Fulfilling was the opposite of the last relationship you had,” he smirked as he grabbed our coffees and handed me mine. “See you back at the office, Ms. Hanna.”

My mouth dropped open as I watched him go, realizing at a delay what he was even referring to – the depressingly underwhelming sex life I’d once had with Vanilla Jeff, my former friend with benefits.

What… in the actual fuck?

Standing there, I fumed. Well, that was definitely not playing fair. The rules of our office Cold War were one, be professional and two, be professional. Mentioning the sex life he’d overheard me talk about on the night he fingered me to orgasm did not constitute as professional. At all.

I pursed my lips into a line as I watched him go, but in all honesty, it was no problem to me. I’d been itching to even slightly cross the line with him, so if Julian wanted to play dirty, then fine.

I was more than happy to.