I Hate, I Bake, and I Don’t Date! by Alina Jacobs

54

Tess

“Ican’t believe she’s showing her face at the office after all the shit she’s stirred up!” Maeve was indignant as we watched Cressida be patronizing and awful to several new hires.

I was proofing the printed and bound booklet of Quantum Cyber’s contract bid one last time before I boxed up the extra-special surprise to send to AstraDrone.

“I wish I had been there when Beck slapped her down.” Maeve sighed wistfully.

That part of the Friday-night dinner had made me giddy. Even though Beck had spent the entire weekend either asking me questions about my stepfather or locking himself away in his study, the fact that he had shot Cressida down so hard that she was out for revenge was fabulous! Well, obviously the actual revenge part was no bueno because it hurt the girls, but it had to mean something that Beck had shot Cressida down.

Maybe I was more important to him than I thought.

Maybe I would go on another date with Beck.

“What do you think about this one?” Maeve asked, turning her monitor toward me.

I peered.

“You’re getting a new job?”

“Cressida is clearly going to scorch the earth,” Maeve said. “I need to get out of here before I’m thrown out.”

I frowned at the job posting.

I didn’t know how I felt about my friend leaving me. Actually, I knew how I felt. I didn’t like it. I would miss her, and I didn’t want to face Cressida’s wrath by myself.

As if my thoughts had summoned her like a demon, Cressida swiveled to head toward my desk.

“I can’t believe you’re still here,” she sneered at me. “I would have thought Beck would have taken my words into consideration and fired you already.”

“Why would he fire her? He loves her, unlike you,” Maeve said hotly.

“Because it’s against company policy,” Cressida snapped.

I chewed on my lip.

“And he has to set an example, and that means making an example out of you,” Cressida added. “Just you wait. You’ll see. He’s going to fire you and leave you to fend for yourself.”

“No, he won’t,” I said uncertainly.

“Of course he will. Beck is a calculating billionaire. He’s just waiting until he squeezes whatever he wants out of you, then he’s going to dump you and probably take up with Shannyn, that hussy, just so he can snag the trust fund and keep his sisters. Once you’re no longer useful to him, you’re over. You’ll see.” She stalked off.

“Don’t listen to her,” Maeve said as I fretted.

“I always knew Beck was going to fire me after he adopted his sisters,” I said, hating how sad I felt. “But after all the time we had spent together, I thought that we had something, a connection.” I leaned over to rest my head on my desk. “This is why I don’t date! It gets too complicated.”

“Talk to him like an adult,” Maeve urged. “Just straight up ask him. If he says he has to let you go, you can forget about him and tell him to eff off, and we’ll both find new jobs together.”

“Right. If Beck wants to fire me, that is A-okay! I will stand on my own two feet. I am a strong, independent woman!” I announced and banged a fist on my chest. “Ouch!”

I flipped through the rest of the booklet. It looked very slick, if I did say so myself. The images were crisp, the diagrams looked great, and the charts were carefully color coded. As a finishing touch to make it feel more authentic, I added a piece of silver duct tape on the spine of the booklet to give it an industrial masculine feel.

“Now,” I said, “on to my surprise!”

Holly wasin the café kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the special baked treats I had designed.

The cookies were interactive puzzle pieces. Some were parts to a drone that the eater could piece together for a little cookie model. Another set was little gear pieces that you could rearrange in various ways and would actually move each other.

The puzzle piece cookies, when put together, would spell out, “Blockchain. A creative way to manage your security and logistics from Quantum Cyber.”

“Do you think it’s too much?” I wondered, suddenly concerned as I inspected the array of cookies. “I thought it was a fun idea, but maybe it’s too childish.”

Holly shrugged. “Even if they think it’s dumb, who doesn’t like cookies?” She handed me one of the spare gears, and I took a bite. The sugar cookie dough melted in my mouth. The royal icing on top had a slight crackle with a hint of almond and vanilla.

“They’re definitely good cookies!” The sugar was making me feel much more confident.

“Let me know what Beck says!” Holly told me as I helped her package the cookies in the custom box with special compartments for each cookie set.

I carefully transported the box upstairs. Beck was in his office, and I pushed the door open. He looked slightly haggard.

“No good news at the meeting?” I asked him carefully.

“We’re in a holding pattern.” He pressed two fingers to his temple and closed his eyes.

I smoothed his hair down and leaned over to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around me then let me go.

“On a good note, the package for Mark is done,” I said, opening the top of the container.

“The cookies are like little puzzles,” I explained, “to give some oomph to the brochure we’re sending over.” I handed that to my boss as well.

“This is what you were working on?” he asked, frowning as he inspected my offerings.

I puffed up. “Yes,” I said, “and I’ll have you know, I put a lot of work into it. People like cookies, and these are interactive.”

“Oh, you put them together!” He shook his head. “I just thought they were a bunch of really odd shapes.”

I pointed to the little cards with a drawing of the final cookie puzzles for reference.

Beck picked up the card for the cookie drone model and said, “That is pretty cool!”

He reached for a cookie.

I slapped his hand away. “You can’t eat one of the pieces! Now, I have a cover letter written, but you should review it and sign it, along with Owen and Walker. Then cross your fingers that Mark and Finn love the proposal!”

An hour later,I was in a town car with the box of cookies, the cover letter, and several copies of the brochure. I could have sent the cookies over with a courier, but if they dropped or manhandled the box, the whole presentation would be ruined. I had to take it myself.

I had carefully packed the box with tissue paper, and I was a nervous wreck imagining all the things that could go wrong as the car made its way slowly through traffic to the AstraDrone office across town. We could get in a wreck, there could be a sinkhole, or Godzilla could suddenly appear and ruin the cookies.

When I walked through the main lobby of Frost Tower, where Mark had his office, I tried not to act too antsy. I was afraid someone would jostle me in the elevator, and I let multiple people go ahead of me before I was able to snag an elevator all to myself.

“I have a contract proposal and cookies,” I told the receptionist at the AstraDrone office, “but they’re special cookies, and they all belong together so please don’t put them out for the office.”

“Okay…”

I realized I must sound like a lunatic. Maybe the cookies were a bad idea.

“They’re like little puzzles,” I said desperately, feeling like I was only sounding crazier.

Maybe I should have also brought cookies for their whole office.

The receptionist took the box. I was not filled with confidence that the cookies were going to make it to their final destination.

I was feeling a bit down when I arrived back at the Quantum Cyber office. Beck was still on a phone call.

If these cookies didn’t work, if they thought it was stupid, I could kiss my job goodbye. Shoot, Cressida was acting like I could already kiss it goodbye.

I scrolled through job listings while I waited for Beck to get off the phone. There were multiple assistant jobs on the digital board, mainly virtual assistant positions for Instagram influencers.

Might not be so bad to make social media posts from bed in my pajamas, I decided. Though those influencers could be a real high-maintenance bunch.

I checked the time. Holly’s café was closed. I wished she was still open because I needed some pasta. I was anxious about those cookies.

I looked back. Beck was off the phone.

I stuck my head in. Beck looked up.

“Did you submit everything?” he asked.

“Yep.” I fidgeted. I hope.

“You seem pretty anxious,” he said. “Did something happen?”

I walked over to Beck, the door closing behind me. “I just hope that Mark and Finn had a chance to see the cookies before all their workers ate them.” I sighed.

Beck smiled. “I’m sure it’s fine. The booklets you made are enough to stand on their own, so don’t worry. And if they don’t choose us, contrary to what Owen says, it’s not the end of the world.” He stood up and rested his hands on my arms.

I remembered Maeve’s comments.

Time to woman up and act like an adult.

I pushed myself away from Beck. “Are you going to fire me?” I asked him then braced for the response.

If he does, it’s not the end of the world, I reminded myself. If he needs to because it’s making things difficult, you can just go find another job. Maybe you could even get a severance. He’d probably still let you live in his house.

Beck tilted my chin up and smiled down at me. “Of course I’m not,” he promised. “I love having you here.” He lowered his voice. “If there weren’t all these people here, I’d kiss you.”

I felt the heat in those words. My pussy felt them too.

“Since there are, maybe you can come look at this email instead,” he said, waving me over to his desk.

As I peered at the screen, I felt his hands creep up under my skirt.

“You have been doing a wonderful job as my assistant,” he said conversationally.

I bit my lip as his fingers reached home, and he began to stroke me through my panties.

“So you’re extra for sure not going to fire me?” I whispered.

“I don’t want to have to train a new assistant. Especially when the one I have knows exactly what pleases me.”

My panties were soaking wet. Was I really doing this? Sex with Beck in the office when no one was there was one thing. Him getting me off while everyone was in the office? Had I ever gone so low?

But I wanted it.

Still pretending to look at his screen, Beck hooked his fingers over the edge of my panties and pulled them down to give himself more access. Then I felt his fingers in my pussy, stroking over my clit in slow, steady movements.

I couldn’t help it. I made a little gasping sound.

“Keep your eyes to the screen,” Beck said in a low voice. “You’ll need to stay quiet.”

I swallowed. “Does my job depend on it?”

He shifted his hand, his thumb now pressing lightly over my clit as two fingers moved to trace over my opening.

My fingers tightened where they rested on the top of his chair.

“So did you have any thoughts on the email?” Beck asked, sounding way too put together.

I bit my lip as he worked my clit.

I sucked in a breath. “I think… uhh.” His fingers thrust in me, hard. I was so close that I was nearly trembling with it.

“I bet you’re thinking how you’d rather have my cock in you right now.”

Yesss.

His fingers thrust up hard and deep inside me, and I lost it. I closed my eyes, shivering as Beck stroked me through my waves of pleasure.

I could hear the smirk in his voice as he said, “And you thought I was going to fire you.”