My Arrogant Boss by Kylie King
Chapter Nine
RACHEL
I rubbed my temples after placing my pen down. It was eight o’clock on a Friday night, and Finn had purposely made me stay late to complete his scheduling for the next month.
I knew he was giving me extra work to spite me and to see if I’d crack and quit, and to make matters worse, he’d gone through Audrey to do it. He never asked me to do the work directly. It was always Audrey coming to me or sending me emails. Scheduling his personal appointments, gym days, lunch, and dinner meetings was a job for Audrey, not me, but Audrey had a kid, and he found it only right to make me stay late and do it so that Audrey wouldn’t miss out on time with her son. How do I know this? Because Audrey told me they were his exact words.
I picked my head up and looked out of the window at the towering skyscrapers ahead. Things could’ve been worse. I could’ve been stuck in Katie’s hand-me-down condo looking at the same four walls all day, but I wasn’t. I was in the Brewer building with an LA city view and had the whole office to myself.
Speaking of, my phone buzzed, and Katie’s name popped up on the screen. I answered and put her on speaker.
“Hey, Katie Kat!”
“Hi, Rachie Rach!” she squealed into the phone. “What are you doing?” I could hardly hear her over the noise in the background.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Oh—I’m at one of Aaron’s work parties. It’s fucking boring, and I’ve been drinking all night. Finn was here, but he left early. Said he had work to do.”
“Oh. Cool.” It annoyed me when she brought Finn up in our recent conversations like he was suddenly the most important thing in my life. He wasn’t. At all. Just because I worked for him, it didn’t change how much he worked my nerves.
“What are you doing tomorrow morning? I was thinking we could get pedicures and some breakfast.”
“Oh, man, I’d love that,” I sighed, but then I remembered I had to work in the morning for a few hours. Finn had a short conference, and I had to be there. “But I can’t in the morning. Finn has something I have to be here for.”
“Well, what about the afternoon? Pedicures and then lunch?”
“Afternoon is better.”
The elevator chimed, and I looked to my left. I saw a silhouette pass by and go in the direction of Finn’s office. What the hell? I thought I had the office to myself. “Katie, let me call you back.”
I hung up and pushed away from my desk, walking down the hallway to see who the person was. I figured it was the custodian, but it wasn’t. Finn’s office door was wide open, and he was standing inside the room, peering out of the window. He wore a blazer over a button-down black shirt, but it was undone at the collar. His dark hair was tousled, hanging over his forehead, and a hand was on his hip as if he were contemplating many things about life. The office was still dark. He hadn’t turned any of the lights on. It was like he wanted the room this way—like he did this sort of thing all the time.
“Finn?” I called, and he immediately whirled around, his eyes wide.
“Fuck, Rachel! You scared the shit out of me!”
“I scared you? All I saw was a huge black silhouette walking through the office, and I got freaked out. I almost called security.”
“Yeah, well, it’s just me.” He looked me over and frowned a little. “Why are you still here anyway?”
“Um, because you told me to finish your schedule for the month.” Jerk.
“Ah. Right. Forgot about that.” He took off his suit jacket and tossed it on top of his desk, causing some papers to fly off and land on the floor.
“I’ll get that,” I sighed. I was still on duty, after all.
“No—don’t bother. Seriously.” Finn faced me, his head shaking. “I’m tired of everything being so damn perfect. Sometimes a little chaos is better.”
“Sometimes it is…but in this case…” I paused, chewing on my bottom lip.
“Jesus, don’t do that,” he groaned.
“Do what?”
“That thing with your teeth and your bottom lip. It drives me crazy, Quinn.”
Finn shifted sideways, and it didn’t take a genius to know he was a little intoxicated.
“Katie told me you were at a work party with Aaron.”
“I was. It sucked, so I left.”
“Yeah. Katie said it was boring.”
“Boring feels too nice of a word.”
I huffed a laugh. “Have you been drinking?”
“A little.”
“I hope you didn’t drive like that.”
“I’d never risk lives. Besides, I didn’t drink at the party. I drank at the bar a block away from here. Came here to sleep it off on my sofa, but you’re here, so…”
“Yeah, I’m here. And I’m almost done with your scheduling, so I’ll be out of your hair soon enough.” I started to turn away, but then I heard footsteps behind me.
A warm hand caught my elbow, and Finn twisted me around to face him. “Do you really hate me?” he asked.
My lips parted as I looked up into his sparkling green eyes. The city lights reflected off his irises, making them all the more alluring.
“I never said I hated you, Finn.”
“But you act like it. I see it in your eyes.” He lowered his head, and his lips were so close.
“Only because you act the same way.”
“Well, you definitely get on my nerves,” he retorted.
“And you get on mine too, jackass.”
He huffed a laugh.
I fought a smile. He lingered in front of me for a while, and I could smell the liquor on his breath. I felt the heat of his lips near mine, and I wanted to shove him away, just to show him that his charm couldn’t work on me, but I also wanted to reel him closer, taste the liquor on his lips. I wanted him to kiss me just to see what it felt like to kiss such an arrogant person. I hadn’t been kissed in so long.
After losing my job, I hibernated and mostly kept to myself. Now I was back in the ring, restoring my confidence, and I couldn’t believe I was thinking it, but I was even willing to take on Finn Weston to satisfy my womanly needs as of right now. It had to be the late night. My work overload was getting to me.
It wasn’t long before Finn released my arm and took a step away. As if coming to his senses, he raked his fingers through his hair and said, “You should get back to work, Quinn. I’ll see you tomorrow.”