'Thanks. I'l check it out.' I waited until she'd gone before putting my letter in Eric's mailbox.
When I had, I leaned for a moment against the wal, my
breath whistling through parted lips. Beneath the skirt she'd
so admired, I wore lacy, silky lingerie. Sexy things to make
me feel pretty al day, and to remind me of what I intended
to happen later. As if I could forget, I thought with a secret
smile I kept with me al day.
Paul noticed it. The smile, not the panties, which rubbed
me deliciously each time I crossed or uncrossed my legs.
He stood over my desk with a sheaf of files in his hands,
but he waited until I looked up to acknowledge him rather
than simply addressing me the way he had in the past.
Oh, how so much had changed in so short a time!
'You look nice today,' he said.
In this era of sexual-harassment suits, in a time where I'm
an executive assistant and not a secretary because of some
misbegotten notion that a title means more than the job
itself, his compliment wasn't realy appropriate. I leaned
back in my chair to give him a nice long look at my legs as
I crossed them high at the knee. And he looked, Paul did,
without pretending he didn't.
'What do you need, Paul?'
He offered the files. 'These have to go out today.'
I didn't take them. Power thriled through me as he set
them on the desk but didn't go. Was this a dangerous
game? I didn't think it was so risky. I didn't even count it
as flirtation, realy. I had no intention of fucking my boss.
Of becoming my mother.
'Al right.'
We stared at each other. Paul cleared his throat and
rocked on his heels a bit. I took the files and set them in a
tidy pile in front of me to show him I would, indeed, get to
them. Not at that instant, and I wasn't jumping through
hoops to do it, but it would happen.
'Paige, there's something else I'd like to talk to you about.'
I studied him for a second, trying to gauge what it could be
about, then nodded. 'Sure. What about?'
'Can you come into my office in about ten minutes?'
He asked as though he was afraid I'd say no, even though
technicaly we both knew I didn't have a choice.
'Absolutely.'
'Thanks.' He'd always been polite, but he was nearly
dancing now with some hidden anxiety.
There were many things I knew about my boss, some I'd
known from the start and others I'd learned only over time.
When it al came down to it, though, I liked Paul very
much. Whatever had his garters snapping, it was going to
make it impossible for him to get some work done until it
was resolved.
