Daddy, Sir (Dirty Daddies 2024 Anthology #6)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Tatiana straightened her short jacket and squared her shoulders as she tried to calm her racing pulse. Why did first days have to be so stressful? No one could expect you to be an expert after five minutes, right? She needed to give herself a break.

“Oh, good grief. There’s another new hire?”

Tatiana whirled to see a very polished woman in high red stilettos standing behind her. She realized she’d been blocking the door into the office. “Sorry. I was really in the way, wasn’t I?” Tatiana said, trying to smooth over the awkwardness.

“Definitely.”

The woman brushed past her after spitting out that condemnation and walked through the door.

Tatiana turned back in time to see it slam shut in front of her. She hadn’t even held the door open for her. Fueled by indignation, Tatiana reached for the handle and pulled it open. The handle banged against the outside wall with a loud boom that drew everyone’s attention.

“Sorry,” Tatiana said quickly. “The wind just ripped it from my hand.”

That unpleasant woman stood at the front desk, obviously gossiping.

Instantly, Tatiana guessed she’d made a colossal mistake in taking this position on base. She froze, trying to decide whether to just run away or if possibly this wasn’t the worst omen ever and she should give the job one more chance. She needed this job badly.

“Tatiana? I’m so glad to meet you.” A woman a bit older than her stood and rushed around the desk, leaving the unpleasant red-footed fiend by herself. “I’m Becky. We talked on the phone several times.”

“Becky. I’m so glad to meet you, too.”

Becky’s friendly tone reassured her that maybe she hadn’t totally torpedoed her first day at work. Automatically, Tatiana followed as the woman led the way down the hall.

“So, as I told you on the phone, you’ll be working with Captain Murphy. He hasn’t had an admin for a long time. Please don’t panic and run away. He’s gruff and demanding, but I wouldn’t want anyone else in my corner. The position has been empty for a while because he wasn’t willing to settle, despite others who thought they were perfect for the job,” Becky said with an underlying message.

Tatiana immediately suspected who’d been rejected from the job. Inwardly, she rolled her eyes. She’d had an enemy before she’d even driven on base.

“Captain Murphy is a very perceptive man. Always tell him the truth and your suggestions. You’ll get along just fine,” Becky counseled.

“Thank you, Becky. I’m looking forward to this new opportunity. Do I need to fill out any paperwork before I dive in?” Tatiana asked.

“Not if you did everything in the onboarding process online.”

Nodding, Tatiana assured her she had.

“Then you’re all set. Here’s Captain Murphy’s office. Your desk is here.” Becky pointed to a desk almost groaning under the weight of what looked like a thousand folders. “Tech brought a computer for you. I can show you the basics if you’d like.”

“Please. I’d appreciate it,” Tatiana said gratefully.

In twenty minutes, she felt capable of navigating around the system and had Becky’s number to call if she ran into a challenge. When the other woman returned to her desk, Tatiana glanced at the closed inner door and wondered if Captain Murphy was inside. Should she go introduce herself?

Deciding that if the captain was in his office, he’d already know she was there, Tatiana decided to dive in. Taking a folder off one stack that had a red, urgent sticky note on it announcing candidates for a position on a special operations team, the next folder appeared to be an alternative applicant. There were five more under that one. Tatiana guessed the captain wished her to consolidate the information so he could make a quick choice. She read the information inside and made some notes. When she had an abbreviated version of the information inside, Tatiana tucked it inside and moved on to the next. In a short time, she’d finished that stack.

“You must be Tatiana Isaac,” a deep voice boomed in front of her desk, startling her.

With her heart thumping quickly, Tatiana rose to her feet and held out her hand. “I am. Are you Captain Murphy? Sir?” She did not know how to address him.

“Captain is great, Tatiana. Where did you start?” he asked. “Or are you waiting to be told what to do?”

“No, Captain. Becky gave me a quick rundown of the computer system before she returned to her desk. I couldn’t find your schedule, so I just grabbed a pile. This was labeled as urgent. I took a guess that it would save you time if I made a quick profile of each candidate. I’ve tucked that into each folder.”

Tatiana lifted the heavy stack of folders. “Shall I put this on your desk?” she asked.

“Who’s the best?” the captain demanded.

“I’m not sure what the criteria would be,” she waffled. Surely, he didn’t want to know her opinion.

“Who’s the best?” he repeated in a harsher tone.

“Jerico Adams. He has an outstanding record. In addition, every member of his former team wrote recommendations for him as well as his commanding officers. All of those included the terms problem solver, diplomat, and proven leader.”

“Well done. Send that decision to HR with my stamp on it. Then grab your computer and come into my office. I haven’t had a schedule for three months. You can make me one.”

He turned and walked into his office, leaving Tatiana staring after him. She smiled. He was gruff and demanding. He was also gorgeous and incredibly fit. And he’d trusted her decision. That made her nervous and exhilarated. Please, let me have made the right choice.

“Type up the decision and send it to HR, Tatiana,” his voice growled from the office, sending a shiver up her spine.

She was going to hear that voice in her fantasies for a while. Dragging her focus back to the stack of files, she sat and created the document. Filing it in the HR queue electronically, Tatiana followed the signs on the walls directing her as she walked briskly with the files to return them and clear off a spot on her desk. Damn, this is fun.

When she returned, Tatiana picked up her computer along with a pen and a pad of paper. She walked to the open doorway and knocked.

“Come in, Tatiana. Take a seat.” The captain waved a hand at an empty chair. He finished typing something quickly on his laptop as she got settled. “Okay. Let’s get this calendar going. Repeated events or single meetings?”

“I’m sorry, Sir?” Tatiana didn’t understand.

He sighed and shook his head. “What do you want to start with?”

“Oh. Now, I’m with you. Repeated events,” she selected.

In rapid fire, he dictated the normal weekly, biweekly, and monthly meetings he had. Tatiana struggled at first and had to ask him to repeat a few things, but soon got into the swing of using the program. Within an hour, they had a perfectly organized meeting schedule that would only need to be tweaked from now on out.

She looked up at him triumphantly. “We did it!”

“Of course we did. Go check for anything else urgent we need to deal with now,” he ordered.

Disheartened by his demeanor, Tatiana said, “Of course, Sir,” as she rose, juggling her things. To her horror as she picked up her computer, she bobbled the notepad, and the pen flew across the office to smack into the window and drop to the floor. Turning, Tatiana set her device back on the chair and ran around the desk to grab her pen. She skidded, trying desperately to stop when she saw the stacks of files behind his desk. Completely off-balanced, Tatiana felt herself falling.

“Oof.” Captain Murphy caught her and tugged her safely away from his files to a safe spot. On his lap.

“Oh! I am so sorry. I didn’t know you had all those stacks there.” She stumbled over the words as she tried to slide quickly off his hard thighs. Tatiana froze as she realized he held her in place.

“Of course you didn’t. Are you okay?” the captain asked.

“I’m fine. I just feel like an idiot.” Tatiana realized her skirt had hiked up on one side, showing a long expanse of her thigh. She yanked at the hem. “If you’ll just let me get up…”

“Are you done flailing around back here?”

Her gaze flew to meet his. Was that amusement in his eyes? “I promise, Sir.”

“Very good, little girl.” Captain Murphy lifted Tatiana off his lap and stood her next to his chair. “Find the stack on your desk that deals with the budget. There are items that need quotes. Please send those out for bids today and ask for a completion date early next week.”

“Got it.” Tatiana returned to the outer and searching through the piles for the budget folder when his words repeated in her head. Little girl. No. There’s no way he meant that like a Little girl in her stash of books on her reader.