Lesbian Boss (Sapphic Sweethearts #5)

4.

Emily

I ’m early to work. My entire body aches as I haul myself from my car to the elevator. When I reach the top floor, I feel like I’m going to faint. Wilson, one of the admins who works on this floor, notices me looking queasy. He rushes over, places his hand on my arm.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I say. A lie. We both know it’s a lie. I lie anyway.

“You don’t look okay. Do you need to sit?”

“I’m really okay,” I say. I wave him away. He takes a step back. “I just have a little bit of a headache. Didn’t want to call in,” I add, offering a small smile.

“Ah,” he says. “I feel that. My wife gets crazy headaches. Sometimes she’s knocked out for days at a time.”

“Luckily, mine aren’t that bad.” But it is unusual for me to feel quite so sick on such a random day. I don’t know if my headache and queasiness are related to stress or anxiety. Maybe I’m just coming down with a cold. Either way, I know that today isn’t the time. Work isn’t the place.

“Let me know if you need anything,” he says. “And you know about the break room, right?”

“No.”

“There’s a room at the end of that hall.” Wilson points to a hallway that’s opposite to the one I work in. “We always have snacks and drinks there. Plus, there’s a couch.”

“Sounds cozy,” I say.

“It is. Well, let me know if you need anything. Happy you’re here.”

He turns and leaves, and the elevator doors open again behind me. I didn’t even notice the elevator left to go pick up the next group of worker bees.

“Good morning.” It’s a familiar voice.

Hers.

Hillary’s.

Fuck.

Does she know we totally matched on a dating app the night before I started here? Surely, she knows. I don’t think there’s any chance she thinks I’m not me . We texted. We talked. We...

We didn’t do everything I wanted to do.

You aren’t supposed to get attached to people you match with on apps. You especially aren’t supposed to get excited before you meet in person, but I did. I totally did.

Fuck.

Me.

Silly.

Only, Hillary didn’t say anything yesterday. In fact, she played things totally cool.

Too cool.

There’s a part of me that’s bothered by this. It’s not like I need some grand gesture or anything.

It’s just...it would be nice to be acknowledged.

Didn’t she feel any of the things I felt?

“Hi,” I say. I spin around. My boss has her long, blonde hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She’s wearing a white blouse, a black pencil skirt, and red fuck-me heels.

Why is she dressed like that?

Doesn’t she know this is a normal work day?

It’s not a fucking sort of day.

Oh, I wish it was, though.

Hillary and I could have a lot of fun. I think about bending her over her own desk, sliding my hand up her skirt. Maybe she’d be the one to bend me over. Maybe she’d tug on my pants, pooling them around my ankles. Maybe she’d scrape her nails up the back of my thighs.

Maybe she’d slide her hand around, find my clit, bring me to the edge.

I close my eyes for just a moment.

Please.

I need to get it together.

“Ready for a big day?” Hillary asks. She walks by me, pausing long enough for me to realize she wants me to walk with her. Headache be damned. I join her, and the two of us head down the hall toward our offices.

“I’m always ready.” This is a lie. I want to go sprawl on my bed, slide under a blanket, and pretend that the world isn’t so unfair.

She’s the first girl I’ve liked since things went south with Abigail, but I’m aware that I can’t make the same mistake twice.

I can’t fall for my boss.

Not again.

At some point, a girl’s got to eat. I’ve got to buy groceries and pay rent and do all of those important big-girl things.

I can’t be falling apart over my boss.

I can’t be daydreaming about sliding my hands up her blouse, or wondering what color the bra is that she chose today.

Do her panties match?

Does she even wear panties?

“Today’s going to be a killer,” she says. “We’ve got two meetings about the merger. Then we’re meeting with Portia from marketing.”

“Marketing? I thought I’d mostly be working to support you.”

“You will be,” she says. “Part of my role includes working with our marketing team, though. They’re the ones who do everything from ad spreads to digital advertising to making TikTok videos to get people to choose our brand.”

“Oh. I guess I never really thought about all of that.”

“They don’t need us much,” she says. “We do need to talk with them about branding and messaging semi-regularly, though. Mostly, we want to make sure our messaging is the same. It needs to be streamlined for strategic impact. Make sense?”

“Yes.”

Another lie.

This time, Hillary smiles.

“Don’t worry. Soon this will all be just second nature to you.” She places her hand on my shoulder, and she smiles at me. It seriously takes all of my self-control not to lean into her.

I can’t try to kiss my boss.

Really, I can’t.

“Thanks,” I say. “I appreciate your trust.”

“Head on into your office. Get settled. I’ll come talk with you in a bit about our schedule for the day. You’ll be shadowing me, but I think you’ve got a couple of meetings on your own, too.”

“Meetings?” I didn’t know I was ready for meetings on my own, but Hillary just nods.

“You’ll get used to it,” she says. “Here at Northington Tech, every day is different.”

“Got it,” I say.

She heads into her office, and I head into mine. I close the door behind me. I’m still not really sure if that’s considered standard or rude, but my mom told me a long time ago that the great thing about offices is that if you make a mistake, lots of people will let you know. That means you never have to worry about knowing if you messed up.

You will definitely know.

People won’t hesitate to tell you.

I settle at my desk, and only five minutes later, Hillary comes back in.

“Ready for our nine o’clock?”

I glance down.

“How has it already been an hour?”

She laughs.

“You got in the zone, Em.”

Em.

Only lovers call me Em.

I look up at her quickly, but Hillary doesn’t seem to notice the shock that’s definitely playing on my face.

“You ready?”

“I’m ready.”

Again with the lies.