16. His Dipstick
His Dipstick
Dani
"He wants in your pants and you’re not letting him? What in the hell is wrong with you!" Erin yells.
I stare at my phone. "I’m sorry. Did you just ask me why I’m not letting my boss in my pants?"
"Damn right I did," she sighs. "Honey, you are a gorgeous, strong, incredible woman, and the sooner you realize that the better off you’ll be."
I snort in disbelief.
"I’m serious, Dani. You never put yourself first."
"I do have a child to worry about." I argue.
"He’s not a child anymore. He’s old enough to get his license, and a job—which he should be doing by the way—he can take care of himself. Treat yourself a little."
"How would sleeping with my boss be treating myself?" I ask.
Erin squeaks into the phone. "You’ve seen him. Just looking at him is a treat."
I snort out a laugh. "What is wrong with you?"
She shushes me. "Hear me out. It’s been years since you’ve dated anyone and going on dates doesn’t count. I can’t remember the last time you told me about getting hot and heavy between the sheets."
I go to say something but think better of it. It has been a while.
"Let him act out all the dirty fantasies he clearly has stacking up in his spank bank." Erin says.
"One: thanks for putting that in my head, now I’m going to be weirded out at work thinking about him having a spank bank and two: what if he fires me?" I counter.
"Take him to the labour board for wrongful dismissal and for being a fucking dick. Who the hell fucks and chucks anymore, anyways. It’s all about ghosting now. Which I guess is the same thing? I don’t understand dating terms anymore."
I flop back on my bed. I’m still within my probation period and he can fire me without explanation. But I also don’t want to be added to his list of PA’s that he’s canned. I need to stop talking to Erin about my men problems. All her ideas involve sex.
The doorbell rings. "Hold on Erin. Someone is here."
"Maybe it’s that sexy boss of yours, here to check your oil with his dipstick."
"Oh my God! Would you shut up." I laugh as I walk downstairs and answer the door. "Can I help you?" I ask the delivery guy.
"Daniella Carter?"
"That’s me."
He shoves a stunning bouquet of flowers at me. "Uh, thanks?"
He nods and walks back to his truck. I shut the door and search for the card.
"Who was it?" Erin asks.
I find the card and open it. "Oh. My. God." I put the flowers on the kitchen table and back away from them like they’re going to explode.
"What! Tell me!" Erin yells.
"Archer sent me flowers."
Erin screams into the phone. "What kind? Roses? That means he loooooves you."
"He sent Lilies and Orchids."
Erin sighs dreamily. "What does the card say?"
"It says ' I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable yesterday, Luke .'" I answer.
"Ew. Gross. You would think he’d put something better on the card. Like ' hey beautiful, I'm dying to show you what I've been thinking about. '"
I stare at the flowers. "That’s uh, really specific."
"You know me. Always the romantic," Erin sings.
"Dork." I giggle.
"I’m your dork and don’t you forget it."
I rummage around the kitchen, looking for a vase.
"Are you going to call him?" Erin questions.
"And say what exactly?" I ask.
"Uh, thank you for the flowers for one. And two, tell him how you feel." Erin answers.
I finally find a vase, packed away under the sink. I clean it and fill it with water before cutting the ends off the stems and placing them in. "They are beautiful, but don’t you think it’s a little creepy? I mean he tells me he thinks about doing dirty things to me then sends me flowers."
"So?"
"So? He could’ve just called." I reply.
"But this is sooooo much better."
I touch the petals of the Orchid. My heart banging off my ribs. I have never been given flowers before. Josh was not one for gifts unless they were for himself, and Antoni thought they were pointless because they’ll die after four days.
My stomach ties in a knot.
My boss sent me flowers.
My handsome as sin boss sent me flowers.
"Guess I should call and say thank you," I finally say. And find out if there is an ulterior motive behind them. Because even though it was a sweet gesture, it’s still kind of creepy.
"But I’m not telling him how I feel." I state.
Erin huffs into the phone. "Fineeeee. Call me later."
We blow kisses into the phone and hang up. I stare at the flowers that are now sitting on my kitchen table. "Damnit." I pull up his name and hit call. I pace around the kitchen while it rings. When I get his voicemail, I hang up.
"Who gave you flowers?" I jump at the sound of Mason’s voice.
"What are you doing home?" I ask. It’s not that I don’t like him being home, but he’s supposed to be at my parents.
He shrugs. "Nanny said I could hang with Axe today. Came home to grab something."
"I see."
"So, who gave you flowers?" Mason asks again.
"Axe," I answer.
"What! I’m going to kill that asshole."
I start laughing. That was mean of me to say. "Axe didn’t send the flowers. My boss did," I say to settle his temper.
Mason turns slowly and looks down at me. "Why is your boss sending you flowers?"
"He did something inappropriate yesterday and I sent these to apologize."
"What did he do?" he demands.
"Don’t worry about that."
"Ma," Mason growls.
Shit! I woke the protective beast.
"What did your boss do that not only has you off today, but he had to send flowers to apologize?"
I wrap my arms around my baby boy’s waist and put my head against his chest. "I love that you are so protective of me, Bubba, but you don’t have to worry about what happened."
I’m not going to go into detail with my seventeen-year-old son about what happened. He’d be stupid enough to ride his bike over to the office and beat the snot out of Luke.
Mason wraps his arms around my shoulders and kisses the top of my head. "Love you, Ma."
That brings a smile to my face. "Love you too, Bubba."
The front door swings open, cracking off the wall.
"Well, isn’t this sweet," Axe’s body slams into mine and I’m squished between two tall boys. "I really feel the love in here, you know."
I snort out a laugh.
"I really feel like punching you in the throat, you know." Mason replies, grabbing Axe’s shirt and drags him out of the kitchen.
"Play nice, Bubba." I call after them, giggling at Mason’s groan.
I turn back to the flowers. I’ve never gotten flowers before, and a part of me is thrilled that a man took a break from his schedule to buy them. I grab my phone again; this time I shoot Luke a text.
Me: Thank you for the beautiful flowers
I toss my phone on the table and wander into the living room. My house is clean, mostly because I went on a cleaning bender when I got home yesterday. I tend to do that when I’m upset or angry. I flop on the couch. My phone dings in the kitchen. If it’s Luke, I will talk to him tomorrow. If I can get past the fact that what he said made me mad at myself for the way I reacted.
Mad because I want him to do everything he’s been thinking about doing to me. I shouldn’t be thinking these kinds of things, he’s my boss, but there is something about him that has me turned inside out.
He’s just…different. Like a tornado. Beautiful but dangerous. He’s organized and professional and hot under the collar. He’s a rubber band ready to snap. He’s completely different from me and I think that’s part of the attraction.
"Oh, thank Christ! You’re alive." Erin’s voice rings out.
I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t hear the door open.
"Why wouldn’t I be?"
She walks into the living room and sits next to me. "I texted you like six hours ago, and you never answered."
I give her a look. "You did not. I was just talking to you a few minutes ago."
"It’s ten after five."
"What!" I scream. I’ve been sitting on the couch for six fucking hours!
"What’s going on, babe?"
I brush my hair off my face, gripping it at the roots and tell Erin everything I have been going over in my head. From my attraction towards Luke and the way his words made me feel.
"Damn." Erin slumps back against the couch with me.
"Yeah." I release my hair.
"So, if I understand this correctly, you’re pissed that you’re attracted to him," she says.
I nod and she slaps the back of my head. "What is wrong with you? There is nothing wrong with being attracted to him."
I rub my head. "Yeah, there is. He is my boss."
Erin throws her hands in the air. "And Jake was my professor. What’s your point?"
I open my mouth but snap it shut.
Shit. She’s right.
"It’s perfectly normal to be attracted to someone." Erin points out.
"I know."
"Then what’s the problem?"
That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?
I never heard back from Luke for the rest of the night. Not even in the middle of the night like usual. As I get ready for the day, I put a little more thought into my outfit, hair, and makeup. Something I never do, but after talking to Erin last night, I figure why not.
I pull out a maroon skirt that hugs my hips and sits mid-thigh. I slip it up my legs, pairing it with a plain white button down, and finish up my makeup. I crawl into my closet, my hand searching under boxes and bags to find my favourite pair of pumps, when it connects with something too big to be in my closet.
I wrap my fingers around it and yank it out from under a box labeled 'Mason’s old clothes.'
"What the shit? Mason!" I holler. When I don’t get an answer, I yell for him again. " Mason Christopher!"
His bedroom door creaks open. "Yeah?" he yawns.
"I found your other shoe."
"Awesome sauce."
I throw it out into the hallway. "Why was it in my closet?" I ask, climbing to my feet and meeting him in the hallway.
He’s leaning against the door frame, asleep, with his mouth hanging open and drool on his chin.
"Mason!" I yell.
He doesn’t move. Sighing, I grab the shoe and throw it again, hitting the door with a loud bang. Mason jumps, tripping over his massive shoe and landing on his back with a grunt.
"Bubba," I sing, "why was your shoe in my closet?" I ask again, coming to stand over him.
"I was looking for something." He groans, rolling onto his side.
"What were you looking for?"
"I have no idea." Mason pushes to his feet, staggering a little.
"Go back to bed Bubba," I touch his stubbled cheek. I don’t like that one bit. He’s my baby boy, he’s not supposed to have stubble. "I’ll see you when I get home from work."
"Okay," he kisses my cheek. "Love you, Ma."
"Love you, Bubba." I head downstairs as his door closes.
I pop a bagel into the toaster and grab a glass. Surprisingly, Axe left a mouthful of orange juice in the bottle this time. I down the juice and pack my lunch, finishing just as the toaster pops. Buttering the bagel, I wrap it in paper towel and head out the door.
The office is locked when I get there. It’s quarter to eight, Luke is usually here by now.
"Hey girl," Carrie says.
I turn to her with a smile.
She pulls out a set of keys and opens the door. "We missed you yesterday."
I snort. "You mean you missed me."
Carrie giggles. "Nah. The office wasn’t the same. Too quiet. There was no yelling coming out of Luke’s office."
"Speaking of Archer. Where is he? He’s usually here by now."
Carrie’s face drops. "He ah, slept here."
"Serious?" My heart twists in my chest.
She nods. "Yeah. Yesterday was a…a difficult day." She smiles but it doesn’t reach her hazel eyes as she flips on the lights. "But today will be better. Now that you’re back."
I didn’t realize I had that big of an affect in this office. I walk with Carrie towards Luke’s office. I sit behind my desk and turn on the computer opening my emails and only find the ones from Monday.
He never sent anything new.