Chapter 6 #2
Standing, I help my mother up and open the door for her.
Few children love and respect their mother as much as us Fritz children do, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to flop over and take whatever bullshit she’s handing me.
That goes tenfold when I find Bianca lingering at the edge of the office, laughing at something Harold in HR says to her.
I didn’t catch much of her smile in the car. It was mostly tears and hysterics, but this smile… yeah. Chick has to go.
Black leggings tucked into fuck-me boots.
Bright floral top that hugs her full tits without being inappropriate.
Waist-length wavy hair that I want to wrap around my fist. Petite nose that is the ultimate contrast to her large, pillowy red lips and giant anime eyes.
She’s tall and curvy and definitely not the type someone would consider a classic beauty.
But there is something striking about her that draws the eye.
Makes it impossible for you to look away.
She’s arresting even as her features twitch with nervous discomfort.
Her lips part when she catches us approaching, my name a whisper that instantly has me thinking about her breathing it from beneath me.
She holds my gaze with steadfast determination, but there is a visible undercurrent of something else running through her.
I like that, I decide. She’s shit at hiding her feelings.
“How are we doing, Harold?” my mother asks. “Are we all set up for the announcement?”
“Just about. I’ll go and rally the troops.” He walks off, leaving the three of us lingering by his open office door.
“Bianca,” my mother greets immediately, her smile warm and welcoming. “How lovely it is to see you again.”
Bianca’s almond-colored eyes shift away from me, and her expression instantly transforms back into that smile she was just giving Harold. Interesting. She’s as unhappy to see me as I am to see her.
“Mrs. Fritz. It’s lovely to see you as well.”
They shake hands. “Octavia, dear. Mrs. Fritz was my mother-in-law.” She gives Bianca a conspiratorial wink. “Now then, I’d like to introduce you to my eldest son, Kaplan.”
“Yes,” she says, her voice dropping. “We’ve actually met.”
My eyes narrow when she leaves it at that.
“It’s nice to see you again, Dr. Fritz, and under better circumstances than the last time.
I’m Bianca… Barlow.” She extends her hand to me, and I catch the hint of a tremor as she places it in mine, trying for firm, only I feel it too.
Snap. Crackle. Pop. Her touch sends a strange burst of electricity through my palm and up my arm.
I grip her tighter, attempting to squash the odd sensation. Her eyes lock on mine, shockingly wide and deliciously innocent and something fuzzy niggles at the recesses of my mind, only for it to immediately disappear when she extricates her hand from my grip.
“I didn’t realize I’d be working with you,” she says, blushing slightly as if the words just spilled out.
I tilt my head, raising an eyebrow. “Is that going to be a problem for you?”
A smirk. “We’ll see. Honestly, I’m disappointed I won’t be working with you, Octavia.”
Her attention casts back to my mother whose face is dancing with delight.
“Me too, dear. But I’m sure you’ll enjoy your time working with Kaplan.” I get a quick flash of the motherly warning again and I inwardly sigh. She likes Bianca. Why? Lord Jesus only knows.
“I have no doubt. Though I’ve been promised he won’t be around often. Mostly working at the hospital?” She quirks her head in my direction.
“Are you being antagonistic to your new boss or is this how you treat all men who help you out in a moment of need?”
Her eyes sparkle and that smirk grows into a surefire grin. “I suppose that depends on the man and the boss.”
The fuck? What on earth does she have to be pissy with me about?
I was her goddamn savior. She gave me a kiss on the damn cheek and promised me a drink to properly thank me if we ever met again.
And honestly, I would have preferred a quick, dirty fuck instead of a drink, but now I just want her gone.
Gone from my head. Gone from my skin. Gone from my existence.
My mother chimes in. “It seems this meeting is going better than expected.”
My head whips over to her but she is not looking at me at all. She’s entirely focused on Bianca, the two of them with matching beaming smiles.
“Bianca, dear. How about you and I take to my office after our official announcement to the staff about my retirement and Kaplan’s succession?
Kaplan was a love with showing up here this morning, but I know he’s anxious to get to the hospital.
He’s taken all of next week off from there so my plan is to train you this week so you’re ready to hit the ground running next week. ”
“That sounds perfect. Though I will admit, I was surprised when I came in and found out I’ll be working not only directly for the CEO but for Kaplan instead of you.”
“I have my reasons for that.”
“I assumed you did. I might have even heard a bit about it downstairs.”
“Ah. Well. Yes.” My mother reaches out, takes her hand, and gives it a solid squeeze. “My reasons are valid and once you and I sit down to chat, I’m positive you’ll understand that.”
My brow crinkles in confusion. What is my mother up to?
“Octavia, you have taken an enormous chance on me. Of course, I will stay and talk with you.”
“I appreciate that.” She releases Bianca and grazes my shoulder.
“I guess it’s time.” Sadness hits her eyes and I lean in, kissing her cheek.
I know how difficult this is for her. Having to step down from the foundation she’s worked at her entire life.
A foundation she loves as if it’s one of her children.
My mother turns, walking over to the head of the room and calling attention to the crowd I hadn’t realized had assembled.
She starts in on her speech about love and family and life and the importance of this foundation.
I smile behind her only to angle to my right, my teeth clenched as I speak through them.
“What game are you playing?”
“No game,” Bianca snaps quietly in response, edging in closer until her distantly alluring fragrance falls over me. “This is absolutely not how I saw my first day going.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Well, don’t get used to us buddying up with stuff in common. I wanted to work with your mother. Not you.”
“And why is that exactly?”
She huffs a breath, inching in ever closer until our arms are practically touching. Her feet inches from mine in those stupidly hot boots. “It could be your warm reception of my being here. Or maybe I’ve just taken an anti-men stance and that includes bosses.”
“But what about saviors?”
“I didn’t know who you were in the car. I only figured it out after when I met your mother and she handed me her card.”
“Is that why you took this job? To get closer to me.”
A burst of a laugh flees her lungs that she quickly stifles. “Don’t flatter yourself. Your mother never mentioned a thing about you to me. I wouldn’t have accepted the position had I known.”
Instead of filling me with relief, that rubs me all kinds of wrong. I inch in, my head dropping so my lips hover closer to her ear. “Feel free to resign anytime now, Echidna.”
A small shudder slips through her as my warm breath fans her skin. She smiles. “Don’t get your hopes up, Typhon.”
I grin like a fool before I can stop it. Not many would know that Echidna and Typhon were the mother and father of all monsters in Greek mythology.
“Your mother hired me, and I like and respect her,” she continues. “I might be excited and a touch naive to see what this world has to offer me but being a sly fox and trying to get me to quit won’t get you too far with a small bunny like me.”
“What?” I give up pretenses and twist to glare at her. “What on earth are you talking about?”
She studies me, her eyes glued to my face. “You have no idea.”
“Obviously not.”
She frowns, blowing out a slow, even breath as her eyes cast to my chest while my mother goes on to her enamored room of patriots.
“That’s what I thought. Maybe that makes it easier for me.
” Her gaze meets mine again. “I like the idea of this job. Of doing something to help others. And maybe if you’re at the hospital and I’m here, our paths will rarely cross. Or we could try to get along.”
“Doubtful. Now that the drama is over and the gloves have come off, we seem to already dislike each other.”
“And yet here we are. Together. Already agreeing on something.”
I grunt, resisting the urge to squeeze the tension out of the back of my neck or pinch the bridge of my nose to stave off the headache this woman is giving me.
“Look. I need someone who knows what they’re doing to help me run this thing.
I’m a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon, not a CEO of a charitable foundation.
My patients need me. The families of my patients need me.
What I don’t need is to hand hold and babysit some green newbie who knows even less than I do. ”
“Your mother hired me for a reason, and I like your mother too much to quit.”
“I bet I can make you do it anyway.”
Now she twists, her eyes a visceral snarl as they squint up into mine. My cock twitches in her direction. It likes this little standoff we have going. Clearly a challenge hasn’t hit its radar before.
“Doubt it. But I’ll enjoy watching you waste your time trying, Typhon.” She gives me a coy smile, her voice matching as she says that.
I hate that smile.
“Wasting my time is not something I’m known for. Neither is failing at something.”
This time she bats her eyelashes at me and hell . I hate that even more.
“Whatever you say, boss .”
This woman is already driving me crazy while proving herself to be a tenacious pain in the ass. The sooner I convince her to quit, the better.