2. BODI
2
TWO WEEKS LATER
T here are some secrets I will take to my grave.
Like how my middle aged office manager is becoming the highlight of my day lately.
My tablet sits in my hand as I stroll off the elevator, my sunglasses pushed up in my brown crest of hair. A smile splits my face when I’m greeted by Agnes giving me a short wave. Her silver-gray eyes sparkle as much as the hairspray in her hair, and her already rosy cheeks are highlighted with a brighter pink blush.
“Good morning, Agnes. How are you today?” I stop in front of her desk.
Our eyes meet from under the glasses sitting on her nose, giving me a friendly smile.
“I’m good, Mr. McKay.”
“After six months, you still won’t call me Bodi?”
A small smile forms on her red painted lips. She reminds me of my grandmother, radiating comfort. Someone you can rely on when life makes you believe nothing is certain, like your dad slowly forgetting your name.
At least she’s always here greeting me with a smile that comforts my inner child to make up for the lack of parental guidance I currently have in my life.
“I know you youngsters like to be on a first name basis with everyone, but my generation was raised differently. I will never call my boss by his first name. Even if he’s thirty years younger than I am.” She eyes me from over the black rim of her spectacles. “And certainly not during work hours.”
I grab my heart. “Wait, are we not in the same generation?”
“Charming, Mr. McKay. I bet you will have great success with the ladies.” Her giggle warms my chest.
When I opened my office here in Atlanta, I got a lot of applications for the office manager positions. Many young girls, straight out of college. Many young girls who wanted an audience with the owner of Kayman Publishing International.
Meaning me .
A few men who were either overqualified, asking for way too much money, or didn’t really feel like they would fit my team. But then Agnes Nichols walked in.
She was wearing a gray pencil skirt that hugged her elderly curves and matched it with a white button down that was all the way up to her neck. Her shiny hair was up in a bun, and other than the choice of make-up she went for, she wouldn’t necessarily stand out in a crowd.
She looked like the stereotypical secretary that’s over sixty. But when I looked down, noticing the white Adidas Originals she was rocking on her feet, I knew she was something special. Then, when my eyes locked with her friendly gaze, I knew we had a winner. Any woman over sixty who shamelessly walks around in sneakers paired with a pencil skirt is a winner to me.
“I can’t complain, but I’m not as lucky as your Flint.” I shoot her a wink.
“Oh, please.” She swishes my words away. “Maybe if you spent less time looking for new sneakers online, you’d actually have the time to find a nice girl.”
She peeks over her desk to look at my sneaker choice of the day.
“Are those new?” There is a suspicious glint in her now-narrowing eyes.
“No.” I try to fight a smile, as I blink at my new limited edition beige mid sport Jordan’s, the ones I got in the mail yesterday after paying at least one zero too much for them.
I’m a sneaker freak, what can I say?
“But even if we go there, Agnes, I don’t think there is room for a woman in my life.” I rest my hip against her desk, a smirk tugging on the corners of my mouth.
“How come?”
I shrug, then get up. “I simply don’t have room in my closet.”
She barks out a laugh as I stroll my way to my office, the sun already shining bright through the window behind my desk.
“One day, you’ll meet that one girl who will make you wanna throw them all out.”
“Don’t think so, ma’am!” I holler back, grinning, before I close the door.
A coffee is waiting for me on my desk, still steaming hot, and I swipe it from the surface.
The woman is a godsend.
I stand in front of the glass, the sun glinting over the skyline.
This is the best moment of the day, when the sun is shining, my mind is at peace and the day isn’t fucked up by anything unexpected just yet.
The view from my office is a daily reminder I’ve done pretty well for myself. Something I never take for granted and always try to remember.
Nursing the warm ceramic cup in my hand, I take a sip when my phone vibrates in the pocket of my jeans. I pull it out, reading my best friend’s name on the screen.
“What’s up, mate?” I ask.
I drop my ass on my chair, my feet propped on my desk as I keep staring at the city of Atlanta waking up.
“She’s driving me mad,” Jensen blurts, exhaust dripping from his tone.
Oh, hell no.
“Whoa, hold up, mate. It’s eight-thirty in the morning. Please don’t give me any marital problems before I had my fucking coffee.”
“Shut up, Bodi-O ,” he says with the worst Aussie accent in the history of time. “I’m not even married.”
“Huh? That explains why I wasn’t invited to the wedding.”
“And you won’t be if you keep acting like a dick.”
“Fine,” I chuckle against my mug, then let a sip of the warm liquid settle on my tongue. “Why is Rae driving you crazy?”
“Not Rae!” he hisses through the phone, as if he has to be careful with his words. “Kayla!”
“Kayla?” My mind quickly wanders off to the brunette in question. “What about her?”
The sassy nineteen-year-old who reminds me of a forbidden fruit. Lurking at me with her big blue eyes but is oh-so off limits. I don’t regret hooking up with her at Rae’s birthday last summer, and I could barely resist the temptation on Thanksgiving. But the second she mentioned her friends at Stanford, I was brutally reminded she’s definitely too young for me. It’s a fucking shame because she’s fun, quirky, and motherfucking hot as sin.
“She’s everywhere, man,” Jensen whines. “I mean, I love the girl. She’s family and all, but I’m used to being able to get Rae naked wherever I want. And whenever I want.”
I think I just threw up in my mouth. “Fucking hell, mate. Too much fucking detail. Is she there for the week?”
Because if he wants me to come over for a couple days and keep her occupied, I’m not against it. It would be a welcoming break from worrying about my dad every fucking night.
“No,” he scoffs. “She’s been staying here for the last two weeks.”
“Two weeks? Why isn’t she at Stanford?”
“Is that Bodi?” Rae’s chipper voice ricochets in the background.
Jensen hums in agreement, and before I know it, her sweet voice is ringing in my ear. “How are you doing, Bodi?”
“I’m good, Goldilocks. How are you?”
“I’m fine. Glad all the holiday madness is over.” She sounds tired and relieved at the same time.
“We had fun, though. This was the first time in ages I didn’t have to listen to your mother-in-law, and it was a blessing for my ears.”
She snorts through the phone, and I imagine her nose scrunched up, with her long blonde hair moving in front of her face. “Ha! Don’t call the Wicked Witch of the East my mother-in-law. That makes it sound like we’re related, and I’m not fucking related to the woman.”
“I hate to break it to you,” I say through a chuckle with my thick Australian accent, “but as soon as you start popping out babies, you’ll officially be related.”
She grunts into the phone like a baby rhino, rolling her eyes, I’m sure. “Bodi McKay, please don’t ruin my day by saying shit like that.”
“Just keeping it real, Goldilocks.”
“You could just lie, you know. God knows you’re a star at it.”
“There is no fun in that when it comes to Kathleen Jensen, Rae.”
“There is no fun with Kathleen Jensen in general,” she adds.
That sounds about right. Jensen’s mother looks like the first lady in every fucking way possible but she’s the most vile person I’ve ever met, and I’ll be a thankful man if I don’t ever have to see her again.
“Anyway,” she drawls with an innocent voice, and I can hear the favor just waiting to jump from her tongue.
“Ah, shit,” I huff, rubbing a hand over my face. “What do you want?”
I’d do anything for the girl within a heartbeat. She’s my best friend’s girl, but over the last few months, she’s become a good friend. And to be honest, Jensen is way more fun now that he’s got Rae by his side. They are a match made in heaven, and if I can help her out, I’m game.
“I need you to give Kayla a job at KPI.”
Anything, except that .
“What?” I blurt, a stern frown forming on my forehead. “No. Not a chance in hell.”
It’s bad enough the girl has been the subject of my wet dreams more than once in the past couple of months, like I’m some kind of teenage little prick, but it will be fucking hell to have her around me all the time.
Which is another secret that will never fucking leave my mouth, by the way.
“Come on, Bodi. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee. She’s driving me nuts.”
“She’s driving you nuts? She’s your fucking cousin.” I shake my head, pinching the bridge of my nose while I think about what she’s asking. “Why isn’t she at Stanford?”
“She got kicked out.”
My feet fall from my desk, and I sit up, leaning my arms on the cold surface.
“How the hell do you get kicked out of Stanford?”
“She failed her classes,” Rae says as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.
“She failed her classes?” I parrot.
“Yeah, says she went to a few too many parties.”
My brows pinch together, still staring out of the window while I let her words sink in. She’s lying.
The few times I’ve seen Kayla were explosive, in a very naked and satisfying kind of way, but she didn’t strike me as the kind of girl that fails her classes. The girl had sparkles glittering in her eyes when she told me she got a scholarship to Stanford. Said it was her dream.
Why would you let that slip out of your hands for a few parties?
“She doesn’t seem like the girl who fails classes.”
Rae lets out a deep sigh. “I know. Something is off. I don’t know what it is. Maybe she’s having second thoughts about her major or something. But she’s been staying with us for the last two weeks. She’s talking about getting a job at Walmart until she figures her life out.”
“Well, that sounds promising,” I mumble, my tone filled with judgment.
“It’s not! That’s why you need to do me a favor and hire her,” she screeches.
No, I really don’t.
“I’m sorry, Goldilocks. Did you forget the part where I slept with her? I like to keep my private life separated. I can’t have her prancing around my office.”
It will be a disaster waiting to happen.
“Yes, slept . Last year. As in, you’re not sleeping with her now. Or, are you?”
“What? No! We haven’t talked since Thanksgiving.”
“Right! So, both of you can pretend that never happened. You are a successful businessman. CEO of the biggest publishing company on the east coast. It shouldn’t be hard to keep your dick in your pants and give the girl a break.”
She has no idea.
“Maybe she’ll realize she wants to go back to school. All I know is she’ll mentally die working at Walmart and I will go mad if she stays with me and Jensen for much longer.” My jaw clenches as she keeps pushing me in a direction I don’t want to go in. “She’s just lost, Bodi. She needs help.”
“Why can’t she work for you?” Rae’s family has a successful business in gemstone jewelry. Seems like the perfect gig for a nineteen year old girl.
“I need time to take over the company so Nana can retire in peace. None of that will happen if Kayla is here to rub the old bat the wrong way. And that’s exactly what she’ll do just for fun.”
I bite back a laugh. That’s exactly what she’ll do. Nana and Kayla love each other, but it’s the kind of love that’s fueled by annoyance.
“Nana can take her.”
“Oh, I know. I just don’t want to be surrounded by the two of them all day. They will drive me mad .”
“And you don’t think she’ll drive me mad?”
“You own a six story building. You can literally put her on a different floor.”
Fair point .
I still don’t think it’s a good idea to have my past hook up strutting through my hallways on a daily basis.
Who knows what closet I’ll yank her into when I’m in a bold mood?
I can already see a whole string of allegations about inappropriate behavior coming my way.
My life is complicated enough with a dad who can’t remember who I am, thank you very much.
“Look, Rae, I know you want to help her, but what good is a Stanford dropout going to be for me? I don’t have any jobs she qualifies for because she doesn’t have a degree.”
“I don’t know. Work the mail?” The hope in her voice is killing me.
“Covered.”
“Coffee girl?”
“Filled.”
“Office Manager?”
“Underqualified.”
“Assistant Office Manager.”
“Don’t need one,” I growl.
“Junior Editor?” Her voice is high-pitched and unsure.
“Don’t push it.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Bodi!” The frustration is clear when she yelps the words into my ear. She stays quiet for a brief moment, clearly thinking of anything else she can throw at me.
“How about a Personal Assistant? You always say how busy you are? I’m sure you can use a hand or two with some personal stuff? Maybe help you out with the foundation? She’s really good at keeping things organized.”
That little blonde haired devil.
My lips stay pressed together, taking in her words.
Leaning back in my chair, my eyes briefly close, my head tilting to the ceiling.
She knows exactly what my mother’s foundation means to me, and how little time I have for it the more my company grows. It’s a cause close to my heart, and I vowed that I’d put more effort into it this year.
Something Rae knows all too well, because I even asked her if she was willing to work for the foundation part time.
There is a voice screaming in my head, telling me this is the worst mistake I’ll ever make if I say yes, and then there is another voice telling me I could use help with the foundation, especially with the charity ball coming up.
The event will be even bigger this year, and although I used to handle most of the organization, it’s becoming too much to handle next to managing KPI.
I’m fucked.
“Rae,” I grunt in a futile attempt to make her hang up the phone without me agreeing.
“Ah, see. That’s a good idea, right? I can hear it in your voice. She can be your PA! Please, Bodi? Please? I’ll cook whatever you want next time you’re here.”
“I don’t think dinner will cut it, goldilocks.”
“Probably not.” She doesn’t even attempt to make her offer more appealing.
She’s lucky I like her.
“Do you think she can keep business and private life separate? Like, me and her are not going to happen again,” I state with a firm tone, though my dick is scowling.
“Of course she can,” Rae reassures without hesitation. “She did it over Thanksgiving, didn’t she? She was really good at ignoring you. I’m sure she’s not even interested anymore.” The amusement in her voice is undeniable, and I roll my eyes.
Don’t even fucking remind me. It pissed me off for the entire night, until she mentioned her college friends and I aborted the mission with dismay from my cock. He’s still sulking about that.
“Well, what do you say?” Rae keeps pushing. “If you’re not doing it for her, do it for me.”
The begging tone of her voice tugs at my heart as I weigh out the options in my head like a tennis match. Common sense is firmly against it.
“I’m going to fire her if it doesn’t work,” I warn her.
“Perfectly understandable.”
We stay silent for a brief moment, the anticipation of my answer lingering between us like a thick curtain.
“Fine,” I finally grumble.
“Great! I’ll let her know!” Before I can say anything else, she hangs up, and I stare at my phone.
Fuck, what did I just agree to?
My phone dings in my hand, as if fate is helping me cope.
JASON: I’m catching a flight your way. I’m in desperate need to get wasted. You’re coming with me.
I shake my head to the ceiling. Great, more bad ideas.
ME: We really shouldn’t.
JASON: But we’re gonna, right?
ME: Fuck yeah, we are.
Because getting fucked up is more tempting than thinking all night about how fucked I’ll be when my brown-haired vixen actually starts working here.