Chapter 3 #2
I felt my cheeks heat up. He was right. I was a sucker when it came to car rides. I conked out, no matter what I did to try to stay awake. It didn’t help that I hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before. I had been anxious about being in a car with my boss for six hours.
“Sorry about that,” I said, anxiously unrolling my napkin and placing it onto my lap. I glanced up at him, and he was gazing back at me.
“Don’t be. You were cute with your nose scrunched up. I kept imagining you were smelling something sour in your dreams.”
I chuckled. “I don’t remember anything like that.”
“What did you dream about?”
“I don’t remember,” I answered honestly. “It’s rare for me to remember a dream. If I do, it’s probably because it was a nightmare.”
He pursed his lips. “That sucks.”
I wasn’t going to argue with him there. I was a big believer in analyzing one’s subconscious fantasies. How could I do that if I hardly remembered them?
“How about you? What do you dream about?” I countered as I took a sip of water.
He laughed. “My dreams are so cliché. Recently, I had one about being able to fly around the world like Superman.”
“That sounds like a fun one.”
“It was. Except for when I made a move to speed up, I ended up whacking my fist against the headboard.”
“Oh my gosh,” I giggled and covered my mouth.
Our waitress arrived at the table. “Welcome to the 20’s Hideout Steakhouse. My name is Diane. I’ll be your server tonight. Can I get you two started with anything?”
We had been so busy talking that we hadn’t looked at the menus at all.
“Could you give us a moment, please?” Caleb asked.
“Sure. I’ll be right back with your bread.”
We both reached for the menus in front of us and started scanning them.
The restaurant had a criminal justice theme and all the burgers had names like the heist, the lawman and the scam.
It didn’t take me too long to decide. I wasn’t joking earlier about craving a cheeseburger.
I wasn’t a big fan of red meat, but sometimes, a nice juicy burger sounded like an excellent idea.
“Have you had a chance to look?” Diane asked a few minutes later as she brought us a bowl of bread.
“Yes,” Caleb and I answered simultaneously.
“What would you like?” Diane asked.
I looked at my boss, wanting him to order first, but he held out his hand, letting me go first. Whoever said chivalry was dead? I ordered the scam burger with fries and a Pepsi, and Caleb ordered the same.
After the waitress walked away, we were quiet for a moment, and it gave me a chance to watch my boss.
He leaned back against the leather booth; with the dim lighting, he put off a dark, sexy energy.
His shirt hugged his muscular biceps, and I found my eyes drawn to his strong forearms. I was used to seeing him in a suit and tie.
I thought nothing could top that view for me, but I was proven wrong.
All I needed him to do was stand, so I could get another look at his bottom half in jeans.
Shaking my head slightly, I focused back on the reason why we were here. “Are you nervous for tomorrow?”
“No. Mike and I have been doing business together for quite some time. He’s a down-to-earth guy.
He’ll want to show me his new facility to prove his company’s growth and why I should invest more in him.
But between you and me,” Caleb said, taking a sip of his water, “I think the real reason he asked me to come down here is that he’s proud of his accomplishments and he wants to show them off. ”
“As he should be.”
“I agree. When he does well, I do well. But I want to make sure that he doesn’t go asking for too much capital tomorrow.
I know I had you print off a bunch of stuff before we left.
But I’d like you to please print three physical copies of his profit-and-loss reports and have them ready for the tour. ”
“I can do that,” I said.
“Thank you. Mike is a good businessman, but like I mentioned earlier this week, he has yet to fully welcome the twenty-first century. He still likes to be old-school and do everything by paper.”
“That would be tough to work with on a regular basis.”
“It is. If he wasn’t so successful, I wouldn’t spend my time with him.”
Diane walked up to our table with our Pepsis. “Here are your drinks. Your food should be out in a minute.”
My stomach chose that moment to let out a loud growl. Caleb’s and Diane both turned their heads to look at me. If embarrassment could kill, I’d be dead.
“Thank you,” Caleb said as Diane walked away.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” I said, gripping my waist tightly.
“For what?”
“The noise my stomach just made.”
He looked at me like I had grown a second head. “Theresa, I’m not mad at you because you’re hungry. So am I. Your stomach making noises is natural. If I got mad over that, it’d be like me getting mad at you for blinking.”
When he put it like that, I felt silly for my reaction. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Our food came out shortly after that. We had gotten into a comfortable discussion about national and state parks.
He seemed to enjoy hiking as much as I did.
He had recommended I visit Starved Rock National Park sometime when we got back home.
It was only about an hour away from the city.
How I had never gone before was beyond me.
I was definitely going to check it out, especially with the spring and summer months approaching.
We switched our conversation to talking about our families.
I loved getting to talk about my brothers and parents.
Caleb felt the same—he couldn’t stop sharing about his parents, sister, and little nephew.
I learned that his family lived on the West Coast, so he didn’t get to see them too often, though he tried to visit them whenever he had a chance.
As we continued talking, it dawned on me just how easy this was.
There were no awkward pauses, and our conversation didn’t feel forced.
We really clicked, and I liked that. If he wasn’t my boss, I’d consider broaching the topic of us dating.
However, I didn’t want to put him in an awkward position.
That could make our working relationship difficult.
When we finished our meals, Diane came up to our table and asked if we wanted dessert.
“How can we say no to that?” Caleb asked.
My thighs could think of a reason or two why I should. Before I could protest, he had ordered each of us a piece of chocolate chip cheesecake. Two of my weaknesses—cheesecake and milk chocolate.
“These look delicious,” I said when the dessert arrived. I picked up my fork and took the first bite. “Mm, that’s amazing.”
I closed my eyes as the sweet, creamy taste danced across my tongue. I took three more bites before I noticed Caleb hadn’t touched his.
“Do you not like yours?” I asked, feeling extremely self-conscious.
“I do,” he said, taking a bite.
We finished our desserts and headed back to our hotel rooms. This had been a fun evening.
I was excited for tomorrow. I wished Caleb goodnight and retreated into my room.
I made fast work of getting ready for bed.
Once I was under the covers, I let my mind drift away to a growing number of naughty fantasies I was having.
My current favorite was one of us at work, back in his office.
“Theresa, I asked you to email me the updated production numbers for the Clarks account. You sent me Bryders’.”
“Oops, sorry, Sir,” I said, pausing the new project I had been working on and quickly sending over the correct information to him. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him staring at me, his lips pursed. He slightly shook his head and got back to work. Damn.
Twenty minutes went by, and I decided to up my game. I printed out the profit-and- loss reports for Mike Amperage’s company that he had requested. Except I changed the color of the numbers from black to blue. I placed the report on his desk and returned to mine.
“Theresa, what is this?” Caleb asked a few minutes later, holding the paper I had just given him.
“The reports you asked for.”
“That’s not what I meant. Why are they blue?”
“I thought they could use some color to brighten them up. You know, make you happy when you look at them.”
“I’m happy looking at them in black ink. I’d appreciate you remembering that,” he scolded me and focused back on his computer.
“Whatever,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What did you just say?” he asked, his attention focusing back on me.
“Nothing,” I lied.
“All right. That’s it.” He pressed a button on his phone console, and Gretchen’s voice answered. “Yes, Mr. McDuffie?”
“It’s time for you to take your lunch break now. Theresa won’t be able to join you because she and I are going to have a lunch meeting.”
“Okay,” she replied, sounding startled. “I’ll put my phone on voicemail and head off now.”
There was a click, and I was left stunned. “You can’t take away my lunch break. I’m legally entitled to at least a thirty-minute break.”
“I’m not,” Caleb said, pushing his chair back and standing up.
“What I’m doing is giving my deliberately naughty assistant the spanking she clearly needs,” he said, as he unbuttoned his wrist cuffs and rolled his sleeves up to expose his muscular forearms. “Afterward, I’ll order you food from wherever you’d like. ”
“Is it too late to say I’m sorry?” I asked as my body hummed with excitement. It was finally happening—I was going to have my first spanking.
“Yes. Come over here,” Caleb ordered, walking around to the other side of his desk and standing by one of the chairs that I usually occupied in our morning huddles. “I want you to bend over the back of this chair. Now.” His tone left no room for argument.