Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
LUKE
I t’s been three weeks since Louisa went to work on the web development team. I would like to say I don’t think about her much at all now, and that the time has passed in the normal way. But if I did that, I would be lying. The time has dragged so much when my day isn’t broken up with little sightings of her and I haven’t stopped thinking about her. If anything, I believe that I actually think about her more now I don’t get to see her all of the time.
I wake up on a morning and I imagine how it would be waking up next to Louisa, how her slim warm body would feel in my arms as I fucked her. I imagine how it would be having her sneak into my office through the working day and steal kisses and more. And I imagine what evenings would be like, where I would lay her down on my bed and eat her out and make her come until she is begging me to fuck her, and then I would oblige her and make her come again. Thinking like that never fails to make my cock hard for her and at home, I jerk off, imagining that my hand is her hand, picturing her gorgeous face, her small, perky breasts. But at work, it isn’t something I can do anything about except stay behind my desk and hope no one has a reasonable request for me to stand up. So far, I haven’t been caught, but it’s only a matter of time before it happens. No one will know it’s because I’m thinking of Louisa, but it will still be embarrassing enough on its own. I have got to get her out of my head before that can be allowed to happen.
That’s going to be even harder than usual for the next few minutes, because I have Karl scheduled to come up to my office and give me the weekly update on Louisa’s progress within his team. So far, Karl has reported that she’s fitting in well and she has completed everything he has asked her to do to a high standard. This week, he’s letting her have a bit more freedom and I’m interested to know how that’s gone. If she’s going to revert to the image Enrique painted of her, then it’s going to be now when she thinks no one is holding her reins.
Karl arrives for the meeting and sits down. We chat for a bit and then I move the conversation around to the reason he’s here.
“How are things going with Louisa?” I ask.
“Take a look for yourself,” Karl says. He nods towards my computer. “May I?”
“Go ahead,” I say.
He swivels the screen around to face him and then he turns the keyboard around and after a few seconds of him clicking around and his fingers dancing over the keys, he turns the screen back to face me. He is showing me a mock-up of one of the screens from the app. Everything is exactly as we discussed, and it looks perfectly fine, but I wouldn’t expect any less from anyone who has a degree in web development. It’s not that Louisa isn’t doing her job – she is – I just expected more with Karl wanting to show me the page instead of just saying she had completed it to a high standard or whatever. It turns out he isn’t finished yet though.
“That’s pretty good, isn’t it?” Karl says and I nod. “Keep it in mind while I show you this.”
He turns his focus back to the computer for a moment and then he turns the screen back towards me again. The screen shows the same page, but a different version of it. The color scheme fits everything we discussed, but the fonts are different, and the images used aren’t of the aesthetic that we discussed either. It’s edgier and I have to admit I prefer it. But I don’t see what it has to do with Louisa’s progress. But then again, Karl isn’t obsessed with her like I am, and he might be taking this opportunity while he has my attention to ask my thoughts on changing direction slightly with the look of the app.
“What do you think?” he asks.
“I prefer the second one. I know it’s not what we signed off on, but seeing it against our original idea, it kind of makes our original one look a little bit drab,” I say. “Do you prefer the second one, or the original one?”
“The second one by a country mile. If you are in agreement, I’m going to have a team meeting later on today and brief the team on the changes and what we are aiming for going forward,” he says.
“I am in agreement,” I say.
Karl nods but he doesn’t volunteer any information about Louisa so I guess I will have to bring it up.
“So, Louisa then? How’s she coming along?” I ask. “Has she impressed you now that she is working with less hand holding?”
“I guess I didn’t make it clear. The first layout of the app page was Louisa’s work following the template I gave her,” Karl says, and I nod. I did understand that, but as good as it is, it’s hardly her having free reign. “The second layout of the app page was Louisa – in her words – just trying something to see if I liked it.”
My eyes open wider. He was right. He hadn’t made that clear at all. In fact, I’m still not sure I have understood correctly.
“Wait. You’re telling me Louisa did that second layout without any input from you or the team?” I say. “And now we’re basing the look of our whole app on her idea?”
Karl grins and nods his head.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. I know it’s early days yet, but if you want my opinion on this woman, I say forget the internship. Give her a permanent contract now before she has a chance to look around and slip away,” Karl says.
“She already has an offer on the table,” I say.
“Then find out what it is and beat it,” Karl says.
Once we have finished our discussion – where he confirms that spoiled and lazy are words he would not associate with Louisa in any way - and he has left the office, I find myself thinking about what he said about finding out what her offer is and beating it to keep her here. Would she consider staying? Would Enrique be happy if I did that? Who would I approach first? Her or him? It’s all too complicated to work through at the minute and I decide to shelve the idea for now. I will try and have a conversation or two with Louisa where I hint at the idea of her staying here and see how she reacts and then go from there. There’s no point in me putting the feelers out with Enrique about it if Louisa doesn’t want to work here. It will just risk causing trouble for their family for no reason.
I cross the lobby heading for the elevator after lunch. I call the elevator and get in. I hit the button for the fifth floor, and then I hear running feet behind me, and I press the hold button. I turn as someone else bursts into the elevator and gives me a breathless thank you. I feel my cock twitching when I see the person is Louisa.
“What floor?” I say, managing to sound normal.
“Four please,” she says. “Karl has called a team meeting in one of the smaller conference rooms.”
I nod and hit the button for the fourth floor and the doors close.
“So how is life in web development?” I ask.
“It’s good,” Louisa says. She looks so enthusiastic when she speaks, it’s obvious she loves the work. Her cheeks flush slightly and she can’t stop herself from smiling. Her enthusiasm is infectious, and I find myself smiling back at her. “I love the work so much and the team is all lovely and welcoming.”
“But …?” I say. “Because there’s always a but.”
I’m only joking, but Louisa looks at me and she’s serious now.
“But I miss you,” she blurts out. The slight pink hint of her cheeks darkens to red. “I mean … I miss working with you … for you. You know what I mean.”
I smile and it does nothing to help Louisa regain her composure.
“I know exactly what you mean. And for what it’s worth, I miss having you around too,” I say.
“You only miss me bringing you coffee,” she jokes and then the elevator reaches her floor, and the doors ping open, and she steps out.
The doors start to close.
“Actually, Rachel brings me twice as many cups a day,” I say. “But the view isn’t as good.”
The doors close before she can turn around or reply to me, but I know she heard me, and I just have to hope I didn’t cross a line. I definitely get vibes from her that she is attracted to me and whenever I have flirted with her, she has always joined in. I don’t think I have anything to worry about that way.
The elevator reaches my floor and as I walk towards my office, my cell phone pings in my pocket. I pull it out and smile when I see I have a text message from Louisa.
“It’s good to hear that you enjoyed the view,” the text message says, and I grin to myself. She is into me. I knew it. But nothing has changed. She’s still Enrique’s daughter and doing anything about the way I feel towards her is still massively unprofessional.
I get back to my office and sit down and ponder for a moment. I suppose the time she’s got left here isn’t that long. Two months and one week. And once she’s left here, it wouldn’t be unprofessional to date her, and I can’t see why Enrique would have a problem with it when she’s not working for me. But then I think of the work she’s doing and Karl saying we need to keep her here. That’s what would be best for the company, and I could make it the best option for Louisa by giving her a good offer. But then I can never be with her. I sigh and decide the only thing to do is put her out of my mind. It’s easier said than done, but what’s the point of torturing myself with thoughts of being with someone that I know I can’t let myself have.
My cell phone pings again, and I see it’s Louisa again. I open the message and smile.
“What’s wrong? Have you gone all shy?” her text message reads.
Oh, fuck it, I think to myself, and I type out a reply.
“Actually, I was just wondering which bar to take you to tonight for a drink to officially welcome you to the company,” I write back.
We both know it’s far too late for that, and I’m sure Louisa is bright enough to know that wording it that way is a get out of jail free card for me so if she says no, she’s not rejecting the idea of a night with me, just saying no to drinks with the boss as such. I need not have bothered covering my bases because her positive reply pings through almost instantly.
“Meeting is starting. Text me the time and place and I’ll be there.”
I smile and send her a text back to meet at eight at my local. I give her the address of the place in case she doesn’t know where it is and then I force myself to focus on my work for the rest of the day. I manage to get a fair bit done somehow, but I do it all with a smile on my face and half a mind on Louisa and where tonight might end up going.