Terra
“Do you realize how much money is sitting out there just waiting for you to collect it?” she demanded, turning her laptop toward him.
Taurex leaned over her shoulder to look at the spreadsheet and she tried to ignore how good he smelled and the way the heat from his big body radiated against her back.
“I do now,” he said simply.
“You need procedures,” she told him. “An accurate way to get what’s owed to you.”
“I have procedures,” he protested.
“No, you have instincts,” she corrected him.
He frowned.
“Well then, my instincts are excellent.”
“I believe you.” Terra glanced pointedly toward the leaning tower of papers beside his desk. “But your filing system is not.”
Taurex straightened, looking mildly offended.
“My filing system is fine.”
Terra gave him a skeptical look.
“Your ‘filing system’ is a paper avalanche waiting to happen. If it fell on us, we’d both be buried for months.”
“I know where everything is,” he rumbled defensively.
“You asked me twenty minutes ago where the shipping permit from Vessara was,” she pointed out.
“Well…I knew it was in this room.”
“That is not the same thing as being able to put your hand on it right away,” Terra said. “You can’t go digging through a mountain of paperwork every time you need an invoice or a shipping manifest.”
Taurex crossed his enormous arms over his chest, stretching the white fabric of his shirt tightly over his shoulders and upper arms. Terra's eyes flicked downward before she could stop them, lingering for a fraction of a second on the impressive width of his chest and the way the rolled sleeves hugged his muscular forearms.
Stop it, she scolded herself. You do not find your new boss attractive. You do NOT.
She dragged her gaze back to his face and pointed toward the piles of paperwork with deliberate authority.
“Tomorrow we're getting you a filing cabinet.”
His eyebrows drew low, and a soft snort escaped him, like a bull looking at a matador’s cape.
“I dislike filing cabinets.”
“What? Why?” Terra asked, exasperated.
“They are ugly. Big, boxy pieces of furniture that serve no purpose other than to house all this ridiculous paperwork you humans insist on.”
“Well, we can get a lot of this online,” Terra told him. “But some places just won’t go digital. Besides, you know what else is ugly? An IRS audit.”
Taurex frowned. “What is an IRS audit?”
Terra slowly lowered the paper in her hand and stared at him.
“Oh, honey.”
His ears twitched.
“What? What is it?”
She sighed.
“You have a lot to learn. But don’t worry–I’ll teach you.”
By the time five o'clock approached, Terra was tired enough that her shoulders ached from sitting hunched over paperwork all day. But it was a completely different kind of exhaustion from the one she'd known at The Doll House.
There, she went home with sore feet and aching muscles and the weary feeling that she'd spent hours smiling at people she didn't like while pretending their hands on her body didn't disgust her.
This exhaustion felt productive. She had spent the entire day solving problems, organizing chaos and using a part of her brain that had been neglected for years, and she loved it.
The office was still far from perfect, but at least now the chaos had categories.
The surface of Taurex's massive desk had finally emerged beneath the papers, several boxes had been emptied, the unpaid invoices were organized by age and Terra had drafted reminder notices for the worst offenders.
She had also begun a list of questions for Taurex's accountant—assuming he actually had one.
“You do have an accountant, right?” she'd asked earlier, suddenly struck by the possibility that the answer might be no.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
When he gave her the name of the firm, Terra immediately looked them up online and felt a rush of relief when she discovered they were both real and reputable.
Thank God! Apparently Taurex wasn't completely suicidal when it came to Earth paperwork. Still, it was obvious that whoever handled his annual taxes wasn't doing much with the day-to-day bookkeeping, accounts receivable or general organization of the business.
That, apparently, was where Terra came in. And there was still a LOT to do.
She leaned back in her chair and stretched, trying to work the stiffness out of her shoulders.
Across the room, Taurex stood near the enormous windows speaking quietly into some kind of communications device that definitely hadn't been manufactured on Earth.
Terra pretended not to watch him, though it was difficult not to notice the way the late-afternoon sunlight outlined his huge body and made the tips of his horns glow faintly.
He finished the call and turned toward her.
“You contacted Harris Industries this morning?” he asked.
She nodded.
“I did. They were the first ones I emailed.”
“They paid.” He spread his hands. “Just like that–they paid.”
Terra felt a flush of pride.
“All of it? The entire invoice?”
Taurex nodded.
“The entire thing. Forty-three thousand dollars.”
Terra couldn't help smiling.
“I told you. You have to remind people.”
“So…they paid you because you asked?” He raised his eyebrows.
“They paid you because you were owed the money,” Terra told him.
“That is amazing,” he rumbled, looking at her with such obvious admiration that Terra felt an unexpected little glow inside her chest. Jackson had certainly never looked at her that way.
Even if she'd balanced their checking account down to the penny, that was simply something a wife was supposed to do.
If she'd found a way to shave fifty dollars off the grocery bill, he'd complained that she'd bought the wrong cereal or a cheaper brand of beer.
Whenever she'd talked about going back to college, he'd immediately asked who was going to watch the kids, as though the dream itself was selfish because it required him to participate in his own family.
Eventually Terra had stopped talking about the things she wanted to do and stopped expecting anyone to notice the things she did right. Somewhere along the way, she had almost forgotten there were things she was good at.
Now Taurex was looking at her as though she'd performed some kind of miracle.
“You recovered forty-three thousand dollars in one day,” he said.
She shrugged modestly.
“I sent an email.”
“That is all?”
“Pretty much.”
He shook his head slowly.
“Humans are strange.”
Terra smiled.
“I guess you could say that.”
“But why would they refuse to pay me but pay immediately when you ask?” he demanded.
She shrugged again.
“Maybe because my email included a late-payment warning.”
Taurex's eyebrows rose.
“What warning?”
“I told them that if the balance wasn't paid within five business days, Intergalactic Imports would suspend further shipments until the account was current.”
He stared at her.
“You threatened them?”
“Politely,” Terra emphasized. “Very politely.”
Taurex seemed to consider this, then gave a slow nod of approval.
“I like the way you conduct business.”
Terra smiled.
“That’s good to hear since you hired me as your office manager.”
He moved closer, and almost immediately Terra became aware of him again—not Taurex the businessman who couldn't manage his own filing system and not Taurex the owner of Intergalactic Imports, but Taurex the enormous Monstrum who had watched her come in the VIP lounge.
The male whose touch somehow allowed him to see flashes of her mind and the stranger who had offered her a job before he had even figured out exactly what job he wanted her to do.
Her smile faded a little. There were still questions between them–big ones.
She still didn't understand the strange connection they'd formed, and she wasn't entirely sure she trusted him, no matter how respectful he'd been with her today. But something had changed during the hours they'd spent working together.
Terra had arrived that morning half expecting to discover that Taurex had invented a position simply because he wanted her nearby. Instead, she'd discovered a genuine business with genuine problems and a male who actually needed the skills she had spent years believing nobody valued.
That mattered more than she wanted to admit. And it made her willing to try and forget the strange way he’d somehow seen into her mind when he touched her.
Taurex looked around the office, apparently taking in the visible desk, the neatly labeled folders and the piles that were finally beginning to make sense.
“This is the first time I have been able to see the surface of my desk in months,” he admitted.
Terra laughed.
“Well, don't get too excited. We still have six more boxes to go through.”
“I am not concerned,” he said.
She laughed again.
“You should be. That’s a lot of paperwork to get through. We need to get you on a digital system.”
His golden gaze settled on her again, and this time there was something in his expression that made her laughter fade.
“I am glad I hired you,” he murmured and his eyes seemed to speak of much more than the work they’d gotten through together.
Something warm moved through Terra's chest but she did her best to ignore it. She looked away and began gathering her things.
“Well, I'm glad you needed an office manager,” she said lightly. “I’m, er, not stripping anymore,” she added, looking down at her hands.
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said quietly. “I know you didn’t really enjoy it.”
That was as close as he’d come to talking about how he’d managed to look into her head all day and Terra wasn’t sure how to feel about it. There was a long moment of silence between them and then Taurex said,
“I believe we need to talk about compensation. I think I offered to pay you twice as much as you made, er, dancing.”
“Yes, that’s right.” Terra nodded, glad they were changing the subject.
“And may I know how much you made so I can double it?” he asked.
Taking a chance, Terra named a figure that was the absolute best night she’d ever had while working the pole.
There had been a rowdy crowd of High Rollers for a bachelor party that night and she’d gone to the VIP lounge four times.
The take had been impressive but at the end of the night she’d felt dirty and tired and had spent an hour in the shower getting clean.
Taurex didn’t even blink an eye at the sum she mentioned.
“Done,” he said. “I’ll pay you double that every day you work for me. Also, I think it’s only fair that you get ten percent of the delinquent invoices you manage to pull in.”
“What?” Terra looked at him with wide eyes. “But that means that for today…”
“You’ll be making four thousand, three hundred dollars. On top of your daily payment, of course,” Taurex finished for her. “And I’ll continue to pay you ten percent of the delinquent accounts you pull in for me going forward.”
Terra shook her head in bewilderment.
“That’s…too much.”
The big Monstrum frowned.
“No, it’s fair compensation. Look at everything you’ve already done for me…” he spread his hands, indicating the office where the paperwork was no longer taking over the whole room. “You’re a valuable employee—I want to keep you happy.”
“Well…thank you.” Terra still felt breathless. Was he really going to pay her nearly five thousand dollars for one day’s work? Taking this job was beginning to look like the best decision she’d ever made!
“You’re very welcome. Now, should I write you a check or do you want to set up a direct deposit?”
“I’ll take a check today and we can set up the direct deposit tomorrow,” Terra said, mainly because she wanted to be able to show the check to her mother.
She was excited that Terra had quit “waitressing” at the strip club but had also been worried about money.
The enormous check would definitely put her mind at ease.
“That’s fine.” Taurex got out a leather-bound check book which looked tiny in his big hands and began writing. He tore it off and handed it to her and Terra stared at it for a long moment before putting it safely into her purse.
“Thank you,” she said, looking up at him. “You don’t know what this means to me. My ex never pays any child support so my mom and my kids…uh, but you probably know all that already,” she said, stopping herself.
“No, I only got a few flashes when I touched you.” Taurex looked at her earnestly. “I can’t read your mind, if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s just that my kind of Monstrum is able to form a…connection with the right kind of woman.”
“Is that why you offered me a job?” Terra asked bluntly. “Because I’m the ‘right kind of woman?’”
“That and I could tell you didn’t like your current occupation,” he said gravely.
“I won’t lie to you, Terra—I find you incredibly beautiful.
And now that I see how intelligent you are, it only adds to your appeal.
But I didn’t ask you to work for me in order to abuse you or pressure you into a relationship.
As you can see, I genuinely need your help. ”
He nodded at the office filled with paperwork again, as if to prove his point.
“Well…that’s true enough,” Terra admitted.
“What I’m trying to say is that I’m your boss and I hope we can have a professional relationship, despite the way we first met,” Taurex told her.
Terra thought again of how it had felt to dance for him, to grind against his thick shaft and feel those golden eyes on her as she stripped…then she quickly pushed the thought away.
“Thank you,” she said simply. “That’s what I hope too.”
“Good. Then we are, as you humans say, ‘on the same page.’” Taurex nodded in evident satisfaction.
“Yes, we are,” Terra agreed. “Er, but would you mind coming down with me to the lobby and telling the front desk people that I work for you?” she asked.
“They gave me a hassle this morning. I guess because I don’t look like I belong in a place like this,” she added, looking down at her clean but cheap clothes.
Taurex frowned, his face suddenly thundercloud dark.
“Someone tried to prevent you from coming up to meet me?” he asked, his voice a low rumble of anger.
“They just wanted to be sure I belonged in the penthouse, I think,” Terra told him, thinking of the snooty way Marissa had looked her up and down.
“You belong with me, whether in the penthouse or anywhere else.” There was a possessive growl in the Monstrum’s deep voice that sent a shiver down her spine.
It was different from when Viktor Orlov had claimed she was his, however.
There was a protective note in Taurex’s voice too.
And he had promised not to try and pressure her into any kind of relationship—which was nice, even though Terra couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit disappointed that he appeared to want to keep things strictly professional between them.
“I will come down with you at once to be sure that there are no problems in the future,” Taurex told her. “Are you ready to go?”
“Oh yes—I am.” Terra got up and gathered her purse and keys.
“Good—then let’s go.”