Chapter 13
FAITH
It was Friday morning, day four of “Why the heck did I say yes to this job?”
The phone rang, cutting off my yawn. “Knight Advertising. Curtis Knight’s office. How can I help you?” I would’ve said it with a smile, but I’d only had four hours’ sleep last night, and I wasn’t in the mood. I might never be again.
“It’s Marvin Black. Can I please speak to Curtis?”
“Just a moment, sir. I’ll see if he’s in.” I didn’t know why people said that. Everyone knew it was code for, I’ll see if he wants to talk to you. I buzzed Curtis and yawned before I could get a word out. “There’s a Marvin Black on line one for you.”
“Did you just yawn?”
“Yes. Do you want me to put Mr. Black through?”
I could tell he was smirking when he said, “Tired, are we?”
Smart-ass.
“No, not at all. I had plenty of sleep last night. It’s probably the boring conversation.
” I slammed my hand over my mouth. Did I really just say that?
Well, it served him right for calling me at 1:00 a.m. to tell me to be here at seven for an early meeting, which just happened to be called off when I arrived. Jerk.
Think of the money.
At least he’d had to be awake to call me, so I hoped he was tired too.
“You should prioritize your sleep so you’re not falling asleep at work. Send the call through, please.” He was having way too much fun at my expense. Stupid rich man.
I gritted my teeth and crunched on the insults I wanted to voice. Chew them, pulverize them, swallow them, Faith. It’s not worth it.
I hung up the intercom and picked up the phone, taking a moment to squash the urge to hang up on Marvin. I’d enjoy calling Curtis and telling him Marvin’s call dropped out. “Putting you through, sir.”
After a couple of minutes composing myself and breathing out the anger, I wondered who Marvin Black was.
I hadn’t heard of him before. Was he a friend or a client?
He didn’t sound famous—I knew Knight Advertising agented for all sorts of sports stars, actors, and musicians as well as running normal client campaigns.
“Donut Girl, you look spaced out.”
I turned and smiled. “Hey, Destiny. How goes it down in marketing?” I had FOMO. I missed coming up with witty slogans and copy and the brainstorming we did as a team to tighten things. Being a PA with only a bosshole to communicate with was not my happy place.
“Same old, same old. We miss you. Before they put you on, we were a bit short-staffed. I don’t see why they had to move you here. Couldn’t they just get someone else?”
“Um… I think they’re looking for someone now, but it was so sudden, Margie leaving.”
“I heard she’s sick.”
I had to tread carefully and give as little away as possible, not to mention that Margie’s illness was her own business. “Yeah. I don’t know the details, but I think she’s coming back in a few months.”
Her eyes widened. “We’re going to be without you that long? Please tell me it’s not true.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe Mr. Grumpypants will get sick of me before then and send me back. We can hope.”
She glanced at the door as if worried we’d get busted talking smack about the boss. She leaned closer to me and whispered, “But he’s so hot. Aren’t you having just a little bit of fun?”
I glared at his closed door. “He hates me, and I don’t know why. Remember in the meeting with Queen Victoria? He was pretty short with me.”
Destiny giggled. “You were a bit spacey then, though. Maybe he was having a bad day?”
I sighed. “If that’s the case, he has a bad day every day. He called me at one last night to tell me to come in early for a meeting, and then it was canceled. I’ve had about four hours’ sleep. I also suspect he did it just to mess with me.”
Her mouth made an O. “Surely not. That doesn’t sound like him. He’s usually really nice and encouraging with me and the team… at least from what I’ve seen. I don’t peg him as a game player.”
It was time to change the subject before I said something I shouldn’t. “What are you guys working on down there? Anything fun?”
“A new chocolate bar for Morrison’s. We even got a free box to sample.”
I folded my arms. “Where’s mine? Sheesh, I’m gone for five minutes, and you’ve already forgotten me.”
“I’ll bring you one later. Anyway, just wanted to check on you, see what was going on.”
“I miss you guys. Hope I can come back soon.”
The door opened, and Mr. Grumpy Bosshole himself came out. He paused for a moment, taking in me and Destiny. Then he did something he had done approximately once since I’d been working for him.
He smiled.
At Destiny.
“Hey, Destiny. How’s the Morrison’s campaign coming?”
“Good, thanks, Mr. Knight.”
“Great. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product.” His gaze wandered to me, and wouldn’t you know it, his smile vanished quicker than a peanut at a squirrel convention. “Have you finished that report on the fast-food consumer trends and demographics I asked for yesterday?”
“I’m almost done. I’m just checking that the margins are standard. It’s important to get those little details right, otherwise the report might be confusing.” I gave him a sarcastic smile. It was satisfying when his eye twitched, and his nostrils flared a tad.
Destiny glanced from me to Curtis and back again.
“Ah, I’ll just leave you to it. Oh, and email me later, let me know if you’re coming to Kali’s birthday drinks at Murphy’s after work.
Garth keeps telling me to make sure you’ll be there.
” She rolled her eyes. I liked Garth, but not like that.
I hoped he wasn’t going to be a problem.
Maybe he was just making sure I was included after I’d been moved.
I turned to Destiny and smiled, tuning out hotpants…
ah… grumpypants. I’d never wondered what it would be like to run my hands up his strong thighs and squeeze his firm-looking behind.
Not even once. Or twice. Or even five times.
“I’ll definitely be there—been wanting to try that bar for a while.
Email me the deets. Thanks for coming up to see me. ”
She nodded at me, then smiled at Curtis. “Bye, sir.”
He smiled again, and I knew violence was never the answer, but I wanted to rip those stupidly sexy lips off and shove them down his throat.
Why was he so mean to me? Why did he hate me?
I hadn’t thought it possible, but working for him was worse than working for Mark.
At least I didn’t know Mark was horrible to me until the moment he was screwing Amanda in front of me and wouldn’t take it out.
He even let her lecture me while he was inside her. Who did that?
Argh, they deserved each other.
I hoped she enjoyed never having orgasms. The next guy I dated was going to give them to me.
I wouldn’t settle for the unsatisfying hump job of a selfish lover ever again.
This was the two thousands for goodness’ sake.
Women were taking their power back, which included orgasms. Do better than my vibrator or forget it.
“Why are you growling?” Curtis stared at me, eyebrows raised.
Oops, caught spacing out again. “Are you still here?”
He folded his arms and planted his feet in a “don’t mess with me” stance. “There’s no fraternizing with co-workers.”
My forehead tightened. “What? Are you saying none of us can go for drinks together?”
He gave me an “are you stupid” look. “Of course not. But you can’t date anyone from work. It creates problems. If you want to date someone from this office, you’ll need to quit.”
I didn’t want to date Garth before, but I did now.
Just to piss Curtis off. But it wasn’t worth losing my job for or upsetting Garth over.
Besides, just thinking about kissing the guy from marketing made me shudder.
Not that there was anything wrong with him.
He just wasn’t the guy for me. Unfortunately.
Life would be easier if we could just like the people who liked us.
Unrequited crushes—not that I had a crush on Curtis; he was just eye candy—were such a waste of time.
Why could Curtis push my buttons so well?
He riled me up more than my mother, and that was saying something.
“What if I just want a one-night stand?” How far could I push him before he fired me?
Was he even allowed to? I had to assume not, or I’d already be gone.
There was no way a boss would allow the kind of insubordination I’d volleyed his way.
But then again, he’d started by stepping up to the line and serving every single time. I was just trying to stay in the match.
His eyes were the gray blue of an ocean smothered by a stormy sky. Shadowed, ominous. I shivered. They sucked you into their depths, drowned you before you even realized you were in trouble. “Fired.”
I rolled my eyes with a full head throwback. This was me saying, “Look how ridiculous you are, silly man.” My neck twinged. Okay, so I’d overdone it a bit, but one could never be too subtle when conveying your message to a man. “How would you even know?”
He took a step toward me. Then another. Until he was inches from my desk. His subtle cologne slid over me, intoxicating, as he stared down at me. Looming had never been so sexy. I refused to lean away and let him think he could intimidate me.
I wasn’t scared of the big bad wolf.
They didn’t call me Donut Girl for nothing. Okay, so it wasn’t for any good reasons. Still… I lifted my chin. I would not be the first to look away and let him think I was weaker or that he was the boss of me. Okay, so he was. Ahem.
Somewhere in another dimension, my common sense was shouting something like, “Danger, danger.” But who needed common sense when you were playing the hottest game of chicken ever?
I was pretty sure my nipples just hardened enough to rip through a normal bra.
Thank God I was wearing a padded one. If Curtis knew he had this effect on me, he’d be disgusted, and I couldn’t bear to see that in his eyes.
Argh, I hated hormones. What good was my brain if it capitulated to my vagina whenever a hot guy was near?
Come on, brain; you can do better than that. He’s a big jerk, and he’s been treating you like crap. Don’t let him walk all over you.
Just as my brain started to win, Curtis licked his lips.
Just a brief sweep of the tip of his tongue against those soft pillows was enough to scatter my brain cells like sprinkles from a spilled container.
Where was a donut when you needed to fan yourself or just put something in your mouth to look busy?
I raised my hand to my lips, to make sure my tongue wasn’t hanging out.
“I have ways of finding out. Don’t try me.
” His voice was all gravelly. I was pretty sure I was panting.
Dammit. I bit my bottom lip, and his gaze dropped to my mouth.
After a beat, Curtis blinked, stepped back, and quickly shook his head as if coming to his senses.
“Send me that report. I don’t give a shit about the margins.
” Ooh, he just swore. That wasn’t very professional.
I was about to point it out, but he turned quickly and hurried back to his cave.
He didn’t venture out for the rest of the afternoon.
But it was too late. Discombobulation had set in, and my brain had officially clocked off for the day.
It was the end of my first week as the worst PA in the building, and I wasn’t doing much better as a spy. I was no closer to getting any information for Stephanie and Knight Senior, although I’d be researching who Marvin Black was.
At least I still had my job.
Somehow, that didn’t feel as comforting as it should.