Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
VIOLET
Cade isn’t outside with my bag when I get there the next morning. Instead, he’s inside, flirting with Miriam, who’s so close to fanning herself I’m impressed.
She likes him.
Of course, she does. Cade’s a likeable guy.
“I’ll leave you both to it. You left your bag, and he brought it for you, along with something else…” Miriam smiles, flutters her lashes, and hurries away as Cade closes me in his arms.
An unexpected rush of a thrill whispers through me as he bends to my ear, surrounding me with that subtle, evocative dirty church smell.
Right now, I’m imaging the filthy, pagan rituals that go on in the ruined walls…
“She gave me a tour and everything. I’ve even been in Isaac’s office.” Then he steps back, and it’s not disappointment that sinks my heart, at all.
“Thanks for bringing my bag. And I’m—”
He places his finger against my lips. “No more apologies.”
“But…”
His smile melts me, and I find myself nodding.
“Good. Miriam says Isaac’s got back-to-back meetings and other shit today to do with being a politician, so he’s out, hopefully until you get home.” Then he picks up his bag. “Gotta get to work. See you soon.”
I watch him leave, his ass tight under his jeans. But I make myself turn, and I go to my office, step faltering.
My bag is on the desk, along with a bouquet of pretty flowers.
Their perfume is sweet and whispers in the air.
“Here,” Miriam bustles past me with a vase. She opens the flowers and places them in, fussing as she gets them looking their best. “Beautiful. You’re a lucky girl.”
She takes the cellophane and the tissue paper and hands me the card.
“I know.”
After she’s gone, I look at the card and sink down on my seat, grinning.
Pretty flowers for my beautiful Violet. Love Your loving boyfriend, Cade.
It’s funny how it’s written, without the comma after ‘love’. And it reads like a command.
I also really don’t think he’d ever leave such a message. This is clearly done in case Isaac sees it.
I prop the card so I can see, but so can anyone coming in.
As I settle down to work, some of the tension from this job drains from me. Partly, it’s the fact Cade has now made it known to two people he’s my ‘boyfriend,’ and the card just keeps a smile on my face.
He really is a good man, funny and kind.
What the hell am I doing having dangerous, thrilling sex with a man I’ve never met, never actually seen?
Never kissed?
It’s late afternoon when Isaac comes back, and he stops by my office to ask something, eyes falling on the flowers, moving over the note.
His jaw tightens, but he just nods when I answer and tells me to email his request through when I have it.
I get to work.
I’ll admit it, I’m less tense now Cade’s made his appearance and Isaac met him as my boyfriend. And Isaac himself has been better, what little I’ve seen.
But I don’t trust him.
There’s a film of oil over everything he touches, and there’s something that’s the wrong kind of dark when I catch him looking at me.
But he hasn’t tried to maneuver me into being alone with him, he hasn’t touched me, either.
I’d add he hasn’t said anything untoward or slimy, but he never does that, unless it’s late or he knows everyone’s gone. And I honestly don’t intend on staying back now to find out.
Not if I can help it, at least.
I also can’t shake the feeling he’s biding his time, waiting for the right opportunity to make his move.
So, my guard is up.
And I breathe a sigh of relief when near the end of the day, he takes his jacket and heads out.
I sit at my desk, daydreaming, waiting to leave. I need a response to an email I sent earlier. I’d go home and wait, but it’s an official document so it’ll come here.
Not wanting to be here too long, I make a call to get a timeframe on the incoming email, and they promise me it’s coming shortly.
So, all I can do is jot down I made the call, follow that with an email clarifying that promise and I’m waiting, and…wait.
Which with Isaac out, is fine by me.
The others leave.
I’m sure there’s still someone here, but I do have keys to lock up. Stupid of me to leave them in my bag last night, I know.
The smell of the flowers plays with my senses, and my thoughts head down a dark, erotic path.
God, that moment when The Ghost forced me to my knees and shoved his cock in my mouth was perfection… As was when he pushed into me from behind.
Pussy. Ass.
Each event plays in my head, and I throb, my pussy wet.
I don’t know which I liked more.
All of it. I liked all of it.
And I want it again.
I want him to take me hard, force me over this desk and strip me roughly, shove my feet apart and this time, just fuck me. Not even say a word, just hold me down and fuck me hard like that’s all I’m good for.
I shudder.
What I want is—
Something clinks.
And I freeze.
Ice. In a glass.
I open my eyes.
Isaac is there, looking at me, dropping ice into a glass.
He smiles at me. Slowly, like he can see what’s in my mind and then he turns and goes to his office.
Shit, I’m alone.
With him.
My heart hammers hard. Fast.
I look down. And my vision blurs.
My nipples are pushing against my white shirt.
I start shaking.
He said he was going out, and I’m stuck here, waiting for the email he said he needed by tonight. Did he arrange this in order to get me alone?
A prickling sensation spreads over my skin.
It’s not lost on me how this scenario fits with my fantasies. I mean, I was just fantasizing over them.
What if I’m somehow sending Isaac signals I don’t mean to?
Or maybe there’s something so wrong with me that men like him, like The Ghost can feel it, even through a computer screen, through a phone?
But there’s a difference. I went looking for The Ghost. I contacted him. And Isaac? No…
I can’t deny my nipples were hard when he came in, but they’re not now.
Yet…is his hitting on me somehow my fault?
The moment I think it, fury sweeps me.
No. No, it’s not. I’ve never hit on him, and maybe if he misread something, he still stepped outside the norms. He broke the rules and came on to me as my superior.
Even if I’d asked him to, he should have said no.
But I wouldn’t, not in a million years. Work is work. End of story. And I’m not into Isaac, not even a bit.
Wasn’t even before he creeped me out.
But I get it. The world is a messy place. And still, I’d forgive someone for making a pass when they shouldn’t. As long as they accepted they’d made a mistake. Misread signals.
That’s not Isaac. At all.
I have fantasies of power imbalances. But that isn’t a reason for this man to hit on me. Worse, proposition me. It’s abuse of power, pure and simple.
And there’s the other difference.
I want what’s happening with The Ghost.
I don’t want Isaac touching me. Ever.
I was having a fantasy about being taken at an office, but not here, not this one, not with my boss.
Just like I don’t want a man to actually break in and rape me or tackle me in the park or chase me outside the realms of a fantasy in real time, I don’t want my boss touching me.
All I want here is to do the best job I can, and get through this internship in one piece and never have to deal with Isaac again.
I haven’t led him on.
The computer beeps.
Finally, the email has just come through.
I go to hit print but stop myself.
I don’t want to go to the printer and copy room.
Instead, I gather my things, slide the card in my purse, and I forward the email to Isaac and then close everything down and start for the door.
“Violet. Come here, please.”
I stop, closing my eyes.
Isaac has a nice voice. He is educated, good looking, charming. So, why does everything about him make my skin crawl?
I’m tempted to just leave, but that would mean he could use it as grounds for dismissal.
It’s not that I’m leaving early. There’s no such thing as shifts in an office, no clocking on or off, but to walk out when the councilman requests my presence?
He could fire me.
I’ve threatened him, turned him down, had my fake boyfriend show up. It’s probably all things he could twist to get rid of me, but no…he wouldn’t do that. Because that would bring his sexual harassment into it. He’d probably prefer to have me terminated over my sneaking out.
Taking a deep breath, I straighten my shoulders, put a smile on, and turn, going into his office.
“Hi, Isaac, I emailed you that document you were waiting for. I hope you don’t mind, but everyone else has left, and it’s just after six. I’m meant to be meeting my boyfriend, so…Did you need something?”
“I need you to stay until seven, then you can go, but until then, you’re all mine. The document…I need your…” His gaze travels down my body. “Assistance.”
I stay where I am, just inside his door. “What is it you need?”
He points to his computer. “I need you to help me with the document. I have to look it over, but I’m not sure how to do the rest.”
Shit. The rest?
That’s lame, even for him, but if I try and walk, he’ll put in a complaint.
The office knows I’m going for a PhD, so it’d be easy for him to say I’m arrogant and trying to act like certain work is beneath me.
Which isn’t true.
But who’s the school going to believe? Him or me?
I know how the world works.
So, I reluctantly go over to him and look at his computer, my skin crawling the entire way.
“I’m not sure what you mean by the rest. The document just needs to be looked at, annotated if you need to make changes, printed, signed, and emailed back.” I look at the time. “You’ve got enough leeway tonight to have it adjusted if you need—”
I stop as he closes his emails. “I’ll do it later. You know why you waited, don’t you?”
“Yes.” I try to keep my voice as even as I can. “For this email to come through because you needed it today.”
He stands, pushing back his chair and sliding a palm over my breasts.
I can’t move.
For a nanosecond, I can’t move.
I step back. “I think you should apologize for that.”
“For what?” He leans in, tweaks a nipple. “This?”
And then before I can slap or push him, he drags me in and slobbers on me, like he’s trying to kiss me.
I manage to turn my face, just in time. “Let me go.”
“No.”
I shove him as hard as I can, stepping on his foot at the same time, wishing I wore stilettos.
But he grunts and lets go, arms pinwheeling as my unexpected shove sends him stumbling, and I run to the other side of the desk, intent of running the hell out of there.
“Leave my office, Violet, and you’ll lose this internship.”
I face him.
All I want is to get the fuck out of there.
“If you do that again, if you touch me again, I’ll call the cops.”
He laughs and shakes his head. “No, you won’t. Your internship, your chances at a PhD and a career in this industry will be up in smoke. Besides, it’s my word against yours ,and guess who will be dragged in the mud? Spoiler, it will not be me.”
“Are you threatening me, Isaac?”
“I’m giving you what you want. I see you panting for a real man.
Flashing those little erect titties in the office.
You know silk and satin show everything.
Stupid little pussy, thinking you’re too good on the surface, but I know your type.
You want to be made to beg and whimper. You will take what I give you.
Now get back here and get on your fucking knees.
Or better yet, bend over that chair and pull up your skirt. ”
I stare at him. I can barely breathe. “No. No. I don’t want that. Any of that. I’m not flashing anyone.”
I try not to think about last night. Then I do. I think hard. Try to picture everyone I passed on the street, everyone in the bar.
Was Isaac there? Or can he just see?
But I need to stay calm. And I take a breath, forcing myself to drag it deep.
No, he just likes to intimidate. That’s all.
“We can pretend this didn’t happen, but you don’t touch me, look at me, or be alone with me.”
He smirks. “Your word. Against mine.”
I shake my head. “No, Isaac. My word against the word of a man caught doing things he shouldn’t on camera.
And all those rumors. I had to scour the internet for other dirt on you to see if someone needed to make it all go away.
It’s all there, buried, but there. And after what you did, that disgraceful display in pink that the entire city saw, I’m betting people just might take my side. ”
He just laughs. “Heard of mutual destruction? Because you do that, and sure, you might hurt me. But you’ll destroy you. No one would ever hire you if you went public with your accusations. You could maybe get a job at Walmart or McDonalds, but not in politics, so you’d be kissing that goodbye.”
I open my mouth to say something but close it.
Because he’s got a point.
I was thinking the same thing less than an hour ago.
And worse, Isaac starts to smile as he reads my hesitation correctly.
He’s got me caught, and we both know it.
“I think with all the trouble you’re giving me, we can make an evening of it. I’ve got some friends who’d like you, too. But…depends on your performance.”
My stomach turns.
I need to get out of here. I need—
His smirk widens. “Look at that excitement.”
“I’m not.”
“I don’t care. Now, are you going to get down on your knees and suck my cock and then let me fuck you? Or am I going to have to fire you and put in a big complaint to your school? The choice is yours.”