Chapter 48
Juniper
“I cannot believe that it is Friday already,” I say to Lila as we walk into the break room and grab two mugs so we can have some coffee.
It's been a long week, and I'm grateful that it is coming to an end.
I haven't really seen Remington all week, and I'm still wondering what his phone call had been about.
I'd been so drunk that when I'd woken up the next morning, I wasn't sure if I'd been imagining him trying to have phone sex with me or not.
I was pretty sure I'd told him I was naked.
And I was pretty sure he'd told me to play with myself.
Which I had been. In fact, I'd had the most intense orgasm of my life after I'd gotten off the phone, just thinking about him spanking me over his desk. Who knew that would be such a turn-on?
“I know. Any fun plans? I mean, aside from the makeover,” she asks, winking at me. “We are meeting tomorrow morning at ten, right?”
“I’ll be there at ten, ready for a huge, huge, huge transformation. I want to go from an ugly duckling to a swan.” I spin around like a ballerina.
“Well, that’s not going to be possible.” She has a thoughtful look on her face, and I wonder what she’s thinking. Does she think I’m expecting too much?
“What do you mean?” My heart sinks at her expression.
“I mean, you’re not an ugly duckling. So, that statement was already off.” She laughs as she points at me. “We will have you looking like the most beautiful swan in the world, though.”
“I cannot wait. And guess what? I was able to change my date with Marco to Sunday. We’re going to go to dinner after I have lunch with my dad.”
“Oh, wow. I thought you said that his only day off was Friday?”
“Well, I told him that I ended up having to work on Friday, and he was able to swap his shift. So, he is going to work today, and we are going to go out on Sunday.”
“Amazing,” she says. “I love when the universe works out like that.” Her voice belies her words, but I don't ask why she doesn't seem as happy as I do.
“Yeah, me, too. I was really shocked when he asked me out.”
“Oh, girl, he totally thought you were a dish, a snack, and a main meal.” She pauses. "I just hope he's not a fuckboy."
“Me, too! So, what is going on with Liam Gallagher? Do you know why he is here in the office?”
“No,” she says, shaking her head, “I haven’t really heard anything. I do know that he is in need of an assistant and that they are going to start interviewing on Monday morning.”
“Oh, cool. Hopefully, that means next week, I’m not going to get called in to do his bidding again.”
“He’s cute, though, don’t you think?” She tilts her head to the side. "Maybe even better than Remington."
“I mean, yeah. He is very cute. I’m not going to lie.
But it’s not like he wants me here on Friday night because he wants to take me out on a date.
He literally wants me to type up whatever notes he has from whatever meeting that he and Remington are going to have.
” I frown for a second. “I do wonder what Remington is going to do with Canyon, though.”
“Yeah, maybe he got a babysitter. Maybe I'll volunteer."
“I suppose so. He hasn’t really said much this week about her or anything else. Not since earlier this week when he called me.” I pause as I grab my coffee and take a sip. "I'm sure he would appreciate your offer." I am not going to talk about our call.
“What’s that look on your face, Juniper?”
“What do you mean? What look?”
“When you said he hasn’t spoken about anything since your call, you got a really funny look on your face, like there was something in particular you thought he would have spoken about.”
“I just—I don’t know, like when he called me and told me I had to work on Friday, he sounded funny.
And then he kind of brought up the spanking thing again.
And I was like, why are you bringing this up?
And he’s like, you don’t really want to know, you can’t handle it.
I mean, he didn’t use those exact words, but that is sort of how I felt.
And now I’m like, is he just teasing me, or…
” I pause. How do I tell her that I wasn't sure if he'd been jerking off while on the phone with me?
“Or what?” she says. “Do you think he wants you?”
“No. He definitely doesn’t want me. I know he doesn’t want me like that. He is my boss. He has always been extremely appropriate. He has never crossed the line, not once.” At least not in the past. We've definitely crossed the line more recently.
“That's because Remington doesn’t shit where he eats.” She grins. “Kingston says that all the time. He won’t even hire assistants if he thinks they are flirting with him. He thinks it is extremely unprofessional to date someone who works for you.”
“So, you see, it’s obvious that he doesn’t want me. That would go against his rules.”
“But girl, rules are made to be broken.” She stares at me. “He is a man. And men think with their heads. And most of the time it’s not with the big one.” I blink at her, and she giggles. “You know what I’m saying, big head, small head. Big head, small head.”
“I know what you are saying, but really?” I giggle.
“What? Don't be a prude.”
“I’m not a prude. Trust me. Who knows what is going to happen on Sunday night with Marco.”
“You’re going to get to first base or maybe third.”
“I’m not in high school,” I say. “I wouldn’t mind a good make-out session. I have not made out with a guy in ages. And Marco does look like he has very luscious lips.” I pretend that I want to kiss Marco, when really, all I want is Remington and his very full lips all over me.
“You would make out with him?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know. I thought because you were a virgin, perhaps you were not interested in doing stuff with guys.”
“I said I’d make out with him, not get down on my knees.” I giggle.
“True. You’d only get down on your knees for Remington Parker.”
“Not! What are you saying?” My jaw drops. “There is no way.”
“Yeah, there is. Picture it, you are in the office late one night. You have a bottle of wine. He takes off his tie. Calls you in to do some dictation.” She winks at me.
I just roll my eyes in response. “Next thing you know, you drop your pen next to the desk, and he bends down and is like, ‘I’ll get it.’ And then you get down on your knees, and you both grab for the pen at the same time.
You look up at him and realize that your head is between his legs.
And he gives you this deep, intense look.
And you just go for it.” She winks at me.
“Um, I think you need to stop reading steamy romance books, girl. Because that is never going to happen,” I say, laughing out loud. “But hey, maybe you can reenact that one day with Kingston.”
“Girl, I’m not even going to tell you the things that we’ve gotten up to in his office. I don’t want you to look at me differently.”
“Whoa, well, now you have to tell me.”
“Let’s just say that there is more than one position that allows you to make love on a desk.”
“What?” I stare at her. “What do you mean?
“I may have experienced five different positions on his desk. But I’m going to be a lady and not say any more about that.”
“You are crazy.” I stare at her in shock.
“No, but I do like to have fun. And it turns out he loves to have fun, too.”
“I should get back to my desk. I have so much to do for this upcoming court case that Remington has starting next month. I just don’t know if it is even worth us going to court. I feel like the client is so guilty and is going to lose so much money.”
“Girl, we make our money from going to court. They don’t care if they are going to lose. Billables, baby.”
“True, but I just feel like it’s so clear cut. Like just take the settlement offer.”
She shrugs. “It’s not our business to make those decisions. We just type up the notes.”
“Yeah, true.” I grimace. “I'm a notetaker. Just what I wanted to do in life.”
She grins. “How is your book going, by the way? You haven’t spoken about it recently.”
“It’s going really well. Actually, Remington was telling me that Canyon is interested in being a writer. And so, I think next week, I’m going to take her on a little adventure to the library and borrow some books. And maybe write a short story with her at a café or something, see how she likes it.”
She stares at me and presses her lips together.
“What? Why are you looking like that?”
“You're going to have a mommy and me play date with Canyon?”
“It's not a mommy and me playdate. I'm not her mom.”
“I know, but doesn't that seem weird to you? Canyon is your boss's daughter. He's not your boyfriend. He’s not even your best friend. You're going to take his daughter out to teach her how to write and get books at the library? Like, what sort of relationship is this?”
“It's a relationship where an assistant cares very much for her boss and his new daughter and wants to ensure that—" I pause at the look she's giving me.
“Fine.”
“I don't really understand why he wants me to do this, but I am happy to because I like Canyon.
And just because Remington is confusing and bossy and constantly tries to get me to do work that I don't think is part of my job description, doesn't mean I'm going to make her suffer.
Plus, I've always wanted to teach creative writing.
Like, if I had the money, I would go and get an MFA.
I'd love to teach English or creative writing at a college.”
“So, why don't you do that?” She looks at me seriously. “If that’s really a dream of yours.”
“Because I need money to pay for an MFA. And I need money to live and pay my bills. And I think it's really hard to get a job at a university or a college, especially teaching English. I think I probably realistically need a PhD, and I don't know that I have it in me to get a PhD.”
“So, you will just stay here, working for the rest of your life?”
“Obviously, that's not the plan. But if I can finish this first romantasy book, then maybe I can get an agent. And if it sells really well, then who knows what could happen?”