There I was, getting reamed in front of my new boss's desk, and not in the good way, and the only thing on my mind was, "Damn, Mr. Thompson is hot."
Yeah, probably not what I should have been thinking, but I couldn't help it. Because Joshua Thompson was seriously, incredibly hot. Dark hair, chiseled features, tanned skin, and a body that made sense on a personal trainer, not a land developer. Not that I knew a whole lot of land developers or anything, but I pictured them looking decidedly less attractive than Mr. Thompson did.
The best part? His hands. His fingers were long, his palms broad, and I would bet my last $134.57 that they'd feel amazing on a woman's body. Or, no, wait, his shoulders. They looked like the perfect spot to hold on to as he pounded into me. Or, maybe his mouth, with the full bottom lip that I'd love to bite.
But no, it was his icy blue eyes, I decided. The color was an incredible light blue, and they were mesmerizing, captivating... and narrowed at me right now in pure annoyance.
Shit.
"Are you even listening to me, Bianca?" Mr. Thompson glared up at me.
Absolutely not, I'm too busy undressing you in my mind, I thought.
"Absolutely," I replied out loud, trying not to fidget. It was hard, though, because these new heels were pinching my toes, my pencil skirt was a smidgen too tight because I ate a massive burrito for lunch, and I was so nervous that I was about to get fired that I might pee myself.
"Then what did I say?" One dark brown eyebrow arched as Mr. Thompson sat back. Jesus, even his eyebrows were sexy! How was that possible? Damn it, fucking focus, Bianca.
"Um..." I stalled, rolling my lips together.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Mr. Thompson muttered, and looked down at his desk. One of those hands I had been admiring picked up a pen and started tapping it on the desk. I waited, biting my lip, my fingers twisting and twining with each other. After a heavy sigh, Mr. Thompson lifted his face and pinned me with a hard look. "Here's the thing, Bianca. I'm not sure you're going to work out."
And there it was. The inevitable.
I took a deep, bracing breath to prepare myself before I started begging.
"Mr. Thompson, please. I know that I've messed up a little since starting-"
"A little?" Mr. Thompson snorted as he rose, picking up several papers and strolling to the front of the desk to prop a hip there. "In the nine days you've worked for me, you've managed to insult two of my best contractors, completely screwed up the filing system, booked me a ticket to Portland, Maine, instead of Portland, Oregon-"
"Okay, I should have asked for clarification on that one-"
"Sent the wrong paperwork to the zoning office, setting me back two weeks I don't have-"
"I apologize, sincerely, for that-" I said with a wince.
"And told my attorney to bite you."
"That was a misunderstanding! I thought he was hitting on me!" I cried, throwing my hands to the side.
"He's married!" Mr. Thompson practically roared.
"I know! I saw his ring. Why do you think I was so insulted? Not just for me, but for his wife. I mean, honestly, she deserves better than that from-"
Mr. Thompson cut my rant off with nothing more than a raised hand. As we both fell silent, I took a moment to do some deep breathing before trying to talk my way out of the mess I made.
"This all happened in nine days, Bianca. Nine. One screw-up may be messing up 'a little', but all together? I'm sorry, but this is my business we're talking about here. I'm responsible for a lot of people. I need an office manager to deal with headaches and problems that come up, not to be one."
"You're right," I told him quietly. "I did that. I did all of that, and those were definitely not little screw ups. But if I could have just one more chance, just one, I know I could do this job well. Maybe with a little more training?"
*****
Josh looked at his curvy blonde office manager, her big brown eyes pleading with him, and felt something besides frustration swirl through his body.
On the surface, Bianca was a knockout. Generous boobs, trim waist, curvy hips. Though pretty much fresh out of college, she mostly looked the part, with her hair and makeup tastefully done, her clothes fitted but conservative. Where she went off track was with the stilettos she insisted on sporting. No way were those in any way conservative; they screamed "fuck me, and fuck me hard."
But honestly, Josh didn't give a shit about her shoes. Especially since she looked good prancing around his office in them, and they did nice things for her ass. Yeah, he was the boss here, so he probably shouldn't notice things like that. But he was a guy, so what could he do?
So, no, Josh didn't care about shoes. What he cared about was fuck ups. And no matter how good she looked, no matter how well she physically fit the part, Bianca was a walking, talking disaster, waiting to unleash some new kind of irritation on his life. He spent the last nine days frustrated, irritated, pissed off, and exhausted. How was he supposed to focus on his business when he constantly had to put out whatever fires she started?
He meant what he said; he needed an office manager to take away some of his stress, not add to it.
But damn, when he heard the word "training" fall from her lips, his mind suddenly flashed on a alternative solution. He could fire her and start looking for her replacement, which is what any sane employer would do. Or... he could give her more training.
Option A would cure him of a massive pain in the ass. But if done right, Option B could also relieve some tension. Option B could also land him on the wrong end of a lawsuit, but he paid Brad, his attorney, a whack for a reason.
And he'd have to be a blind man to have missed the heated looks Bianca shot his way. In fact, those heated looks came more often than the attentive, coherent looks one would expect from an employee acting professionally. When Bianca spaced, she clearly spaced right into some naughty thoughts.
So. Decision made.
*****
"All right, Bianca." I watched Mr. Thompson as he moved around the desk and sat in his rolling chair, stunned and more than a little hopeful at his words. "I'll give you one more shot, and we'll see how it goes. But," he said as he speared me with a glare, "One more mistake and you're fired."
"Absolutely, Mr. Thompson," I replied with a grateful smile. "Whatever you say."
"Good. Let's start by going over proper email etiquette. Come here so you can see." I instantly moved to the right, to the side where the desktop computer sat on the desk, but Mr. Thompson shook his head. "No, over here."
A little confused, I slowly walked over to his right side where he directed me. "Good, now open up the email program."
"Yes, Mr. Thompson," I said, but immediately saw a problem. In order to reach the mouse, I'd have to practically lean over his body. Talk about awkward, but okay. I'd make it work.
With my left hand pressed against the desk right in front of my boss, I leaned forward and grabbed the mouse with my right. A few clicks later, and I had the email program open.
"Good. Now find the email you CC'd me on to Roger." I leaned forward a little farther to see the screen, got into the Sent Folder, and pulled up the email. A soft smack against the back of my thigh had me jumping and twisting around to see my boss frowning at me. "No, Bianca, I said Roger. Not Rick."
With a grimace and a silent curse, I turned back to the screen and saw my mistake. Hurriedly, I quickly closed and opened windows until I found the right email. A soft touch against the back of my knee had me looking over my shoulder again. This time, Mr. Thompson gave me a small smile. Wow, even the barest of smiles looked great when it was him smiling at me.
"Good job, Bianca. Now, read it aloud."
A strange mix of emotions flowed through me as I twisted back towards the computer. This situation was a little weird, wasn't it? But damn, Mr. Thompson's fingers felt really nice as they traveled lightly over my skin. Suppressing a shiver, because I was totally right about how his hands would feel, I cleared my throat and began to read.
"'To Who It May Concern," I started, but was immediately cut off by two smacks. One was on the back of my thigh, on the same spot as the first, and the other ever was so slightly higher. Again, I twisted to look at my boss, more than a little shocked.
"Two problems, Bianca," Mr. Thompson said as he leaned back in his chair, casual as you please. "The first is that it's always 'To Whom', not 'To Who.'" He waited until I silently nodded that I understood before continuing. "The second is that you don't need that salutation. You know who you're writing to, because you're writing to Rick. 'To Whom It May Concern' is for when you don't have a name to address an email or letter to. Because you do, this is wrong."