Rachel didn't like her new boss. Patrick may have charmed the CEO and the other partners, but he hadn't fooled her. He was so friendly in front of them, but to Rachel and the other secretaries, he was taciturn and cold.
Mr Goldsmith, her old boss, had retired six months ago. He always had a 'doors open' policy and was the sweetest guy in the building. He had made an effort to speak to everyone, including Lindy the cleaner and Andy the doorman. Rachel liked telling Mr Goldsmith the latest office gossip and he loved sharing pictures of his wife and grandchildren. She had understood why he'd decided to retire, but she just wished that the person replacing him hadn't been Patrick.
Patrick had called himself 'the new blood' and had announced to the entire office that he'd been hired 'to shake things up'. Patrick was a stickler for the rules, he had shouted at one of the other secretaries for being ten minutes late, then told Rachel off when she'd forgotten to format her report in his specific way. She supposed Mr Goldsmith had been a bit lax towards the end of his career, Patrick's tough love on the office had produced the best results the firm had seen in years, but all the fun had gone out of work.
Patrick had even removed casual Fridays and had insisted on corporate attire every day. Rachel had enjoyed wearing jeans and a t-shirt on Fridays and was annoyed at Patrick's arbitrary rules. While she didn't mind wearing work clothes that much, she hate that Patrick had tried to insist on a specific dress code for the women to wear only dresses and skirts. HR had blocked it but it hadn't stopped Patrick for saying in a loud voice in front of Rachel and that's what he thought the female employees should be wearing, rather than trousers.
Even though Patrick was a bit old school in some of his habits, he wasn't that old. Rachel wasn't sure how old he was, but she guessed he was only in his mid-thirties. He had shiny blonde hair which stood out compared to the sea of greys and browns of the other partners. He wore dark suits which were always spotless. Rachel wondered if he had a housekeeper because he was always so neat and unruffled. She'd noticed he didn't wear a wedding ring and had never mentioned a partner of any kind.
One Friday afternoon in June, Rachel was bored. Her friend and fellow secretary, Elise, was on her honeymoon and Rachel was missing having someone to talk to. A lot of other people were also on holiday or had decided to leave work early for the day. Even though many of the windows were open, the air was heavy and warm. Rachel wished she could just leave and go to the pub, but as Patrick's personal secretary, she felt like she shouldn't. He was still in his office, door closed as usual. There was a large window next to his office door, but the blinds were drawn so she couldn't see inside, but she could ear the sound of clacking keys.
Rachel looked back at the report she was supposed to be writing for Patrick -- he'd asked for it to be finished for that afternoon. Rachel should have finished it much earlier. But the heat had made her so sluggish that she'd barely done any work all day. She glanced at the clock -- 5:31pm. It wasn't uncommon for people in the office to work until 6 o'clock, or even later some days, but it was a Friday, and this report wasn't urgent. Patrick could get it on Monday. Rachel glanced at Patrick's office. She was going to do it -- she slid off her chair, clicked off her screen, picked up her handbag, and -
"Heading off, Rachel?"
Patrick was leaning against the doorframe, his hands in his pockets. How had he known? And how had he appeared so silently? Despite the heat, he still had his jacket on and looked as composed as he had at 9am, whereas Rachel felt rather crumpled in her creased blouse and wrinkled pencil skirt.
"Uh, yeah," Rachel said, and gave Patrick a small smile. "It's half five, so thought I'd head home."
Patrick did not return her smile. "I haven't received the report yet."
"I thought I could send it to you on Monday, it's not that urgent."
Patrick folded his arms. "I told you to send it to me by the end of today, not Monday. You've had all day to do this Rachel. This is unacceptable."
Rachel placed her handbag back on the floor. How stupid of her to think she could just clock off without finishing.
"I'm sorry, Sir. You're right, I'll finish it now."
She started to sit back down, but Patrick stepped forward.
"That's not good enough. We need to have a proper discussion about this. My office."
Patrick held out his arm, gesturing towards the open door. Rachel walked inside and sat down on one of the two chairs facing his desk. She didn't come inside his office very often; it was more sparsely furnished compared to when Mr Goldsmith had been in there. There were no pictures on the walls or little knick-knacks on the desk, which was bare apart from his laptop and a manila folder. It was like his job was his life. Patrick shut the door and then there was a soft click. He sat behind his desk and gave Rachel a serious look.
Rachel turned to the door behind her. The blinds were still drawn so she couldn't see the bullpen. She looked back at Patrick.
"Did you lock the door?"
"I don't want to be disturbed. Most people have gone home, but there are still a few people about. What I want to discuss is private."
Rachel's throat went dry. What could he possibly want to discuss that needed the door to be locked?
"When I arrived at this firm, I was assured you were the best secretary. However, I have found this has not been the case. Your work has been slow and full of careless errors, you spend too much time gossiping and your corporate attire has been most... distracting."
"What... What do you mean?" Rachel said. "I wear skirts and dresses that are appropriate for work. I follow the guidelines that you set."
Patrick stood up. He took off his jacket and carefully placed it on the back of his chair. Rachel couldn't help but notice how broad his shoulders were. She wasn't sure what else to say, so she watched him slowly walk around his desk and stop so he was about a foot or so away from Rachel's chair. He lent against the edge of the desk and folded his arms. His shirt was a shade of pale blue which matched his eyes.
"You do follow the guidelines," Patrick conceded, "and I was glad that I decided to get rid of casual Fridays. I hated seeing you in those shapeless t-shirts. You look so good in those blouses."
Rachel shifted in her chair. She knew she had nice boobs, round and perky, they were a decent size without being too big, but she hadn't realised Patrick had been looking.
"And your arse and legs, they need to be shown off, not hidden away in jeans. You look so hot in skirts. But your performance has been... very bad, Rachel."
"This is inappropriate," Rachel began, giving Patrick the coldest look she could muster, "you can't talk about me like this."
Patrick uncrossed his arms and edged closer, then leant over further so his breath tickled her ear, "oh but I can. Your work ethic has been terrible lately. You need to be reminded that I'm the boss and you need to do exactly as I say."
Rachel pushed into the back of the chair, trying to get away from Patrick, horrified at the curl of his lips. But voice was smooth and there was something about his hard stare.
"No," she said, forced herself stare back into Patrick's eyes.
Patrick stood up straight and smirked at her. "No?" he repeated. He looked down at her and undid his cuffs.
Rachel stood up too. Even in her heels, he was still a good few inches taller than her, but Rachael puffed up her chest anyway and stared at him. Patrick stared back, methodically rolling up his sleeves, not keeping his eyes off her. Rachel glanced down at his forearms and then cleared her throat.
"I said no. And I'm leaving right now."
