Resisting the Boss Epilogue

Claire

Eight months later...

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“I need three hundred of those granite tiles here by tomorrow afternoon. Can you make sure that happens? Oh, and could you see if those doorknobs I designed for Mulholland were approved yet? Okay. Thank you very much.” I hung up the phone and swiveled around in my chair, smiling at the red and white entwined “C” letters that hung over my door. 

I was sitting in my office at C & C’s Charming Designs, my own interior design company. I’d quit my job at Signature weeks after Jonathan and I got back together, after he demanded that I accept his money and start my own company.

Business was extremely slow at first—especially since he kept showing up in the middle of the day and preventing me from getting anything done. But after four months, I started to pick up more clients, and word of my services spread like wildfire.

I now had a six month waiting list for design projects, and I was in the process of expanding my store to include small home furnishings.

I adjusted the picture frames that were standing proudly on my desk: Jonathan and me smiling on his favorite yacht. He and my daughters jumping into the ocean. And the most recent one—him kissing me onstage after receiving another prestigious award.

“Miss Gracen?” My secretary buzzed my office. “I’m off to lunch, and your twelve o’clock is upfront waiting.”

“Tell the client I’ll be right there.” I slipped into my jacket and headed down the hallway. Since I’d picked up so many clients, I was never able to get more than five minutes alone.

“Caroline?” I walked around the front desk. “I told you that you and Ashley don’t need to make appointments to see me. You could’ve just called.”

“Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes. “You practically live here.”

I shook my head. “What do you want?”

“I need thirty dollars.”

“Excuse me?”

“Actually, I need fifty dollars. Ashley does too, but thirty each will do.”

“Did the airport stop giving out paychecks all of a sudden? Where is your money?”

“What’s going on?” Ashley walked into the store and stood next to her sister, not even glancing my way. “Did she give you the money yet?”

“No.” Caroline sighed. “She still thinks we save money from our jobs...”

“How do the two of you expect to go to college this fall without knowing how to save money?” I was tired of going over this with them. “Do you think it grows on trees? Do you think it falls out of the sky whenever you need it?”

“So, she’s not going to give us the money?” “I think that’s what she’s saying.” “Did you tell her it was for summer-senior-night and everyone who’s anyone is going to be there?” “No, I just asked for the money. I didn’t think I needed to explain why.”

I sighed and prepared to re-start my lecture, but Jonathan walked in with a large bouquet of bright pink roses. “Good afternoon, ladies.” He looked at me and then he looked back and forth between Ashley and Caroline.

“Good afternoon,” they said in unison.

“Can we have fifty dollars—each?” Ashley smiled at him.

“Of course.” He pulled out his wallet and handed them both a hundred dollar bill. Just like that.

“Why don’t we just do that every time?” “I don’t know...Maybe we like the challenge?” They laughed and rushed outside.

I watched as they climbed into two separate white Range Rovers—Jonathan’s ridiculously over-the-top birthday gift to them.

“You have to stop doing that.” I took the flowers from him.

“Doing what?”

“Giving them money whenever they ask for it.”

“Why?”

“Because they don’t need it. And they’ll never learn how to save their own.”

“They make nine dollars an hour and they work fifteen hours a week. How much do you honestly expect them to save?”

“I give up.” I rolled my eyes. “Thank you for the flowers—and for the ones you sent this morning. You know, we’ve been together for a while now...You don’t have to keep sending me flowers every day. I’m sure the cost has to be adding up and I don’t want you to feel like you have to do that.”

“Shhh.” He kissed me, making me forget whatever I was going to say. “How’s your day going?”

“It’s okay. It’s been a bit busy.”

“It doesn’t look busy...” He looked around the empty store.

“It is.”

“Where’s your secretary?”

“On break. Why?”

He smiled and pulled me closer. “No reason.”

I saw the familiar ‘I’m-about-to-pull-you-down-to-the-ground’ look in his eyes and immediately stepped back, rushing behind the counter.

He laughed and moved close to the counter’s edge—ready to join me, but I hit a button that made a clear panel drop down from the ceiling, completely blocking his way.

He raised his eyebrow. “What the hell is this?”

“This is what I had the engineer build for me last week, after you interrupted a very important meeting with your distracting sex and cost me two hours’ worth of design time.”

“You think I’m a distraction?”

“You are a distraction. And you have your own company to run—one worth billions last time I checked, so I would appreciate it if—”

“You had this built to keep me from coming behind the counter?” He pressed his hand against the glass. “To keep me out of your office?”

“Clearly. And it seems to be working.”

“It’s very cute,” he said. “You always amaze me with your sense of creativity.” He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out a key. Then he slid that key into the panel’s hole and pushed the door open.

What the...

“You are aware that I run a background check on any man that comes near you, right?”

I blinked.

“The second you told me you were having more construction done,” he said as he pushed the door shut and walked over to me. “I made sure the company and the engineer knew exactly who they were dealing with. And I demanded to have extra keys to any locks you might attempt to install.”

“Why do you always do this?”

“How long is your secretary’s break?” He pushed me against the wall.

“Jonathan...” I tried to ignore the look in his eyes. “I really need to get some work done. You can’t show up every day...”

“I don’t show up every day.” He pressed his lips against mine. “I only show up when you don’t answer my calls. And I’m beginning to think you do that on purpose because you know exactly what’ll happen if you don’t.”

“I was busy.”

“How long is her break?”

“An hour...” I moaned as he kissed my neck, as he squeezed my ass and lifted my leg around his waist. “I’ll make this up to you tonight.”

“You said that yesterday.”

“I...” I gasped as he ran his fingers against the back of my bra. “I promise.”

“You’re going to lose this argument, Claire. Give up,” he whispered. Then he laughed. “I didn’t come here to have sex today.”

I gave him a blank stare.

“I didn’t.” He kissed me again and stepped back. “I just wanted to remind you about this weekend, wanted to make sure you didn’t forget.”

I didn’t forget. He’d made that impossible.

Even though I’d moved into his house and we’d traveled to amazing places with the girls, he and I still hadn’t had an entire weekend alone. For him, there was always some major business deal that couldn’t wait until Monday. And for me, it was always some project that I couldn’t step away from.

“I didn’t forget.” I smiled. “Is it a surprise location?”

“Isn’t it always?”

I blushed. He still had a way of making me feel like it was the first time we’d met, like he was going to do anything to show me how much he cared.

“I’m working late, so Greg will pick you up from our house at nine.” He brushed a strand of hair away from my face. “And then we’ll be on our way... Don’t bring any work with you or I’ll make you regret it...”

“Looking forward to it, darling.”

“Darling?” He rolled his eyes and kissed me one last time before walking to the door. Then he turned around. “If you wear a fucking pantsuit like you did on our last date, I’ll rip it off of you before you make it into the car.”