This was going to have to work; I calculated my rent, bills, everything and I couldn’t get a new job, not yet. Not until I had the bonus. I needed that bonus like a new born baby needs its mother’s touch when it’s first born.

I did a little investigation when we found out that we’d have a new boss. I found out what the other secretaries are getting paid and my salary is above theirs. So, unless I got a new job working for a new CEO, which was highly unlikely seeing as I’d not officially been working in that domain for the last eighteen months, I needed to stay put. It didn’t sound that long, but work wise it seemed like a lifetime. Sure, I come to work and fetched coffee and did things like that. But most CEO secretaries start early morning and leave late. The only time I left work late was when we had our office party. And I ensured that I was late on Monday as a result of it. I tended to go in late and leave early with the old CEO. The one that was being indicted for stealing from the company.

I sighed as I thought about the good old days and wish that they could come back. Why couldn’t I have a Groundhog Day for any day when life was so good in the office. The only way forward is for me to stick at this job, at least until the bonuses come in.

I needed to be on his good side, just until there. Just six months of being on my best behavior. Half a year. It didn’t sound that long when I say half, but a whole lot longer when I thought of it as being half the year. All I need is a glowing reference and I’d be ready to leave.

I’d start fresh and erase all thoughts about what happened this morning. The one where he gave me his card. The one where I thought that it was my lucky day and realized that it was my unlucky day. The man that I was lusting over only thirty minutes ago, just happens to be my new boss. The one that I was dreading working with only today. I needed to get things in perspective and that meant staying at this job.

My mind was on one thing, and one thing alone, as I walked into his office and that was Gabe Peters. It must have been the first time in nearly two years that I hadn’t gone to see if the other girls in the office were at the copy machines or even in the bathroom talking about the latest gossip. No, I had to talk to him. Just get it out in the open before we started our first day working together.

I held my breath as I knocked on his door. Before my hand even touched the door he shouted out, “Come in!”

As soon as I stepped in the room, he crossed his arms and said, “Nice of you to join me, Jasmine. Do you want coffee?”

I turned around expecting there to be someone else in the room. He couldn’t have asked me if I wanted coffee? That would make no sense, besides, shouldn’t I be the one asking him that question?

“I came here…,”

I was trying to get the words out of my mouth; I’d been reciting the speech the whole way to his office. I want him to forget what happened back then. He didn’t know that he’s my new boss and neither did I until I looked at the card. Then I froze like a statue. Shouted, “Holy crap!” a dozen times and checked online for the going rate for my job.

Yep, I did all that in a heartbeat.

He interrupted me and asked, “Jasmine, do you want to grab a coffee? Because I think that it’ll be a great way for us to connect with each other and I can’t function unless I have a coffee first.”

Did he know?

He’s asking me out again when he knows that I’m his secretary. I wasn’t a stranger on the subway. I wondered if he was one of those types of bosses that got a kick out of being with their secretary. I should have found out his reputation. I bet that it was dirty like the smile that he was giving me right now.

“I think that we need to clear the air.”

I drew closer to him as I bent over his table. His eyes darted, not to my eyes, but to my generous sized chest which was on full display. He smiled as I drew closer and his eyes were fixed on mine. I was trying to erase the fact that his dark eyes are staring at me and that he was sending me into a trance, one that wouldn’t give me the confidence to go through with the speech that I’d prepared only a few seconds ago.

My eyes moved towards his desk and focused less on his. I was trying to ignore the fact that I was getting wet from in between my legs. The sexual tension in his office was so tense that it couldn’t even be cut with a knife.

“When you asked me out on the subway,” my voice was trembling as I tried to explain what was going on inside my head.

“For a coffee?”

Dammit!

I wish that he never interrupted me and my train of thought. I cleared my throat and straightened up trying to remind myself that I was in control and I was prepping myself to go ahead with this.

“You didn’t know that I was your secretary,” I gestured by using my hands and trying to emphasize what I was trying to say, but he didn’t move. Not even an inch as I pointed out the obvious, but it didn’t deter me from talking.

“So, I can understand that you asked me out because you thought that I was some random girl on the subway. Who you just happened to rescue and help get on the train, because I had been standing there for God knows how long, trying to get on and no one was letting me. I just wasn’t in the mood to wait any longer, and you helped me with that.”

He says nothing. He stands up, so my eyes shift to the desk. I’m too scared to face him.

Once again, I cleared my throat as the nervousness started to take control. My hands were moving as if I was constructing an orchestra and to somehow quieten my heart which was beating out of control. I knew that not only could he hear the nervousness in my voice, but he could see it, too.

“If you had known that I was your secretary, then there was no way… I mean things would have been so different on the subway…”

I paused as I took my jacket off, as I continued to ramble and by this time I had no clue what I was trying to say. If he wasn’t confused then I sure the hell was. I was smiling at the desk; because in some crazy way, it gave me the confidence to draw closer to it. I felt more comfortable again.

“Then, I’m sure you wouldn’t have asked me on a date.”

Now, he was next to me.

“I asked you for coffee.”

Why did he keep repeating that one line? Sure, coffee. Wine. Beer. It was all the same thing. A date! Even worse, he had one finger under my chin as he turned me to face him. I avoided looking at him; I didn’t want to back down.

“I hate it when people don’t look at me when I’m talking to them. You need to stop that,” he growled at me.

“Yes, so you understand.”

“About?”

“We can’t go out for coffee. Now, I’ll get my iPad,” I said as I smiled at him. Then I turned to move as far away from him as possible. I tried to do it with confidence, but instead, I tripped and fell on the damn floor. I was acting like some love sick teenager. He darted across to my rescue. I wish he’d stop doing that!

“I think you need coffee first. You just tripped over your foot!”

He was laughing as he stretched out his hand. I wanted something stronger, and it had a little something to do with what was going on between my legs. He slowly traced his fingers to my hand,“You don’t have to be nervous around me. I’m nothing like my dad.”

My lips quivered as I tried to smile. I wasn’t doing a good job because he was nothing like his dad. He wasn’t married, old and only hot as sin.