Filled At the Office
Chapter 1
Ana was excited for her first day at her new job. She had just gotten her Associates at a community college and was finally able to break away from restaurant work. Ana had been a waitress for years and then a bartender when she turned 21. While the money was not too bad, the environment left much to be desired. The co-workers were raunchy and after eleven o’ clock, so were most of the customers.
The young woman now was a paralegal for a local law firm. She was trading her black work slacks and button up polo shirt, for actual clothes and for that, it would have been enough for the change. She had spent the rest of the afternoon looking for business clothes and she thought she had found some cute outfits to wear. As she swiped her credit card at the third store, she balked at the final price, but Ana kept reminder herself of the considerable wage increase she would be making.
“You have to look the part,” this is what Ana told herself anyways.
So as she drove to her new job, she checked her makeup three times, to make sure none had smudged in the hot car. It was one of the hottest days of the year and Ana had chosen one of the lighter skirt and blouse sets. Even then, she was sweaty by the time she got to work. She would fix the air conditioner in her car, the first check she promised herself as she dabbed the extra moisture from her brow.
The law office of Clint and Campbell was a small practice in a small town, so everyone knew the two older men. They had been friends in college who had come home to start a business together. Both men were in their early forties and many thought they were the catch of the town, especially since neither of the wealthy men had married. Ana could not deny the attraction she had felt for Gerald Clint when he had interviewed her.The gossip she had heard about the man was unfounded, yet she still couldn’t look at him without feeling some influence.
Walking in, Ana waved at the older woman named Bernice. She was going to be showing her around and as the secretary, she was relieved to have someone else around to help with motions that she had found herself writing up before. As the small business had branched out to the rest of the county, one transcriptionist was just not enough anymore.
“Ana, am I glad to see you! I was afraid you wouldn’t show up.”
“It is good to see you too Bernice. Where should I put my things?”
“Well when they hired you Friday, Mr. Clint had one of the conference rooms rearranged for you to have an office. It isn’t much, but it will at least give you a place to put your items.”
Ana followed the middle-aged woman and was pleasantly surprised when she was shown to her office. It was small and certainly didn’t have a window, but it was hers. Her name was on the door and there was a small bouquet of flowers that had a card that read, “Welcome.” It was signed with a C, so she figured it was from Gerald, but she couldn’t be sure.
“Are Clint and Campbell in yet?”
“Oh no. Gerald comes in around 10 or so, but John won’t be in till noon, unless he has to go to court, though he always gets it pushed into the afternoon. Guy is like a vampire in that way. He will stay till midnight, but he is never in before noon. If you see him here in the morning, it is never good news.”
“Ah, okay. So what would you like me to do?”
“Why don’t you go over those deposition notes and highlight everything that the defendant said.”
“Okay.”
Ana was left to her work in her very own office and she was almost done with sixty pages of notes, when Gerald stuck his head in the office to say good morning. She felt her cheeks turn slightly pink with his devastating grin. She watched the dark-haired man walk into his office that was next to hers and she wondered if he ever opened the blinds that separated the two rooms with a pane of glass. If he wanted to do that, she would be able to see into his office and likewise. Ana wasn’t sure if she liked that set-up, though she was just tickled pink to have an actual office.
When the woman tried to bring the work to Beatrice, she sent her into see Gerald. After a soft knock on the door, he called her in. She stuck her head in and asked him where he wanted the depositions.
“Come on in Ana, we are all pretty non-formal around here.”
Ana walked through the door and sat down at the indicated chair. Her blue eyes met the man’s brown ones and she handed him the paper-clipped packet of papers. He went through a few pages and gave her several more stacks with instructions. The rest of the day went about the same way and by lunch, Ana’s neck was a bit sore. She rubbed it for a few minutes before getting up to go to lunch.
“Would you like to go to lunch with me?”
“Um, sure. Where are you going?”
“McNaley’s. It is where I go every day.”
“Not many choices around here, is there?”
Gerald chuckled and shook his head in agreement. The town was small and there were a total of three restaurants, but two of them were not even open in the daytime hours. There were a few food trucks that would pop up around lunch, but the choices were limited.
When they got outside, she was going to walk towards her car, but he told her to hop in his. What Gerald was known best in town for, was his red sport’s car. Ana did not even know what kind it was, but it looked hot and he looked hot driving it. The black seats were leather and the car sat low. Her skirt rose halfway up her thighs when she sat down and she tried to pull it back down, but his eyes had already saw the extra flesh.
They talked about the job and the town on the way. It didn’t take but five minutes to get across town and parked on the side of Main Street. Gerald touched her gently on her lower back as he steered her through the door. The hostess sat him at his “usual table” and the two ended up ordering the same thing. She giggled, “I order the same thing since I was a kid here.”
“I know, me too. Though it has been a lot longer since I was a kid. I remember old Mcnaley before he retired. Damn that makes me feel old.”
“You are not that old Sir.”
“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel all that much better.”
Her hand went to his arm before she realized she had touched him. Ana pulled her hand back and took a drink of her tea nervously. She tried to get the subject back on track, but the man’s eyes stalled her with a window into his debauchery. Ana knew then why Gerald had such a reputation. He looked at her like she was naked and crawling towards him on the table.
The food finally came and Ana was happy for the distraction. Gerald asked some personal questions and they all seemed to revolve around her dating other people. When he found out that she was single or close enough, there seemed to be an extra gleam in his eyes. Ana thanked him for the meal and retreated to her cramped office to get her mind off of the lunch. She knew that this was her first serious job and she didn’t need to mess it up with naughty thoughts, though it was hard with such a handsome boss.
Ana was not into older guys, meaning she really didn’t have a daddy issue like most woman her age that dated forty year olds. Ana also didn’t really care about money too much, so she had never even considered a man that was Gerald’s age. However, there was a promise in his eyes that was hard to deny. He was a pleaser and Ana wanted to be pleased.
She spent the rest of her day in her office and only went to his office once. She ignored his eyes and almost ran out of the place before she was stopped by him. Ana needed some space to process and the longer she did that night, the more she wondered what it would be like. She wondered if the rest of the stories and gossip she had heard about him was true.