Chapter 16
Brent
On Friday morning I went in to work early to meet with Joe and give him feedback about the meetings with the potential investors. I had good news to share with him, thanks to Rena and her charm. If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t have had such good news to share with Joe.
The office was quiet this early in the morning, and I walked through without the usual crowd greeting me. Joe was already in his office. He might have left Boston early to be with his wife, but he was just as dedicated to the company as I was.
I knocked on his door and let myself in, closing the door behind me. Joe looked up and grinned at me.
“You’re back,” he said.
I nodded and sat down.
“With feedback,” I offered. “Rena was amazing. She took care of everything. I didn’t think I would have it in the bag. The guys were so full of shit, but Rena charmed the pants off them.”
Much like she’s done with me. I smiled at the thought.
“What are you smiling about?” Joe asked.
I shook my head. “I’m just thinking about all that money rolling in now that we have investors.”
“Right,” Joe said, clearly not believing me.
“Speaking of Rena,” I said. “I saw a side of her this week”—in more ways than one, I thought to myself—“that proved she might be in the wrong position in the company.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s on top of the work around here. All of it. She does so much more than a secretary as it is, but she’s more than capable of doing a lot more around here.”
Joe nodded. “She’s been overqualified from the start.”
“Yeah, but she’s proving it to me. She really went the full mile this week. I think we need to bump her up to a better position in the company.”
“I agree,” Joe said. “I think it’ll be good for her. You can always get a new secretary.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. Did I want a new secretary? I doubted anyone would be as good as Rena was. But that was the point, wasn’t it? She was so good that being a secretary didn’t do her justice. I was sure I could find someone else to take over her job. Maybe I could even put her in charge of hiring her replacement so that I would know the new secretary would have what it took to work for me.
Whoever filled that role still wouldn’t be Rena, though.
“So, what title will you give her?” Joe asked.
“I thought about that,” I said. “Her strengths lie in connecting with people. She knows everything about everyone’s position around here, even though it’s not her job. I’ve been watching her. And she is organized. She prioritizes.”
“How about office manager? We’ll put her in charge of a couple of people. Almost like project manager, but wider.”
I thought about it for a moment and nodded. That sounded perfect for Rena. I could push up her salary, too, even though she earned a lot of money as it was. I wanted to look after her, to give her exactly what she needed.
She had rejected my money when I’d offered to pay for her clothes, and I couldn’t get over that. I wanted to be the one she relied on, in a way. It was a possessive thing that was completely out of place. Why did I care so much?
When the meeting with Joe was over, I went to my office and waited for Rena to arrive. She usually arrived an hour before I did. It was strange being in the office without her. Rena had become synonymous with the office for me. She was always here when I was, arriving before me and often only leaving after I did.
Would that change if we bumped her up? Maybe, but she deserved this.
I was anxious to see her. I felt bad about how I left last night. The whole situation had been difficult to deal with. First, we’d had the best sex I’d ever had—the lingerie she’d worn had made me lose complete control—then the condom had broken and ruined everything. It’d killed the mood completely.
I was stressed about it, too. I’d heard stories about condoms breaking, but it wasn’t the same as thinking it would happen to me. It seemed like the kind of thing that only happened to college kids or something. Not for big-shot billionaires like me.
I probably hadn’t handled it well. I would have to make it up to her.
I closed my eyes and thought about the sex we’d had again. Rena was full of surprises. Every time I thought I’d reached the end of what she had to offer, she pulled something else out to surprise me. The lingerie was so bold when she’d always seemed to be on the shy side. I liked that I was getting to know other sides of her, sides that no one else knew. I liked that part the most. It was almost like who she was, the dirty side of her, was our little secret.
Of course, I didn’t know for sure that she wasn’t like this with other people when she was in a sexual relationship with them. I wondered if other men had seen this side of her.
Jealousy welled up inside of me. What the fuck? I pushed it away. No, she was just like that with me, I told myself. I was being ridiculous.
Rena arrived a short while later and brought a cup of coffee to my office, one that was usually waiting for me on my desk.
“Thank you,” I said, taking it from her. “I’d like to talk to you when you have a chance.”
Rena nodded. She was as sexy as ever, wearing a green dress suit that made her look fresh and professional. But she looked a little guarded. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that I had done this to her.
“I have to take care of a few things first, but I’ll come to your office once I’m done.”
I had to accept that. Rena left my office to take care of her business. I started working, going through my morning routine, but I struggled to concentrate. My mind was on Rena in the other office. I thought about her a lot lately.
I opened a blank document on my laptop and started typing the list of new duties Rena would have to fulfill when I promoted her. I was essentially creating a new position for her, and I would have her renewed contract ready for her later.
After she had taken care of everything she needed to do, Rena came back into the office.
“Sit down,” I said to her and smiled. “I have some exciting news.”
Rena looked curious.
“Your work this week in Boston showed me that you’re in the wrong position in this company. I want to promote you.”
She raised her eyebrows, surprised.
“Joe and I spoke about it. You’re capable of much more than you’re doing at present, so we want to make you office manager.”
“Office manager?”
I nodded and handed her the paper I’d typed up and printed while she’d been busy. It outlined what I expected of her. She took it and read through the bullet points one by one, asking questions here and there.
When we worked through it all, I looked at her expectantly. She was still looking at the paper, turning it over in her mind.
“What do you think?” I asked after she’d been silent for a while.
Rena looked up at me, her brown eyes big and dark. Her expression was unreadable. What was going through her mind?
“I think this is a great step,” Rena said, and I grinned.
“I think so, too. I was thinking you could start your new position on Monday.”
“So soon?” Rena asked. “What about having a secretary? Shouldn’t we take the time to get one for you?”
I shook my head. “We’ll figure it out.”
I had hoped Rena would be ecstatic about the news. I was pulling all the strings to make it happen for her. She didn’t seem as excited about the promotion as I thought she would be. Was it because of how we’d ended the evening last night? Or maybe it was because she had so much on her mind with the PI and finding out that she had a sister.
I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but we didn’t know each other in that way. I was her boss. I was her lover. But I wasn’t her friend. I wanted to be able to be there for her, to feel at liberty to ask what was bugging her. Where were all these weird feelings coming from? Since when did I care about the women I was fucking?
After Rena and I discussed the work a little more, the meeting ended and she left my office to get back to work. I watched her walk away, her beautiful form moving from side to side, her perfect ass a sight to behold.
I suddenly had a flash of her as the mother of my children. Pregnant, babies, the whole thing. The idea of having kids with her popped into my mind out of nowhere. I entertained the idea for only a moment before I shook my head, trying to get rid of it. Where had that come from? I had never thought about having a family like this. When I had been with Gina, so long ago it was another life now, I hadn’t thought past the idea of marrying her.
What was more, the thought of Rena having kids didn’t scare me. I didn’t want a family, but the idea of having one with Rena didn’t make me want to run the other way. Where I had been terrified of any commitment with other women—even sex more than once or twice was a big no—the thought of having a family with Rena should have scared me shitless. But it didn’t.
That was something to think about. I didn’t know why I felt this way about Rena, why commitment and children and a family didn’t scare me the way it usually did. Rena was different than any woman I had been with before. I wanted to know her, every side of her. Mentally, emotionally, physically. I wanted to be close to her, as friends and not just lovers. I wanted to be able to be there for her when she was going through tough times.
I wanted to pay for things to spoil her.
None of it made sense. I had to get a handle on myself before I said or did something I regretted. Although, I wasn’t sure if I would regret being with Rena in that way.
No. I pushed the thoughts as far away as I could. This was not going to happen. I was being ridiculous. I was bored, seduced by a pretty face and fucking good sex. Nothing about what we were doing could be a long-term thing.
And as soon as I walked away from Rena, once I was done with her, I would realize that being alone was what I was best at.