In bed with my boss

CHAPTER 7

EMILY

“What?” I said in a shaky voice.

“I’ve come to a conclusion. We’ll be working together on this project.”

Not knowing what I was doing, I tried to stand, but my legs betrayed me, sending me right back into my seat.

My thoughts felt scrambled. Not too long ago, he wanted to make me regret working here, and now he wanted me working alongside him.

He was truly unbelievable.

“Hello, Ms. Carter.” He snapped his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Did you understand a word I said?” He asked.

My brows shot up as I voiced the thought that had been circling my head. “One minute you want me regretting working here, then the next you want me working alongside you?” I asked, not caring about the way his jaw flexed.

Seeing how quiet and unfazed he remained only annoyed me more.

“Is that how bad you want to make me regret working—”

“Watch your tone, Ms. Carter.” He rose so abruptly that his chair squeaked across the floor. “This is about my company. And if anything leads to regret, I won’t be firing you—you’d be the one to willingly quit.”

Like he hadn’t just left me with a dangerous warning, his hardened face softened into a smug smile.

A chill crawled down my spine.

I held his gaze for exactly two seconds before my eyes betrayed me and dropped to the floor.

The room suddenly felt too small, the air too thin.

I swallowed, but my throat was so dry it hurt.

“Do you have anything you’d love to add, Ms. Carter?” He asked.

I wanted to say something. Anything.

My lips parted, but no words came out.

“Since you have nothing to say,” he said, sarcasm laced in his voice, “I’d like you to look into more details about what we’re about to work on.” He pointed back to the article still displayed on the projector.

“And once you’re done with that, you’ll meet Sarah, my PA, who’ll tell you what to do next.”

Finally pulling my attention away from the fancy mahogany table and my trembling hand, I looked at him.

“Okay, Sir,” I replied in a small voice, wanting to get it over with so I could get some fresh air.

“You may return to work,” he said, turning his back to me.

And with that, I left the conference room, clutching the sleeve of my blouse as I silently prayed for God to help me survive working here—especially my first project.

I returned to my cubicle and got to work. As I dug deeper into the company’s system, all thanks to some of the computer science classes I took back in college, I managed to uncover eight deleted messages from the same email.

The messages themselves couldn’t be traced anymore, but I was able to identify the computer they had been sent from. The moment I saw who the system belonged to, my eyes widened so much they felt like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Annie?

I frantically scrolled through the timestamps and a small wave of relief eased through me when I realized the conversation had taken place three hours before we started working here.

“What’s good?”

The sudden voice made me look away from my computer.

Annie.

She burst into laughter.

“Oh my goodness, Emily, you should see your face,” she said between laughs. “You look like you just got caught stealing.”

I swallowed hard and quickly looked away from her.

Her laughter slowly faded.

“What’s wrong, Emily?” She asked, as concern replaced her smile. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

I looked back at my screen as my mind raced for something to say.

Because I knew she’d worry if I’d told her what I’d found.

Especially when I hadn’t done enough research to know who was truly behind this.

“Is it about the article,” she asked, leaning closer to my screen.

I immediately clicked out of it.

“Okay…” she frowned. “You’re beginning to scare me.”

“It… it’s… Uhmm… nothing,” I stammered, guilt twisting inside me the moment the lie left my mouth.

“Your face, and the way you’re acting, says otherwise.” She slipped her hand into mine. “Is it about your housing? I promise, you can talk to me.”

That was probably the hundredth reason why I couldn’t believe she’d be the one behind those messages.

“Yes, it is,” I lied, choosing not to remind her that company computers weren’t meant for personal matters.

She squeezed my hand gently.

“You know you can move into the company apartment if you’re having any issues, right?”

“Yes, I know.” I returned the squeeze, hoping my lie sounded convincing enough. “Thank you for looking out for—”

Ping.

My words were cut off by the sound coming from my computer.

Looking at the notification, I saw it was an email from Cole reminding me to meet Sara.

For the first time in my life, I couldn’t have been more grateful for an email from my arrogant boss.

“Is that from your apartment again?” She asked.

“No,” I pushed myself out of my chair. “It’s from Mr. Calloway. He wants me to meet Sara for more details about the project.”

“That’s amazing!” she gleamed before pulling me into a tight hug.

My body relaxed before I even realized it had, as though it had been craving genuine human contact for a long time.

I gave her a light tap on the back.

“I really need to go. I don’t want to get fired in less than three days,” I said sarcastically.

We both burst into laughter.

“See you at lunch,” she called as I headed towards Sara’s side of the office, hoping she hadn’t left yet.

When I got there, she didn’t notice me because her head was buried beneath a mountain of paperwork.

“Hey, Sara,” I greeted, making her jump.

“Hey, Emily. Didn’t see you there.” She let out a relieved breath, pressing a hand against her chest.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” I apologized. “Mr. Calloway said I should meet you.”

“Oh, yeah. The booklet.”

She pulled a small booklet from underneath her keyboard.

“It contains all Mr. Calloway’s important booking, including his private jet information and the hotels he uses when he travels.”

She flipped through the pages, showing exactly what she meant.

“He wants you to arrange for his pilot to be ready for a work trip to Boston on Friday and book two nights at the Palm Spring Hotel.”

I wanted to ask why I was doing her job, but when my eyes drifted over the workload covering her desk, my furrowed brows slowly relaxed.

“I’ll get to work,” I said, taking the booklet from her.

“Emily,” she called just as I was about to head back.

I turned.

“Before I forget, you’re to meet him in his office once you’re done.”

I swallowed hard, forced a smile, and returned to work.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I stood outside Cole’s office with his flight and hotel bookings in one hand while my other hovered over the door, too scared to knock.

I was just about to run into the nearest ladies’ room and give myself a TED talk when the door swung wide open.

My eyes grew wide.

“You’ve been standing there for almost seven minutes, Ms. Carter,” he said in his deep velvet voice.

“How…” my voice trailed off as he lifted his gaze toward the top corner of his office.

A camera.

My eyes immediately dropped to the papers in my hand as heat rushed into my cheeks.

“What do you have for me, Ms. Carter?” He asked, his eyes settling on the documents.

“Uhmm…” I cleared my throat. “These are your flight and hotel booking, sir.”

I handed them over, but not before his fingers grazed mine, sending a strange current through me.

“Very well, Ms. Carter." He cleared his throat and stepped back into his office.

“You may start packing your bags.”

My forehead creased.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re coming with me.”

Finality laced every word.

Then he shut the door.