“Thank you, Rita.”
I moved a vase of lilies from my chair and flipped open the silver card that sat on top.
Claire,
I hope you’re enjoying your birthday. I’m looking forward to spending part of it with you tonight.
—Your completely immoral and highly inappropriate Boss,
PS: You’ve looked stunning every day this week...
I was flattered but I didn’t have time to wonder about why he’d sent so many flowers, and I knew I wouldn’t have time to meet with him; I had too much work to do.
From eight o’ clock to nine o’clock, I made sure everyone in the department was on task and supervised the interns’ brainstorming meeting. I even managed to spare a few extra minutes to get ahead on some of Mr. Barnes’ past due assignments.
From nine o’clock to ten o’ clock, I conferred with the art directors about “sPhone blue” visuals, sat in on a conference call with the national marketing committee, and started reading the proposed expense reports for our eco-tablet campaign.
At ten fifty five, my phone rang.
“Claire Gracen. Who am I speaking with?”
“Miss Gracen, this is Angela, Mr. Statham’s secretary. I’m looking at his schedule and I see that he requested a meeting with you today. Are you on your way up?”
I have two hundred pages to read...
“No, Angela.” I flipped over a sheet of paper. “I am not. Could you please inform Mr. Statham that while I do accept last minute appointments from clients, all internal personnel—even my own superiors, have to schedule their appointments at least twenty four hours in advance. That’s company policy as of sixty days ago. He’s the one who sent out the memo, so he should know that.”
The line went silent. I was sure not too many people rejected a meeting with the CEO.
“I um...” She coughed. “I will let him know that, Miss Gracen. Have a great day.”
“You too.” I hung up.
I continued looking over the expense reports, making small notes here or there. I was halfway done when I heard a knock at my door.
“I don’t want anything for lunch, Rita! Thank you though!”
The door opened and in walked Jonathan.
He smiled as he shut the door. “Good morning, Miss Gracen.”
“Hello, Mr. Statham...” My mouth went dry and my body tensed at the sight of him. He really was a pure example of what a perfect man should look like. He was dressed in an impeccable black suit with a white button-down shirt, and shiny silver cufflinks that gleamed against the light.
His eyes were regarding me intensely, and I knew that he was slightly running his tongue across his lips on purpose.
He sat down in the seat across from my desk and smiled even wider. “How are you today?”
“I’m quite fine, and yourself?”
“Pretty good. You know, I don’t normally get scolded by an employee, but it’s refreshing to know that there are other policies that need to be changed.”
I didn’t say anything. My heart was beating too fast and I didn’t want him to sense that I was completely captivated by him.
Think about his age...Think about his age...
He put his elbows on the desk and leaned forward. “You couldn’t spare thirty minutes for me?”
Take a deep breath, avert your gaze to the wall behind him, and clear your throat...
“Mr. Statham—”
“You really don’t have to call me that when we’re alone.”
My breath hitched at the way he’d said “alone” and I took another deep breath.
“I feel more comfortable calling you that since this is, and will always be, a strictly professional relationship. And no, I could not spare thirty minutes. Our head director called in sick today, and since I have to handle his reports as well as my own, I don’t have much free time.”
“Fair enough,” he said as he looked into my eyes. “I just wanted to personally return your car keys.” He placed them on my desk. “And tell you Happy Birthday in person.”
“Well, thank you very much and I appreciate all the flowers. Your spiel only took three seconds though, so there was no need for a thirty minute time slot. If you don’t mind, I need to finish my reading now. Have a great day, Mr. Statham.” I looked back down at my work, hoping he would say “You too” and leave my office, but I sensed him standing up and walking over to me.
I tried my best to act like he wasn’t in the room, to stay focused on the document I was reading, but I felt him hovering right behind my shoulder.
“Claire...”
I slowly turned my head and looked up at him. “Yes?”
He was silent.
He reached down and ran his fingers through my hair—slowly and gently, making my heart beat ten times faster. He leaned in like he was going to kiss me—tilting my chin up so my lips could touch his, using his other hand to caress my neck, but then he suddenly stopped.
He stepped back and sighed. “What time does your birthday party start tonight?”
“Nine...” I could barely hear my own voice.
“Well, I have a last minute meeting tonight so I might be really late. I’ve been looking forward to it all week.”
Silence.
I looked into his eyes and he looked back into mine. There was palpable tension in the air and I wanted him to slice through it. I wanted him to step back over and kiss me until I was out of breath, to rip my clothes off and—