Page 29 of Following His Commands

“Close the door on your way out,” he grunts.

“Of course, sir,” I say in the sweetest voice I can muster.

Shutting the door harder than necessary, I smile at Terri as I pass. I head back to my office, sit at my desk, open my emails, and see there is in fact a message from Alistair. I click it open and read through the list of tasks. It’s all clerical work, things Terri usually does for him. Make copies of this, type up that.

I roll my eyes.

It’s a long list and he probably expects me to fight him on it or not get everything completed. Well, he doesn’t know who I am if he thinks I will ever fail at something.

I press print on the email and head to the copy room, somewhere I’m probably going to be holed up in most of the day anyway. With that thought, I unplug my laptop and bring it with me. Picking up the printed email, I get started at the top of the list. It might be menial work, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do it to the absolute best of my abilities.

I set up in the corner of the copy room. I have my laptop on the floor and a heap of papers spread out around me. I lose myself in the files I’m sorting through. I’ve crossed off ten things from the list of forty tasks.

“Dani, is there something wrong with your office?”

I look up from the paper I was highlighting to find Nathan Miller staring down at me.

“Ah, no, I just needed to print a heap of stuff and figured I’d do it from here. I can move,” I tell him, busying myself with packing up the pile of documents.

“No need. As long as you’re okay,” he says.

“I’m fine. Just focused,” I tell him.

“Right, I’ll, ah, leave you to it then.” He shakes his head and walks out of the copy room.

I barely notice anyone else come and go for the next couple of hours. I work through lunch, ignoring the growl of my stomach. I will not let hunger interrupt or hinder me. I know it’s stupid, and I should stop to eat. But I’m determined to prove to Alistair I can do anything he throws at me. I want to beat him at his own stupid game. Which I know is petty.

That’s where I’m at though, and now that I’ve started, I’m not changing course. I’m more than halfway done with the list. Ticking off another item, I roll my neck and look at the clock. Three in the afternoon. I have three hours to get another ten items crossed off, and then I’ve won.

What exactly? I have no idea.

Standing, I stretch my arms over my head. I walk into the kitchen to get an energy drink from the fridge. I briefly eye the muffins in the break room before deciding against them, in order to stay focused.

FOURTEEN

There’s a knock at my door. I look at the clock. It’s ten to six. Terri would have already left for the day.

“Come in,” I yell out.

The door opens and Dani walks in with a stack of papers and files in her arms. A guilt I’ve never felt before has been tearing me up all day over the list of tasks I gave her. It wasn’t even achievable. I knew that when I sent her the email. I was pissed off, still am. For whatever reason, she won’t stay in my fucking bed and wake up with me the next morning. I wonder if it has anything to do with that asshole ex of hers. I know she says she’s over him, has moved on. But what he did… leaving her on their wedding day. That has to be eating her alive.

The prick is an idiot. Any man who would walk away from a woman like Dani is an A-class moron. She’s the whole fucking package.

Perfect. Or at least she would be if she’d stay in bed all night.

“Dani?” I try to hide the surprise in my voice at seeing her walk into my office.

I know she’s been holed up in the copy room all day. I got a chewing out from Nathan and Xavier, who both bombarded me at lunch today about why Dani was surrounded by files and shit in the copy room. I swear the two are nosier than Mrs Stange, the old lady who used to live across the street from me. I’d always catch her peeking out of her curtains, and whenever my parents had one of their fights, she’d be over the very next morning to see my mother just to get the inside scoop. Not that the old bat needed to. She, along with the whole neighbourhood, would have been able to hear my parents’ arguments. They weren’t exactly quiet about them.

“I have everything on your list,” Dani says, dropping the pile of files on my desk.

“Everything?” I ask with a raised brow. There is no way she has everything.

“Yes,everything,” she confirms while straightening her shoulders. Her eyes connect with mine; she doesn’t look away.

“Okay then.” What the hell am I meant to say? She’s fucking worked all day and managed to get the unachievable list of tasks completed.

I turn back to my computer and type out another email to her.

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