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Oh.
I missed that because I was perving on my boss. And I probably made him uncomfortable. It wouldn’t be the first time my painful crush has made things awkward between us. He never looks at me that way; sometimes, he doesn’t look at me at all.
And then I wonder if my feelings are stunningly obvious. Probably have been since day one, when I was assigned to his desk by central Human Resources.
Before I arrived, Rufus Newton Smith, half of the brains behind Braxton Newton Smith Enterprises, churned through assistants like they were made if tissue paper. I was warned I wouldn’t last more than a week, and then I would get placed elsewhere in the company.
It’s been eleven months and he’s never barked at me once.
“Leave early,” I repeat dumbly.
But I don’t want to leave. I love sitting at this desk and being a holler away from helping Rufus with whatever he needs. I love fixing problems for him, and making that furrow between his brows soften.
And there’s nothing for me to go home to. My roommate is working today, at her pay-the-bills job at a department store, and our small studio apartment is extra depressing when it isn’t filled with her laughter. Go home? Home isn’t my happy place.
“One of us should have a good day,” he mutters before straightening up.
And it should be him! What is this personal business that isn’t going to make him happy? I’m immediately irritated on his behalf.
“I have a few things I need to do before I go,” I say dully.
He pauses, then nods. “Say goodbye before you leave, all right?”
“Of course.”
The click of his door as he retreats back to his office is extra loud.
I immediately open his calendar, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. He has an hour at the gym right after work today, then nothing until the same workout is scheduled next Tuesday. Three empty days stretch between.
Closing the calendar, I tell myself it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to be nosy. I’m paid, in fact, tonotbe nosy.
On the other hand…he gave me access to his email for a reason. I’m supposed to be on top of things in this office.
I’d like to be on top of Rufus.
That is never going to happen. So I’ll have to settle for making him happy in the limited, non-naked ways I can imagine.
But there’s nothing in his email, either. No hint at an annoying commitment, no family event I can get him out of with a helpful work emergency.
He loves a good work emergency. Staying late, coming up with a solution together that saves time or money or both.
I really don’t like the idea of leaving him while he’s clearly out of sorts. So I push away from my desk and go to his office door, fully intending to knock on it and explain myself.I can sense that you are—
A loud voice behind me stops me in my tracks just before my hand lands with a polite knock on the door. “Is he in?”
I turn just in time to see Andrew Braxton push past me as if I’m not even here, and for the second time in a few minutes, the door clicks shut.
From the other side, I hear a muffled but still clearly exasperated greeting from my boss to his co-founder. They started this business together in college, and it’s grown into a multinational firm with offices on three continents.
Rufus is happiest when Andrew is on one of the other two continents. Until this moment, I didn’t have an opinion, other than implicitly trusting my boss’s instincts. I’ve only seen the other man in person a few times, and I don’t think he’d be able to pick me out of a lineup.
But from the confrontational tone of the conversation, I’m immediately on guard.
“I wasn’t expecting you until this evening,” Rufus says to his partner. “Tell me you didn’t fly here on the private jet.”
“It’s faster.”
“Andrew, we’re an eco-friendly company!”
