Page 53 of Hating the Boss

Chapter 21 Sarah

“Heading into work?” asked Jessica, sitting in the doorway of my room as I hummed a Top 40 hit in my closet. I popped my head out and smiled at her. She tilted her head in that curious way of hers that said she had questions, but was keeping quiet.

“Mhmm,” I said in a sing-song voice, turning back to my closet and plucking a new dress from the rack. “What do you think about this one?”

I held the emerald green sheath dress up to my body, the rich fabric smooth in my hands. I had just picked it up at a boutique the day before after spotting it on a mannequin in the window on my way home from work.

Work. If that’s what you would even call it.

It had been a week since I accepted Brad’s arrangement of posing as his fiancée. We had easily pulled the wool over his father’s eyes that first day, and continued playing pretend long into the night without anyone as a witness. Having sex in his office was reckless, but as much I tried to hold my ground that day, all my inhibitions dissipated when he touched me.

And God, did he touch me.

I clenched my thighs together tightly, thinking about it now. Craving it.

During the day, we played our parts diligently, and at night we played them even better. I wondered if we were even pretending at all when we got lost in each other, usually after a bickering match. We were like an old couple.

A horny old couple.

We had our routine pretty down pat. I would often work from home for a few hours before coming into the office to bring him lunch and show off our affectionate feelings with the office as witness, oftentimes including his father, as Brad seemed to know when he would pop in. William always left with a twinkle in his eyes, and his happiness for his son sometimes left me with a pang of guilt for lying to the old man.

Once Brad and I were alone in his office, I would do the usual personal assistant duties of whatever secretarial work he needed. When calls would come in, I would use a fake name and direct the call to Brad or take a message. We would go over his everchanging schedule now that he had shared his digital calendar with me and said goodbye to those damn Post-its. I knew they had been a test. Something to grate my nerves.

If Brad had company, I would pretend I was there as his doting girlfriend. I would act enamored by every little thing he did, and a lot of the time it wasn’t acting. Brad was impressive. A beast in business. I found the power and assertiveness he possessed extremely sexy.

I would sometimes accompany him to meetings, sitting in the corner of the room and pretending to play on my phone, while I was really taking notes. Me being there was all for show, so rumors would swirl in the business world about Brad Ashcroft’s new fiancée. It had to be convincing for his big deal to go through. Businessmen liked to talk more than teenage girls at the lunch table.

While it was a lot of work playing so many different parts, I was enjoying it. There was something exciting about it. Plus, the money helped. I hadn’t felt so secure financially in my entire life. There was a freedom in it.

Maybe that freedom led to my inhibitions walking out the door with the rest of the employees in the office, leading to explosive sex in Brad’s office. It was all I could think about. He consumed my almost every thought, making me eager for the sun to set and for him to give me that look like he was going to swallow me whole.

My sister assumed it was my generous salary paying our bills, and I let her believe that I was just a personal assistant and not part of some ruse. I didn’t want to worry her. Brittany was the only one who knew, so I at least had someone to talk to. Though, I hadn’t told her about the sex.

“It’s pretty,” said Jessica now, wheeling herself into my bedroom and pulling herself onto my bed. I winced slightly, watching her maneuver herself using mainly her upper body strength. Her legs were still weak, even though she and her doctors assured me she was getting stronger. I let her do it though, knowing she needs that independence.

“You’re going in late today…” she said, a question behind her tone.

“My hours always change.” I shrugged nonchalantly.

I suddenly felt weird for lying to my sister, like I was betraying her.

I slipped on the dress, reaching around the back to zip it up. I looked in the mirror and smiled. It really was a beautiful dress.

“You look beautiful,” said Jessica, a longingness in her voice that made my heart ache for her.

“It’s just a dress.” I waved her off and grabbed my pearl earrings from the nearby dresser. They had been my mother’s. I slid them through my ears and placed the backings on.

“She’d be proud,” said Jessica with a solemn nod.

I wondered if that were true, given the circumstances. Not wanting to think about it any further, I gave my sister a tight hug and left quickly.

When I arrived at the office with two cinnamon cappuccinos and two flaky croissants from Café Lola, it was nearly 4 p.m. Brad was on a call when I arrived, so I slipped in quietly and placed his pastry and drink on his desk. He gave me a small smile, his eyes landing on the low neckline of my dress. The new pushup bra had delivered on its promises. I could tell by the way his eyes burst into silver flames.

He swallowed hard before tearing into whoever he was on the phone with. It was wild how he could easily flip a switch from sexy to stern.

I sat down at my desk and began sifting through his emails, deleting the spam and starring the more important ones. Once I was finished with that, I did the same with his voicemails. The amount of calls he received was mind-boggling. He was highly sought after, which made him that much more attractive.

Just before 5 p.m., there was a knock at his door and I quickly stood from the work at my desk and walked over to him. It was time to play the part of loving fiancée. I draped my arms around his shoulders as he hung up the phone and welcomed the visitor in. A man in a sharp-dressed suit strode in, looking between us both coolly, clearly unimpressed by our PDA act.