IN BED WITH THE BOSS

Vivian stared wide eyed at him. “Me? Why me?” She asked.

Scott almost winced. She sounded like the thought of attending a party with him was the worst thing she had ever heard. Did she really dislike him that much? Or was it because he wasn’t that Michael guy? What the hell did she even see in him? He had no fucking idea. He hadn’t expected her to scream and jump in excitement at the news, but the look on her face was just hurtful. Almost as if she was scared to be around him.

He shrugged. “Well, you’re my assistant” he said, and hoped that his statement would make enough sense. “Sometimes, you’ll have to attend business events with me. Sometimes even travel trips too. This isn’t just a party. A lot of potential customers and investors will be present and I will need you to be around.”

It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t entirely true. Yes, she’d have to attend some events with him, but this particular party wasn’t one of them, but he just wanted her around. He’d even considered asking Jennifer Bennet, but neither her brother nor Senator Wesley would be at this party so the show would have been pointless.

He wanted to ask Vivian out, and he would have done that already if she wasn’t his employee. This was just the only way he knew how to.

“Oh, alright.” Vivian said as she slowly deposited the card on her desk. “I’ll be there then.”

Could she sound more uninterested? Scott thought.

“Good” he turned to leave, but stopped after taking a few steps. He found her still staring at him, with a look in her eyes and he couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Thank you” he said, then added when one finely carved eyebrow lifted, “I mean, for the cupcakes. I… I like them.”

She smiled then. An actual goddam genuine smile that he liked so much. Why the hell couldn’t she look at him like that all the time? He thought, but he knew why. He hadn’t really been Mr nice guy towards her.

“You’re welcome, Mr McCall” she replied, “It was my pleasure”

Pleasure….

He wanted to tell her that he’d like to return the favour, but he wasn’t sure that she’d appreciate the comment, especially after their not so pleasant conversation that morning, so he simply turned and walked out of her office.

He had a date with her now. Well, it wasn’t actually a date, but it was something. Now what?

__________

“It’s not a date!” Vivian said in a stressed voice. “Please don’t call it that”

The thought had crossed her mind after Scott left her office that afternoon, but she didn’t want to think about it that way. She couldn’t let herself think about it as a date for her own sanity. There was no point in thinking about things she couldn’t have. It would bring nothing except pain, but Megan wasn’t making it easy for her not to think about it.

“Yes it is” Megan shot back.

“No it’s not. I’m not going to keep going back and forth about it with you” Vivian replied and headed for the women’s bathroom. Megan followed closely behind her, then shut the door so no one else would hear their conversation.

“Then what is it if it’s not a date?” she asked, a mischievous smile on her face. “You can’t tell me you didn’t even think about it like that. Not even for a second. Come on, Viv. You can tell me”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Vivian splashed some water on her face before she turned to face Megan, whose smile was only getting ridiculously wider.

“Okay. Fine. I did think about it,” Vivian admitted, “And can you please stop smiling like that. I realized that I was just being stupid. He’s my boss and I’m his assistant. I guess sometimes I have to be with him for certain… events. Trust me, Meg. He doesn’t even like me. I don’t even want to tell you about the way he spoke to me today because I don’t want to think about it. Now will you help me instead of asking me these damn questions?”

“But what if -”

“No Megan,” Vivian interrupted. Her eyes lowered, and Megan saw that she was really down about it. “No buts. He doesn’t see me that way…. He never will because he’s way out of my league. All I’m ever going to be to him is his silly assistant. Imagine, he kissed me the other day and he never spoke to me about it till today. He didn’t even address it, Megan. Nothing means anything to him… and this is definitely not a date.”

“Wow,” Megan said in a low voice. “You really like him, don’t you?”

Vivian almost burst into tears. Just how stupid could she be? She’d spent days denying this fact, but hearing Megan say it out made her feel so bad.

“It doesn’t matter. Now are you going to help me with that dress or not? You know I don’t have anything fancy to wear to that sort of event.”

“Sure thing” Megan replied, dropping the date topic. “So is he going to pick you up?”

Vivian shook her head. “Now why would he do that?” she asked, “It’s not a date, remember?”

___________

On Wednesday evening, Vivian dressed for the party with inordinate care, using clothes as an armory.

She wore scarlet. Not deliberately, but that was the gown Megan had given her. It was bright, bold and dramatic. Megan, as crazy as she was, had also given her a blonde wig, insisting that it would go really well with the dress, and after she was fully dressed, Vivian had to admit that Megan was right. The dress was like the color of blood and of life and against it the blonde wig contrasted as pale as the waning moon.

The dress was not especially revealing, but it clung like a second skin, moulding itself to her hips and the lush swell of her breasts, the skirt swirling a little when she walked in a pair of deliciously high-heeled black shoes.

She piled the wig up on her head and secured it with glittery scarlet pins, so that tendrils of it tumbled and twisted around her face. With her dark eyes and her full lips she thought that she looked more like a doll than a living, breathing woman, but she didn’t care.

She took her car. At least that way she would be independent. No need to stay the night in town, or to be reliant on a train which might or might not run on time.

But once she hit the city, the traffic was absolutely atrocious. She sat for what seemed like an eternity in a jam and, by the time she drew up close to the venue, she was more than two hours late and wished she had the nerve or choice to turn around and go straight back again.

Scott had called her twice already and she’d explained that she was stuck in traffic, but she was sure that he’d still be very mad at her. The fucking first time she was attending an event with him and yet she’d messed up…. Again.

Oh, for heaven’s sake, she told herself Crossly. Since when did you decide to start acting like a love lorn schoolgirl? He probably wouldn’t even care that much and she was just over thinking.

As for her attraction to him, it wasn’t even as though she had anything concrete on which to pin her fantasies, was it? Apart from a sexual attraction which only a fool would have denied-this was the way which every woman on the planet probably felt towards him. He had done absolutely nothing to encourage her.

With a heavy heart, she got out of her car outside the building to hear music spilling out. After she passed security, she went inside the hall and came face to face with a young woman in a beautiful gown, clutching a tumbler of lurid-coloured cocktail.

“Hi!” she said brightly, and peered at her rather drunkenly. “Who’re you?”

“Oh, I’m Vivian…. Mr Scott McCall’s… have you seen Mr McCall anywhere? Do you.. Do you know him?”

The woman stared at her weirdly before she said, “Hmm… Scott McCall” she licked her lips and Vivian almost rolled her eyes. “I think I saw him around here…. somewhere,” she added vaguely.

Vivian simply thanked her and walked deeper into the hall. The music was throbbing and there were people everywhere. Vivian looked around for Scott, but couldn’t see him. In fact, she couldn’t see a single soul she knew… not that she was expecting to… but that only increased her feeling of isolation.

She headed for one of the waiters, and grabbed a glass of wine from the tray one of them carried, and then made her way into the other part of the hall. Around her, some people were glued together under the guise of dancing while some stood chatting so she guessed that most of the party activities were done with.