“Mr. Burrow?” Johanna peeked her head into my office.
“Yes?” I pushed the memories and worries away as I looked to my administrative assistant and refocused on work.
“I have that data you asked for,” she said, stepping into my office. “There are a few items I wasn’t sure about.”
I waved her in. “Let me see them.”
She handed the papers to me and remained standing on the opposite side of my desk. I looked over the spreadsheets and graphs she’d brought related to each project.
“What’s the problem?” I asked her.
“Well, for example, the cloud security project is shared among two departments, and I wasn’t sure if or how you wanted that data organized.” She pointed to a graph. “That shows a total for a project, but about eighty percent of that is through the security team.”
I studied the papers trying to decide if I needed just the overall project data or if I wanted it further detailed by team.
“What about this cost assessment?” I asked.
She tilted her head as she tried to read it upside down. Unable to do so, she came around to my side and looked at the data. “That is about sixty percent cloud team.”
She leaned over to point to another paper on my desk. Her scent filled my nostrils, and her blouse flared open slightly. It occurred to me that if I was a different sort of man, I might try to take advantage of that. Johanna was a beautiful woman, and when I first hired her, I’d gotten the feeling that she might have been open to extracurricular work with the boss. For a long time, she volunteered to stay late when I worked after hours. Once, she answered my cell phone when I was indisposed in the restroom. Terra never said anything about it, but I remember thinking having my secretary answer my personal phone after hours wasn’t a good thing.
Of course, I wasn’t the type of man to cheat. I didn’t watch porn or read girlie magazines. When I jacked off, it was always Terra that I fantasized about.
“This here.” She leaned a little closer, but didn’t finish her sentence as she was interrupted by a gasp coming from my door.
I looked up to see Terra standing in the doorway. Seeing her made me smile. It had been a long time since she’d come down to the office. I wondered if that was a good sign. Maybe she was going to meet me halfway on fixing our marriage after all.
But when I looked at her face, I could tell something was wrong. It was only then I realized Johanna’s tits were still within my eyes’ view. Fuck, this couldn’t look good.
“Oh, Mrs. Burrow.” Johanna straightened. “How are you?”
Terra’s eyes were sharp and menacing. It was good to see fire in them again, although I was certain she was going to give me that same lethal glare.
“Good, Johanna. And you?”
Johanna smiled and stepped away. I couldn’t be sure if she recognized how the situation looked or if she cared if she did.
“Good.” She turned to me. “I’ll just leave this for you. Let me know if you want to go in further.”
I winced as I felt like her words could have a hidden meaning.
“This is enough.” I said hoping Terra wasn’t thinking the worst. Then again, I’d never given her any reason to doubt me, so if she did, that would piss me off. She should know I’d never cheat on her.
But as Johanna left my office, closing the door behind her, Terra turned her attention to me, and I could see in her eyes, she didn’t know me at all.
12
Terra
Most times when I wondered if Brayden was fucking his secretary, I chastised myself for it. He and I were having marital problems, but that didn’t make him a cheater. And yet, with his face practically buried in his secretary’s cleavage and the smile on his face when he looked up, I realized that any man, even one I thought was good, decent, and loyal, could cheat.
When the door shut behind Johanna, he stood and came around his desk.
“What a surprise.” He was smiling again, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Not like it had when Johanna’s tits were in his face.
“I can see that,” I quipped. I was second guessing having stopped by the office. Since I rarely saw him without the kids around, now seemed like a good time since the kids were in school and I had time before my next appointment. Now, I wanted to rip his dick off.
“Is everything okay? The kids alright?”