“I’m here to get my shift back,” says the little voice sweetly, batting her eyelashes at Rosalie.
Rosalie sniggers at me and looks to Smithers to back her up. Smithers is still staring at me. His eyes are on my open buttons.
“Eric!” she wheedles.
“Rosalie, sweet pea,” the little voice says, with a smile pasted on my face. “Get out.”
“What did you say to me?” Her voice is squeaky with outrage.
“I’m not in the habit of repeating myself,” the little voice says. She stalks over to Rosalie, grabs her roughly by the arm and hustles her towards the door. Rosalie squeals in outrage, and pushes me away.
“Tut tut,” says the little voice. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
She grabs Rosalie’s ear and twists it. Rosalie screeches. The little voice doesn’t care. She presses my fingers tight as a clamp onto Rosalie’s tender earlobe and pulls her towards the doorway.
Rosalie has no option but to follow, clinging to her earlobe and screeching in dismay. The little voice shoves Rosalie out of the office and slams the door shut. She locks it.
She turns back towards Smithers. “Well, that was fun,” she says.
“That was physical abuse of an employee,” he says.
“I didn’t do it if you didn’t see it,” she says.
Smithers is standing up now, hovering by his desk, as if uncertain what is going on. She prowls over to him, making my hips swing far more than I am comfortable with. I am beginning to be very glad that I am here at the back of my head, because if I had been in charge I would be turning and running. As it is I wish I could close my eyes so I didn’t have to see this.
When she reaches him, she puts her hand on his shoulder and applies enough pressure to make him sit down in his chair with a thump. She perches at the edge of his desk and leans forward until my chest is thrusting towards him. She slides my hand slowly and sinuously down Smithers’s tie.
“Eric,” she purrs. “I’ve been thinking it’s a shame you and I never really got to know each other.”
Smithers is staring at me, his jaw slightly slack.
“And I bet you’ve been thinking the same,” she says. She slides a finger along his jawline.
“I knew it. I knew you liked me really,” he says.
She giggles. “Oh goody. We’re on the same page. Isn’t is great that you didn’t really give my shift at the Ambassador’s Ball away, you naughty boy.” She taps the tip of his nose to emphasize each word.
“I didn’t?” His eyebrow rises. He thinks he has the power and he is enjoying it.
She opens my eyes wide and bats my eyel
ashes. “You didn’t. Because you don’t do what you don’t want to. Rosalie can complain all she likes, but she can’t make you change your mind. Right?”
“Right,” he says. “If there’s something in it for me.”
The little voice trails my finger in a wavy motion down Smithers’s chest. His eyes follow it. It makes me feel sick. I want to tell her that I never agreed to this, but I’d only be getting in my own way. She is doing for us what I can’t.
The little voice makes me stand up. “There is,” she says. “Me. In this.” She reaches into my satchel and takes out the glimmering body con dress. She holds it up against me and she moves, swaying my waist and my chest, making the thousands of sparkly sequins catch the light.
“I’ve been having this little dream,” she croons. “Of you and me at the end of the night at the Ambassador’s Ball. Under the chandeliers. Dancing. Moving. You wearing your smart manager’s suit and me wearing this little thing. And what happens next… Well… It’s been so frustrating. The dream always ends before I find out. But tonight it won’t.” She purrs those last few words in a sensual tone.
Smithers looks like he knows this is too good to be true but he is trying to figure out a way to make it real. He really really wants it to be real. He puts his hand on my hip as if testing me. The look on his face makes me want to barf.
The little voice takes his hand off. She abruptly puts the dress back into my satchel, and she shrugs. “It’s up to you, of course.” She manages to sound sexily challenging and like she doesn’t give a damn all at once.
“Yeah,” Smithers says, sniggering. “It is up to me. Yeah, I like that.”
“Good,” she says. “I’ll tell Rosalie, shall I?” She saunters towards the office door and throws him a last sultry look over my shoulder.