Possessive Boss

But for some reason, I don’t like hearing it about Val.

“She’s smart,” I say. “She’s qualified.”

“She’s got tits for years and lips that make me want to—”

“Darin,” I snap. “Enough.”

“Whoa,” he says, laughing. “Are you serious? Did you just get mad?”

I clench my jaw. That was a stupid mistake. He’s not going to let that one go. “It’s fine. She’s just nice, is all.”

“Holy shit, Jacob. Do you like her? The king of pussy is actually… smitten.”

“I’m not the king of pussy. That’s the worst nickname ever.”

“Okay, sure, fine. You’re the Fuckmaster. The Cuntking. Is that better?”

“No, not even a little bit.”

“You get my meaning here. You’re the most eligible bachelor. Fucked all of New York city. Rejected California. Or whatever the rumor is.”

I smile a little bit. I like that one. I started it, so I’d better.

“She’s just different, okay? Forget about Val.”

“I don’t think I can. Not after seeing all those pictures.”

“Darin,” I warn.

He laughs, clearly delighted by his newfound ability to piss me off. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. But damn, man. You’re getting annoyed like some schoolboy with a crush.”

“It’s not like that.”

“I bet.” He sighs and I hear him shifting stuff around wherever he’s at. I realize I don’t actually know where he’s calling from. “Look, you go and hire whoever you want, all right? Don’t mind little old me. Have fun out there.”

“I will. It’s a lot of fun.”

“I bet it is. See you later, data nerd.”

“See you, dickhead.”

He hangs up and I sigh. I shouldn’t have let him get under my skin about Valerie like that. Honestly, I don’t even know why it bothered me. We’ve been making stupid jokes like that forever. I know it’s meaningless fun.

But for some reason, it pissed me off. Hearing someone else disparage Val…

And I barely fucking know her.

I pull out her resume without thinking. I stare at it for a long moment before dialing her number.

She picks up right away. “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Valerie? This is Jacob Lofthouse.”

I hear her make a noise on the other end. “Er, ah, hi. Sorry. Almost dropped my phone .You said this is Jacob?”

I laugh a little, smiling. I bet she’s blushing right now. “That’s right.”

“Sorry, I didn’t expect you to call. I mean, you did the interview, but…”

“Normally I’d have Aimee do it. But I figured, what the hell, I was looking at your resume so I might as well call.”

“What can I do for you, Mr. Lofthouse?”

“Jacob.” I pause for effect. “And I want to offer you a job.”

“Oh.”

I wait a second. There’s no other sound.

“Well?”

“Oh, god, right. Yes! Of course. Absolutely.”

“Perfect. Can you start in a couple weeks?”

“I think so.”

“I’ll send a letter over and we’ll make sure all the terms and all that stuff are good. But don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you, so long as you take good care of our clients.”

“I will, Mr., uh, Jacob.”

“And look, I wanted to ask. I know this is entirely inappropriate, but I guess I can’t help myself. Any interest in having some lunch with me?”

Another short silence. “Ah, professionally?”

“Of course. We can keep it as professional as you want.”

“Right. Okay. A business lunch.”

“Sure. How about tomorrow?”

“I can do… tomorrow.”

“I have your address on your resume. Is that the right one?”

“Yes,” she says.

“Good. I’ll get you around noon.”

“Sounds… great. Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

I hang up the phone and lean back in my chair. I’m smiling and I don’t fucking know why.

I just hired her then asked her out to lunch. I mean, shit, I bet some bosses have gone to fucking jail for that sort of thing. Or at least been sued to shit.

I know it’s against the rules to ask out your employees. Even if it’s just a nice, casual thing, it’s against the rules.

Still can’t help myself.

I want this girl. And I want her to work for my company. Those two things aren’t exactly a good fit, but fuck it. I didn’t get to where I am by following every fucking rule. If she doesn’t want this, she can say no, and she’ll still have a goddamn good job.

Otherwise, I’m taking what I want.3ValAs it gets closer and closer to noon, my anxiety doubles and triples. I stand in front of the mirror with my phone pressed to my ear.

I’d forgotten to call my boss after hearing from Jacob. After I hung up with Jacob, I’d spent the rest of the day and all night picking out something to wear and stressing about what this lunch meant, whether it was business or personal, or what.

Even though I know, deep down, it’s personal. I can pretend this is for business… but I know why he wants to have this lunch. I could see it in his eyes.

“Hello? This is Charles Gauge.”

“Mr. Gauge, it’s Valerie.”

“Oh, Valerie. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”