Grumpy Boss

“Don’t be a dick,” she said, “but I guess that’s hard for you.”

I smiled a bit. I knew my reputation: it wasn’t great. People thought I was short, rude, and needlessly brusque. I was grumpy, to put it mildly, and that didn’t bother me one bit. I was a no-nonsense kind of guy, and always lived my life trimming out all the excess social niceties that got in the way of real business. I’d been wildly successful over my career, and had no plans to change it.

She just didn’t like that I was pointing out how badly she wanted to fuck me.

“Trust me, there’s tension, and the best thing we can do is to get it over with and out of the way.”

“So, what, you want to sleep with me? Right here and now? Then we can go into the office and talk to Jack?”

“That’d be perfect,” I said, glancing back toward the couch. “We can do it there, or in the bedroom if you prefer, I’m not picky. Shower would be fun, or maybe right here—“

“Rees,” she said, cutting me off, her tone like ice. “I’m not having sex with you. Not now, not ever. I signed up to play my part, to be your nice little assistant, to pretend like we have a relationship, but I’m not really going to bed with you. Do you hear me?”

I looked back at her slowly, eyebrow arched. “I hear a lot of denial. And I still feel the tension.”

“Oh my god, you’re impossible.” She turned away from me, visibly angry, and I couldn’t help but laugh. She was adorable, fighting this as hard as she could, but I wasn’t kidding around. If we could fuck and get it done with, all that tension would be cut—and it’d be a quick way to jumpstart some attachment and intimacy between us.

But I could tell she was uncomfortable with this whole thing, so I let it drop, and walked around the counter to get some coffee. She gave me a look as I did it, but directed me to the cabinet with the mugs, got me some milk, and joined me back out in the living room on the couch.

“Here’s the deal,” I said, stirring my coffee, then taking a sip. It tasted bitter and harsh, but coffee was coffee, and it did the job. “You understand the SPAC part of all this, right?”

“Vaguely,” she said, shaking a hand side to side. “I mean, enough.”

“All you need to know is, this company needs investors, and we have a month to pull it off. Three weeks, really, at this point.” I let my eyes drift down to her long, lean legs. They were distracting. I needed to concentrate, but her thighs made me want to keep flirting with her instead.

“Where do we start?” she asked.

“New York,” I said, forcing myself to meet her eyes. “There’s a man, his name is Mirko Poma. He’s from Norway, made his money in oil, and now he’s something of an eccentric investor. Likes to take big risks that sometimes pay off and sometimes don’t.”

“How do you know him?”

I took another long sip of coffee. “He’s the sort of man everyone knows,” I said. “We’ve run in the same circles for a few years now, know the same people, like to take the same bets. He didn’t come on board at first because the SPAC game isn’t typically something he’s into, but I’m taking another crack at him, and I need you to help convince him.”

“I’ll do whatever I can,” she said, leaning back against the couch and staring down at the rug with this pouty stare. I had another sudden urge to touch her leg and stood, pacing away toward the opposite wall.

“We’re leaving tomorrow,” I said. “This afternoon, we’ll get you acclimated, introduce you around the office, make a big show of it. So I need you to get changed and ready.”

“Right now?” she asked.

“Right now,” I confirmed, and gestured toward her bedroom. “Or can’t you get dressed with your boyfriend in the apartment?”

She rolled her eyes again and I got the sense she’d be doing that a lot, but she got up and went into her bedroom. She didn’t close the door, and I stayed in the living room, able to catch glimpses of her as she moved around. I watched her take off her top, saw the side of her breasts as she turned away, and I felt a sudden jolt of desire—it was one of the most erotic things I’d ever seen in my life, and I’d only gotten a small glimpse of her round, full breasts. I tore myself away from the door, and started speaking just to fill the silence, and to keep myself under control.

“Mirko’s an odd one,” I said, speaking loudly so we could hear. “He won’t make this easy on us, I can promise you that. He likes to mess around with me, and once he gets wind that we’re together, he’ll be merciless. Try and keep your distance, if you can, and don’t let yourself get charmed by him.”