The Big Boss

It’s not that far of a drive to the flower shop, and I’m right on time. It’s only ten-thirty. Perfectly mid-morning. But when I walk in, I hear a shriek. “Oh thank fuck you’re here,” Lila says, running over to me and grabbing my arm, which nearly makes me drop the pots.

“Holy shit, slow down woman. What’s going on?”

“I need your help,” she says. “What are those?”

“Rose gave them to me for you.”

Her eyes go huge and round. “They’re beautiful!”

She tries to take them from me and I stop her. “You’re still barely recovered. I’ve got them. Tell me why you’re screaming?”

Jess—Lila’s part-time employee—sticks her head out of the back. “She’s freaking out about Mr. Silverman.”

I put the pots down in a corner and turn to face my best friend. “What the hell did he do now?”

She presses her lips together and looks nervous. Her hands are fidgeting. “Really, Lila, is it that bad?”

“It’s just weird, okay? He didn’t order flowers. Normally he orders flowers. Big bouquets like the one you took over yesterday. But today he ordered…a cactus. Just one. Like…that’s it. Just a cactus plant.”

Oh shit.

“And it’s not just that,” she says. “He wants you to deliver it. Based on his note, it seems like he wants you to do all his deliveries from now on. I guess he thinks you work here? I had a small panic attack about the cactus because it was so different, but if he wants more deliveries, that means he’s not just buying the cactus as a farewell purchase.”

That fucking asshole. He didn’t have enough playtime with me yesterday so now he wants more? And to think that he can just demand my time like he owns it makes me want to slap his stupidly handsome face. In fact, maybe I’ll do just that after I give him a piece of my mind.

But on the other hand, he did take my advice. So he was listening to me. It was a small thing, but it was something.

“The cactus is my fault,” I say. “Not yours. I suggested that he get something sharp so that he could deflate his ego.”

Behind me, Jess bursts out laughing. “Oh my god, that’s fucking hilarious. I would have paid money to see the look on his face.”

Lila looks amused too. “I guess that’s better than him just being tired of my arrangements,” she says. “I’ll get the cactus ready.”

“Yeah,” I say. “Give it to me. I’ll take it to him as his lordship demands and tell him that he can’t just assume everyone who walks into his office is a servant. I can’t believe he just assumed who I was and where I worked.”

Lila’s face falls, and my stomach clenches. Fuck.

“Because working for me would be so terrible?”

“Jesus, Lila, that’s not what I meant at all. You know I love being here and helping you, this is about a man who has too much money for his own damn good assuming that everyone else is beneath him. It has nothing to do with you.”

She sighs. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s just…”

“I get it,” I say. “He’s an important client. I won’t fuck up your relationship.”

“Thanks.” Lila smiles and gives me a hug before heading to grab the cactus.

And I will do that. I’m not going to fuck over my friend’s livelihood because some corporate billionaire is an asshole. But I’m going to make it clear what he can and cannot do while making assumptions about people he doesn’t know. That much is for damn sure.

5

Keenan

I can’t focus on anything. This morning has been a complete loss waiting for the damn flower delivery. Or cactus delivery as today’s case may be. I made it clear to Lila that I wanted the new girl to make the deliveries from now on, but it’s possible that she might not be available.

My entire body seems to be buzzing with energy. I can barely explain it, but every nerve is electrified waiting to see her, this nameless woman that’s taken hold of my imagination. I dreamed about her last night. Wanton, sexy dreams that had me out of bed and into the shower an hour earlier than normal just so I could jerk off.

More than once.

This limbo is maddening. This is why I try not to take chances with anything. Not in business, not in life. Chances mean there are possibilities for failure, and I don’t like that. This whole morning has been maddening with the idea that she might not show up. And equally maddening with the idea that she will.

What will I say to her? “I’m drawn to you so impossibly and completely that I changed my entire routine to see you again?” That would sound at best desperate, and at worst entirely creepy.

It’s a good thing that I didn’t ask for her name because I would have tried to look her up last night, and that would be even more creepy. I just want to see her again to see if the chemistry that I felt is real, and if it’s something that we should pursue. My gut tells me that it is. I’ve never felt anything like that before. Like lightning arcing between us.