Page 15 of Tell Me Something

I nodded and observed Josh behind his desk with the city stretched out behind him. This was the man of power whom others must see. Instead of being intimidated, though, I was completely aroused. It was an unfortunate feeling, considering I was at work and wasn’t sure what in the hell my boss was thinking. He seemed to reflect a myriad of conflicting emotions.

“Our trip to Cancun has been postponed from Wednesday to Sunday. From there, we’ll go over to Hong Kong for a few days. It’s sometimes easier to string these international trips together.”

Feeling slightly let down that I wasn’t getting the opportunity to travel with him sooner, I could only nod.

“You look disappointed.” He seemed to have my number, which was unnerving and pleasing at the same time.

“Oh, I just was looking forward to the travel.”

He glanced at his watch; his call would be starting soon. “Everyone thinks traveling for business is sexy until you do it often enough you realize it’s a lot of work and can be quite tiring in reality.”

I didn’t think before I responded. Lowering my voice to a whisper, I leaned over the desk. “It isn’t the travel that I find sexy, Mr. Singer.”

I got the desired response with the darkening of his eyes and the quick intake of his breath.

Nigel’s voice cut through over the intercom. “Sir, your conference call is ready for you.”

Smiling, I crossed to the door. With a glance back, I saw that Josh was tracking me and had yet to pick up the call.

SHIT, what had I been thinking? I was starting to have serious regrets over my little flirtation after my hour with Human Resources, who informed me that as part of the orientation they would be emailing me shortly the links to the sexual harassment training. Although I’d already gone through it in LA, it hadn’t resonated like it did right now.

Trying not to think about the fact that I’d probably already violated the office policy with this morning’s comment alone, I went over to IT. While there, I received my laptop and building badge. I was thankful they managed to sync up my smartphone with the work server so that I wouldn’t have to carry around two separate phones.

When I went back upstairs, I found Nigel on the phone, so I booted up my new laptop and worked for the next hour setting up my email and then arranging my office desk. As noon approached, I suggested that Nigel go to lunch while I man the phones.

Hesitant at first, he then seemed relieved. “Mr. Singer is out at a lunch meeting, but I should be back before he returns. Do you want me to grab you something?”

“Actually, when you get back, I need to step out and set up a PO box for my mail.” I was glad that he didn’t ask where I was staying, but realized he might already know.

“Not a problem, my dear. I won’t be long.”

With the time to myself in the office, I figured I might as well get the sexual harassment training over and done. Accordingly, I clicked on the provided link and brought up a cheesy interactive video. Rolling my eyes and putting my chin in my hand, I started watching. I was ten minutes in when Josh came off the elevator.

“Streaming movies already? I wouldn’t have thought you’d be that bored your first day. Where’s Nigel?”

Good to know he had a sense of humor in the office. “He stepped out. I’m just watching this sexual harassment video since I thought you were still at a lunch engagement.” As soon as I mentioned sexual harassment, I knew that my face heated.

Smiling, he leaned over my shoulder to watch. His closeness was unsettling as was the delicious smell of him: a mix of soap, cologne and, well, just pure virile man.

“It cancelled. Are you learning anything, Haylee?”

That buttery voice of his did things to me. Damn. “Well, it’s kind of cheesy and, frankly, a little annoying at what they think constitutes harassment.”

I was pretty sure that we were crossing a line currently with his proximity to my ear but was hard pressed to move a muscle.

“Show me.”

When I clicked on the next slide, we saw the character of Jose asking Carmen, a coworker, out on a date. She told him that she had other plans. He then asked her out a second time the next week. She proceeded to tell him that she had to wash her hair, after which she complained to another coworker that he wasn’t getting the hint. The question presented was whether or not the coworker should report it.

“And the correct answer is?” he baited me.

Turning toward him, I realized our faces were inches from one another. “That Carmen should’ve just told him she’s just not interested instead of making up some lame excuse. As far as Jose knows, she actually did have other plans the first time. And the second time, maybe she was just in dire need of a hair wash. He’s clueless and maybe didn’t mean to harass her in the least, but now it’s escalating to HR, and that’s crap.”

His gaze slid to mine, and he gave me an amused smile. “Maybe Carmen doesn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him that she’s not interested. What then?”

My stomach dropped, and I swallowed hard. He’d leaned back on my desk so that I had to swivel my chair to look up at his face. Now I wondered if I was misreading the situation entirely. I didn’t exactly have a lot of experience with men, especially with older, powerful men-who-could-have-any-woman-in-the-world kind of men. All of a sudden, every ounce of my self-confidence was on the brink.

“She could just tell him that she has a boyfriend. That would keep him from asking again, and it makes him feel like it was nothing personal.”