Boss I Love to Hate: An Office Romance(50)

If there were a lineup of eligible bachelors and I had to take a guess on who she’d pick as her match, this guy would be it.

Jean smiled my way. Her short red tube dress hugged her figure and stopped right below her ass. If she wanted to make a statement, she was making it loud and clear. She was here with Jeff.

With her red dress, his plain suit and white shirt, they both looked regular. Nothing spectacular. But they certainly were an oddly paired couple, opposites in every sense of the word.

“What table are you guys sitting at?” Jean asked, but when she did, she was looking at me the way women looked at me, as though if given a chance, I’d be their choice of date. What bothered me was that it was like Sonia wasn’t here.

I pulled Sonia close, the movement so quick that her Long Island swished, and some of the liquid slipped over the lip of the glass.

“Where are we sitting, babe?” I asked, leaning in so close to smell some of Sonia’s shampoo.

She blinked up at me and pulled a small white paper from her purse. The paper that we had picked up at the center table before we walked into the reception area.

“Table ten.” Her voice quivered, and it took all my energy not to sweep her away from this mess, go back to my house, and spend the rest of the night playing board games with Mary and Sarah.

“Oh poo, we’re at a different table,” Jean uttered.

The slight tightness in Sonia’s shoulders relaxed.

She was always so put together, so organized, so focused. Being around Jeff undid her, and I didn’t like it.

“So, how did you guys meet?” Jeff asked, studying me. He’d been doing that since I met him.

I recognized the scrutiny in his eyes. It was the same scrutiny that I had met with many business associates, right before I was going to take over their company.

“At work, just like you guys.”

He shuffled back a step. “So, you work at Brisken. You’re admin?” he assumed.

My smirk tightened. “No. I own Brisken.”

Jeff’s eyes went wide for just a second. “You own Brisken Printing Corporation?” he asked as though he didn’t understand English. He scratched at his temple. “Sonia’s your secretary? Aren’t there rules about dating your subordinate?” Jeff asked, his face unreadable.

“I wouldn’t call her my subordinate because it’s Sonia who runs my office.”

Then, his face transformed, first with contempt and slowly with recognition. He let out a peal of laughter. “You’re the boss? Oh my God. Sonia …” He pointed to Sonia, “… you hated this guy. You drew doodles of him and had stakes going through his heart.”

His laughter heightened, and it took every ounce of my energy not to clock him out cold.

Of all the people she complained to about me, this had to be the worst. I hated that she’d, at one time, complained to him about me.

“It’s different now.” Sonia’s voice was low, without the usual strength and sass. Her face was beet red.

Jeff coughed to stop his laughter when he realized no one else was laughing with him. “Sorry. I didn’t know your real name, just a bunch of names Sonia used to call you.” Then, his eyes passed over both of us, and the fit of cackles started up again. “So, she’s your subordinate? She still works for you.”

My jaw tightened. I didn’t know where this guy was going. Did he by chance think that I had forced Sonia into our pretend relationship all because she worked for me?

I kept my voice even. “No. She’s most definitely not my subordinate—unless you count when we’re in the bedroom, and she likes me to boss her around.”

Sonia coughed up her Long Island, and the humor on Jeff’s face dissipated instantly.

I handed her a napkin, my devious smirk heavy on my face. If we were playing the game of whose balls were bigger, there was no competition.

Jeff blurted, “Well, there are clear rules at the office I work at that, once a couple gets involved, one has to quit.”

“Is that why Jean quit?” Sonia snapped, her tall glass now empty. “Because you were screwing her when you worked together? Possibly when we were together? Late-night meetings, my ass.”

Well, that had come from nowhere.

Jeff sputtered, “No. That’s not …”

But, by the look on Jean’s guilty, reddened face, I could only assume that was indeed what had happened.

“Asshole,” Sonia whispered before turning and storming off. And the Sonia I knew and adored was back and in full force.

I didn’t excuse myself from their presence. I simply went after her, down the hall and outside.

A row of green shrubs led us to a massive fountain outlined with concrete benches. Sonia dropped on a bench and faced away from the reception area, away from me.

“He’s such a fucker.” A deep sob escaped her, and it gutted me.

It was the first time I’d ever heard her drop the F-bomb. But I preferred a pissed off Sonia over a sad Sonia or a fidgety Sonia or a no-backbone Sonia.

“I won’t disagree with you.”

Then, she stood and faced me, and I clenched my jaw as though I’d been knocked in the face with a barbell. Her eyes were red-rimmed with tears. And, at that moment, I wanted to kick Jeff’s ass, shove my foot so far up it that he’d taste the rubber in my sole.