Misadventures with the Boss (Misadventures #12)(23)

I glanced at the variety of boards Piper had laid out for me and then opened my email and scanned for her name. Nothing. I checked my phone, but there were no new messages. Not one.

At least that would make it easier to concentrate.

I opened the first email and scanned it quickly, but before I could tap out my reply, I glanced at the corner of my desk and stopped. The picture frame that normally sat there was gone. I blinked, wondering what might have happened, but then, in another flash, I remembered the clatter of it falling to the ground as Piper gripped the end of the desk, her body bumping against the lacquered top.

It would be on the floor. Wheeling over, I bent to pick it up and set it right, and then shook my head and tried to focus again on the message opened in front of me. In the corner of my eye, I could see a few people already starting to shuffle in as more lights flickered into existence.

I swallowed hard.

Okay, back to work.

A notification popped up in the corner of my monitor, and I clicked on it to find a reminder about the administrative meeting. Piper had linked her calendar with my own, and I could see that she would be there as well.

The rest of her day, like mine, was busy, and I spotted a small window of time between the administrative meeting and her lunch break that looked tantalizingly free. Clicking on the empty space, I typed instructions to her to meet me in the lounge of the hotel around the corner.

It was presumptuous, I knew that, and it was more than enough for her to sue me for sexual harassment if things didn’t go my way…

But damn if I could focus on that when every time I looked at my own desk, it was with the memory of her breasts pressed against the counter as I worked her from behind. No, when it came to Piper, I had to take risks, and today I was going to take the biggest one of all.

I snatched up my laptop, made my way to the conference room, and waited until one by one, the other assistants from around the office building filed in. Each of them glanced at me curiously as they entered with their coffee and tea, but other than the odd good morning, none of them bothered to question me.

Not that I could blame them for their wondering expressions. In all the years since I’d opened this branch of the company, I’d never once bothered to show up to these meetings. But today was different—for more reasons than one.

Sally, my HR nemesis, entered the room and offered me a warm smile for once, probably because I hadn’t fired my new assistant yet. But as she greeted me, my peripheral vision snagged on the one person I’d been waiting to see.

Piper was walking into the room, her shoulders hitched high around her ears as she fidgeted with the papers in her arms. Today she was wearing one of her usual staid outfits—a white button-down shirt with a sensible olive skirt—and her wild hair was pulled into a tight bun at the nape of her neck.

It didn’t bode well for what I was hoping she had to tell me, but after I extended a cheerful “good morning” to Judy from Human Resources, I opened my computer and got down to business.

With the clearing of her throat, Judy started the meeting, and I listened quietly and intently until someone from the finance department got up and launched into a diatribe at the end of the table.

Then, opening the messenger on my computer, I typed out:

J Dane: Good morning





For a long moment there was no answer, and then three little dots appeared, letting me know someone had seen my message and was responding to it. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, studying as she typed and deleted and then typed and deleted again before finally sending:

P Daniels: Good morning.





J Dane: Are these meetings always so boring?





P Daniels: Wouldn’t you have to be paying attention to know they were boring?





I smirked.

J Dane: Good point





P Daniels: What are you doing here?





J Dane: It was on my calendar. You ought to check yours, by the by.





P Daniels: I saw it.





I blinked at my screen and then glanced over to see her adjusting her screen nervously. The girl from finance sat down, and when Judy began to speak again, I dived back into my mission.

J Dane: And what do you think?





P Daniels: People can see my computer, you know.





J Dane: And seeing what I have to say to you would be the most exciting thing that’s happened to any of them all week.





P Daniels: Are you always so cocky?





J Dane: Yes. Are you always going to avoid my questions?





I glanced over and caught sight of a pretty pink blush spreading over her cheeks.

P Daniels: This isn’t the time or place.





J Dane: I like that blush. It reminds me of the way you look after I’ve finished fucking you.





I shot a surreptitious glance her way and nearly grinned as she fumbled frantically at her keyboard.

P Daniels signed off.





I cleared my throat to choke back my chuckle, and Judy looked over at me, startled.

“Mr. Dane?” she asked.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if I might borrow my assistant? Something very important has just come up.”