I see a guy with red hair waiting by the lifts and it surprises me that I’m not the first person here. He has his back to me but he’s vaguely familiar. The lift opens and he steps inside, and when he turns around I’m pretty sure I’ve fucked him before. In my office, if I remember correctly.
I follow him inside and he offers a nervous smile before staring down at his feet. I chew on the corner of my lip, trying to remember his name, but it’s nowhere to be found. “How are you with emails?” The question rolls off my tongue without my permission.
He looks up at me with a confused expression and my eyes zoom in on his I.D. badge. Edward Walsh. I don’t recognise the name and decide I probably wasn’t interested enough to ask when I bent him over my desk.
“Um…” He draws his eyebrows together. “I know how to email. Doesn’t everybody?”
Straightening my tie, I look straight ahead, refusing eye-contact with him. “Good. You’re my PA for the rest of the day.”
“Um…”
“Is that a problem?”
“N-no,” he stutters.
I get the feeling I’m intimidating him. I like that. It means he’ll do whatever I ask. “Be in my office in twenty minutes.”
The doors open on the marketing floor and Edward steps out without looking back. I carry on up to the top floor and make my way straight to my desk where I pull up my emails and reply to my brother. I type out an insincere apology, tell him I’ve been busy securing the new contract, and that I’ll visit him and his family soon. I’ve been saying that for two months now and it makes me sigh when I hit send, knowing I can’t put it off much longer.
Edward’s knock sounds on my door fifteen minutes later. He’s early. Again, I like that.
“Come in,” I call, proffering my hand towards the leather chair on the opposite side of my walnut desk when he enters. “Here are Helen’s access codes,” I say, sliding a brown document pouch over to him. “I need you to draw up an email and circulate it to every department head right away. You’ll find instructions from me in Helen’s inbox.”
“Okay,” he mutters, running a finger along the inside of his collar. He’s flustered, causing a rush of heat to gather around his neck.
I let my eyes roam down his body and they hover over the bulge in his crotch. He must notice because he shifts nervously in his seat, clearing his throat. If he performs well today, I might just thank him with a little performance of my own later.
“Run along,” I say with a shoo of my hand. I’m a patronising arsehole but I love how easy it is to make this guy blush.
Scooping the document wallet from the desk, Edward stands and scurries out of the room. My dick is already twitching at the thought of being buried in his tight little arse as I watch him walk away, and I hope the day passes quickly so I can reward him.
Several hours later my meeting plays out pretty much like I expected. I see a few anxious faces and hear some opposition from people unwilling to move departments. I need to find out where I stand legally before I can tell them to either suck it up or resign so, after dismissing my team, I tell Edward to arrange an appointment with my solicitor and a union rep.
He’s done well today. He’s impressed me repeatedly, especially with the PowerPoint presentation he created for the meeting without being asked. His initiative definitely deserves praise, and as I hand him my Dictaphone containing letters I need typing up, I brush my hand against his arse in a way that can be explained as accidental if I see any hint of a sexual harassment complaint flicker in his eyes. When he bites his lip, I take it as a green light and give him a taste of what’s to come, moulding my palm to his arse cheek and squeezing firmly.
My PA’s office is adjoined to mine, separated by a glass wall with vertical blinds. I’ve left them open today to keep an eye on Edward, and a little while later, I’m on the phone to HR dealing with the first of likely many complaints about today’s announcement, when, for the first time in my life, my breath catches in my throat.
“I’ll call you back,” I say into the receiver, slamming it down without waiting for a reply.
He’s here. The guy responsible for massacring one of my favourite Stereophonics tracks. The guy who didn’t utter a single word while I wanked him off against a bathroom wall. The guy I can’t get out of my damn mind. The guy whose eyes chipped the iron walls of my soul. He’s here. In Edward’s office, talking to him like he knows him.
Does he work for me? I think, just as my phone starts ringing. Edward has his phone against his ear so I suspect it’s him. “Yes?”
“I have a contract here for JD Simmons. Shall I bring it through now?”
“You have work to do. Send in your friend.” As soon as I finish speaking I wonder why I’ve said it. I want to see this man again and it confuses me.
I watch with intrigue as Edward passes on my message and the guy I can’t forget shrugs before strolling over to the shared door between our offices, clearly unaware of who he’s about to meet. His disinterested gaze disappears the moment he lifts his head and his eyes lock onto my face.
For a moment, he just stares, his stubbled jaw slightly agape, and all I can think about is driving my tongue into the gap between his lips.
“I, um, I was told to give this to you,” he says, his voice low, barely there. He hands me a folder and I hold it between my fingers, lingering for just a second, connecting me to him. “Apparently the author only deals with you.”