LAUREL
This isn’t the first encounter of ours, but definitely the most heated. Sometimes, lust can take over our bodies and make us do stupid things. In his office, our bodies wanted to keep going, but our minds knew it was wrong. His employees are sitting outside, and I’m his assistant. The last thing I want is for people to think I only have this job because I’m sleeping with my boss.
Instead of being an adult about it for the next couple of hours, he makes it obvious that he is avoiding me. I hate that he makes me feel insecure. I’m an attractive woman. Any man would be delighted to sleep with me, but why does it have to Hudson? I should have never put myself in this position.
Does he regret our office session? I don’t. If he was anyone else besides my boss, I would have let him take me right there-- but he is. It complicates things on a whole other level for both of us and I need this job. It’s not like there are hundreds of companies willing to pay their secretaries upwards of sixty grand a year. Hudson is. So, I need to be careful about this.
It’s not just all in my head. That proves that he does like me. Even if he doesn’t want to admit it. Sure, Lorelai asked me to get under his skin, but now, after getting to know him, I just want him to smile. He seems so lonely, and he doesn’t have to be. If he would just let someone in, then maybe things would be different.
When did I become so emotionally invested in Hudson? I’ve let my heart open up to him, and I shouldn’t have. He is never going to let down his walls for me. From the beginning, he has tried to push me away several times and I’ve just been coming right back, but it might be time to back up. I can be just his assistant and nothing else. I can overlook the undeniable attraction between us. If he can’t see what’s right in front of him, then he’s not for me.
Maybe him preventing us from going any further is for the best. Did we really want to have sex in his office at work? Who wants to be that cliché?
Hudson, instead of talking to me like an adult about the situation, is a coward and won’t stay near me for more than a couple of seconds until a box arrives with a desk inside. Instead of trying to put it together myself, I urge a few men from the office to help me. The desk is beautiful once put together. It’s an L-shaped desk in cherry oak and has multiple drawers to arrange stuff in. Another box contains a brand-new state-of-the-art phone. This one can handle up to twenty incoming calls being placed on hold. Did he plan on getting busier?
A couple of calls come in, and then they keep flooding in. Since when are we so busy at once? I page Hudson, but get no answer. So one-by-one, I put them on hold and take messages. Only it didn’t stop. For the next two hours, my phone is blowing up, but most of them aren’t there when I return to take a message. Finally, getting irritated, I throw my new phone on the floor and stomp on it.
Hudson comes out of his office. Clutching his phone and smiling, he says, “Wow, this is how you treat company property?”
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I’m putting this up on my page.” He offers me a dirty look.
Fuck. He knew. He knew it was me who made his profiles. I was fired, for sure.
“I’ll even send it to my mom, so she can see how her star employee is doing.”
Why am I so reckless?
“Please, don’t. I’m sorry. I just got flustered by so many calls coming in. I just wanted the ringing to stop.”
Hudson is laughing. Since when did he laugh? About anything? That’s a breakthrough his mom will want to hear about tonight. It didn’t keep me from being pissed. He played me. Like a fool. “You messed with the wrong girl. Watch.”
He laughs as I walk away with my purse and leave the office.
* * *
The next day,I come in like nothing had ever happened. When he struts in, I smile brightly and offer him his morning coffee. I sit down at my desk and wait for his first sip.
“Ew—What the fuck? Laurel! What the hell did you put in my coffee?” he yells frantically.
“No big deal, sir. I just put B-12 in there. It will just give you energy. It will help you get through your hectic day.”
The next day, I film him chowing down on a burger and fries. However, I didn’t realize he caught me in the act. I try to upload it before he gets to me. I take off, not thinking he would run after me, but he does. He ambushes me in the break room and sternly tells me to delete the video. “Not a chance, boss.”
He looms over me, and I‘m bent over so he can’t get around me to get the phone. “Okay, how about this? I’ll delete my video of you, if you do the same?”
Candidly, that is a clever idea. If he deletes that video, he can’t ever use it to get me fired.
“What are you doing?” Lorelai says from across the room, a cheery smile on her face.
“Nothing, Mom. I’ve got to get back to work,” he says, placing a quick kiss on her cheek as he passes her.
What happens next is weird. She didn’t say a word to me, just flashes me a smile and walks out.
I head back to my desk to talk to him, but his door is closed. Suddenly, a woman is practically on top of me. “Can I see Hudson?”
This woman is stunning, composed, every hair in place. Jealousy takes over because I didn’t want her anywhere near Hudson. Her hourglass figure makes me want to strangle her. However, when I see Hudson’s face as he recognizes her, all I see is disgust.