Page 31 of Tempt the Boss

“Hear me out, guys. I know why the rule is in place. Hell, I was a champion for the rule when we first formed the board. It helps protect everyone from sexual assault allegations. But the thing is, sometimes when you work with people, you fall for them. Putting a rule in place to stop true love from prospering is unfair.”

“You have power over authors, Chris,” says Monica reasonably. “It’s inherently an imbalanced relationship. We can’t just have you dating a bunch of women willy-nilly. They could sue us. Think of the #MeToo movement, and the revolution that’s caused. Public opinion isn’t in your favor.”

I shake my head. “I don’t want to date a bunch of women. I want her, specifically. And there’s no power dynamic. I am willing to sign an addendum to her contract that says I will be completely hands-off in any books Ali does for us. I won’t have any say in her work.”

Steven contemplates this. “We can arrange for that, but we don’t have to change the entire policy for you.”

“Actually, Steven,” Monica pipes up, idly twisting her pen, “Chris has a point. Look at his updated policy. It says that relationships within departments have to be reported to HR. No relationships with your direct supervisor. And relationships between departments are fine and don’t need to be reported. It makes sense. Allowing people to date isn’t going to cause rampant assault. Hell, half the employees are already dating under the table,” she adds wryly. “They’re just terrified of being caught.”

I laugh. She’s right. There’s at least one couple in my office that I know of. I’ve kept their secret because I care about them. If this new policy passes the board, then they won’t have to hide their relationship anymore.

“Exactly,” I say smoothly. “It’s not just about me. We want to foster a safe and open workplace. If we change the policy and it goes haywire, we can revisit the issue. I think we should give it a shot though.”

Steven sighs. “Okay fine. Everyone take a look at Chris’s proposed policy change.”

The group flips to the page containing my proposal. Jenny and I put a lot of thought into it. We also talked with legal to make sure it wasn’t against any of our current policies.

“I don’t see anything wrong with this,” Monica says reasonably, glancing at the rest of the group. “It’s well thought out and seems on par with the usual policies you’d find in a workplace like ours.”

Steven reads the whole thing through. “It looks good. We’ll have to get legal to sign off on it officially though,” he says, before staring at me pointedly. “Although it looks like you’ve already run it by them?”

I shrug, not wanting to show my hand. “Maybe a little. What do you say?”

Steven sighs again.

“All those in favor of Chris’ proposed change to the dating rule, say ‘aye.’”

All of the board members say ‘aye.’

I can barely contain my excitement. This meeting went better than I expected. Of course, I’d hoped the board would go for it, but I wasn’t sure. Immediately, I want out of there. I need to go to her. Jenny and I excuse ourselves, and as soon as the door closes, my editor turns to me with excitement.

“OMG I’m going to go call Ali and tell her she’s in!” Jenny says.

“Wait,” I say, grabbing her arm before she can run off. “Can I tell her?”

Jenny smiles knowingly. “Sure boss. I’ll call her agent. You can tell Ali yourself.”

“Hold on a sec. I need her address.”

Jenny laughs. “I have it at my desk. Let me call Darla and make sure Ali will be home, too. Because doesn’t she live out in the burbs? That’s quite a drive.”

Jenny and I practically run to her desk. She dials Darla’s number while I key Ali’s address into my phone.

“Hi Darla, it’s Jenny from Carmichael Publishing,” Jenny burbles into the receiver. “I’m well. How are you?” Jenny waits for Darla to respond and then says, “Listen, the board meeting went great. They’ve agreed to let Ali stay on as an author.”

I hear Darla’s excited scream through the phone. Smiling, Jenny pulls it away from her ear. “Yeah, we’re really excited, too. There’s something else. The board has revised the company dating policy.” Darla screams again, making me smile. “Yeah, exactly. We were just wondering if Ali is home? Chris wants to tell her the good news himself. In person, if you get what I mean.”

Darla voice returns to a normal decibel because I can no longer hear her. Jenny says “okay” a few times and then they hang up.

“Good news. Darla says Ali is working at home today, so she should be there.”

I high-five my editor. “Thank you so much. I’m going to rock her world.”

Jenny’s face scrunches. “TMI, boss. See you tomorrow.”

“Later,” I say with a wink.

I call my driver and ask him to meet me out front as I head to the elevator. I keep a driver on call in case the weather sucks, or if I have to go to a meeting that’s more than a mile away. The driver programs the address into his GPS and says he’ll meet me out front in five minutes.

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