Page 14 of Don't Quit the Day Job

"I got a job." My voice is still low.

"That's amazing! Congratulations, Lila. Wow. That was fast." She sounds more shocked than I feel. "Doing what, exactly?" she asks nervously, and I'm sure she's wondering if I'm somehow a paid escort or something and didn't realize it.

"It's at a law firm, but I kind of fucked up already."

"What do you mean you kind of fucked up? How can you fuck up in a couple of hours?" She pauses. "And what do you mean at a law firm? What are you doing at a law firm?"

"I'm an assistant to one of the partners." I say quickly. "But that's not how I fucked up."

"How did you fuck up, Lila?"

"I kind of asked my boss if he wanted to get into a dominant-submissive relationship with me.” I know I’m being overdramatic. The conversation hadn’t exactly gone that way, but in my brain it had been that bad.

"You did not." She screeches. "Oh my gosh, no way."

"I totally did. Well, I didn’t say those words exactly, but I may or may not have made the point to ensure he knew I wasn't that kind of woman, I said that I wasn't interested in taking any offers for one night." I groan as the memories hit me. I can still picture the smug look on Max's handsome face as we’d spoken.

"Lila, what is going on? Did he offer you something to sleep with him for one night? Is that why he gave you the job?"

"He didn't offer me anything." I say quickly, "I just...he gets me so flustered.” The fact of the matter is that the conversation hadn’t been as bad as I was remembering, but…

"What do you mean he gets you flustered?" Zara sounds bemused. "Is this someone we know? Oh my gosh. You're not working for Hank, are you?" She says his name distastefully and I can't help but giggle. Hank is a guy I kind of went on a couple of dates with and made out with a couple of times. He's an actor that I met when we starred in a play together. He was extremely condescending to me and Zara had hated him. I hadn't really liked him that much either, but I thought if the play took off, well, it would be kind of cool if we were together. I had been wrong on all accounts. Being with him hadn't been cool and the play had been a dud. In fact, it had been canceled within a week.

"Lila." Zara sounds worried. "Please tell me you haven't let that weasel, Hank, worm his way back into your life."

"It's not Hank. His name is Max. Max Spector."

"Max?" she says slowly. "So you're working for an attorney named Max?" She pauses. "He's got you flustered and may or may not have offered you money to be his sub?"

"He didn't offer me anything." I groan. "Let's just say, I got caught up in a comment he made and maybe I overreacted and had verbal diarrhea, but trust me when I say, he's not into me like that. To be quite honest, I'm not even sure why he hired me."

"You're his assistant right? You didn't get hired as an attorney or anything."

"No! Of course not." I giggle. "Though, could you imagine how much money I'd be making? I'd be a baller, shot caller."

"Thank God for that. I didn't want to have to bail you out of jail for fraud. I know how you like to act sometimes, and I wasn't sure if you pretended you were an attorney to get a job. I could just picture you on the news and me standing by your side and?—"

"My gosh, you have an overactive imagination, Zara," I say, though her concern isn't far from the truth. Max had heard me going on about being the best paralegal in The City. Though, he knew those had been only words from a script. "But no, I'm just his personal assistant. I'm not even his legal secretary or paralegal because I told him I don't really have experience and my number one concern in life is to be an actress."

There's silence on the other side of the phone. "And he hired you after hearing all that?"

"I know," I say. "I'm kind of in disbelief as well. That's why I said I'm not interested in being his submissive or signing any nondisclosure agreement for any sort of kinky goings-on. I don't really know why he hired me."

"You sure he's not trying to get into your pants?"

"No, but I doubt he'd need to hire me to try and get some. He's really good looking. Like, super tall, big blue amazing eyes that you could just take a deep dive and drown in. He has this dark blond silky hair that only models have. And he's tan and he's fit and...oh my gosh, I should quit, shouldn't I?" My stomach churns as I realize that I'm extremely attracted to Max Spector. He's an arrogant asshole, but there's also a spark to him that intrigues me.

"Well, you literally just got the job," she says. "So I don't even know if you have to quit. You can just not go back if you think there is more than a job offer going on here."

My heart thuds at the thought of never seeing Max again. "But I want to go back. I even met a really cool girl and she's most probably going to be working there as well."

"How did you meet a cool girl already?"

"Skye is her name and she was going to the audition, but she decided she didn't want to audition either because she also needed money. So she came with me to the law firm and she's also got me a weekend job so I don't even have to work at the law firm that long, even though I'll be dancing and popping out of cakes maybe, but—" I take a deep breath as the words tumble out of my mouth incoherently.

"Slow down, Lila. I have no idea what you're talking about. You're going to be popping out of cakes? For the law firm? Are you sure this is a real firm?"

"No," I say slowly. "My new friend Skye told me about another job she can help me to get. She works bachelor parties on the weekends and?—"

---