Page 45 of Boss

"No," she lied. Without warning, Daniel grabbed her by the face, and kissed her. Shocked she didn’t move, she froze. The kiss went deeper, and it lasted longer than it should have. She turned face away. He let go of her face and stepped back. “What the hell is that?” she asked.

“I don’t know why...”

“Don’t you ever do that again.”

“So you kiss him, but you can’t kiss me?” he asked. She opened her car door and got inside. She slammed it. He beat against her window. She could hear him through the pane protest her leaving him.

“I care about you,” she heard him shout.

She shook her head. “Who asked you too.”

15.

One Week Later -

“So I come back and the first thing I hear is that my top Program manager, is now the Senior Operations Director over the Campos Basin drilling project?” Reese said with a sly smile.

Kassidy glanced up to her boss and smiled. “I left you a message.”

Reese chuckled. She gripped the top edge of the cubicle with her left hand, and dropped her right hand on her hip. She leaned in so only Kassidy could hear her. The long silver pearls Reese wore to accessorize her blue business suit swayed from her neck. And her expensive designer perfume made Kassidy’s nostrils itch with the urge to sneeze. Strong smells, good or bad, always made Kassidy nauseous.

“How did you manage that?” Reese asked, and her playful smile faded from her lips. She could see the gleam of anger in her eyes. While Reese was away, Kassidy took the report she was working on for her and submitted it to Tarek Marshall. It was supposed to be Reese's proposal. But Kassidy was tired of sitting on the sidelines and being ignored by Tarek. She needed to get his attention.

“Reese, I can explain.”

“Oh, please do. I have two Sr. PM's assigned to that project. He pulled them and gave all the work to you. So now you can handle the job all by yourself?”

“No. I can't. I could use your help.”

“Me? Not me? You're Ms. Big now. Hell you aren’t even under me anymore. He has you reporting directly to him again.”

“That wasn’t my plan.”

“It's really shitty of you to do this when I was gone Angela. I took you in under my wing. I taught you the ropes around here. I was going to promote you. But this move here honey. You can forget it. You're on your own.”

“Reese I'm sorry. Okay? Please. I took a chance and it paid off. But not because I wanted to bring you down. You taught me to go for what I wanted. That's what I did. I went for it.”

Reese glared.

Kassidy put on a sweet smile. “I am sorry.”

When Reese didn't respond, Kassidy snatched up her folders and walked out of her cubicle. She headed for the copy room. If someone was in there Reese would not unleash her rage in front of other people. She was a master at keeping her composure. But she was wrong. Reese was far from done with her.

“Hi, Mary, can you give us a minute please,” Reese asked the business analyst shredding her documents in the large blue machine.

“Sure Ms. Johnson,” Mary said and walked out.

Kassidy rolled her eyes, and started copying her power point deck. Reese closed the door. She slammed the copier cover down and forced Kassidy to look at her.

“Here’s the deal Angela. If you are going to be making these moves, you have to tell me first. I shouldn’t be blindsided.”

“Agreed,” Kassidy responded.

“The project in South America is huge now. Tarek Marshall is keeping a lot of the executives, including his brothers in the dark. He pulled you in because you're new and have no allegiances.”

Kassidy frowned. “I'm listening.”

"I know how to make this a success. I can get those agile teams churning everything out for you and make your deadlines. But you are going to have to give me information. Any and everything you learn from Tarek and his motivations.”

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