Page 19 of Sending Nudes to My Boss

“To her, thin and beautiful are the same thing. Can’t be beautiful if you aren’t thin, too.”

“That’s bullshit,” I growl.

This earns me an appreciative, glowing expression from Dot. Damn, she’s beautiful. Beautiful andnot-thin, at the same time.It’s how I like her, it’s how she’s always been. Why would I want some other version of Dot when she is perfect how she is?

“Well, now you know why I don’t like my real name. Or my grandma,” she laughs.

“Or your dad.”

“Dad never bothered me about my weight,” she shakes her head. “I’m not happy with him for other reasons. Long story short, he cheats on my mom.”

“Cheats? As in, he’s currently cheating?”

“He’s been having affairs for their whole marriage, basically,” she says. “And my mom knows about it and just…stays.”

“That’s horrible.”

“It is. It’s horrible. And complicated. I don’t like to talk about it much. I love my mom, and part of loving her and being in her life is accepting that I can’t control what she chooses to do. Even if her choices make her unhappy. But my dad?”

Dot frowns.

“It doesn’t bother me as much as it bothers my brother, Darren. But sometimes it drives me insane. Just, certain times. Like we’ll be at Christmas, and our dad will be sitting at the end of the table in a sweater my mom knitted for him twenty years ago, holding a glass of eggnog, cracking jokes and pretending he’s this awesome husband…and I want to just shout in his face that it’s all fake. It’s all pretend.”

“It’s hard to hold back feelings like that,” I say. “And it doesn’t feel natural to pretend things are normal. Especially for someone as direct as you are, Dot.”

Dot clears her throat.

“Sorry. Let’s talk about something else,” she says tightly. “This isn’t my favorite subject. You were asking about the day we met?”

“Yeah. Do you remember? Be honest.”

“I remember that day like a movie,” she admits. “It was the first time I saw your face. I wasn’t expecting you to be so damn good looking.”

This information sends a thrill through my body. It travels downward, straight to my cock, which stiffens at the news that Dot was also attracted to me as soon as we met.

“I remember what you were wearing, and I remember what you said to me because it was so…so sexy. I couldn’t tell if you were flirting with me or what, but it was a turn on.”

“What did I say?” I ask her.

I need to know this information like I need oxygen.

“You asked some normal interview questions. And then…you asked if I’m a good student,” she smiles. “And I said yes. And so I asked you if you’re a good teacher. And you said that you can be, but only if a student is motivated.”

She looks at me.

“Motivated,” she repeats. “It was like you were daring me to prove myself to you, or something. And it worked. I wanted to please you and impress you after that. I wanted that job so bad, and when I started, I was so damn motivated.”

“Not anymore?” I ask her.

“I always aim to do good work,” she says. “But that kind of motivation? I kind of tried to push it away. I was so obsessed with you. I was desperate for you to notice me on some kind of deeper level. I wanted you towantme, not just approve of my work. But then I realized this was a crazy fantasy, and that it wouldn’t happen in a million years.”

“Because you thought I had a girlfriend?” I ask her.

“No. Also because you weren’t attracted to me.”

Her eyes flutter downward.

“I was always attracted to you,” I say urgently. “What we did today in my office is something I’ve been fantasizing about for years.”

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