Page 11 of Boss On Notice
I’m trapped in an odd but brief moment. I hear loud rumbling in my head. Oh no…I’ve been snoring, and snoring loudly. I slowly start to remember what happened before I fell asleep. I drank more mimosas and ate a few more biscuits, stretching my stomach to its limit. I usually don’t have such a robust appetite but there’s something about what’s happening in my life at this very moment that’s making me hungrier and thirstier than usual. However, while I ate and drank, Orion asked me a gang of questions.
“Where are you from, Lilly?”
I said, “I told you many times, even during our interview.” Even though Hercules was my first interview for the job and had already hired me, Orion had to approve me. He didn’t ask many questions, but where I’m from was one of the few he asked.
“But that was four and half years ago,” he said.
“But what about the other many times I told you where I’m from—you’re failing to address that part of my answer.”
He stroked his chin again. He does that a lot. He’s a chin stroker. “Touché, Lilly.”
A thrill of excitement raced through me. I had won the argument. I had never so easily won an argument against him. It felt…I can’t remember how it felt, but it wasn’t bad.
Then he asked my age. It would’ve been too exhausting to go back and forth with him about a question my boss, who works across from me every day, should already know. Plus, I’ve also told him my age on several occasions. Goodness, does he ever listen to me?
I said I was twenty-nine. He said I was young. I told him that was a matter of perspective. “Plus, you’re not that much older.”
He narrowed an eye as if he was challenging me. “How old am I?”
Only he would think what he asked was akin to a trick question on the SATs. “You turned thirty-three on May 11.”
His eyebrows shot up as he nodded, impressed. “What do you do on weekends?”
I think it was the mimosas because I didn’t second-guess my answer. “I run your errands. I field your calls. I finish your reports. I make sure we don’t end up in the basement, which is where you will land on your next fall from glory.”
Ignoring my answer, he rapid-fired, “Why don’t you have a boyfriend, Lilly?”
His question took me by surprise, which often makes my tongue feel thick, but at that moment, my tongue and entire body felt looser than ever. “Is a boyfriend a need?”
Orion pulled down the corners of his mouth while nodding as if he was pondering an answer to my question. Instead of answering me, he asked if I liked to travel.
I remember wanting to ask, “When do you ever give me time to do that?” But instead, I said, “What is this? A test?”
Orion said he was trying to get to know me better so that he could be a better boss. That’s when I found my old friend, Miss Tongue-tied. I knew right then and there that he had indeed read my letter. Before I could really make him confess that truth, Pippa entered the cabin, and stopping so close to his shoulder that her body made contact, she asked if she should prepare the bed for him. She gazed at him suggestively. In his eyes I could see him pondering her request. For some reason I felt slighted. And then I felt uncomfortable about feeling slighted. I shouldn’t have cared. I didn’t want to care.
“Not today,” Orion had said in his charming voice used for mercifully letting down his lovers.
But the flight attendant wouldn’t go away. She mentioned how she’ll be in town until he flies back to New York on Sunday evening. She said there will be a party tonight and named people who will be there. He mentioned tonight’s wedding festivities but said he might stop by afterward. Then she eased him into another topic, which made me close my eyes and turn to face the window. Their voices faded into the distance. I’m certain I heard Orion call my name, but I didn’t want to respond as I succumbed to way too many mimosas and a full belly and drifted off to sleep.
However, Orion has called my name again. The airplane is still and quiet. We’ve landed. I blink open my heavy eyelids, realizing that my seat is reclined and a cozy blanket has been spread over me.
“Welcome back to life,” Orion says, flashing his toothy smile.
* * *
I don’t thinkwe’ve ever touched bodies like this. With his arm around me, he’s holding me close. There’s no chance that I will fall. I am so embarrassed that Orion has to help me down the ramp. Thank God a car is waiting nearby to whisk us away. I don’t like being this close to him. His arms and body are too strong and he smells too good.
“Gosh, there’s so much sunlight in Las Vegas,” I say, squinting at the cluster of hotels and casinos rising in the distance. Then I look up. The sun is practically overhead, so it must be around noon.
“Or you’re seeing the effects of six mimosas,” Orion says with a hearty laugh.
We reach the last step and I turn to glance at him. Our gazes connect. My lips twitch. I think they want to kiss him.
Get away from him, Lilly.
I try to step away from him, but my legs are too wobbly. Soon enough, Orion is helping me into the back seat. As soon as he closes me in, I rummage through my purse, find my sunglasses, and then put them on.
There…That’s better. I let my head float back against the seat and rest it.What’s taking him so long?I open one eye and turn to see him chewing the fat with Pippa. I groan, unable to look away from them. Orion is never going to change. She’s gesturing a lot more than he is. Her face is screwed up as if she’s giving him a piece of her mind. I wish I could say I’ve never witnessed one of his ladies tearing into our office and hurling every derogative name in the book at him. I always bow out of the room to give them privacy. When I return, Orion and I have a funny way of continuing with our day as if the incident never occurred. Finally, I face forward, close my eyes, and wait for whatever’s going on between them to end.
