Page 26 of My Forbidden Boss

So, there I was, trapped in a conference room with hardly a face in sight that had ever crossed my path. Brandon was standing somewhere around the table, presumably right behind wherever his boss had chosen his chair. I had yet to catch a glimpse of either one of them.

The table wasn’t tiny by any means but definitely made it hard to look around since each division leader sat huddled close to his or her neighbor.

Their subordinates, my counterparts from all across the company, were even more obstructing on either side of me, walling me in with their shoulders as they stood and watched, waiting. I seemed destined to successfully join them, but blindly. Shadowed beneath even those of average height and finding myself all but invisible within their ranks, I continued my fight to find some kind of window between the picket line of heads through which I might see. However, those on either side of me remained uncooperative. Whether by ignorance, apathy, or some unknown combination thereof, my struggle showed no promise of success worth holding my breath for.

No matter how hard I strained, a clear view of the podium at the table’s head refused to appear and, although the current vacancy at the lectern persisted, I knew that wouldn’t be the case for much longer.

A hush washed over the gathering, but I could only guess as to the cause. It wasn’t long before I heard a voice from far to my left, opposite of where the podium presumably still stood.

“Ladies and gentlemen… Hey, everybody, I just got a message from Tony. He’s on his way down now, so let’s all finish settling in.”

The guy to my right stepped back to stifle a sneeze, and I took my chance, edging sideways just enough such that I could see between Alice’s chair and that of the man’s beside her.

I wondered who Tony was but didn’t have to wait long for the answer to walk through the conference room’s double doors. It was the owner’s secretary, whom I had already met, and leading the way into the meeting in front of him was none other than Hollis.

I eyed him through the gap in the chairs, not noticing that I instinctively reached up and checked my hair.

He looked tired as he walked in but started to beam handsomely as he approached his place at the podium and glanced down the table at his circle of managers. When he spoke, energy instantly filled the room where none had been felt before. It sent a shiver from my neck, down my spine, and through my hips.

“Well, hello, hello! What’s up, everybody? Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve been with you for one of these. It feels like ages! Oh, it’s okay. I know you missed me. I’m sure that you were all lost without me… Let me guess: you’ve all just been sitting here, twiddling your thumbs and counting the minutes until I finally came back?”

He snickered jokingly and looked around the room, stopping to point directly at the man in the chair right next to me, beside Alice. I shrunk, thinking that Hollis was looking at me.

His voice boomed over the room. “Look at Dan. He’s thinking, “Yeah, right, kid. Keep dreaming.”

Everyone chuckled, consumed by his energetic boyishness. I smiled inwardly for a moment feeling like I was the only one in the room.

“Oh, come on! Look at that face! I’m onto you, Dan.” Hollis turned to the group beside him and playfully whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. “You know it’s true. You saw the way he was eyeballing me. He’s like, “Oh, great… He’s back. Why can’t he just go back to playing in his office so that we can keep doing our jobs?”

More laughs followed as Hollis paced from one side of the table to the other, straying from where I could see him but making more jokes all the while.

When he did come back into view, he was standing behind the podium.

Hollis sighed, smiling. “It is so good to finally be back here with you guys. I can’t even begin to describe how much I’ve missed it. I know that you all have been just fine without me; in fact, Dan’s probably right. It would take a while to run the numbers. Still, without me around to cause a commotion and keep everybody distracted, I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys really can do a better job all by yourselves.”

He turned and looked sideways down the table, eyeing all of us slyly. Hollis whispered loudly to us as if sharing his darkest secret across a busy courtyard or a packed ballroom.

“And that’s why I will never take us public, no matter what. I might not be as smart as any of you, but I ain’t no dummy, neither. Look at Dan, licking his chops. Danger Dan… He’d have the whole mutiny all orchestrated before I even knew what was going on. I missed picking on you, Dan… But no! There will be no mutiny! Sorry, Dan, but I am here to stay, for better or worse, so you’d better start getting used to it again. Plus, you all know you’d get bored without me.”

He paused, smiling and waiting for the laughter to subside.

“That’s right, I’m tired of being sealed up there by myself. I can’t take it anymore. I already talked previously about this with those seated, but today is the day that it all starts. I don’t care how much catch-up I’ll have to play at night. I’m recruiting myself back onto the team. From now on, when you all are here, I’ll be here, too. Well… in one way or another. We’ll see. I was thinking maybe of doing some kind of rotation? What do you guys think about that? Take a month with each department, work with you and your teams on whatever’s cooking at the time, then switch to the next group just before I start to get on everybody’s nerves? Yeah? Alright, cool. That’s good because, if you guys said, ‘no,’ and I had to go back to buying things in my office day in and out for the company! I swear I’m just going to start buying sports teams… or theme parks… maybe a spaceship…”

He was so cocky. You could just tell that Hollis knew exactly how cool and charismatic he could be. It was annoying but not contrived. I peeked up the table and watched him, feeling curious. He was loud and conceited but honest and genuine. He actually did look relieved to be there, although I couldn’t understand why. Plus, his warmth with everyone was just simply magnetic. It was like everyone just telepathically elected him to be the center of attention when he walked into the room. It was so strange, feeling myself seethe and hate him, completely infuriated by his flippancy toward money, the obvious arrogance in every step he took, and yet, how hard it was to look away from him. He was like the boy next door… that is, if ‘next door’ was Olympus and ‘the boy’ had the body of a Greek god. The warmth he showed in certain moments when it seemed nobody else was listening… the way he always reverted back to a compliment… the strange smoothness and calming grace with which he effortlessly moved around, despite being endowed with the muscles of an action figure.

I couldn’t tell which I wanted to do more – punch him or jump his bones. Probably both.

Watching Hollis at the front of the room, my imagination took hold. It wasn’t long before my mind had combined the two possibilities… resulting in a quick series of mental images sending flashes through my mind, a heart-throbbing mix of tender touching, kissing in each other's arms… then scenes of dirty biting and heavy slaps, enraging him until he lashes out and takes control, wrestling me helpless to the ground and rolling on top of me, pinning me down and forcing…

I froze. Snapping back to reality for just a moment, I found myself staring up at Hollis through the crowd, and him staring straight back at me, that stupid fucking smile already on his lips, as if leering.I knew you would come around.

I gasped and instantly started grappling with a wave of social anxiety, panicking and embarrassed while trying to right myself and take stock of the situation at large. I was feverish, more flushed than if I’d run ten miles.

It was the perfect storm. First, my thoughts of us together lit a fire within me, warming my blood and quickening my pulse, sending hotness and hormones rushing throughout my petite body. Then, all at once, I was blushing from embarrassment but furious because of that damn smirk.

I glanced up when again, I heard Hollis’ voice addressing the meeting. To my dismay and delight, he was still looking straight at me. His eyes locked on mine without a shred of being sorry about it. His smile only grew, but before his speech to everyone else was over, he mercifully looked away.

“Alright, everyone. That’s, uh… That’s all the news I’ve got. Oh! Wait. Hold on… Yeah. Thanks, Tony.”

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