Page 53 of My Forbidden Boss

He sighed but smiled in good humor.

“I said…”

I cut in as calmly and casually as I possibly could.

“I know what you said. I just think it’s too bad, that’s all. I really thought you were somebody that I could trust.”

Not for the first time, Hollis obviously had no idea what I meant.

“Um… What do you mean, Tisha?”

I shrugged. “I just assumed that you were one of those people, one of those men, who kept their word. You know, who didn’t wash out on the agreements they made or go back on their oaths or deals or whatever. It’s a shame, that’s all. I guess I was wrong about you.”

He quickly rose to his own defense, irritably, but understandably so, all things considered.

“Now hold on, Tisha! What’s all this about? I know we had our little competition thing, but we were getting on just fine before all that. At least I thought so. How have I not kept my word?”

Again, I shrugged, hardly acting interested.

“Well, Mr. Fleming, you are correct. We did have ourselves a little competition and, as far as I can remember, I thought we had agreed that the winner of the said competition was the one who would decide the certain things that we wagered on. In fact, I seem to recall us even shaking on it.”

Hollis looked lost, wondering where I was heading. “Yeah… so…?”

I stood and took the decanter from the table, swirling the length of my dress over my legs as I approached him at his seat.

“May I?”

He nodded as I indicated his glass. I poured him an even seven and a half ounces with fluid precision, never letting a single drop escape to the tabletop below.

I turned back to my seat, filling my own glass in an identical fashion.

I sat, then locked eyes with him, feeling amused. “So, I was under the impression that I would be the one deciding those things that we talked about. I was the winner, wasn’t I?”

“Yeah, but…”

I broke in, unapologetically. “That was what we agreed, wasn’t it, Hollis? And yet you went on ahead and started making all those decisions by yourself, not even stopping to consider how I might feel, moving your chair way back over there and declaring without question that this isn’t any kind of date… as if I don’t have any say in the matter?”

Hollis

I couldn’t believe how twisted she made me feel inside. My whole body physically ached with soreness, more than any workout regimen I had ever undertaken. She rocked my world, literally, and it happened again and again with every interaction that we had. One minute my heart was soaring, the next, she had me shaking with trepidation. She toyed with me so openly, I was sure that Tisha had to at least have some idea of just how precariously she kept me teetering over the edge.

Falling or flying, I couldn’t get enough of her.

We ate, drank, and laughed all night. I never wanted it to end.

As best as I could tell, Tisha only showed signs that hinted she might feel the same.

Once our chairs were again set comfortably together, and my heart had forgiven her for its merciless vivisection, I could again feel the warmth glowing between us. We sat close, legs pressed into one another as if bound by some unwritten rule. Every bone within me begged to reach over and pull her even closer, just as I had in our exhilarating car race across the tarmac. But I resisted, wanting just as much to see if she would make the next move.

“So, tell me, Mr. Fleming. Since you, by all accounts, seem bound and determined to become infatuated with me and, since I have unanimously decreed that this does indeed constitute a date between us, my next order of business is you. Spill it.”

“ Spill it? Spill what, exactly? Not the wine, I hope. Oh, but it would be such a waste to desecrate such a fine vintage! And you’ve only just finished enlightening me with so much of its invaluable… unbelievable… impractical… useless and boring knowledge all about it.”

Tisha giggled maniacally. Then turned stone-cold serious, if only for a moment.

“Hey. Don’t disrespect the wine. She has feelings, too, you know. And she can hear you.”

I snorted into a rolling chuckle. “Oh, she can, huh? Well, shit, you didn’t tell me it was a female. That changes everything.”

---