Page 34 of Mr. Not Quite Perfect

“I mean about what is and isn’t going to happen in the office.”

I sighed. “Mr. Covington, nothing is going to happen in the office because…”

“I mean, are we allowed to go down on each other? Are we allowed to fuck?” He said the words brusquely, and I swallowed hard.

“We won’t be going down on each other, and we won’t be doing anything else.”

“Molly, do you live in an alternate reality?”

“What?” I was confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Because the only way we’re not going to be intimate with each other again is if we’re in some sort of alternate reality and we don’t know each other. But as long as we’re in this reality, I’m confident it will happen.”

“Whatever,” I said.

“I was thinking about you today,” he said.

“What do you mean? You weren’t even in the office.”

“I know. I was at business meetings wishing you were there with me.”

“Well, I’m your assistant. You could have told me and…”

“You’re not up to speed, and I didn’t want my associates thinking that…” He paused. “Well, that doesn’t matter.”

“You didn’t want your associates thinking what?” I kind of already knew the answer to that question.

“I don’t want them thinking I’m hiring people who shouldn’t be in the position. I want them to trust everyone they’re around.”

“So what? They can’t trust me?”

“At this point in time, no, they can’t trust you on the information that needed to be given because you’re not educated on that fact.”

“So then why did you hire me? Why am I your assistant?”

“The program was put in place to help get women into the finance industry. We know that many of the women in the program come with backgrounds that are not in finance, and we’re okay training everyone. In fact, I want to see more women in finance just like I want to see more women in tech.”

Okay, I hadn’t realized that was part of the program’s mission. I was impressed, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“A lot of people don’t agree with diversity programs,” he said, “but I do.”

“You do?” I said. “Really?”

“Yeah. Many marginalized groups have not been given access or education to certain programs. Whether that marginalized group be of a different race or a different socioeconomic status or because of their gender.”

“And sexual class now, too. LGBTQ people aren’t given the same access to programs. I mean, I don’t think they are.”

“Quite possibly, that is true,” he said. “Right now, the huge issue we face in finance is that women and minorities don’t have the same representation.”

“So you’re trying to fix that?”

“I don’t know that I can fix anything, but I can make sure that my company is diverse and that we have people of all ethnicities and a large percentage of women.”

“So I was hired because I’m a woman.”

“No.” He chuckled. “You were hired because you’re sexy as fuck.”

“Wow, thanks. That makes me feel better.”

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