Page 12 of Boss of Her

Jade searched through Simone’s emails, keeping one ear on the phone conversation as she scrolled.There.The original blueprints for The Ashton Star. Jade had called and emailed a dozen different people to get her hands on a copy, all at Simone’s request.

Jade forwarded the blueprints to the printer. She could pick them up after lunch.

“I believe she’s available next Thursday afternoon,” Jade said, bringing Simone’s calendar up on the screen. “Does 3 p.m. work?”

She glanced at the time. It was ten minutes before she was due to leave to meet Renee for lunch. Simone was just as strict about enforcing lunch breaks as she was about everything else. Of course, it wasn’t out of kindness. Simone’s reasoning was that regular breaks increased productivity. But Jade wasn’t complaining. Her lunch breaks were her only respite from her long days.

“Wonderful. I’ll let her know.” She added the meeting to Simone’s calendar. “Yes, I’ll be sure to pass on the message.”

She hung up the phone and took a sip of her coffee. The cup was almost empty. She needed to pace herself better. After all, it was only her first week.

And it had been a hectic week at that. Simone had made no attempt to ease her into her new role. Instead, she’d thrown Jade into the deep end, expecting her to handle everything from day one. Managing Simone’s busy schedule. Screening her calls. Taking minutes at meetings. Even picking up her dry cleaning.

It was every bit as grueling as Simone had warned her. But with the help of the detailed instructions Simone’s usual assistant had left her, Jade had risen to the challenge. Sure, it meant she’d stayed back late at the office every day of the week. Sure, she barely had time to do anything but work, eat, and sleep. But Jade liked being busy. It meant she didn’t have time to think about anything else.

She switched back to Simone’s inbox. She had enough time to reply to a few more emails before leaving for lunch. Or she could steal a couple of minutes to call her landlord about fixing the leak in the ceiling of her studio. She’d been trying to get a hold of him all week, but her voicemails and messages had gone unanswered.

Her laptop dinged, a memo popping up at the bottom corner of her screen. It was from Simone.

Come see me in my office.

She glanced at Simone’s office door, which was a few feet from Jade’s desk. Why did she feel like she was being called into the principal’s office?

Maybe because, in the four days since Jade had started working for her, all her hard work had gone unacknowledged. She hadn’t gotten a single word of encouragement or praise from her new boss. But Simone had made it clear that she expectedperfection. Why would she praise Jade for delivering what she’d asked for?

Jade sighed. She didn’t need validation, not in her work life or her personal life. Yet a part of her craved just that from Simone for reasons she didn’t understand.

Or maybe it wasn’t her boss’s praise she wanted. Maybe it was the praise of the woman she’d met at Club Velvet. That woman was right there in Simone’s office, right there within Simone herself, just underneath the surface, waiting to come out…

Jade shook her head. Simone was her boss. They’d agreed to put Saturday night behind them, to keep things strictly professional. And Jade couldn’t afford to risk her job with wild fantasies about her boss.

She got up from her desk and made her way to Simone’s office, knocking on her door and announcing herself.

“Come in and take a seat,” Simone said.

Jade opened the door. Inside, Simone sat behind her desk, her eyes fixed on her screen. Her lips were pursed in concentration, but Jade was still mesmerized by them, by her. She wore a sleeveless white dress that caressed every curve and dip of her body like she’d been sewn into it. And the heels adorning her feet?

They were the same shade of crimson as the heels she’d worn to Club Velvet that night.

Heat sparked deep in Jade’s body. She’d been trying her hardest not to think about that night, about how close she’d come to letting Simone show her a world of sensual pleasures she barely knew existed. But whenever she was in Simone’s presence, all those thoughts came flooding back.

“Are you going to come in?” Simone said. “I don’t have all day.”

“Right. Yes.” Jade shut the door and approached Simone’s desk, taking a seat in front of it.

But despite Simone’s comment, she took her time, typing away at her keyboard for a few more seconds. Then she turned her attention to Jade, looking her up and down.

Finally, she took a piece of paper from the side of her desk and slid it across the table. “What’s this?”

Jade leaned forward, peering down at the page. “It’s that memo you asked me to write for you.”

“Do you see anything wrong with it?”

Jade scanned the memo through narrowed eyes. “I can’t see anything.” She looked up at Simone. “Did I make a mistake?”

Instead of answering her, Simone got up from her chair, rounded the desk, and leaned back against it, her fingers curling around the edge of the desktop. Jade’s heart began to race. Simone was just inches from her, and Jade could feel the heat radiating from her. And her body, her bare legs, her luscious curves, were right in Jade’s eyeline. She looked up at her boss’s face, but Simone’s unwavering gaze only made Jade hotter.

“When you started here, you were provided with everything you need to produce work to the standard I expect,” Simone said. “You were given specific instructions for everything, from how I take my coffee to how to format documents, correct?”

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