“Mr. Moss, I have David Eastman on the line for you? Can I put him through?”
“Yes, Jill. Thank you.”
“David, it’s good to hear from you,” he said when he picked up the phone. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
David chuckled. “I’m going to be on a conference call with Patrick and Eli in a couple of hours. I’m wondering if you have time to talk about some of your ideas for using our diamonds in the tech industry.”
“I can make time. Just tell Jill to put it on my calendar.”
“What happened to Kimberly? Lydia likes her.”
Lance laughed. “She’s got some family stuff to deal with, so she’s taking an extended leave of absence. Won’t be back until March. Jill is her temporary replacement.”
“Well, I’m hurt. She didn’t know who I was.”
Lance rolled his eyes. There was a list of VIP callers at the woman’s desk she should have figured it out.
“I’ll talk to her,” he said. “I should get back to my computer if I’m going to break for a conference call later.”
When he finished with David, he sent a message to Marissa, who was working downstairs on a project of her own to tell her not to wait for him at lunch since he would be busy with David and the others.
She fired back a thumbs up and he went back to his computer.
An hour later, his phone buzzed again. It was Marissa.
I saw a delivery crew hauling trees to your floor. I approve.
He grinned and fired back.
I should make you come up here and let me decorate you again. You can be my private Christmas tree.
Last night had tickled his desire to objectify her, but it was a desire that was never fully satisfied. If he were a bastard, he would have her in his office as his footstool or just to fuck her mouth beneath his desk on a more regular basis, but he respected her position in his company and now in her own company too much so he settled for weekends and evenings for the most part. That didn’t stop him from occasionally ordering her to a stairwell or a private bathroom for a quick fuck when he thought they could get away with it.
And she lived for it just as much as he did.
Maybe after hours
Her response made him grin, but he set it aside and got back to work.
Jill poked her head in a couple of hours later and he waved her in.
He frowned at her attire. Not exactly office appropriate.
“What’s going on, Jill?” he asked.
“I’m going out for lunch. Did you want me to bring you anything, Mr. Moss? I know how much you like the deli a few blocks over.”
He shook his head. “I’m fine, Jill. Thank you.”
She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. Seriously? He thought.
“If you want to help, you can take Marissa a turkey BLT. I know for a fact she hasn’t left her desk today.”
Jill gave him a tight smile. “Of course, Mr. Moss. I’ll be back in half an hour.”
He glanced at his clock and frowned. David was supposed to have called him by now. With a sigh, he picked up his phone and dialed David’s number.
“I thought our call was an hour ago,” he said.
David was quiet for a minute. “It was. Jill said you were busy and had asked not to be disturbed.”
He growled. “I swear I’m going to fire her before Kimberly even starts her leave of absence. Are you still on with Patrick and Elijah?”
“I am,” David said with a laugh. “It’s fine. We had a lot to talk about with holiday sales, so your timing is really perfect.”
He made a note to talk to Kimberly in the morning and turned his full attention to the conference call.
A half hour later, his door opened and Jill stepped in carrying food.
“Thank you,” he mouthed, although her inability to follow directions irked him.
When he finished his call an hour later, he dialed Marissa’s office.
“Did you eat your lunch?” he asked when she picked up. She sounded distracted.
“Not yet. I’ll grab something in a couple hours, I promise.”
“Did Jill not bring you anything?”
Marissa paused for a minute. “Not that I know of. But I’ve been pretty focused on this app all morning so I might have missed it.”
He sighed. “I’ll have something sent in if she didn’t. You need to eat.”
“I’m fine, Lance.”
“No arguments, Kitten,” he said, deliberately using his pet name for her.
“Fine. I’ll eat.”
“Good girl.”
When he ended the call, he stood and went to the outer office where Jill sat in her office chair with her bare feet tucked beneath her.
“Can I help you Mr. Moss?”
He clenched his fists and then stuffed his hands into his pockets to keep himself from looking too irritated.
“Did you take Marissa some lunch like I asked?”
She shook her head, and he scowled.
“I tried,” she blurted. “But her assistant is a bit of a Nazi and wouldn’t let me in.”
He highly doubted that. What exactly was this girl’s problem?
“First, let’s not just call people nazis. It’s a pretty insulting term with a lot of grim implications and second, if I ask you to take my fiance lunch I need you to make sure it happens. What did you do with the food?”
She gave him a shrug. “I gave it to an assistant on the eleventh floor. Figured it should actually get eaten.”
He sighed and fought the urge to tell her to go home and not come back. Firing her could wait until he talked to Kimberly in the morning.
“Thank you, Jill. I’ll be in my office for the rest of the day. I would like you to supervise the decoration of the lobby up here, please. Make sure it looks festive and professional. I’ll send my phones down to reception to handle my calls for the rest of the day.”
Jill stood and slipped on her shoes. “I feel like you’re angry with me, Mr. Moss. I’ll try to do better. I promise.”
He shook his head. “It’s OK, Jill. We all make mistakes. I just need you to be a little quicker on your feet in this job and do your best to actually do the things I ask you to.”
He decided not to even mention the fuck up with David’s conference call and turned back to his own office where he called down to reception and transferred his phones to them.
When he finished that, he called Marissa’s assistant and asked him to get her some lunch and make sure she ate it.
“You got it, Mr. Moss. Everything OK up there today?”
“It’s fine, Cameron. Question. If I wanted you to cover my calendar and Marissa’s sometimes would that be too much?”
The man laughed. “Not at all Mr. Moss. In L.A. I managed the calendars of an entire board of directors along with answering their phones.”
“Good deal. We might talk about that in the future if the need arises. With bonus pay of course.”
7
Thursday, December 13th
Marissa
“Are you sure it’s a good idea for me to be the one to take this dinner? I don’t mind getting to Solitaire late on Friday, but there’s no need for you to go ahead of me. Why can’t we take the dinner together?” Marissa asked as she paced her office later that day.