When we got back to work, I went into my office and dove into the paperwork for the day. Usually, I hated paperwork and would procrastinate doing it until the end of the day, but I was in such a good mood I wanted to knock it out and celebrate a little. Suddenly a thought hit me, and I pressed the button on the side of my phone and asked Amanda to come to my office.
Moments later, Amanda arrived at my door. I looked up at her tall, curvy frame and for a moment, noticed how pretty she was. I shook my head to toss those thoughts away.
“Amanda, did you send out those emails this morning?” I asked.
“Knocked that out when I got here,” she said.
“Awesome.” I shook my head as I looked down at the papers on my desk. “I do not know what I would do without you.”
“Oh, you know,” she said, waving me off, “fail miserably and be lost at sea. Something like that.”
I laughed loudly and she giggled, one hand moving up to rest on the doorframe for a second. She reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and took a deep breath in. Her smile dazzled from across the room.
“So, is there anything else, or did you just call me in here to grill me about something you could have sent a text for?” she asked, teasingly.
“No, that’s all. You can go back to… doing whatever it is you do when you’re caught up on all my insanity,” I said.
“I am never fully caught up on your insanity, Mr. Anderson,” she said through a grin. Something about the way she smiled and said my name made my stomach tighten. “But I manage to find things to fill any downtime I do have.”
“I am sure you do. Thank you, Amanda,” I said.
She nodded and turned, heading back to her desk in the bullpen area of the upper floor. I made sure that her desk was never too far from mine due to her incredible value to me. But today I was almost sad I hadn’t put her desk on the other side of the room, just to have a few more moments to watch her walk away.
Her ass was tight under her skirt, and I couldn’t help but stare at her as she walked to her desk and then slid into her chair. Her long legs, in black stockings, crossed at the heels as she opened the jacket button in the front and leaned down over her desk and turned on her tablet. My thoughts wandered into a territory that wasn’t exactly uncharted, and I chastised myself for it immediately.
I was her boss. I had to remember that. There were rules about how a boss and an employee were supposed to interact, and no matter what actions I may or may not take, thinking like I was thinking was dangerous. No matter how hot she looked, I needed to keep my eyes straight ahead. She was the forbidden fruit.
I couldn’t even have a taste.
I got home just after six, the rush-hour traffic holding me back and reminding me daily of the biggest downside to having such a prominently placed office. I preferred to live a little further out, still in the city, but in a quieter area of town.
The enormous and empty mansion that I had bought for myself sat on the top of one of the infamous San Francisco hills. As I gave my eco-friendly car a nudge, I silently missed my old gas-guzzling sports car from home. That kind of vehicle was a no-go here, though, and especially not for someone as high-powered as I was. I’d be crucified in the papers.
Stepping inside, I tossed my jacket and undid my tie. There were emails that were already filling up my inbox, but Amanda would sort them and send me an overview before nine.
In the six years since I’d hired her, I had built an empire and made more money than I knew what to do with. But the loneliness of the house was prominent, as it was devoid of any housekeepers or cooks who had already left, ensuring the laundry was done and put away and meals sitting in the refrigerator.
As usual, I had one of two options of dealing with it. I could head down to my gym and work out until I couldn’t feel my emotions anymore over the physical exhaustion, or I could head to the study and open up the liquor cabinet. Convincing myself that I was celebrating the great numbers and successful meeting, I headed to the study, kicking off my shoes and putting on thick slippers in the process. I would change into pajamas after a shower and sit in the room reading later. But for now, I just wanted to get the party started.
Three generous pours of whiskey later, and I decided to forgo the shower. Stripping down to my boxers, I threw on a comfortable robe, headed back into the study, and told my electronic assistant to open the panel in the wall. A large television revealed itself, and I pulled the entire bottle of twenty-year-old scotch with me and sat heavily on my leather chair, putting on something to distract me from the fact that no one sat in the chair beside mine.
I didn’t even bother pouring the scotch into a glass.
2
Amanda
My grandmother always used to say that there were morning people and there were night people, then there was me. It was because even when I was young, I started my day at that kind of time so offensive to most people, neither night nor day wanted to claim it. It was too dark to be considered morning, but night had already given up on it and attached the A.M. designation.
While most children visiting their grandparents for vacation hit the snooze button as many times as they possibly could and lay around the house for the better portion of the day, come first light, I was already outside helping my grandmother garden. By then I had already gotten up, gotten dressed, and had usually played for a little while I waited for her to be ready.
I didn’t know what it was about me that made me want to hit the ground running at an hour when the only ones awake were the IRS and God. But that was the way it always was, and it didn’t get any different as I got older. If anything, I tried to find as many ways as possible to trim down how much sleep I needed.
There was far too much to do every day to waste it with my head stuffed under a pillow. It was the reason my dormmates in college hated me, and why nobody wanted to room with me when I got my first apartment. And why, even now, I was always the first person to get to the office in the morning.
I was twenty-three years old when I first started working for Tom Anderson. For the first several months I worked at the office, I showed up at the building so early the only person there was security. Considering the guard didn’t just sit there at the front of the building and wait for people to materialize, I always had to wait for him to finish his rounds and come back through the lobby to notice me.
He would let me in, albeit begrudgingly, and at some point during the day, Tom would come by my desk to point out the security guard complained about me getting there so early. After a while, those visits turned into just him making note of the time I had shown up at the office. It almost became a game to him. Like the night before he would make a guess and wait to see if the next morning he was right.
It took six months of being Tom’s secretary and annoying the security guard by showing up so early before my boss finally just gave me my own code to the building. Since there were security cameras monitoring every door and I still had to swipe my employee identification card before putting my code in, it was fairly secure.
My years working with Tom were more than enough to teach me there was always the possibility of something coming up. It was better to be a touch too ambitious and have your work done pre-dawn than it was to get caught in an unexpected situation and end up behind.