Ambition 2(9)

Tabby grinned and smacked her hands together, again increasing the youthful factor in her appearance. "Okay, well, I don't know the whole story, but here's what I know. When Mark and Sophie first came back as Marcus Smiley and Sophie Warbird, one of the things they did was put Owen Lynch on notice. I'd found out that Lynch had brought in a couple of Russian mercenaries. Mark and Sophie came back into town, and in the end, they killed the two Russians. But, Mark ended up getting shot two times, once in the leg and once in the shoulder."

"Yeah, I saw the scars today," I replied. "The one on his leg is pretty nasty, all twisted up and stuff."

"That was just a flesh wound," Tabby said, "Anyway, after that, Sophie took over his rehab. I don't know the exact details or the numbers or anything like that, but she pushed that man harder than he'd ever been pushed before. You know that gym downstairs from my office? If you check their numbers, Marcus Smiley's name is up on their record board in quite a few places. I'm not saying that Mark's not a great athlete, he was beforehand too I bet, but Sophie.... Sophie's got a side to her that she turned loose on him in the gym that took him from good athlete to world class. She wasn’t like that before, but Mark brought it out in her, and I love it.”

"Yikes," I said. “Is she that tough with you? You told me once you did workouts with her."

"I do. She’s obviously not as hard on me, but she’s still tough. And that's the man she loves. What do you think she's going to do to a guy she doesn't even like that much?"

"She doesn't like me? She barely even knows me."

Tabby got to her knees and knee walked over next to me. "You nearly got her husband killed, and you're seeing me. After my last breakup, she's very protective, and I can't blame her. The guy really fucked with my head. But, she loves me, she loves Mark. Give it time, she'll come to see the part of you that I do. Until then though, yeah, a nice daily dose of Tylenol and a good glass of shaddap before workouts will be just what you need.”

I smiled at the light joke, and reached out, taking Tabby's hand. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when I get a chance to put my arms around you again."

Tabby leaned down and gave me a soft kiss, her lips caressing mine, until both of us were on the verge of losing control and pressing our luck further. Breaking contact, she looked into my eyes and smiled.

"I'll console myself with that until then," she said. She got up and went to the door, turning to look at me one last time with those beautiful eyes of hers. "Good night, Patrick."

"Good night, Tabby."





Chapter 4





Tabby




The following Thursday, I was sitting in my office twirling my pen around my fingers when Vanessa came in, carrying a large file. "Here you go," she said, setting it on my desk. "Have fun."

"What the hell is this?" I asked, thumbing the folder nervously. It had to be at least an inch thick, and had little Post-It flags sticking out of it in more places than I could count.

"Forms from the city inspector's office on the community centers," Vanessa replied. "These will eventually be the job of the center managers, but as we don't have those yet...."

"They fall on my shoulders," I replied with a groan. Looking up, I grinned feebly. "Want a promotion?"

Vanessa shook her head. "Not until those forms are finished, thank you very much."

"Come on, it fits your personality type," I mock-whined. "Although I'd be out one hell of an assistant."

"Nope, sorry," she replied. "Remember, I'm the person who likes to work behind the curtain. Besides, I've got my hands full enough right now, again thank you very much. With helping Gwen that is."

I blinked, surprised. "You're helping Patrick's new assistant as well?"

"She's a friend of mine, and I trained her long ago," Vanessa replied. "And having your boss come down with a bad chest cold not even a week after starting work is hell on anyone. I'm just glad that Gwen's one of the better apprentices I've trained."

"You know, I never thought of administrative assistants having a mentorship sort of thing going," I commented. "I mean, in hindsight it makes sense. Executives learn from their mentors, why not their assistants?"

"You'd be surprised how many people don't figure that out," Vanessa said. "In any case, have fun with the documents. I put the Post-Its by the important parts."

"It's all important parts!" I complained, rifling the stack. "You've got at least half a pack in here!"

Vanessa grinned, disappearing from my office. I looked down at the light brown cover of the file, and made a mental note. From now on, I'd have Vanessa purchase pink file folders with images of My Little Pony or Minnie Mouse on them. If I had to slog my way through that much hell, at least the files would look cute doing so.