"Don't fuck any of my colleagues on my time. It looks bad on me."
"Yeah, because you're all about your image."
He paused. Never had she talked back to him. She took everything he said, and never fought back.
Staring at her, he waited for whatever smart ass comment was about to come out of her mouth. Instead, she stared at him.
"Don't push me, Nora. You won't like it."
She rolled her eyes. "Is that all?"
He nodded when he had nothing to add. Fuck! Watching her walk away did not help his rock-hard cock. He'd never felt this way before, and certainly not for his much younger PA.
Chapter Three
Nora nibbled her lip as she looked down at her email. She had been asked to go to an interview tomorrow at lunch for a rival firm. Fear and excitement gripped her. This was really happening. She was going to go out on her own, and she was going to move on from this job. There was no way she wanted to stay working for Rex. He was a horrible man, a terrible boss, and she knew she could be happier somewhere else. She knew without a doubt that Frank was going to be so upset with her.
The last thing she wanted to do was appear ungrateful for the chance that he had given her. What she found even harder was the thought of letting him down. This had been her home for so long. Well, not really her home but it had given her a sense of purpose.
And Rex had shot that out of the window every single chance he got. He doesn't want you there.
"What's that you're looking at?" Rex asked, startling her.
She dropped her cell phone, and let out a gasp. "You scared me." Reaching down to the floor, she grabbed her phone and immediately shut it off. "Sorry, I was just checking emails."
"Don't you have a computer for that?" he asked, sitting on her desk. Nora stared at his ass perched on her desk, and wondered not for the first time today, what the hell he was doing.
"Erm, sorry, they were personal emails. I know you don't like me answering my private emails, but I didn't take any break today so I didn't think you would mind." And now she was rambling.
Wow, her mind was all over the place, and she felt a little guilty. Arranging interviews for a new job behind his back felt a little wrong, but then, he was the asshole boss, and she was just looking for a break. A nice break, with a nice boss who wouldn't treat her like shit.
"Don't worry about it. I just wondered how you were getting on?"
She paused with her fingers over the keyboard, and glanced his way. "Excuse me?"
He frowned. "What's wrong?"
"I was about to ask you that question. What is wrong? Have I done something wrong?" She started to get tense. Maybe he knew that she had been looking for jobs elsewhere.
Rex held his hands up. "The work you got me, it was good. It will help a lot."
"Oh … okay … I'm glad." She stared at her screen, and again he still lingered. In all the time she had been his PA never had he perched on her desk, nor had he asked how she was getting on. Something didn't feel right. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure. Fire away."
"Erm, if I was to decide to leave, would you give me a good reference?"
She watched him tense.
"Why do you ask?"
"It's just a general question. Nothing about it at all." Her hands were starting to sweat, and she felt nervous, so damn nervous. Licking her dry lips, she chanced a look at him. He didn't believe her about the missed appointments that were a mistake. With him not believing the truth, she knew it wasn't exactly good on a reference. No one would hire her if they thought she was incompetent, or worse, that she did it on purpose.
Why didn't you make him believe you?
She had tried, but he just wouldn't listen, thinking the worst of her.
"I hope you're not thinking of leaving, and if someone here is making your life a misery then I expect you to come to me, and I will sort it." He stood up, and she watched as he smoothed out the creases on his jacket. "I'm going to a friend's. Alaric Patterson. You know him."
Yes, she did. She told him there was an urgent appointment with Alaric, and had sent him halfway across town. There had been an emergency appointment. Only it wasn't with Alaric Patterson. It had been with Larry Peterson. The two names had blended together, and she couldn't get hold of either man to confirm which was when. She was so embarrassed by that mishap. Rex had been horrible to her, calling her all kinds of names that she really didn't want to start repeating.
When she got home, she had sobbed herself to sleep. Never had she had a day go so wrong. After that, she had stayed over, and worked through all of her lunch breaks to make sure it didn't happen again, and it hadn't. He didn't seem to care about that though. No, he was more than happy dwelling on her mistake.
"Is there anything you need?" she asked.
"No. You can leave when you've done your work."
She watched him disappear on the elevator, and without waiting for another miracle to happen, she got finished with her work around four-thirty. No longer wanting to wait, she decided to head up to Frank's office. She saw Lorna on the main desk outside, and she ushered her inside without a word.
Entering Frank's office, she saw that he was sitting at his desk, reading through another file. Frank was very old school. He didn't like using computers, and preferred everything to be well documented. She had loved going through his stacks of previous cases. He kept everything meticulously organized. Frank's obsession was the law.
"Hello, Nora, lovely to see you're well again."
"Hey, Frank." She took a seat opposite him, and waited for him to finish what he was reading.
While she waited, the guilt started to build once again inside her until it began to overwhelm her. Biting her lip, she stared at the man who had given her a chance, and she just couldn't take it anymore.
"I've got several interviews with companies over the next couple of weeks. One is a rival firm, and they want me to go in tomorrow." She tensed in the chair waiting for him to say something. Frank looked up.
Nothing changed.
His face remained the same, contemplative. He removed his glasses, and sighed. "It's Rex, isn't it?"
"It's … many things, sir. I, erm, I think it's time I moved on. You know, we did say this was only going to be a trial run, and it's not working. It's really not working for me, and Rex is a great lawyer."
"But he's a lousy guy, and a shit boss," Frank said, sighing.
She was tired of going home at night and before sleeping, crying. It wasn't how life was supposed to be. "I love this company, Frank, really I do. I loved working for you, and I love the law, but I've got to move on, and I don't want you to think that I'm ungrateful. I'm not. I really am."
"If you were still working for me, would you have considered leaving?"
Nora paused and stared at him. Tears filled her eyes as she felt a wave of disappointment wash over her. "I don't feel comfortable here."
"I've got my answer, honey. This is something that you really need to do?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, it is."
"Then you've got to do it. I'm not going to hold you back. Please know that I will do anything to keep you here. All I ask is that on your interview, you keep our practice strictly confidential."
"I wouldn't tell them anything, sir. I promise."
"I know you won't." He sighed again, and stood. "I hope you don't leave, I really do. Take the interview tomorrow. I can see it's what you really want to do, and then we'll talk afterward okay?"
"That would be great. Thank you."
He moved from behind his desk, and walked toward her. Within seconds he had embraced her in a hug. "I hope you don't think this is inappropriate. Lidia wants to know when you're coming for dinner." Lidia and Frank hadn't been able to have kids, and his work had taken all of his spare time. She knew the two considered her more of a daughter than a friend. They were wonderful people, and she loved them both.
She chuckled. "It's fine. You're the one that found me and gave me this chance. I don't know if I'll ever leave unless you fire me, but it's just something I need to do."
"I know. Right, what are you doing now?" he asked.
"I'm heading home. Rex said I could finish my work, and head out, so I'm going to do that."
"Come in tomorrow. Don't mention anything to Rex. I'll deal with him. Wear your hair down, and stay calm. You know everything that you need to know about everything. You're a hard worker, and what you don't know, you can learn on the job."
"I will do. Erm, there's a problem. If I do decide to go, Rex wasn't exactly forthcoming on if he'd give me a good reference. You know, he thinks I sent him to the wrong places on purpose, which I didn't."
Frank held his hand up, silencing her.