"I screwed up," Gloria said. Her shoulders started to shake.
"Whatever it is, we can fix it. We always have," Maggie said, trying to keep calm and not disturb the rest of the staff.
"That's what I've been telling her," Barb added.
"Let's go in my office." Where they could close the door. "Is David in yet?" she asked Barb.
"He's at an offsite meeting. I think he'll be in around eleven."
"Thanks." He didn't need to see this side of her mother, either. After nodding her thanks to Barb, Maggie drew Gloria down the hall. "Have a seat," she said when they were in the office. Maggie sat on the edge of her desk.
Gloria sat and dropped her head into her hands.
Maggie waited for minute before gently saying, "I can only help if I know what's wrong."
"I got so caught up with Arctic Fox that I forgot to send the paperwork through on the Hoskins Group deal."
Maggie froze.
When her mother looked up, Maggie blinked, trying not to betray her raw panic. Cindy Hoskins owned six different businesses, and World Wide Now handled four of the accounts. For years, they'd been trying to land all six, offering screaming discounts for the additional business. Cindy Hoskins was a pragmatist who didn't believe in a single vendor approach. But losing the four accounts existing would be costly.
Maggie forced herself to breathe. "Surely it's not that bad. When was it due?"
"Last Thursday."
"Why wasn't it on the board?"
Her mother dropped her head again.
"Okay, never mind that. We'll remedy it in future."
"I took them the preliminary bid two weeks ago and … "
Didn't follow up. "Let me see what I can do." She picked up the phone and dialled Cindy's office direct, throwing herself on the other woman's mercy. Cindy agreed to reconsider, as long as she had the signed deal in hand before noon.
Maggie summoned Barb to print off a final copy of the contract from the server. The three of them went over it. There weren't many changes from the previous year, but there wasn't time to figure in an annual increase.
David would be livid that his procedures hadn't been followed.
Reluctant to bring him into the conversation, she called his cellular, but it went straight to voicemail. "Crap, crap, crap."
"Think, think, think," urged Barb.
Having no other choice, she signed two copies of the contract and put them in an envelope before heading out of the door.
She walked the six blocks to the bank building where the Hoskins Group was headquartered and, with a sigh and a smile, handed the envelope to the receptionist.
When she got back to the office she found frozen drinks waiting for everyone, courtesy of Gloria. When she created buckets of drama, she liked to treat the survivors.
Maggie didn't see David until the next day. She considered mentioning the Hoskins Group fiasco, but didn't. She and the team had sat down to discuss ways to ensure something like that never happened again. David was a big believer in systems, and they'd refined theirs as a result. Barb went through all the client files and entered all contract renewal dates in the computer and set several reminders beginning a month in advance.
"Go home with me Friday night after the open house," he said.
Startled, she looked up from her keyboard. "David."
He lazed against the doorjamb as if he owned the place. Which, really, he did.
"Don't tell me you don't need a beating."
"Yeah." She dropped her hands to her lap. "I do."
"You'll be ready for the hot tub and a good night's sleep."
"That obvious, huh?"
"Only to someone who's looking. You're a beautiful woman, Maggie. Wear something short to the open house." Without another word, he pushed away from the wooden frame and continued down the hall.
She could have sworn she heard him whistle.
Maggie collapsed against her chair back. He'd undone all her resolve in less than a minute. Now she was thinking about him and Friday night instead of work.
* * * *
At home, she masturbated again, this time driven by fantasies of what might happen over the weekend.
Thursday, she worked late, double-checking RSVPs and responding to a few last-minute stragglers. One person asked for directions, even though she'd given them twice. She sent an updated head count to the caterer and glanced at her handwritten to-do list. Everyone else used a computer programme, but there was nothing she liked better than the tactile sensation of marking through a task she'd completed. It was much the same high that she got when she crossed through dates on a calendar, like when she was going to the Den.
The phone rang, and since Barb had already left, she went to answer it. She frowned when she saw David's line light up. It wasn't unusual for him to take a call, she just hadn't realised he was still in the office.
She was cleaning off her desk when he entered her office. She felt his overwhelming presence even before he spoke. He commanded the space and her attention. "David." Instead of a smile, a storm was gathered in his blue eyes, darkening them by several shades.
"That was Cindy Hoskins RSVP'ing for our open house."
Her heart stuttered.
"Something you'd like to tell me about?"
She wondered how much he knew. Then she sighed, realising it didn't matter. He could never trust a woman who hid anything, and she'd already committed a huge gaffe. "We had an issue with a contract not being delivered on time. I chatted with Cindy, asked for an extension, and we offered them the same terms as last year. I got the contract over to her, and the copy with her original signature arrived today." She picked up a pen and toyed with it. The same pen she'd used to sign the document in his stead.
"At what point were you going to tell me?"
She met his gaze. "I wasn't."
"Thank you for your honesty." Without another word, he left. He didn't ask for explanations or lose his temper. In fact, his control gave her goosebumps.
Just then, she acknowledged how badly she'd screwed up. She had tried to reach him by phone, but the missed connection was no reason to have kept quiet. To him, siding with her mother and covering the situation up must feel like a betrayal.
She dropped the pen.
At first, she cloaked herself in righteous indignation. He was overreacting. This was why they shouldn't have got involved. Her business decision should feel like that, nothing more serious. In fact, she had told him she didn't want a BDSM relationship, just to play in the bedroom.
Then she admitted the truth, in agreeing to go home with him tomorrow night, they were in a relationship. She thought of him, remembered him, fantasised about him.
He'd placed her in a position of trust in his organisation when he could have brought in his own people. He'd kept on her mother and had done his best to help her flourish, and now he was brokering a deal with another company so her mom's dream could become an even bigger reality.
She'd thought she was brave by putting a stop to the name-calling. In actuality, she should have done that months before.
He wasn't the one who had ever mixed things up. She was.
Could it be any worse? She took a drink of water for courage before walking to his office. His door was closed, so she knocked. She turned the knob and peeked in when he didn't answer. He was sitting with his back to the door, staring out of the window. "Can I come in?" she asked.
"No, Maggie. I'd prefer you didn't."
"I'd like to talk."
"I wouldn't."
She trembled as she pulled the door closed. In her office, she stalled, hoping he'd relent and come after her, but he didn't.
All night, she kept her phone next to her, waking up every hour to check the screen.
There was no contact, and, as she got ready the following day, she had no idea how to dress. David had told her to wear a short skirt. He'd also invited her to spend the night. She was sure that wasn't happening, since he hadn't said a word to her after he'd refused to invite her into his office.
She opted for her usual wear, pretending her soul didn't feel fractured.
Pain split her head, made worse by the several blocks' walk from her car. When she entered the front door, she headed straight for the medicine cabinet in the break room. She downed two aspirin with the black coffee Barb poured.
"Too much fun last night?"
Maggie shook her head, and even that hurt. "Not enough sleep."
The morning passed in a blur of activity as the caterers arrived and centrepieces and new marketing pieces were delivered. She instructed an intern on how to set up the booth they used for trade shows, and the IT techs tested their projectors.