Trapped by Love(3)

Derek held up his hands as if to protect himself. Lori took a step back. "I don’t panic when you forget to tell me to set up the conference room until five minutes before twenty people arrive. I don’t panic when no one can find the file you have to have right this minute."

She stepped back until she leaned against the wall. "So why should I panic just because we’re trapped in an elevator between the eleventh and twelfth floors at eight o’clock at night?"

Derek just stood there with a look of surprise on his face. Lori went limp and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. He sat beside her, with his back resting against the wall.

He turned to face her. "Lori, I know you don’t panic in a work situation. You’re a highly skilled secretary. You have enough experience to handle just about anything that comes along."

Lori looked straight ahead rather than at Derek.

She could pretend she was having this weird conversation with a stranger as long as she didn’t look at her boss. "I don’t have nearly enough experience to handle the job I have now."

He turned to look at her then. "Of course, you do. You’re the most qualified secretary I’ve ever had. How long have you been a secretary anyway?"

"Three months," she answered in a whisper.

"That’s how long you’ve been working for me. I meant how much total experience you have."

"Mr. Anderson, you should know. My experience is listed on my employment application." She wouldn’t look at him, although she could feel his eyes on her.

"I’ve never looked at your application." When she raised her head, he smiled. His smile had lit up her world the day he asked her to be his secretary, and it continued to light her world every time she saw it. "I knew everything I needed to know by watching you on the job. It was obvious that you were working way below your skills as a clerk. I checked with Personnel, and they said you were a qualified secretary."

"Mr. Anderson, I’ve never worked as a secretary before. I took a secretarial course, but I don’t have any experience."

He slid across the floor to sit in front of her. "Are you serious? Of course, you are. You’re always serious. Like that Mr. Anderson business. I told you to call me Derek when you first started working for me."

"I just don’t feel right calling my boss by his first name."

"Well, I’m the boss, and I’m ordering you to call me Derek." He stood and paced the tiny elevator. "We’re trapped in this six by six box for who knows long. I think Mr. Anderson is just a little too formal for the situation."

"Okay, Mr. . . . Derek."

"I’d have never guessed you didn’t have secretarial experience. It must come naturally to you."

She had slid to the floor because she lacked the strength to stand. But she didn’t know if she could sit there with Mr. Anderson — Derek — towering over her. She’d called him Mr. Anderson to keep some distance between them, but she always thought of him as Derek. Thought of him, dreamed of him, daydreamed of him . . .

Her mind was straying into dangerous territory. She was so self-disciplined that she could usually force her thoughts to something else, usually work. But this unmoving elevator blocked out the rest of the world. Her mind seemed to be filled with only two topics, equally dangerous. She could either think about being trapped in the elevator or think about Derek.

If she thought about being trapped, she would panic. If she thought about Derek, she’d probably throw herself at him and beg him to love her as she loved him.

He’d warned her from the start that he didn’t want a personal relationship with his secretary. She couldn’t remember when she fell in love with him. Maybe the first day she’d worked for him, when he’d taken the time to explain exactly what he expected her to do. Maybe it was when she watched him deal with an unhappy customer or help a new salesperson practice her first presentation. He seemed impatient and demanding, but he cared so much he wanted the best for and from everyone. Maybe she’d fallen in love with him the day he’d forgotten to tell her about a meeting in the conference room. He’d charmed her with his sheepish grin when he admitted he’d made a mistake, but he trusted her to fix it for him. His complete confidence in her made her feel like she could do anything.

In one way, her love made her job easy, because making his job and life smoother brought her great joy. In another way, though, her love made her job almost impossible. Each day it became more difficult for her to keep their relationship professional. Derek, though, didn’t even recognize her as human, much less female. To him, she was just an efficient machine, a robot secretary.