The Boss (38 page)

"Take a nap, darling." He kissed me again,
smiling against my mouth. "You'll want to be well-rested. I get all
my best ideas while I'm working out."

I giggled and squealed and slid down in the
cushiony, comfy heaven that was his bed.

How could I have ever worried that things
might get boring between us?

* * * *

Monday morning I
was too sick to work. That had happened to me once, maybe twice in
my entire life, and I'd always pushed through. I figured I’d be
sick anyway, so I might as well get paid for it. This time, though,
I couldn't possibly push through my illness; I'd spent most of the
morning hugging the toilet.

"Hey!" Holli stuck her head through the door
and frowned. "Are you hung over?"

"No." I tried to shake my head, but that was
so not a good idea when I seemed to be violently motion sick. "I
called off work. I may have barfed up some intestine."

"Gross. Guess what?" She leaned against the
doorframe, and waited patiently for me to dry-heave over the bowl
before continuing. "I got a really, really big job."

"That's great." It was difficult to sound
enthusiastic, but I tried. I pushed my sweaty hair back from my
forehead and propped myself up on my elbows on the toilet seat.
"What is it?"

"It's in January..." she began, trying to
sound mysterious with her excitement rising the whole time. "It's
in Paris..."

"Oh my god." I forced myself to my feet and
splashed some water from the sink into my vomity mouth before
lurching at her. "Oh my god, you're doing Paris fashion week?"

"That was why I had lunch with my agent on
that Sunday a few weeks ago! I knew that day, but I couldn’t tell
anybody until this week. It was torture!" Holli accepted my hug
very cautiously, as though she wanted a hazmat suit. She ducked
under my arm. "Please don't give me what you have."

I stepped back. Even though my guts were
still roiling, I was overflowing with happiness for my friend.

Okay, no, that wasn't happiness.

Holli raced out the door as I fell to my
knees again.

* * * *

It was a little
strange returning to work in the wake of my fight with Neil and the
declaration it had led to. Before, going into the office and
knowing he was there had been a naughty thrill for me. Now, it was
frustrating. Denying our relationship now didn't seem kinky or fun.
It was just kind of depressing.

I came back to work on Tuesday. I was in
reception for all of two seconds before Neil walked out of his
office and intercepted me.

"Are you feeling better, Ms. Scaife?" he
asked, falling in step beside me as I headed across the main floor
to my department.

"I am, Mr. Elwood, thanks." I kept my tone
light, and noticed that when we got to the beauty department, he
almost put his hand at the small of my back as I went through the
door. I turned quickly and looked up with a neutral, professional
smile. "Do you need something?"

"No, just..." his eyes moved past me to
Jessica, who was editing photos on her laptop at the big central
table. She barely noticed him there. "Just making sure you're all
right."

He'd called the night before, and I'd still
been sick as a dog. A little reassurance - from his girlfriend and
not his employee - might make him worry less. I went to my desk,
pulled my phone out of my purse, and texted him.
I'm fine. I'm
feeling much better. Must have been a twenty-four hour
thing.

"Morning, Jess," I said as I tapped out the
message. I hit send and said, "Sorry I called off yesterday. Was it
too much of a pain in the ass around here?"

"No, not bad at all." She shrugged. "You'll
probably have to play catch up, but at this point in the issue, the
fires are mostly put out. I'm sorry you had such a shitty weekend,
though."

"Actually, it wasn't so bad. I didn't get
sick until the middle of the night, like Monday morning." I was
just glad I hadn't done it at Neil's. I'd woken up and promptly
puked in my lap. That would have definitely killed the romance
between us. "Do anything exciting?"

Jessica shrugged. "I went to a party in the
village. Okay band, bordering on mediocre. You?"

"I spent the weekend with my boyfriend." I
got a little thrill out of talking about Neil without anyone
knowing I was talking about Neil. There was no way I could ever
tell Jessica or India that my boyfriend was Neil Elwood, and not
just because it would endanger my job. I'd heard them talk so much
shit about him; they would be mortified if they knew I was in love
with him.

"Oh!" I said quickly, remembering. How could
I forget? "My roommate got hired to do runway for fashion week in
Paris!"

"Wow!" Jessica's eyes went wide. "So,
basically, she's made it."

"Yeah!" I hadn't really thought about it,
but... yeah. For a model who'd be happy standing in front of cars
at auto shows, Holli had really exceeded her own career
expectations. "She's totally psyched."

The door opened. I looked up, expecting
India. Instead, Jake stepped in. "Sophie, do you have a
minute?"

I looked to Jessica. "Do I have a quick
minute?"

"India isn't here yet, so..." Jess shrugged.
"Go for it."

"Okay, but it has to be really quick," I told
Jake as we walked out of the department. He led me to the emergency
exit stairwell in the corner. We slipped through the door, Jake
seemingly oblivious to the stares of some of our coworkers.

"So, you know it looks like we're coming out
here for some super secret meeting, right?" I was kind of annoyed.
I knew he was still under the impression that I was on his side,
but I had no idea what his side was or what he thought he was
plotting to accomplish.

"We
are
coming out here for a secret
meeting." He looked over my head, through the small window in the
door. "I wanted to be the first to tell you. I'm leaving."

"Leaving? As in, quitting?" It wasn't as huge
a surprise as he was making it out to be. I had been expecting him
to leave way back when Gabriella was still with us. Not because
he'd been unhappy, I was just certain he would get a massive book
deal or something and not need us anymore. Because despite all the
flaws in his character that had become magnified about a thousand
percent in the past couple of months, he really was a talented guy.
He knew exactly how to work with photographers, how to describe the
look he was going for to compliment his words, and how to cooperate
if those visions didn't quite match up.

"It's
Porteras
's loss," I told him,
and I meant it.

"It doesn't have to be your loss, though." He
put one hand on the wall beside my head and leaned in, way too
close. Because we were being covert, I guess?

I took a half-step away from his arm. "What
do you mean?"

He blew out a breath and looked to the door.
"You have to swear you won't tell Elwood. I don't know what's going
on with you two, but I can't trust you with this information if
you're going to run right to him with it."

Jake could have slapped me, and I would have
been less stunned and shocked. "What?"

"Oh, come on," he said with a roll of his
eyes. "You were in his office that day, with the door locked. I was
there. And then you suddenly got promoted."

"That's not how I got the promotion!
Gabriella - "

"Gabriella put you on a list, I know. Look, I
know how hard it is. I've done things I'm not proud of to get jobs,
believe me." He had a look on his face that said
we're the same,
I understand you.

But he didn't understand. He didn't
understand me at all.

He smirked down at me. "Gabriella has
backers, lots of financial backers, as well as the support of
several major designers. They're going to start their own
magazine."

"Good." I meant that. Neil's weird new
policies were going to kill
Porteras
, anyway. "I hope she’ll
be very successful.”

"You don’t have to hope. She’s going to be
successful. She's picking up the advertisers that are fleeing this
place like rats off a sinking ship." Jake straightened and put his
hands in his pockets. I wanted to smack the smug off his stupid
face. "You're looking at Gabriella's second-in-command at the new
publication. Do you want in?"

"What?" I thought I might choke on my
tongue.

"Like I said, it's all hush-hush right now.
But I can talk to Gabriella, see if you can't maybe get on board.
You might be her assistant again, at first, but there's definitely
a chance for advancement. Are you in?"

I wanted to say was:
Let me see. Work
another two years for the woman who thought I wasn't good enough to
take along on this new venture in the first place, driving her dog
to get its malfunctioning colon cleansed, and betray the man I love
in order to do it? Sign me up, and which foot do you want me to
shoot myself in, the right or the left?

But my sense and reason overrode that.
Working for Gabriella on a new magazine? People would kill for that
opportunity. Could I really pass that up? She had too much pull in
the fashion world to fail at this. Her new magazine would be a
phenomenal success, fueled by the ire of former
Porteras
readers alienated by the changes Elwood & Stern had made.

"I would definitely consider it," I said
carefully.

"Good." He grinned at me. "At least you know
you won't have to do anything depraved behind locked doors with
Gabriella."

No, I'd be compromising my dignity in front
of everyone. Much better.

I staggered out of the stairwell, feeling
like I'd been hit by a truck.

I turned back and gave Jake my most serious
look as I asked under my breath, “Is she making an announcement
soon then? Courting subscribers?”

Jake grinned and said, low, an eye out for
anyone who might overhear, “That’s the beauty part. She has someone
who works right here at
Porteras
who’s borrowing the mailing
list. Postcards and emails will hit subscribers this Friday.”

Borrowing? Stealing. Someone was going to
steal the subscription list for her, so she could poach subscribers
from Neil? It wasn’t unheard of for publications to share
subscription lists, but not with rival publications. Doing it this
way was dirty and underhanded.

But if
Porteras
went under, did I
really want to go down with it?

Sirens that screamed, “Tell Neil!”
accompanied every warning light flashing in my head. This was
serious. Someone taking that list would affect… well, it would
probably mean everyone who ever had access to it would be suspect.
Maybe they would all get fired.

Maybe I would get fired
. Who better
than me to give her that list, since I’d had my nose about six feet
deep in Gabriella’s ass the whole time I’d worked for her? They
were going to suspect me. Oh god, Neil was going to suspect me.

But how could I tell him? I might lose my job
either way, when the deception got uncovered. It wouldn’t be a
secret for long, only one confused subscriber would have to write
in and ask what the junk email or postcard was about. By that time,
the damage to
Porteras
would be done, though. If Gabriella
knew I was the whistle blower, I wouldn’t get a job with her. But
if I didn’t tell Neil, I was betraying him on a pretty personal
level.

I loved him. Could I really keep this a
secret from him?

Chapter
Nineteen

Friday night, I was
feeling way better from my illness. My stomach was still kind of
jumpy and sour every once in a while, but I attributed that to the
whole stressful ethics issue I had going on.

I was dying to see Neil, but a little
concerned about the secret job offer/office espionage that would
undoubtedly blow up during the coming week. I knew I had to warn
him about the subscriber list, but I wasn’t sure it was my place to
break the chain of command. Did that fall under “let’s not discuss
business?” I had already warned Rudy to keep an eye on Jake, and I
assumed he wouldn’t have kept my suspicions from Neil. Rudy was
sharp, and nothing serious would get past him.

If a real job offer panned out, I would bring
it up with Neil then. If he was super mad about it, we'd deal with
it. And if he couldn't respect me for prioritizing my career over
him, then maybe I'd fallen in love with the wrong guy, no matter
how great the sex was, or how much fun we had together. I needed to
stay Team Sophie.

I headed to Neil's place straight from work,
and actually beat him there. I waited for him in the lobby.

"This is why you need a key," he said when he
arrived. He took me into his arms and kissed my forehead before he
released me and urged me toward the elevator.

"A key?" I considered that as the doors
closed us in. "On one hand, you're obviously not afraid that I'll
just drop by at a weird time or move in while you're at work."

"Sophie, you won't even leave a spare
toothbrush at my place, I don't think I have to worry about you
moving in uninvited.”

"Ooh, that reminds me, did you get my bag?"
For the past few weekends, Neil had sent someone to the apartment
to pick up my weekend bag, so I didn't have to schlep it to work. I
think Neil would have been thrilled if I would have just left some
extra clothes and things at his place, but I was nowhere near ready
for that.

"Tony picked it up this morning." The doors
opened and we stepped into the small vestibule. "You were about to
tell me your other hand."

"What other hand?" I asked, momentarily
puzzled.

"The hand that will ultimately decline a key
to my apartment," he said, not meeting my eyes as he unlocked the
door.

"Oh, that hand." I tried to keep my tone
light, because he was right, I wasn't going to take a damn key.
"Well, on that hand, I would have a key to your apartment. That
might be a little heavy this early."