The Executive Consultant (5 page)

On
Wednesday I sent Anne a text about the flowers. She said he had a cheek. One
thing about her is she says it how it is. There was just no mincing her words.
She asked if my boss was hot and I could not even answer. I took my time
replying and by the time I did, she had already sent another message:

Took you too long to reply.
I know the answer ;)

I
blushed when I got this, especially when he chose that moment to buzz me to
come into his office. I closed the door.

"Sorry,
were you busy?"

"No,"
I replied, trying to get the text out of my mind. He started to talk about the
meetings and our findings to date. This was when my memory turned to mush.
Apart from taking notes, I had not even had time to re-read them let alone do
an analysis. He stopped me as I was about to answer to interject that it was
time to attend another meeting.

As
we made our way into the elevator, the stressed Steven returned. This was the
one that hardly spoke and had a big frown on his face. I sat where I had sat
before and took out my tablets to begin taking notes. I had so closed my mind
that I never realized that I was being addressed.

"Ms.
Brady, Lea isn't it?" The CLO spoke in a crisp, clear voice.

I
nodded. A feeling of trepidation spread through me as I wondered what would now
take place.

"How
do you feel about the company's administration?"

I
sat with my mouth wide open hoping that a gold fish would drop into it and I
would die and they could bury me now. Yes, now would be a good time to die.

I
started to fidget to see if I could quickly pull up old notes on all the
meetings that I had attended. My red suit felt as if it was on fire as I
started to sweat like a sinner in church.

Steven
came to my rescue. "Come on, it's only her third day!"

I
wanted the meeting to end here and now. I felt like quitting. They wanted me to
work nearly twelve hours per day plus go to meetings. Apparently sometime
either before, after or in between that time I was supposed to study what was
going on in the company. This position should come with the title, "How to
die before you reach thirty". I only had four more years left and at this
rate, I did not feel like I was going to make it.

After
the meeting, I returned to my floor alone. Steven wanted a private meeting with
the CLO and asked everyone to leave. I felt alone, knowing he was not be coming
upstairs as well. I wanted to discuss how I could get around this and make
better use of my time.

Did I really need to go to
all the meetings?

I
felt as if I was learning nothing about the company by being his second skin. I
could probably attend only half of them for this week and then as I become more
comfortable I could attend more.

It
was then that an email popped up from Steven. He seemed to have sent it from
his iPad, which he claimed was his missing arm. He does crack the odd joke
sometimes.

You should have asked Walter
what he thinks of the company administration. He's been here for thirty years
and I don't think he has the answer.

I laughed. Somehow it gave me the energy to go through the rest
of the day. At six, I still did not see Steven, but I was tired and wanted to
leave. I needed to make it past my first week and at this rate, I was slowly
wondering if that was even possible.

The idea of going home scared me. I texted Anne to find out what
she was getting up to and if we could meet. She replied and said she was at a
flea market downtown. If I wanted to I could meet her and we could have a few
drinks at a bar. Right now that felt like heaven. Seventh heaven. When I got to
the café where she had told me to meet her, it reminded me of the same one that
I had gone to with Steven around the corner from work.

After we had a couple glasses of wine we began to talk. I did
not hesitate as I knew she wanted to know more about Steven. I stared into her
dark eyes for a brief moment and noticed that she had changed her hair. There
were now a few blond streaks.

“He’s blond.”

“I like him already.”

“He looks like a younger version of Brad Pitt."

She threw her head back and laughed.

“You’re working for Brad Pitt’s younger brother and you kept
that quiet.”

I giggled. “I’ve got to be serious.”

She nodded, “course you do.”

“I’ve got to be focused,” I straightened myself up and kept a
stern look on my face.

She agreed, "You’ve got to get laid.”

I hit her on the shoulders, because I wasn’t expecting that to
be the next thing that came out of her mouth.

“That’s the last thing I need.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s exactly what you need. You need
to get that jerk out of your mind. And that two-faced faced bitch too. They’re
not worth your time, effort and certainly not your tears. You don't think I got
highlights for nothing did you.”

I screeched again. I had wondered why she looked so different.
Now it was confirmed that she was seeing someone. I was so happy. Anne had
always been too serious and had never let anyone near her as she was always
thinking about her goal and where she needed to be in life. I envied her
determination. It was a special quality.

“So, tell me, who is it?” I had told her all about my problems
so It was nice to listen to someone else apart from me or my parents' business
for a change. It was something else to focus on. I did not feel comfortable
talking about Steven. I was supposed to be a professional, not some hussy
working at the firm hoping to get laid or a way to get a promotion. That was
not me then and it certainly was not me now.

“Do you remember Dominic?” I nodded. Of course I remembered him.
He must have asked her out at least an hundred times when we were at school and
each and every time she had given him the same reply.

I was confused and blurted out, “You didn’t?”

“I did,” she winked as if she was so proud of her actions. I
could not believe it. She had accused this man of only wanting her body and not
her mind, and here she was, nearly two weeks after graduation giving him
everything.

“I want to know more. When did it start?” I simply could not
believe that the guy she had treated like garbage during our course, was now
keeping her warm at night.

“At the karaoke bar. Oh, and remember the day you had your
interview? I was with him earlier. Now, we just decided to make it official.”
She put her hands up in the air, like she was surrendering to him or me.

“You mean,
you
decided
to make it official.” I pointed the finger at her, knowing she was not a
pushover and Dominic was crazy in love with her. You could see it every time he
came to the library and she was there or when we had to work in groups. He had
it bad for her. It was refreshing to talk to her about her new relationship. At
least someone was lucky in love.

Day four on the job dawned and I was feeling a bit more
confident. At eight sharp I was knocking on Steven's door to get an update of
the day's schedule. As I entered I gasped. He was wearing a pale red suit. It
was so sharp, but unusually different from the black, grey and blue suits I saw
round the office.

“It’s a bit bright isn’t it?” His eyebrows raised quizzically.

 
“No, it’s nice…” I
stammered slightly, hoping my face had not given away the turn my thoughts had
taken. I drew closer to his desk. I loved it. I could not get over how hot he
looked in it. I wanted him to take me on top of the desk. As I started thinking
about how good he could make me feel, especially right now as my panties were
starting to get wet. I was drawing closer to him and I had no idea why or what
I was going to do as I got up close and personal.

“It’s a bit over the top –".

I was by now standing face-to-face with him with him on his side
of the desk. I was crossing a mark and for some reason, I felt like he was
encouraging me.

“It suits you, it brings out the color of your eyes more.” I
stopped in my tracks. I had said exactly how I felt. I
never
say exactly how I feel, especially so soon. Our lips were
just a fraction away from each other when his phone buzzed.

I tried to regain my composure, but that was hard considering
that my nipples hard and my wetness was working overtime. A quick glance
downward had revealed the beginning of a bulge.

Damn, you phone! I cursed as I headed back out of the door and
he continued his phone conversation in Mandarin, pretending like I never
existed. As I returned to my desk it was almost like he had read my thoughts on
attending meetings the day before.

Ms. Brady

Subject:
Thursday 27
^th
July 2014 aka Fourth Day

Message:

Dear Ms.
Brady,

I would
appreciate if your efforts were diverted today and you spent more time trying
to evaluate the data inefficiencies and less time attending meetings where you
find it difficult answer complicated questions.

Regards,

Steven aka
your boss

Oh! He wanted to play that game did he? Fine. I looked up to see
him watching me through the glass and laughing as he watched my expression
while reading his email. I fired back a response.

Mr. Lacey

Subject: Most Likely My Last Day

Message:

Dear Mr.
Boss,

If I had an
understanding boss, who would ensure that I am well versed, before attending
meetings, then maybe I would not be unable to answer ‘simple’ questions, rather
than difficult questions such as 'Where is the best destination to ski this
time of year?' which is complicated because I do not think one country in the
world has snow in July.

Oh, how can
one run a company if they fail to understand simple weather patterns. Maybe, I
would be better served with a college degree in ‘making coffee’ or
‘understanding the different climates all year round’. These are the type of
effects which are appreciated in board meetings in Gate Industries. No wonder
the company is in the top 100 on Forbes and not the top 10.

Yours
sincerely,

Ms. Brady

Management
Trainee

I hesitated to press the 'send' button. I saw him smiling and I
thought that sending this message would bring him right back down to earth. It
did the trick. I smiled as I watched him read it and shake his head chuckling
to himself. He made a couple of phone calls before exiting the office. He
completely ignored me as he passed by my desk on his way to the board meeting,
and just like that the smile was gone from my face. I felt deflated.

I went to make myself a cup of coffee and vowed that when I
returned to my desk my full attention would be focused completely on checking
the data. As I got to the kitchen a couple of the girls were talking about
Steven and his red suit. As was expected, they were discussing the famous suit
and how it fitted the owner to a T.

“Is that even possible?” Rachel giggled as we all laughed and
agreed that Steven was a good catch. It was then that realized that everyone
was jealous that I was working with him. I thought no one liked him. I
collected what I had gone for and made my way back to my desk in short order.
As I sat there was a chime indicating that another email was waiting for me.

Lea

Subject: Smarty Pants

Message:

Lea,

Maybe you
should go on those courses, because right now, the topic of discussion is –
Where are the best beaches this time of year?

After your
courses, you can come back and work for Gates Industries for half your annual
salary. No a quarter. Therefore, your suggestion was a fantastic one.
Afterwards we could definitely see about hiring someone who does know what the
company’s administration is like after their first day.

Sincerely
true,

Steven

Oh! So he wanted to get down and dirty. Well, two could play at
this game. I grinned as I sat down and pondered for a while what to write in
response. I needed a comeback that would floor him. I stumbled through the
words and re-wrote them a few times. I became so engrossed in what I was doing
that I never realized that he was standing directly behind me.

“Quiet this morning, Ms. Brady.”

I turned to look up at him and found him standing quite close,
so close that I could feel the warmth of his body.

“It must be that red suit that blinded me from this morning. I
still have trouble opening my eyes, Mr. Lacey.”

He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. As he reached
his door, he shouted out, “Touché”. I smiled as I reached out for the files and
decided to do some checking before the meeting later on in the day. I had to at
least do some work if I was not going to attend the meetings.

I checked my calendar and noted that I had only about three to
attend, all in the afternoon. It was already ten, but I had to grab lunch
before I went to the meeting or I would die. Literally, the job was stressful
and it was only my first week.

As I checked the data I noticed that some of the company’s
checks appeared to be signed by someone else. I compared them to the old
company documents and realized that it closely resembled the CEO’s signature. I
was not sure what this meant, but somehow I felt like this could open up a
major problem. I took notes, making sure that after the last meeting finished
at six, I would sit down with Steven and go through my findings, only as
employees and nothing else of course.

The day dragged on and as much as I wanted to keep my eye off
Steven, I found it hard to resist. There was something about that suit that
seemed to be making everyone crazy. At the end of the day, there was one last
meeting. We ended up not going together as he sent me to one by myself. I was
nervous, but when I got there, it felt more like home.

There was no senior management there. Everyone seemed to be on
my level and they talked more freely about things and people that were in the
company. I learnt more from that meeting than I did from any other meeting I
had attended with Steven and it felt great. I actually felt for once that I was
in the right place.

As I arrived back at my desk, it was after six thirty. Everyone
had already left for the night.

“I was looking for you,” Steven said as I approached my desk.

“Remember, I had the management meeting. You said I should go
alone.”

He nodded, "Sorry, of course. It's been a long day.”

I smiled ruefully, "Isn’t every day a long day? I swear
every day is a long day here. That’s for sure."

“I know, you’ve been here four days. Must feel like four years.”

“No, four decades,” we both laughed. I loved the way his dimples
showed when he laughed. Gosh, I was falling for his man who was my boss after
just getting out of an engagement. I needed to get myself in check big time.

“Chinese?”

“No, I’m American.” I raised my eyebrows, puzzled at the strange
question.

He chuckled. “Do you want Chinese? You said you had something to
show me after the meeting. Or we could do it in the morning?”

“No, Chinese is fine. Anything. Got no allergies, preferences,
I’m easy.” He laughed as he made his way into the office and I followed him
like a stray dog.

“I meant with Chinese.”

He nodded, “I know what you meant.”

Gosh, I really needed to lighten up. I was dying. It was as if I
was on fire or something. Or just on something. No control whatsoever. Not even
a little bit.

After he ordered the Chinese I sat in the corner of his office
on the sofa. I jumped up when I realized that this was not a date. I was
supposed to be going through the figures. I went to retrieve them from my desk
and went back to his office. He began to look through and listened as I spoke.
He nodded in agreement.

“You're right. This is a big problem.”

I breathed a mental sigh of relief,
glad to finally be doing something right.
Later I needed to give myself a
huge pat on the back. He stood to his feet. Before I could think twice he did
the strangest thing: he came over and hugged me. Instinctively I pushed him
away and he stepped back.

"I'm sorry. I overstepped the mark. I just thought that
since the week has been so rough already that you needed a hug.”

I stammered. "I-I-I'm sorry. I do, I did…” He cut me off as
he pressed me into his arms yet again. The next thing I knew he had pressed his
lips slowly against mine as if they were a tender flower. I embraced it with
open arms as he gently kissed me. I was in seventh heaven. The intercom buzzed
and we both jumped in surprise. The Chinese had arrived. Once again we had been
interrupted. He left to go downstairs to sort out the food and money, while I
tried to regain my composure. When he came back upstairs he acted as if nothing
had ever happened. I felt bereft. I wanted that moment back so badly.

We ate in basic silence, discussing the documents at intervals.
Before long we were clearing away the empty cartons.

“We’re done here for the night,” he smiled.

Oh no!

My brain screamed in denial. I froze as a sense of despair swept
over me. I never wanted to move from my position. I wanted so much more of him
and here he was acting as if nothing had happened.

He continued. “You’ve had a tough week and now you found out
this.”

Why was he ignoring the kiss? Why was he pretending as if it had
never happened? I simply nodded. I could not think what else to do or say at
this moment.

He stood and my heart flew into my mouth as I continued to deny
that it had really ended here. He headed to the couch and sat, before motioning
for me to join him. My heart fluttered now, for an entirely different reason.
We were more relaxed as we launched into conversation as friends, not as work
colleagues and certainly not as my boss. I loved interacting with him and this
side of him outside of the office: the relaxed mode, the one that anyone could
get along with, especially me.

He confessed to being only four years older than I was. I could
not believe it. I mean he looked good for his age, but I had never thought that
someone of his professional stature could be so young. He was a divorcee, but
he never divulged into why he was or what had happened with the marriage.

 
I confessed about Mark
and Erin. He nodded sympathetically as I spoke. When I was finished talking he
told me that it was a good job that they were both out of my life, especially
Mark.

I looked at him curiously, “Why would you say such a thing?”

“Because if he was still in your life I would not be able to do
this.”

He drew closer to me on the couch and my heart sped up. Then he
pressed his body against mine and we kissed again. It was the sweetest kiss
ever, not only because he tasted of Sweet and Sour chicken, but because I had
been wanting to do this from the moment I had walked into his office that
morning and seen that hot red suit.

***

It was quite late when we finally left the office. I could still
taste Steve’s lips on mine. I kept licking them like a horny teenage girl that
had been kissed for the first time. I could not believe the turn of events for
the night. I felt as if I was floating on a cloud of sheer ecstasy when I
exited the taxi.

I remembered that I needed a few supplies so I decided to make
the stop at the local store before I went up to my apartment. I traversed the
aisles, picking up the few items that I needed. As I turned into the aisle for
the baked goods I ground to a halt. It was difficult to not recognize I had
seen almost every day for so many years. There ahead of me, walking down the
aisles and holding hands like love-struck teenagers were Mark and Erin. I could
not believe my eyes. They had each accused the other of being the one that done
the seducing. That did not seem to be the case now. It was clear as they walked
up the aisle that they were an item. They had been together all this time and
they had treated me like a fool.