“See you on Monday, Vanessa. I liked the skirt you wore today.”
“Fuck you.” She rolled her eyes and left.
I waited ten minutes before walking out of the conference room. I didn’t want to run into her or anyone else on my way upstairs.
I swiped my key at my private elevator and sighed. I thought about calling Claire, but I figured she was already asleep.
I walked into my bedroom and lay across the bed.
Nothing was on TV except those renovation shows that Claire liked to watch. The one I was currently watching featured two men who were tearing down a dilapidated porch and turning it into a wrap-around veranda.
How can she watch this without falling asleep?
I changed the channel to an infomercial—a ‘Magic Soap Bar’ that could clean “any and everything!”—and slid under the covers. I pulled out my laptop and started going over the week’s meeting notes, reading all the things I hadn’t bothered listening to earlier.
I heard my phone ringing and assumed it was one of the board members emailing the meeting notes from tonight, but it kept ringing.
I flipped it over and looked at the screen. Claire?
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hey...”
“Are you okay?” I sat up. “Is something wrong?”
“No, I was just...calling to talk to you.”
“At three in the morning?”
“Is there a time frame on when I’m allowed to call you? Could you forward me the schedule so I can better understand the ‘do’s and don’ts’?”
“I’ll have my secretary email it to you in the morning. How are you?”
“I’m okay...”
I placed my reading glasses on the side table. “Why do you sound like that?”
“Sound like what?”
“Like you’re almost out of breath, like you’re whispering. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes. I’m quite fine. I was calling you to talk about work.”
“Work?”
“Are you going deaf?”
“What about work, Claire?”
“Well...I was thinking that...That...That there were a lot of—”
“You called me because you’re horny?”
“What?” She sucked in her breath. “No, I’m not horny. I’m—”
“Yes you are.”
“Jonathan, I was calling because—”
“Admit it.” I smiled.
“That’s not why I...That’s not why I called you.”
“Go get your laptop.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to help you with your problem.”
She was silent. I could only hear her soft breaths over the line.
“Claire?”
“Yes?”
“Go. Get. Your. Laptop.”
“Um...Hold on a second...” She came back on the line seconds later. “I have it.”
“Good. Log into your email.” I stepped out of bed and walked into my office suite’s living room. I poured myself a glass of scotch and sat in a chair.
“I’m logged in now,” she murmured.
I logged into my own account and opened up the web-chat app. I typed in her name and hit “Connect.”
Within seconds, her beautiful face appeared on my screen. She was sitting in front of a stack of red pillows and I could see her gold colored duvet.
She moved the laptop back a bit, allowing me to get a better picture of her. She was wearing a thin white T-shirt and her hair was in large pink rollers.
She’s so f**king sexy...
“You can hang up the phone now,” I said, still smiling.
She rolled her eyes and set her phone down.
“So, since you’re not horny, what exactly did you call to talk to me about?”
“The sTablet.” She blinked twice, giving me further indication that she was lying.
“The sTablet? What about it?”
“Well...” She paused. “We’ve narrowed down the potential slogans to four, and the campaign directives are going to be finalized by the end of—”
“Take off your shirt.”
“What?”
“Take it off.”
She hesitated for a few seconds, and I thought I was going to have to repeat myself, but she slowly pulled the shirt over her head, revealing a lacy red bra.
I should’ve had Greg pick her up...
“Like I was saying...” She was clearly trying to make this more difficult than it needed to be. “By the end of next week—”
“Were you touching yourself before you called me?”
She turned bright red.
“What were you thinking about?” I tilted my screen. “And don’t you dare lie to me.”
“I was thinking about...” Her voice trailed off.
“Yes?”
“You...”
“Me f**king you? Be specific.”
Her cheeks turned scarlet. “Jonathan—”
“Take off your bra—and your panties if you’re actually wearing any today...”
She looked shocked, but she unsnapped the button on the front of her bra and pulled the straps down over her shoulders, revealing her voluptuous br**sts and strawberry colored ni**les.
She didn’t make another move and I smiled; I loved the fact that she went bare so often.
“Are you going to tell me what you were thinking about, Claire? Or are you going to make me guess?”
Her breath hitched and she looked off to the side for a few seconds. “I was...I—”