“Keep your head down,” Remi whispered. “Don’t say anything. Don’t make a peep.”
She did as told. Picked up her burger and took a bite. Remi looked out the window.
Her heart was beating a mile a minute as the two men passed by her, and she didn’t take a single breath. And then it happened. Red turned and came back. “I thought I recognized you,” Red said, coming to stand in front of their table.
At first, Nicole thought he had to be speaking to Remi. But Remi was just looking down at her baked ziti.
“Me?” Nicole squeaked.
Red laughed heartily. “Yes, you. I see you made it to your first day of work in one piece.”
“Yeah.” What a dumb comment. Yeah. Of all things, it made her sound so young and vapid.
She could smell his cologne. It was musky and fresh all at once. He smelled of power, of cigars and money.
“I hope everyone’s treating you well?”
“Yes. Glen and Remi have been amazing.”
“Glad to hear it. Why don’t you swing by my office today before you go home, and you can tell me what they have you working on?”
“Sure…Just go up?”
“Yes, just come up like you did yesterday.” He smiled at both of them and walked off.
When he was well out of earshot, Remi turned and looked at Nicole like she was seeing Elvis come back from the dead. “You’ve got to be kidding me. He just invited you to his office.”
“Is that bad?”
“How should I know?” Remi said, spearing more ziti. “I mean, I’ve been working here nearly six years and he only had me up to his office once, with Edward, when we were planning a pitch for a huge client.”
Nicole didn’t know what to think. Her palms were sweaty and her throat was tight and dry. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Do? Just keep doing whatever you did to get his attention in the first place.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, keep doing that,” Remi said, shoveling a forkful into her mouth and chewing like a cow.
***
The rest of the day went by in a blur. She was reading the stupid binder and in between that, she made a few hundred copies of some presentation for Glen and then edited a few PowerPoint slides for Edward. None of it required too much brainpower, which was funny considering how picky the company was and all the hoops she’d had to jump through in order to get the job in the first place.
She’d been going through the motions ever since Red had told her to come up to his office at the end of the day. She was half-dreading it, but the other half of her was so charged up that she was making herself crazy.
Imagining different scenarios playing out. Picturing him kissing her. Or yelling at her. Or both. Imagining him telling her that he wanted to groom her to take over his company one day. The fantasies were out of control and she could barely take it.
In the bathroom, at around three that afternoon, she’d had an urge to go into one of the stalls and masturbate. That literally had never happened to her in her entire life. The urge to masturbate had never been much stronger than the urge to play a game of checkers.
She resisted, but it had been difficult.
Finally, six o’clock rolled around and Glen swung by, telling her she could go home if she liked. “Nice job today,” he said, blinking and smiling.
She grabbed her purse and immediately walked to the “special” elevator, the one she’d taken yesterday to get to Red’s office.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the call button and soon the doors opened. The elevator operator was there, in his usual suit, smiling formally. “Mister Jameson is expecting you,” he said.
“Oh. Great. Thanks.” She licked her lips and tried to keep her knees from knocking.
The elevator arrived and she got out, walking down the familiar hallway and knocking at the heavy wooden doors. This time, Red opened the door himself. “There she is,” he announced, waving her inside. “Miss Masters, rising star of the advertising world, and cute as a button in her red pumps and pantsuit.”
She looked down at her outfit, feeling suddenly shabby. “Sorry, did I dress inappropriately?”
“Whatever gave you that idea?” he laughed. “Drink?”
“No, I’m fine, thank you.”
“I was thinking of making myself an extra dry martini, but it is a bit early in the week for that.” He smiled. “Have a seat.”
She did so, crossing her legs and trying to remain calm. Just don’t forget to breathe, she told herself. And remember, he liked you enough to hire you!
As if hearing her thoughts, he turned to look at her. “I’m glad you came to work for us,” he said. “I have a feeling you’re going to make a huge impression here.”
“Thank you,” she said, wondering what made him think that. He barely even knew her!
“In fact,” he said, sighing and sitting at his desk, “I want to get your opinion on something.”