“Okay…” she waited, totally unsure of what he was doing.
He spun his enormous computer monitor around to face her. And then he played an advertisement for her. It was only about thirty seconds long. The ad was for a Las Vegas casino, and it was about a bachelorette party having a grand old time; kind of a light-hearted take off on The Hangover. She laughed a little bit at the funny parts.
When it was over, he looked at her. “You’re the right age demo for this spot,” he said. “So what do you think of it?”
“I like it. Really cool.”
His expression darkened. “That’s not going to cut it at all, Nicole.”
“Did I say something wrong?”
He slapped the desk suddenly, so loud she jumped in her chair. “Perhaps I’ve made a mistake here.” He got up, smoothing his tie and looking at the floor, as if lost in thought. “I’ve made things a bit too informal, given you the wrong idea.”
She swallowed, her jaw trembling. How could things be going wrong yet again?
“I’m sorry if—“
This time he clapped his hands together. “You will call me sir when you speak to me, Nicole. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir. Of course, sir.” She was sweating now. Her forehead, under her arms, between her legs. She was sweating through her suit.
“That’s better.” His shoulders relaxed a little. He went to the bar. “Perhaps we should have that drink after all. What do you say?”
She wasn’t sure. It didn’t feel very appropriate, but then again, this was after work hours. So she nodded. “Ummm…yes sir. That sounds nice, sir.”
He began making them martinis while she looked on, her anxiety ratcheting up as he slowly created the cocktails. “You’ll find that I am a very difficult person to please, Nicole,” he told her, shaking the contents of one drink. “But when you succeed in pleasing me, you’ll find that I show my appreciation in ways that make it all worthwhile.”
She didn’t know what he meant. And she was more afraid of him than anyone she’d ever met.
He finished with the drink and brought it over to her. As he handed it to her, their fingers touched and it was like an electric shock. She nearly jumped.
“Taste it,” he commanded.
She did so. It was dry and strong and she flinched a little from the taste.
“It’s very good,” she lied. “Thanks.”
He just stood there staring at her. “What?”
“I said—“ she stopped cold. She’d forgotten to call him sir. “I said it’s very good…sir.”
“I don’t think you like it.”
“I do, sir, very much.”
He stood over her. She was suddenly aware that his belt buckle (and below that, his zipper) was at mouth level. She pictured herself reaching out and touching that zipper.
“If you like it so much, then drink it all. Now.”
“Right now?”
His expression darkened. “If you forget to call me sir one more time, you’ll force me to do something very unpleasant, Nicole.”
She didn’t have a clue what that meant, but she didn’t want to find out. “I’m so sorry sir.”
“Drink up.”
“Should you really be making me drink alcohol at work, sir?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.
“I’m not making you. I’m telling you.”
Her nipples stiffened when Nicole saw how he was looking at her.
She took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled out of her mouth. The very air in his office had changed; taken on a heavy, still quality. All of Nicole’s senses were engaged now, and she could smell not only Red and his cologne, but the scent of paper and leather and perfume from women who’d been in here earlier today.
She could see the small wrinkles in the fabric of Red’s steel gray shirt, the stitching in his trousers. Even the oil on his shoes.
She threw back her head and drank the martini as quickly as possible. Halfway through it she nearly gagged, but somehow was able to get it all down. When she was done, she held back a large belch. Her throat burned and her eyes were tearing.
Red watched her, a small smile playing on his lips. He took the empty glass from her hand, and his fingers seemed to linger on hers when he did so. “I should make you drink another, but I won’t…this time.” He turned and brought her glass back to the bar.
She was lightheaded and loose now. This meeting had turned into something else altogether, something dangerous and strange and…wrong. She knew it was wrong in her gut. And yet it also felt oddly right. This game was familiar to her in a way that she couldn’t have explained to anybody, not even herself.
“You can’t make me do anything…sir. You can only tell me,” she said, using his own words against him.
He spun and walked towards her, dark eyes burning. “I can’t?”
She met his gaze from her chair. “No, sir. You can’t.”
“If I ask you to, you’ll parade naked through these halls.”
She snorted a laugh. “Don’t be silly, sir.”
He crossed his arms and sat on the edge of his desk. “I have another meeting in just a few minutes,” he said.