Lemons ♡

Work. part 1

Lucy dragged herself out of bed, hitting her alarm clock with a force that could only come out of resentment. She looked in the mirror and laughed upon seeing how bedraggled and haggard she looked. It was lucky that she didn't ever sleep with anybody-he'd be scared off the moment he saw her wake up.

Lucy went into the bathroom and stepped into the shower, allowing the hot water to relax her muscles and rinse her hair clean. When she was finished, she got ready for the day, made herself look ever the professional with a tight, neat ponytail behind her back, a modest-thing tweed skirt, and a blouse that buttoned up to the neck. This was essentially her uniform when she went into work.

Her boss, Gray Fullbuster, was always telling her to relax, to let her hair down, but it was something she just wasn't capable of doing. She was mortified to think of the lack of professionalism it would require going into the job wearing her hair loose.

When she arrived at the office, things seemed to be in crisis. The looks on everyone's faces would have made her laugh had they not scared the shit out of her just from anticipating the mess she'd have to clean up.

Behind his desk, Gray was pacing impatiently, one hand holding his phone to his ear and the other tapping nervously on his thigh. This was something he did rarely, as the man was typically completely unflappable.

Lucy waited for his phone call to be over before she questioned him. "Mr. Fullbuster," she said, "What is going on?" He shot her a look, then sat down in his chair and ran his hand over his head. Gray was handsome even when he was upset. His skin was fair and smooth, his eyes darker. He was always well-dressed in suits that were tailored to every specific measurement of his body. His head was full of dark raven hair. Honestly, and she would only ever admit this to herself, Lucy had had a crush on him since she'd started and every time he looked her way, a she felt butterfly wings flutter in the stomach.

Lucy was absolutely inexperienced with men in general, having never gone further than chaste kisses with one, but hoped that if she had to choose anybody to touch her, it would be Gray Fullbuster. "They're coming today. Not next week. Today." Lucy 's jaw dropped. Them. The potential partners-the two men who, if the companies merge, would almost double the value of Gray's considerable empire.

"Why today?"
"They said it would be more convenient than waiting until next week."
"But one day's notice?"
"No," he said, gritting his teeth.
"Zero days. They called me this morning."

Lucy blanched, her fingers clenching and unclenching over the leather-bound calendar she was carrying around the office at all times.

It was like a security blanket to her and the blanket was tearing, ripped apart by the mere thought of a major unscheduled event, perhaps the most important event they had anticipated all year.
"What do you want me to do?"

"Go prepare the presentation, Lucy," he said, sighing, "and get me coffee, please."

It took her about an hour to get through the first task, putting together the binders for the presentation as well as double-checking the hardware to make sure everything was ready for display. Lucy cursed him for refusing to hire interns-they would have gotten it done much more quickly, but he said he didn't trust anybody he hadn't properly vetted and he just didn't have time to get through the resumes of college kids.

And it was true, but it was also desperately inconvenient for the both of them. As his assistant, Lucy was responsible for getting literally everything done that he didn't have time to do himself. They worked in an office full of people and yet he trusted nobody but her.

The thought made her feel warm but also annoyed; if he valued her so much, he would have given her a pay raise by now, some incentive to continue on working as hard as she did. Still, she tried not to complain too much.