Miss Pen

Chapter Two

The staring match between the two of us probably went on for a good two minutes. Neither of us planned to back down. If it wasn't for Carlita knocking on the window, I wasn't sure how long it would've lasted.

"Excuse me, Mr. Harper. I need to go take care of something." And by 'take care', I meant slap.

I smoothed my skirt down and strolled to the door. My shoulders were straight and head was held high for Harper to see that he didn't have an affect on me.

"Are you trying to sabotage this on purpose?" Carlita practically tackled me as soon as I stepped foot outside of the door.

"What the hell is wrong with you sucking the window with your face?" The back of my hand gave a hard whack to her bicep.

"Ow," Glossed pink lips pouted. "Why are you being so nasty with him? I can tell how rigid you are from all the way over here."

"Me, nasty?" I placed a hand over my heart. "You weren't there when he walked in, acting like he owned the place!"

"A man with confidence? That's hot." She bit her lip and smiled.

"Confidence is attractive, yes, but there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance."

My neck turned so I could look back into the office. When I saw Rhode drumming his fingers on his bent leg, a scowl formed on my lips. He looked so bored, like he would've rather been anywhere than there. 

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Probably not. Unlike you, my brain can actually formulate coherent thoughts.

"Humor me." I sighed, following her spacey gaze which had been trained on Rhode.

"Imagine what he can do with those fingers." Her tongue slid out to lick a path from the right to left corner of her mouth.

"Yep, okay. We're done here."

My hands clapped once and I nodded my head up and down. I should've known that as soon as I turned around, Carlita would stop me again.

"Wait! You know I'm only kidding." Her soft hand held a loose grip on my wrist.

"I would hope you were."

"Don't worry, I was. I wasn't really imagining what he could do with his fingers. I was imagining what he could do with that tongue."

A mischievous, toothed grin took over half of Carlita's face. Her hips swung in seductive circles while I just watched. The more I looked at her, the more uncomfortable I became.

"Gee, this really was fun, but I gotta get back to the interview now. You know the one that your nose was pressed up against? Yeah, it needs my attention again."

"Mm, sure. Just don't forget what I said." She winked, nudging my side with her arm. "You can't deny that it would be nice to look at that all day."

Carlita was right, I couldn't forget what she said. All I kept thinking about was the way Rhode's rosy lips opened and closed whenever a word flowed out of them. After a moment of him talking and me not paying attention, he stopped to badger me some more.

"You know, it was quite unprofessional for you to just up and leave during the interview, Ms..."

"Martina. Aubrey Martina. I thought we were past introductions." I couldn't wait to find out where he was going with this.

"We are, but I have a few things I'd like to say."

Rhode collected imaginary lint from his suit jacket. While I waited for him to finish grooming himself, I picked at a few hangnails. When my eyes dared to look at him again, he was already staring at me with raised, thick brown eyebrows.