Office Affairs (+18) | Completed

CHAPTER 18

Jane POV

I sat down at my desk and checked my email, noticing that I had a new one from an address I didn't recognize.

4ureyesonly@livenet.com Subject: Help me help you

Dear Jane,

I think I have some information about your boss you might be interested in, and a proposition to suit.

I blinked at the computer screen. What did that mean? I decided to fire back a response quickly.

Who are you?

I could only assume that the person who had sent the message was waiting for me, which was disconcerting to say the least. I got a response back in only a couple of minutes.

Who do you think I am?

That was ominous. Too ominous, I though, for something as trivial as a little bit of information about my boss. I didn't even know which boss they were referring to. Naturally I assumed that it was about Peter, but my direct boss was actually Alana. If somebody

wanted to complain about Peter, they certainly wouldn't do so to me.

I looked around to see if anybody was peeking through my open doorway. Perhaps, if I craned my neck, I might see a giggling Dave in the hallway, or Alana snickering from her office across the hall. Surely someone had to be playing a joke on me, right? Who got ominous emails anymore? It wasn't 1998.

But no. It appeared that I was alone both in my office, and my hallway.

I responded to the email.

Don't mess around with me. I'm not into playing games. If there's something you want, just say it.

I hit send, satisfied with myself. I waited for a few minutes, to see if they would reply, but after refreshing my inbox a few times it was still empty. I decided to get up and grab a fresh cup of coffee. It seemed it was going to be a long day.

I ran into Peter in the kitchen. I would have turned around and walked straight back out if he hadn't seen me already, and if there weren't witnesses.

Dave, as always, was hunched over at his regular corner table. He hadn't begun to eat yet. He was busying himself with wiping down to surface with disinfectant wipes. He watched me like a hawk as I entered, probably afraid that I would infect his eating area again. I had, the first time I met him, made the mistake of shaking his hand while he was mid-lunch.

"Jane," Peter said, grinning wolfishly. "Good to see you."

I smiled politely back. "You as well, Mr. Bricks."

"Really, Jane," he said, nearing me. "You must call me Peter."

Dave was eying me for a whole new reason now. Suspicion glinted in his eyes.

I positioned my body so I had my back to Dave, and glared at Peter. He seemed unfazed.

"Come to lunch with me," he said. "I was just about to go to the new Thai place on Fifth."

My eyes widened. "I can't. I have too much to do."

Peter took a measured step toward me. "You know what they say," he drawled. "All work and no play..."

I could almost feel Dave's eyes boring through my back. I mouthed angrily at Peter, What the hell are you doing?

He tilted his head to the side. "What was that, Jane?"

Desperate to not put on any more of a show, I sighed and said, "Sure. I have a few items that I need your approval on."

We both knew that was a lie, but all that mattered was that Dave didn't know.

"Good," said Peter. "Let's go."

I had thought that I might get to wiggle out of it by going back to work for a few minutes, then coming up with some sort of work emergency or something, but apparently Peter had prepared for that possibility. He escorted me to my office to grab my purse, then we walked out of the building together.

As soon as we were out of sight of the office, I rounded on him. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked. "The last thing I need people to think is that I'm sleeping with the boss."

Peter slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks and gazed down at me, his lip curved ever-so-slightly. "Dave won't say anything," he said. "He's a complete hermit."

"I don't care!" I tried to keep my voice relatively low, but it was difficult when he showed no signs of remorse. "What happened on Saturday was a mistake. I was drunk."