Curvaceous Heart (3 page)

“You’ve had more than enough time, and we both know it.”

“Now, Mr. Martin, you know I’ll be able to do the work if I can just focus on that instead of a dozen other matters at the same time.” He gave a half shrug.

“Maybe if you did your work instead of doing three other things, and not chasing half the women in the office then you’d be on time.”

“Can I help it if they find me attractive, sir?”

“Cut the crap, Charlie. I’m not in the mood for games. If you don’t have that report to me by Wednesday then I’ll fire you. It’s as simple as that. I’m done with your late reports, your lame answers, and your wasting company time by chasing every new woman who starts work here. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. I deal with the complaints.”

Charlie scowled and took a step back, a slight tremble running through his shoulders. “Who are you going to believe, Alan?
Some kid that just started working here, or a man who’s put the best part of ten years into this place?
I was here when you were still in college! Your father knows the level of work I do, what I’m capable of and…”

“And that’s the only reason you haven’t been fired already. If I even catch a hint of any more nonsense from you I’ll have you moved to our secondary location.” No one wanted to move out of the new building into the older and smaller unit that they still used for one or two of the smaller operations.

“You can’t pull this shit on me, Alan. You don’t have the right.”

A cold hand clutched about Alan’s heart as he stood up, pushing back from behind the desk. “Are you trying to tell me what I can and cannot do within my own company?”

Charlie took three quick steps backwards and blanched. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t mean it that way. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I’m sorry, sir, I’ve been under a lot of stress lately. I spoke without thinking.”

Alan glanced at the computer
screen,
the papers across his desk, the work that he knew had to be done before Friday. Would firing him now do any real good? He’d only have to pass the work onto someone else and they’d have to begin it from scratch. Not a good situation, not with the limited time he had to work with.

But it would have felt so damn good to be rid of the man.

“I’ll have the report to you on time, Alan. You have to give me the chance to prove that to you.”

Funny how he went from
Mr. Martin
to Alan in the span of a couple of minutes.
As if he had the right to -- no it wasn’t worth the argument.
Not when there were other, more important things to attend to.

“This is your last chance, Charlie. I won’t tolerate any further fuck-ups from you. I don’t care how long you’ve been working for the company if you can’t do the job, on time,
then
I won’t have you working here.”

For a moment, less than a heartbeat, something flickered across Charlie’s face. A flash so brief that Alan almost missed it as the other man’s eyes
narrowed,
darkened, and his jaw clenched, only to fade just as quickly into a mask of meek acceptance.

“Understandable, anything you say. The report will be with you on time, on Wednesday, no later than that. You have my word on it.”

Chapter Three

“Sue, get your fat ass out of the way, I’m trying to get past here.” Bill smirked, his hands filled with an armload of packages. “I can’t do my job if you’re just going to stand there in the way blocking the corridor.”

Flame danced across her cheeks, her hands clenching into tight fists as a dozen retorts tried to bubble into life. She had taken just about all she was prepared to from him today, or any other day for that matter, but it didn’t mean she needed to sink to his level. “There’s plenty of room, I don’t see why you’re making such a fuss.”

“Sure there would be, if you weren’t taking up the space. Now get out of the damn way, fatty. I’ve got too much to do today and it’s bad enough that I have to deal with you at the pub. I’m surprised you haven’t been banned by now. A bitch like you
is
going to break the bar stools before much longer.”

Her hands clenched quickly. Images of smashing her fist into his face, seeing the blood splatter across the walls quickly died as common sense took control.

How much trouble would she get in if she hit him? Fired, that was certain, maybe some time in jail for assault. No, the bastard wasn’t worth it. Normally she would have let him get away with it, crammed her body against the wall and then ignored the elbow in her breasts or the phantom grab of flesh when he deliberately pressed against her on the way past.

Not this time. Not with the memory of her conversation with Barb still fresh in her mind.

“What’s up, Bill?
Haven’t you been laid in a while?”

The color drained from his face, lips moving silently. In a heartbeat he had turned from the office stud into a fish out of water.

“Ah, I hit the mark there, didn’t I?” She pressed, unwilling to give up the advantage she had stumbled into. Had no one tried this tactic with him before? From the look on his face it certainly appeared that way. “You’ve been so busy moving from one woman to the next in the office that you’ve now gone through every available option. That leaves Barb and me, neither of whom would have you if you were the last man on the planet. So you’re desperate now and trying to scrape the bottom of the barrel? Don’t tell me you think it turns me on to be insulted by someone like you on a daily basis? I’m a large woman, in all ways, and that includes my level of intelligence.”

A low giggle drifted into the corridor from a nearby office door. No calls for help, or for her to stop, no mocking little looks her way. Whoever it was had giggled approved of the little scene as it played out in the brightly lit hallway.

Good.

“You’re only saying that because I’ve never asked you out,” he finally stuttered.

“No, you just cop a feel every chance you get. I guess I’m not that unattractive to you, except you’ve backed yourself into a corner with me, haven’t you? All those snide remarks, the jabs, elbows in the stomach. So you’re now trying to figure out what to do, aren’t you?”

“A woman like you should be grateful that I’d give you a second look,” he snarled, fingers tightening on the boxes he held. “You should be thanking me for the attention. Not like you get it from anywhere else. I bet you’ve not had a man between your thighs in years. You should hear what my mates and I think about your sex life, when you do get it. What happens? The man vanishes into that cavern of yours never to be seen again?”

“No woman wants the type of attention you enjoy giving them. You’re no better than the common lounge lizard, but I doubt you have the courage to go and try and meet women outside of work. Oh, you’re pretty enough, in that cover boy type of way, but you’re about as shallow as a baby paddling pool. Three minutes with you outside of work and a woman would quickly find out just what type of would-be man you really are. And that’s what’s now happened. You’ve run out of options so it’s back to buying cheap porno until the next new arrival in the office. Unless, of course, one of your previous conquests warns her before you manage to get your hooks into her.”

“Bitch.”

Powerful.
His wide-eyed look, the way his lips flapped for a moment before he tried to speak and his constant change of color across his face from washed out to bright red brought with it a feeling of power she had never experienced before

“If being a bitch means I don’t stand meekly by while you throw insults my way just because you wouldn’t know what to do with a woman in a real situation then by all means I’ll gladly take that title and wear it proudly.” God, why hadn’t she tried this before? The way he half cringed back with each new word that spilled from her lips, the horror flickering across his gaze -- both added to the new swell of confidence that bubbled through her being.

“You can’t talk to me like this, it’s…
it’s
harassment. Sexual harassment!” he stammered, looking around the corridor for signs of someone that would be willing to help. “I could have you fired for that. So you better fucking watch your mouth, slut. I’ll drag you through a hearing the first chance I get. Just you wait. They’ll fire your ass and I’ll drink to you being sacked, knowing you can’t even
afford
a
shandy
.”

“And how many women in the office would come forward with stories of what you’ve pulled on them, not to mention the witnesses who’ve seen and heard some of the things you’ve done to me. Who do you think is going to get into more trouble?” If she did not back down, if she kept on the offensive then she would be fine. But one sign of weakness and the whole situation would backfire on her.

“No one would believe you.”

“So why are you backing away? You know they’ll speak up, we’ve all seen what you can do. Shit, most of the women here have been on the receiving end of your little stunts.”

“I…” The color, what little had been left, now faded from his skin.

“Get out of here, Bill, before I decide to see just how many of the women here would like to see you hauled up before the boss.” She took a step towards him, pressing the point home. “Go, now!
Before I lose my temper with you.”

Bill fell silent, taking a step away from her before turning and hurrying back down the corridor without another word.

Damn, that had felt good. Had he really always been that spineless? Shit, if she’d known that she’d have taken action against the idiot months ago. Maybe what he really needed was a strong woman to show him the error of his ways?

A sudden image of Bill down on his hands and knees, licking the boots of some black leather dressed dominatrix brought an instant smile to her lips. Now that was something she might well have paid to see.

And she wouldn’t have been the only one.

If the thought hadn’t truly disgusted her then she’d have imagined Bill on his hands and knees, licking at her boots, begging to be paddled like a naughty slave from one of her erotic novels.

“I’ve been waiting for someone to take that sleaze down now for the past few months.” A pair of wide brown eyes peeked out from behind the door that had been the source of the giggle. “He’s been working his way through the women here and I was worried he might try and go for seconds with a few of us.”

“Ann, isn’t it?” Sue moved a little closer and then walked into the small side office when the other woman opened the door up fully.

“Yes, and you’re Sue?
From accounts?”

Sue nodded, settling down on the edge of the cluttered desk. “You’ve had a run in with him? Bill, I mean.”

“Several.” The soft-eyed woman nodded a little. Five-six at most, with pale skin and long brown hair and no older than twenty-eight or -nine, Ann looked more like a demure school teacher than a secretary of a busy firm. Unlike so many of her age group she had chosen high-necked shirts, long skirts and flat shoes. No slave to fashion here, but a sensible woman who knew what worked for her chosen career. “He chased me for three months before I finally agree to go out with him. Always so helpful, until he got what he wanted then I didn’t exist. I can’t believe I was that stupid, falling for his lines and his games.”

Typical of the man, the same story she had heard from a dozen different women in the past few years. “He does that, but normally it doesn’t take him so long to get a woman to agree.”

“Barb warned me when I first arrived to give him a wide berth.”

“Good.” Okay, that part made sense, but then had she given in? “What made you change your mind about him? Something must have happened for you to end up going out with Bill.”

“He’s smart. He played on a few weaknesses of mine. I can’t believe that I fell for it, but he did the whole
Prince Charming
routine. I just thought, well, that maybe he and Barb had gone out and she was doing the ex-girlfriend routine. I loved what you did to him out there, but I’m not sure it was such a good idea. He won’t let you get away with it, you know.”

“Well, no one has ever denied that about him, but what difference did it make with you?” Get away with it? She had already managed that part of the plan. Bill had all but run back down the corridor and had shown no signs of coming back at her. Sue watched Ann closely, waiting to learn a little more about the man she had sent fleeing down the hallway, face crimson.

“He was nice around me, didn’t set off any alarm bells, helped out a lot. If I needed anything he was right there, getting things fixed for me. I guess I bought into the game.” Twin points of heat flared in the young woman’s cheeks as she sucked in her bottom lip. A soft quiver rippled through her words, tiny lines tightening around the corners of her eyes and lips. “Foolish, I know, I should have listened to my gut and kept away from him. Shit, I really did think Barb was either jealous or there was something else going on. It serves me right for trusting the prick, even for a short while.”

“We all make mistakes,” Sue tried to reassure her. “You aren’t the first to fall for it. Honestly, if he’d been nice to me when I first started working here I might have made the same mistake, so please, don’t beat yourself up over him. He’s just not worth it.”

“Yeah, and mine ended up on the Net. I’m betting that’s what will happen with your run in with him, only he’ll twist it. He always does.” Ann frowned, shaking her head. Her lips pressed into a tight, thin line, jaw set. “That bastard always twists things when he posts them up though.”

Her jaw tightened, frown deepening across her brow. “End up on the Net? What do you mean by that?”

“A
blog
.
He has one, spills everything across it. I thought you knew? It’s one of those online journal things,” Ann explained, glancing towards the door as she did so. “You really didn’t know about his
blog
? He writes in it every day. Some of the things he puts there are sickening.”

“No, who else knows about this
blog
thing of his?” Her heart sank. What had he posted to that thing? Lies, slander, vicious rumors that would only offer further hurt to the women in the office?