Sleeping With My Boss: A Standalone Novel (An Alpha Billionaire Romance Love Story) (A Dirty Office Romance) (29 page)

Chapter
Six

Emily

After
dinner, I did the dishes while listening to the sound of Tom and Billy getting
progressively drunker instead of working on the Buick. I sighed as I scrubbed
the plates and placed them in the dish drainer before turning my attention to
the pans I'd used to cook the fresh vegetables and steak I'd used to make
fajitas.

 
I
let my mind wander back four years and smiled when I remembered how young and
hopeful we'd been. Back then, Tom was sober and had a future in baseball ahead
of him. He'd been a star pitcher at North Las Vegas High and when he was signed
to a Triple A team in Bakersfield, he had high hopes of making it to the minor
league in two or three years. His baseball salary only paid through the summer
season, but he'd been working for Marks Air as part of the baggage and
maintenance crew for a couple of years by then and they were willing to give
him time off to play baseball while holding his job for him until the end of
the season.

Tom felt proud of what he'd accomplished
at such a young age and so did I. We were excited about starting our new life
together and the house was our investment in the future.

We'd made the down payment on this house
using the money we'd received as wedding gifts and the small amount Tom had
gotten as a signing bonus with Bakersfield. It wasn't a big house, it was
definitely not located in the best part of town, and it needed quite a bit of
work to make it truly livable, but it was ours and we had seen its potential
the first time we'd walked through it.

I'd been working as a waitress at a
hole-in-the-wall bar whose owner didn't care that I wasn't yet twenty-one and
the weekend tips I made were substantial enough to make the mortgage payment
every month. It wasn't easy and Tom and I didn't see a whole lot of each other
the first few months of our marriage, but we were happy because we were
building something together.

That all changed the afternoon Tom pitched
a no-hitter against a team from Visalia. During his last pitch, he felt
something in his shoulder give and although he struck the last batter out, he
walked off the mound knowing that something was seriously wrong. We saw several
specialists over the next few months and none of them had good news. Tom had a
loose shoulder and while the surgeons could offer a wide variety of options for
healing it enough to be able to function in a normal setting, none of them
could promise him that he'd ever be able to pitch again.

The news sent Tom into a downward spiral
for a few months and he started drinking and gambling as a way to stave off the
feelings of disappointment and failure. I tried to pull him out of it by
suggesting that we travel to other clinics and consult with sports experts, but
by that time the medical bills had begun to overwhelm us and Tom showed signs
of giving up.

I gave up taking classes at the local
community college and began searching for a second job to try and bring in more
money. One afternoon, Tom came home from his shift at the airline and announced
that they were hiring flight attendants and that the pay was triple what I was
making in tips. He suggested that I apply and while I doubted that they'd hire
me because I was still so young, I did it.

Six weeks later, I packed my bags and flew
to New York City for a month of training and learned that I was the perfect
candidate for flying the friendly skies. It was the perfect combination of all
the things I enjoyed doing most, and I was excited about the possibility of
expanding my horizons while getting paid. I came back from training with a list
of places that I wanted to visit, but Tom was less than thrilled about the
prospect of his wife being gone more than half the month.

We fought about the job for a week after I
returned. I was resentful that he'd set me up, and he was mad that I actually
liked the job. We spent an icy few evenings trying to reach an agreement, but I
got the feeling that he was angry at more than me, so I tried to make peace
with meals and outings before I started my new schedule.

Once I started flying, we settled into a
routine and things seemed to calm down. Tom worked the early shift at the
airline, so it left him with lots of free afternoons and evenings. He started
building a mechanic business out of our garage, but he wasn't very good at
holding his customers to payment schedules, so I often came home to a stack of
unpaid bills and invoices that needed to be sent out for payment. It had gotten
to the point that every time I returned, I held my breath on the drive home
wondering what I would encounter once I got there.

Needless to say, the flame of romance had
been turned down to low in our marriage and it took some real effort on my part
to respond to Tom's overtures. He drank regularly, and when he made his
intentions clear, I often had to fight back a wave of disgust and remind myself
of all the good, loving qualities he still possessed when he was sober.

The sober Tom was still charming,
attractive, and loving, and when he was home, I fell in love with him all over
again. The problem was that sober Tom was showing up less and less frequently
and I didn't know how I could convince him to stay.

Chapter
Seven

Austin

I
woke up to my phone frantically vibrating at four in the morning. This was
something that annoyed me beyond belief, but business never sleeps.

"You awake, boss?" Bax's voice
filtered through my fuzzy brain.

"If I wasn't before, I am now,"
I mumbled as I reached across the nightstand and tapped the base of the lamp so
that it cast a soft glow out into the room.

When I'd taken over the hotel business
several years ago, I'd made it my mission to upgrade many of the old fixtures
and these lamps were one of the things that customers often complemented us on.
Instead of quickly shining a bright light in the guest's eyes, it warmed up
over a period of twenty minutes. It allowed guests to seamlessly move between
sleep and awake and resulted in a more pleasant wake-up experience. In
addition, I'd replaced the morning wake-up call with a programmable tone on
each phone keypad so that guests could wake up to everything from chimes to
summer storms, rather than the voices of strangers at a switchboard, though we
still offered that option for the old school folks who didn't like change.

"We've got a full day and I thought
you might be tempted to sleep in this morning," he said.

"Don't you ever sleep?" I
grumbled as I tapped the keypad on the room phone and ordered breakfast and the
Times
.

"Would it matter if I told you that
I'm a thousand year old vampire and I don't need sleep, just the blood of ten
virgins and a shot of whiskey?" he deadpanned.

"Don't be a smart ass," I replied
as I slowly lifted the Egyptian cotton sheets up and rolled to the edge of the
mattress. "I'm not in the mood for jokes this morning."

"Right," he replied.
"Gotcha. So, this morning you need to get to the office and meet with
Daniel before you head to the airport.

"Oh Christ," I groaned.
"Not that jackass this early in the morning, Bax."

"Sorry, I tried to shift things
around and keep him off the schedule, but you know how that goes," he
replied sympathetically. "Just get there early, meet with him, nod your
head and make mouth noises, and then skip out as quickly as possible. Tell him
you have a flight to catch, it's the truth."

"For a change," I said as I
rubbed my face with my hand and tried to remember where I'd hung my pants.
"Can you have someone send over a suit and then get Lydia to pack my bags
for Sydney?"

"Already done," Bax replied.
"Your bags will meet you at the airport. Your suit is on its way up to
your room right now."

As soon as he said this, there was a soft
knock on the door. I went to answer it and found Andrew, the bellman, holding a
suit bag and a dopp kit full of supplies.

"Mr. Marks," he said as he
stepped into the room and headed for the dressing area. "How are you,
sir?"

"I'm doing all right, Andrew," I
replied. Then, speaking loudly into the phone said, "Except for the fact
that it's four in the morning and my best friend has decided that he's in
charge of my life."

"Well, that's what best friends are
for, sir," Andrew smiled. "They do the things that no one else would
dare do – except maybe one's mother."

"Good point, Andrew," I laughed.
"But sometimes, they get a little full of themselves and think they own
you."

"No, I think that's a wife,
sir," Andrew grinned.

"Speaking which, how are Jeannie and
the kids?" I asked.

"They're great. The little one just
graduated from kindergarten and the older one is headed into third grade next
year," he replied with a proud smile. "And, my wife got her RN
license last month, so we're doing pretty darn well, if I do say so myself."

"Hey, that's fantastic! Are you
planning a celebration?" I asked.

"Yeah, Jeannie's parents are taking
the kids to Coney Island next weekend, so she and I can spend the day together
and do something fun," he said with a wide grin. "We don't get much
time alone these days."

"Man, that sounds like heaven,"
I said wistfully.

"Yo, Mr. Dreamer!" Bax called
from the other end of the phone. "Hello? Can you get your head out of the
clouds and come back to earth?"

"Oh crap," I muttered as I
watched Andrew set up the clothing on the stand in the dressing area and then
lay out all of my shower supplies on the counter in the bathroom. "I need
to get back to this call, but it's good to see you, Andrew."

"Is there anything else you need,
sir?" he asked.

"No, I think I'll be fine for
now," I said. "But can you check on breakfast for me?"

"Yes, sir," he nodded, He pulled
a phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen, and waited for a few moments
before looking up and saying, "It's on it's way up now, sir."

"Great, thank you," I replied.

"It's my pleasure, sir." He
smiled as he crossed the room and quietly exited through the door.

"Damn, I love this hotel," I
said into the phone.

"Why? What's going on?" Bax
asked.

"I just love how everything makes it
feel like home instead of like I'm in a hotel," I said.

"Well, you are home," he said.
"I mean, it's your hotel."

"I know, but sometimes I don't feel
like I'm at home anywhere," I replied. "When I come here, I feel like
the staff makes the effort to turn this into someplace that I enjoy being,
rather than just someplace I'm passing through."

"Okay, whatever," Bax sighed.
"This sad sack bachelor routine is wearing thin, my friend. When are you
going to accept that settling down isn't about finding the perfect girl, it's
about finding someone who fits into your life and simply makes it better than
it was before?"

"Easy for you to say," I
muttered. "You found your dream girl at twenty-three." Bax was
married to his college sweetheart and had an apartment over on East 79
th
 
near the Metropolitan Museum.

 
"Look, I'm not scolding you, I'm just
saying that I think your standards are a little too unreasonable and that maybe
if you'd relax them a bit, you'd have better luck," he said. "What
about Anna?"

"What about her?" I asked.

"Forget it," he said.

"No, what about her?"

"She's a nice girl and she comes from
a good family," he said. "Why not settle down with her?"

"She doesn't love me like that,"
I said flatly.

"How do you know?"

"She told me. Last night, in
fact," I replied.

"Damn."

"Yeah, whatever," I said in a
flip tone. "Let's get back to business. What does Mr. Bossy Pants want
this morning?"

"He wants to know when you're going
to solve the Sydney problem," Bax said.

"Didn't you tell him I'm headed there
today?"

"I tried, but you know how he
is," he said with an impatient sigh. "He wants to see the evidence
for himself."

"Fine, I'll deal with him," I
said. "Anything else?"

"Nope, Sydney is the main
issue," he replied. "Everything else is secondary and I can deal with
it for now."

"Okay, well then, let me get ready to
meet his majesty," I sighed.

"I hope you ordered a big
breakfast," Bax said.

"The biggest," I assured him.
"Talk to you later."

When breakfast arrived a few minutes
later, I was glad to find out that in my sleepy state, I had actually ordered
the biggest breakfast on the menu.

I sighed, looked at the room server, and
said, "You're going to need to bring another pot of coffee, though."

Chapter
Eight

Emily

Three
in the morning came entirely too early. I hit the snooze button on the alarm
I'd set and slowly rolled over. Tom was sound asleep next to me, snoring so
loud that I was surprised I hadn't woken up earlier. He'd be out for half the
day, but since it was his day off, it didn't matter.

I, on the other hand, had a flight to
catch. Trish and I were joining the crew in Los Angeles and heading to Sydney
for the next five days. We'd fly today then spend four days in Australia and
then fly the return trip together. I was surprised that they were putting me on
an overseas flight for my first time in first class, but Linda had told me that
they were short on crews and didn't want to sacrifice an experienced crew to a
long trip like this one. Besides, she'd made a point of telling me that my
customer service ratings were hovering at 92%, which was almost unheard of, so
she had no problem adding me to the first class crew knowing that I'd be at the
top of my game.

I didn't feel like I was at the top of my
game as I stood in the kitchen and poured water into the coffee maker. As the
coffee brewed, I scooped some yogurt out of the container and topped it with
fresh blueberries and a handful of nuts and seeds. I needed to get myself up to
speed quickly and make sure that I didn't lag today. I was worried that if I
messed up, they'd immediately demote me and I'd be back serving soft drinks and
peanuts in economy on long flights from Los Angeles to Minneapolis or worse,
Cleveland.

The coffee finished brewing just as I
finished my breakfast, so I poured myself a big mug and added some cream before
heading to the second bedroom that I used as my storage closet and packing
space. I carefully rolled and stored enough clothing for the hop as I sipped
from the steamy hot cup. I remembered to toss in a bathing suit, even though I
wasn't sure if we'd have a pool at the hotel or not.
Can't hurt.

I moved into the bathroom and took a
shower then dried my unruly hair and pinned it up in a neat bun at the nape of
my neck before applying the requisite cosmetics. There were no hard fast rules
about cosmetics other than they couldn't be distracting or unnatural, but we
all knew that makeup was part of the costume and that customers expected
glamorous, well-dressed, polished attendants on their trips. I didn't wear much
make-up while I was off duty, but I was happy to have the chance to play with
it while working. Trish had given me some pointers about my eyebrows and some
tips on how to make my lipstick last longer, but I hadn't quite figured that
one out yet.

I smiled at myself in the mirror and then
headed back to my dressing room to don my uniform and zip up my travel case. I
liked this morning ritual before a trip, there was something soothing about
following the routine and knowing that in twenty-four hours, I'd be unpacking
some of my things in a hotel room halfway around the world. The adventure was
what I loved, and I never got tired of it. I pulled on my pantyhose and then
slipped into the wrap dress all the female flight attendants wore before adding
the final touch, a red scarf tied jauntily around my neck and a flight cap that
many of the my fellow attendants hated, but I actually loved. It made me feel
exotic, and as someone who'd grown up feeling completely average and decidedly
unspecial, I liked the feeling. Besides, once we were in the air, we were free
to take it off and relax. I never did.

I slipped my watch onto my wrist and
looked at the time. I had to hurry or I would be late and miss the flight. I
quickly put on the cubic zirconia studs that my mother had bought me for my
last birthday, and then slid my feet into my navy pumps, zipped my bag and set
it on the ground, and turned to survey the room. I had everything I needed for
the trip.

I stuck my head in the bedroom to see if
Tom was anywhere near awake, but when I heard him snoring, I knew he wasn't. I
decided to leave him a note on the kitchen counter, but I couldn't come up with
anything other than:

Tommy
- Hopping flight #3751 to LA then #4315 to Sydney. Be back on Sunday. There are
meals in the freezer. 350 degrees for 25 mins and you'll have piping hot food!
Have a good week. Love, E. ps - Don't forget to pay the electric bill on Friday
and water the plants in the front yard!

I tucked the electric bill under the note and
hoped that he'd remember to do it on Friday when we both got paid. We were
behind in paying the bill, but if he did it before Friday, we'd bounce a check
and that would mean an additional $35.00 we didn't have.

I smiled weakly as I looked around. Our house
suddenly looked drab and shabby, and I felt overwhelmed by how much work we
still needed to do to get it into shape. I stopped myself from descending too
far into the world of negative thinking by reminding myself that we'd faced
challenges before and this house was the least of them. Having calmed the
sinking feeling, I grabbed the handle of my bag and headed out to the car.

It would have to be good enough for now.
All of it.