The Temp (5 page)

8

Eve couldn’t breathe as she walked into Roman’s office.
It was five minutes to two. The conference had left her rattled, her hands trembling as she stepped into his office. She hadn’t had time to eat though she was early, hoping she wouldn’t ruin her first day with Roman her new boss. She sighed, he wasn’t here yet.

His office was spacious, larger than Trigger’s one and the view ran out to the Empire state building. It was breathtaking. She’d never stood so close to it, basking in its magnificence. Eve didn’t always understand the obsession to conquer the world with skyscrapers and hard lines, now she had a sympathy for it.

“Like what you see?”

Eve jumped a hand to her chest. She spun round. “I’m sorry, you said two. I wasn’t snooping I was”-

“I did say two,” Roman said, a lazy smile falling in place, like a panther regarding its next meal. He stopped half a metre away from her. “You seem nervous,” his brow knit together. “If you’re not up for this”-

“I am,” Eve stared down, interlacing her fingers, she couldn’t help it. She was in close proximity to him and everything about it was so wrong, she was here to get whatever was needed from the company. Only time would tell what it was and anyone along the way would be…cannon fodder. Eve fidgeted under his scrutiny.

“Are you sure you’re up to the task? I have a lot of work in need of attention in a short space of time. Do you work well to deadlines?”

Eve nodded. “I’m not afraid of hard work,” she stammered, she was afraid of looking directly at him and confessing what it is she’d really come here to do.
I’m a traitor.

He stepped closer drawing in her gaze. “We’ve met before,” he said slowly, stepping around Eve taking a 360 degree view of her. Eve had never been so on show before. She nodded, her shoulders hunching forward. “Stand straight.” She did as she was told.

“A few days ago. In the lobby,” as if it needed confirming after they’d already spoken about it outside Trigger’s office.

“I had the impression you were passing through.”

“I told you it was my first day.”

“I didn’t think you meant in my office,” he said. Her brow knit together, what else could he have thought she meant?

“I was clumsy,” she said wishing she could stop speaking.

“Endearing,” he stepped closer. Everything became hot as if the temperature had suddenly risen. Her heart thrummed, her breathing quickening and Roman Pierce watched her with his impenetrable stare. 

“I can start straightaway,” Eve said at a loss for anything to say, still averting that gaze of his. She was entering dangerous territory. She couldn’t flirt. She couldn’t get distracted, not that she had a clue about flirting. Besides, he was the boss. He could do anything and get away with it. She might get fired for doing exactly that. Flirting.

Maybe she should get fired.
No,
that wouldn’t work. She’d be exposed. Or was this more akin to what she’d read in the conference? Was this what she was supposed to look out for? Was this sexual harassment?

“Yes, let’s get to it.” Roman showed her to her desk the one right outside his office. It mirrored the one Trigger had; only Roman’s office was three times as big and her desk was bigger too. She had a few walls to protect her from the floor and corridors so she could focus on her job, which is what she did as she made her way through the papers on the desk. He left her to it, drifting back into the office.

She turned away from him and put up her mental barriers. The work was tough and Eve was grateful for the distraction. Having Roman Pierce watch her from behind was an incredibly nerve wracking experience.

A few hours later he stepped out of the glass office. 

“You got through those faster than I expected,” he sat down on her desk, towering over her, his smoky scent invading her every pore. She tried not to inhale in case he could sense what she was doing. It was an invasion to inhale him, a terribly amazing invasion. “My secretary is on leave until next week. Can you stay for the remainder?”

Eve nodded, biting her lip. Was this what she’d wanted? More time with Roman Pierce, more heart fluttering moments, more lingering gazes, more awkward silences? The awkward silence sat between them, she hadn’t said anything as per usual.

“I have a question about where we file these.” She picked up a stack of papers before her. She’d meant to hand them over; instead he leant over to retrieve them, inches away from her body. She exhaled. She was close.

He was close, his shirt almost touching her skin. Roman took the papers, only he wasn’t looking at them, he was looking at her.

Every fibre in her body reacted.
Snap.

She forced herself to look away and swivelled back under the desk hiding her body from view. He
really
was looking at her in that way. Still was. She wasn’t imagining it.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her heart would not let up.

“Mr Pierce?” Eve said, she’d never called him by his last name, it was fitting given he was the boss.
He’s the boss. He’s the boss. He’s the boss.
She turned to him, finding two upturned eyebrows staring back at her. “Can I speak to you in your office?” she squeaked.
Stop looking at me. Please.
A moment later they were both in his office.

“I’m listening,” Roman nodded from his desk; he sat on the edge like he’d done on her desk moments before, a disconcerting image of power and masculinity. His eyes grazed over her-

“Stop that!”

“What is it?” his voice inflected in genuine surprise. 

“Stop looking at me like that and let me do my job,” her fists balled. It was ballsy to say the least, she no longer cared. She wanted him, yes, she couldn’t have him.

There was a line she wouldn’t cross. If she couldn’t have him she wasn’t going to be subjected to his looks, his stares, his temptations. Whatever that damn sexual harassment conference was all about. Her heart pounded hard against her ribcage. She fought the internal war in her head.

Take it back, Eve.

No, if you do, he’ll think you’re weak.

You’re not weak, you’re scared. Oh, god. Take it back.

She scrunched her face, any second he’d tell her to get out of his office. She’d never been so empowered before and so utterly ridiculous at the same time.

There was an indefinable moment of heated silence.

Any moment, any second like a ticking time bomb…He’d fight her on it. He had a right to; after all he was the boss. He could fire her for saying anything so brash and she could go to human resources and without anyone to back up her claim she’d be powerless. Besides, she wanted his advances, except not here, not in this situation.

…

“Understood.”

“What?” her voice left her.

This wasn’t happening.

“I apologise, it won’t happen again. You can go home now; I’ll see you tomorrow at eight sharp.” Her head thumped with too much blood, had he really agreed? Eve nodded and turned round, her face fighting the onslaught of tears. Why did she want to cry so much? Was it the confrontation? Was it Roman and his speedy recovery? Or was it another form of rejection? It sounded like a firing. It sounded exactly like she was fired.

His tone had been clipped, his voice hard. What else could it mean? This was the very thing she was supposed to avoid. She’d been so stupid. So brazen. So unlike herself.

She walked out the door and down the corridor feeling the world crumble at her feet. She didn’t know if she was coming back tomorrow, if she could.

*

Roman Pierce swore as soon as the girl stepped out of his office. He’d acted rash, he realised it the minute she opened her mouth. Why hadn’t he seen it before?

This wasn’t him. He didn’t know how to feel especially once she’d said it out loud. He’d seen her hesitation. He could tell she hadn’t meant to say it out loud, she couldn’t exactly unsay it.

She saw the risk straightaway and she didn’t back down no matter the consequences. Eve was shy? Perhaps. She was stronger than she gave herself credit for. He could read women so well and yet Eve was a mystery.

Still…he liked something about the way she’d stood up for herself. It wasn’t in her nature and when people act against their nature it always sparked his curiosity.

He shouldn’t…She didn’t want it.

He shouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t come in tomorrow and instead sent in her resignation. He wouldn’t be able to dispute it. It wouldn’t be sexual harassment in the office, perhaps out of it…He faced out onto the view of the Empire State building.

In the pit of his stomach it grew like a virus. He was becoming like
them.
Soon, Roman would be another billionaire entrepreneur at the top of his game taking anything he wanted and didn’t rightfully deserve.

He didn’t want to be one of those.

He didn’t want to resemble those businessmen who took advantage of their female employees at a whim.

Eve was…eye catching, timid. He’d made a point not to have too many attractive females on the floor. She could be nothing except a distraction...she could be more…

She didn’t belong here. She was…different.

*

“How was your first day?”

Eve gasped as she rounded the alley.

Trigger leant against the brick wall, his head hooded in the shadows.

“Alright,” she lied. Her pulse still betrayed her, at this distance Trigger wouldn’t know would he? There was something in the way he stood that unnerved her.

“Drinks?” Trigger pushed off the wall and slowly stalked towards her.

“Not tonight,” Eve kept moving. “Long day. Rain check,” she smiled faintly at the accidental play on words.

“I’ll hold you to it.”

She waited until she was two streets down before letting her composure slip. She braced a hand against a wall. She couldn’t do this. Either she had no job or she had advances from the boss or advances from a man who knew about her blackmail.

Just once, just once, she wanted a simple life.

9

You can do this.

Eve held her head high as she walked into Roman Industries Ltd the next day. It had been a night of pros and cons, should she hide and run or should she stay?

She’d made a life here away from her past; she had a right to live it. So she was staying, chin up, marching all the way to her desk, the first of her many fuck-off faces in place, as if she belonged, if Snake eyes could do it and get away with it, so could she. She’d make her mark here.

She didn’t acknowledge
him
at all, as she started working.

Nonetheless, she caught him smiling out of the corner of her eye.

For the rest of the week work continued on as far as normal was concerned.

Eve almost forgot about the man in the glass office,

Always watching her…
always.

10

“Hey sweetie, the usual?”

“Thanks Trisha,” Eve said. She sat down in the furthest booth in the corner of Chloe’s coffee shop. Trisha the waitress wiped down a table and nodded to Nick behind the counter to make Eve’s coffee. Nick smiled at Eve in that way he always did-dimpled all-American. There were a few patrons inside, though mostly their business was take away coffee. 

“Busy day?” Trisha placed the coffee on Eve’s table moments later. Trisha was a single mother with her two year old son who lived in the same building as Eve.

“You could say so, you?”

“Honey, there is nothing if not busy,” she scrutinised the girl with her hands on her hips. Trisha stayed for a few more minutes to chat and left Eve alone to it soon after.

The coffee shop was fitted in leather booths and purple velvet pillows, a mixture of black walls and large windows. Eve liked the privacy her booth gave her, especially for what she wanted to do.

She pulled out her notebook, the words sometimes didn’t come, sometimes she was blocked. Not today. His face lingered before her, the mirage so intoxicating...the words came to her with ease. It was an hour later until she came up for air again. 

“Pierce,” the air left her in a whoosh.

There he was, Roman Pierce, so not the hallucination. It was him alright, with his sphinx like smile on those lips.
Those lips.

“What are you doing here?” she exhaled.

“What were you doing?” he said, gleaning to her notebook.

Eve slid it under the booth in quick succession.

“Nothing, how did you find me?” she turned to the counter.

Trisha watched them with curious eyes, those not-going-to-intervene eyes. That look, Eve would definitely be forced to share on Roman Pierce. What was there to tell?

“I didn’t. I was getting coffee.”

“Oh,” her eyes skimmed the booth. “Why would you need to get coffee?” Eve blurted out before her filter could function. “I mean you’re Roman Pierce, wouldn’t someone else get it for you? Was I supposed to get it for you?” it was an unspoken rule, though so far Roman Pierce had not asked her to get his coffee.

“Some things I like to do myself,” his voice was low, his sphinx like smile triggering again. His eyes glittered malevolently sending a shiver down her spine. 

“I’ve never seen you in here before,” her voice was so small. They were a ten minute walk from the office building. She went the extra length just for the space and Trisha her friend.

“How would you know? You were very much entranced in your writings.” Her hand was hot against the notebook under the table, balancing the book on her knee, as if it were gone. Eve’s fingers rested on her coffee cup for the first time. “I believe it’s cold. That’s what happens when you leave it for so long.”

“How long have you been standing there?” she said, her cheeks bruising to a delicate pink. How long had he been watching her? 

“Can I get you another one?” his head tilted to the side and Eve rose out of the booth. She should get back to work, she’d run overtime on her lunch break. Yet, her caffeine addiction called to her, it wasn’t often she forgot about her coffee unless her writing took off…and it had. It’d been so long since it had done that.

And her muse had been…

“I should get back to the office, the boss”-

His head tilted to the other side, “I insist you get another coffee. It would impair your ability as my assistant otherwise.”

The command made her blood run hot. She wasn’t his assistant, she was his secretary and a temporary too, though hearing him call her his assistant sounded more personal, more intimate.

“I’ll get one to go,” she mumbled.

“No, let’s drink one together. Call this a follow up to the job, to let me know how you’re going.”

“Ok,” Eve stood in the queue with Roman as she shifted from foot to foot. She’d didn’t do follow-ups, they were always code for interviews or feedback or criticism.

Trisha was nowhere to be seen. She must have been on break or had finished her shift.

They stepped forward.

Nick was behind the counter. “Eve, what will it be?” Nick’s his smile widened as she approached. Nick was blonde, athletic and his smile had a way of disarming her. He’d been working at the coffee shop for the last three months, Eve had been a regular coming to visit Trisha long before, they’d hit it off straight away.

“The usual and”-Eve turned to Roman, his stance had hardened to his business posture, all power and hard lines.

The two men regarded one another, sizing each other up.

Eve fidgeted with her blouse as Nick’s gaze finally fell on her again, hardness behind those eyes. Her heart fluttered and quaked dying to escape her body.

How had things become so awkward so suddenly? She should open her mouth, say anything, at least introduce them, her mouth worked but damn hell nothing came out.

“Coffee black, regular,” he took out his wallet, waving away Eve’s offer to pay. They sat down in her booth again and this time Eve felt his eyes pierce into hers even before she raised them.

“Oh hi, Eve, I thought you’d gone,” Trisha beamed as she came round from the back.
Yeah, right.
Trisha had a way of appearing out of the blue.  

“My coffee got cold and Mr Pierce decided to get me another.” Eve didn’t know why she was babbling or why the hell she had to say his name as if saying only Roman might make it feel like it was all in her head.

Trisha threw Roman a sceptical glance. It was her motherly overly protective look kicking in with Eve as if she were her other child. “Would you be Mr Roman Pierce, the new boss?” Trisha gave him a hard look that could have withered ice.

Eve’s eyes widened, she was mortified.

“The one and only,” Roman stretched out his hand.

There was a pause. Eve held her breath, hoping Trisha wouldn’t embarrass her any further. They shook hands, Trisha visibly softening and pinking at the ears beneath her red hair.

She turned to Eve. “Can you watch Jack tonight, please Eve?”

“Sure I can be round at six.” Trisha beamed and walked off and Eve’s composure slipped a little. The air left her, alone with Roman in her favourite part of the shop, the most deserted and most private booth imaginable. Her hands shied under the table fiddling with the notebook.

“Eve,” Roman breathed out, his mouth lingering on her name.

Nick came round the corner with a tray in hand. He laid out the coffees before them, winking at Eve. “Enjoy,” he said and walked off.

Roman set his jaw. “What are you writing?”

Eve glanced down at her coffee, her fingers teasing over the edge of the rim. She never told anyone, never had the confidence. Not Trisha, not Nick, not anyone. And Roman? Roman might be different, maybe it wouldn’t matter since her time with him was limited. Her place by his side was so temporary.

“I’m writing a novel,” she bit her lip. It was like confessing her deepest sin, her greatest secret, so close to her heart.

“What’s it about?”

Eve stared at her cup again, pouring in milk and watching the cloud swirl like an oncoming storm. She let out a hard breath. “It’s about a girl who comes from a mobster family. She ran away as a child and was assumed dead. It’s a story about how the past is going to catch up to her.”

“A thriller?”

“In a way,” Eve blinked away.

“Is there action?”

“A bit.”

“Is there a love interest.”

“There is a man who tries to help her. He’s a law enforcer and the only one who believes her story. No one else will believe her.”

“Because he wants her.”

Eve bit her lip. “Maybe.” It was the most she’d ever spoken about it before and the adrenaline rushing through her veins was intoxicating. She was afraid of what he might think and relieved at having said it out loud for the first time. Eve looked up feeling everything on the line, if Roman believed it to be a dumb idea, if he didn’t have an opinion at all.
If…

His eyes were smoky grey in the dull light, a hint of darkness, a hint of light, devoid of colour, his hands clasping before him. He leaned in, elbows on the table, completely fixated on her.

She was trapped in his awe. “What are you thinking?” she said, mustering up the courage to fill the void. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this inquisitive. Her entire novel lay on the line, if this man did or didn’t like it.

“I’m intrigued,” he shifted his hand to rest under his chin. “There’s so much more to you than I ever imagined.” Eve’s body shrank against the booth, she hadn’t expected that. Had he imagined of her? “It’s the perfect combination for a story, action, love and maybe a twist somewhere?”

“Somewhere.”

“Can I read it?”

“No.” Her heart seized. She could hardly breathe.

Before her sat Roman Pierce and he wanted to read her work!
No, no,
even if it was only to indulge her, no. Her gaze skimmed to the coffee shop, they were in such a public place for something so intimate. The coffee machine hissed and sputtered in the background, coffee beans grinding away, the heavenly burnt smell coaxing her. Before her mind could object, Eve’s fingers touched the notebook from under the table, carefully sliding the moleskin across the surface.

Roman lifted the thing before Eve could open her mouth. His long fingers deftly opened the pages, his pupils dilating and he was silent as he consumed the words.

After a long pause- “I’m sorry if my writing isn’t legible.”

“It’s legible,” he didn’t look up and continued to read the pages. Eve sank lower into the booth wishing she could snatch the thing out of his hands. She was so naked right now, so on show to him. An infinite amount of time passed until one of them spoke again. “This is good.”

Eve straightened up.
What?

Roman was staring straight at her, his indecipherable grin in place, his head tilting to the side. “The plot outline is very complex. I’m sorry I read the ending first.”

“The ending came to me first.”

“It’s a very unfulfilling ending, you don’t believe in happy endings?” Eve stammered. Roman Pierce was asking her if she believed in happy endings!?

“I want to, do you?” she’d mustered up the courage to keep the conversation going. 

“No,” his face closed off.

“Oh.”

“There are no happy endings in real life.”

Eve blinked. “What?”

“It’s realistic,” Roman held up the moleskin.

“You wouldn’t have me change the ending?”

“It’s the best part. I hope you know how unsatisfied you’ll leave your readers.” There was a twinkled in his eyes.

Eve didn’t know how to feel. If Roman didn’t believe in happy endings, how did he see his life playing out? Did he even believe in love? “Nobody’s read it except you,” Eve flushed a deep red.

“You should amend that,” his voice was whisper sweet. Eve nodded not looking up, her fingers longing for the notebook back, for its comfort. “I checked your resume. Your background is Arts. What are you doing temping?”

She was surprised to hear Roman Pierce had read her resume. “It’s an unrealistic career progression,” Eve swallowed, her fingers knitting together.

“Then why did you study it?”

“Nobody studies art because they want to make money.”

“So you want to be a temp for the rest of your life?” 

“Most people have at least three different careers in one lifetime. I shouldn’t be pressured into choosing my final destination,” Eve snapped before she could filter her words. She’d rehearsed this response many times over the years.

Roman blinked. “You look like someone who’s denying their true purpose.”

“And how would you know?” she bit back her words. She couldn’t help it. She wore her writing on her sleeve and had revealed more to this man than to anyone before.

Roman blinked again. “Your coffee’s gone cold.”

Eve rose. “So has the conversation.” She regretted the words immediately. Here she was with her boss in a personal situation and with too many red flags. She shuffled out of the booth having to shift passed Roman.

“I’ll walk you out,” his hand caught hers, an instant spark pulsing between them. It wasn’t a question. There was a command lined beneath those words, a whispering of spider feet up her back. Eve nodded not looking his way. She didn’t know how to feel about what had happened. She’d revealed so much, over shared on her part and feeling naked in front of a stranger was too much to bear. Roman was a stranger with his sphinx like expressions, a Rubik’s cube and she was a simple 3x3 piece puzzle. She hated it.

His hand still held hers, the touch sparking all the way to her toes. Her body had long since gone cold and the only heat came from his palm flowing life into her.

Eve didn’t look back as they stepped out of the shop. She didn’t ask where they were going assuming he was leading her back to the office. They turned a right down a narrow deserted street instead. Eve turned back to the bustle on the main street as it skimmed passed them.