Chapter 11

THE ASSISTANT

Jennie

Manhattan, New York

There was no "What I Need Today" email from her this morning, no last minute request for coffee, new release novels, or breakfast.

As I headed to the office one hour earlier like she requested, I noticed her Jaguar wasn't in her designated spot. Somewhat relieved, I took the elevator to my floor and unlocked my office—unsure as to whether I should start organizing my things for an upcoming termination or not.

Whenever she decided to bring up my email, I knew I was going to have to choose between three options when I responded.

Plan A: Deny. Deny. Deny.

Plan B: Deny more. Deny more. Deny more.

Plan C: Suck up my pride, admit I was wrong, and hope he doesn't fire me because I haven't received an official job offer from anywhere else yet.

It has to be Plan A…

Just as I was about to sit down, my desk phone rang and her office number appeared on the screen. Taking a deep breath, I picked up the receiver. "Yes, Ms. Manoban?"

"Come up to my office." She hung up without a single word, leaving me confused.

I locked my purse in my drawer and took the steps, knocking three times until her familiar, "Yes?" greeted me and made me open the door.

She was sitting in her chair, her back facing me. At the sound of my heels clacking against the floor, she slowly spun around—her deep brown doe eyes meeting mine.

Her suit today was one I hadn't seen before, a dark grey one that perfectly complemented the new silver watch on her wrist. The watch she'd far too recently made me stand in line to get.

"Have a seat." She motioned for me to sit in front of her desk.

I sat down and she picked up her coffee, taking a long sip.

"You know, Miss Kim," She emphasized every syllable of my name. "I honestly thought you and I were on better terms, especially after working together for over a year. But it seems I was clearly mistaken."

She looked as if she was waiting for some type of explanation in regards to my email, and I still wasn't sure if I wanted to go for Plan A, B, or C. As if she could sense that I was weighing my options, her lips curved up into a smirk.

I tried to avert my gaze away, even for a second, but I couldn't look away from her at all.

"Are you going to say something?" she asked. "Or are you going to continue sitting there as if you have no idea what I'm talking about?"

"Is this about me leaving early yesterday?" I settled on Plan A. "I was feeling a little ill, that's all."

"This is about a particularly inappropriate email where you make a mention of me fucking you."

My cheeks were on fire and I knew she wasn't going to let me avoid this at all.

"I'm sorry," I said, the words rushing out. "I had no idea that I'd accidentally—"

"This is also about…" she said, cutting me off as she raised her hand. "Me possibly needing to go to human resources and file a complaint. A sexual harassment complaint."

What?

Slowly standing up, she walked in front of her desk—keeping me pinned to the seat with her angry gaze, making me soaking wet with every slight lick of her lips.

"Sexual harassment is a very serious offense here at Manoban Publishing, Miss Kim." She looked me up and down. "I've had people fired for far less egregious offenses, and I technically should be doing the same to you right now as that would only be more than fair." She didn't let me get a word in. "Especially since I don't think you fully understand why what you did was so offensive."

"I do…" My voice was a whisper.

"Oh really?" She raised her eyebrow. "Can you imagine if I accidentally sent a similar email to someone about you the way you did me?"

I didn't answer.

"Let me put this in perspective for you." She leaned forward, so close her knees were touching mine. "If I sent an email to you—accidentally that is, and it said that I've wanted you to sit your pussy on my face since you started working here…Or that I've wanted to bend your ass over my own desk and fuck you until you begged me to stop every time you wore a particular shade of dress, don't you think I would need to be reprimanded somehow?"

I was speechless at her words, and I wasn't sure if she was simply giving an example or if she'd really thought about me the way I'd thought about her.

"Answer me, Jennie." The way my name fell from her lips made me suck in a breath. "Don't you think there would be an uproar with serious consequences?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe? No, definitely." She adjusted her tie. "In fact, there would be such an uproar that I think the IT department would be forced to go through all the emails I'd ever sent on any company device since nothing sent on a company server is ever truly deleted. In fact, they'd probably have to investigate and see if this was a one-time offense or a particularly interesting pattern…"

I felt my jaw dropping and struggled to keep my lips together.

"I mean," she said, looking somewhat serious. "Depending on what they found, they'd have to personally address me and assess the damages. And if the person I was talking about 'fucking' in my emails wanted to, I'm sure she could make my life very miserable."

Silence.

She picked up a folder from her desk and slowly set in on my lap—somehow managing to turn me on even further without even touching me. "Three hundred and sixty-seven emails between you and your 'bestie', Jisoo."

That's it?

"That's this month alone." Her voice was clipped. "I didn't have time to read more than a few of them, but I'm assuming we won't be seeing anymore of these in our IT database. Or will we?"

"No." I shook my head.

"Good. I had them all permanently deleted. You're welcome." She stood up and glanced at her watch. "Those Roberto files are due before our morning meeting with Lockwood." She walked over to the door and held it open, waiting for me to leave.

Avoiding her gaze, I stood up and headed into the hallway.

"Oh, and one last thing, Miss Kim," she said, making me look over my shoulder.

"Yes?"

"For the record, per your email with the subject heading, 'I Wonder If She Eats Pussy'…" She looked me up and down. "I do eat pussy, and if I ever was going to eat your pussy…If that thought had ever been filthy enough to cross my mind and certain circumstances between us were different, you wouldn't be able to walk for days after I was done with you…"