Read The Boss for Free Online

average. He wore tweed blazers
and patterned plaid shirts with bow ties without looking like a
hipster or a nerd, even with the thick black-framed reading glasses
he sometimes wore. He was totally plain, but he exuded something
that drew everyone to him like a magnet.
    This morning, that magnetic effect was
somewhat diminished by the tension between Neil and me, and we both
seemed to realize that Rudy had noticed it, as well. I hurried to
hang up the coats while Rudy looked with interest from me to Neil
and back.
    "Did you enjoy your day off, Miss Sophie?"
Rudy had a soft voice and a faint, generic southern accent that I
was about seventy percent sure was a pretentious put-on. It was
obvious that the question was an admonishment, and I was supposed
to try and ferret out the right response.
    "Yes, thank you for asking." I wasn't going
to make an excuse for my absence. Rudy Ainsworth could think
whatever he wanted about me, and it wouldn't hurt my feelings. I
was getting fired today, anyway.
    "I'm glad you're here," Neil told Rudy. "Can
you come in and look at the budget they proposed for the handbag
spread?"
    I was instantly forgotten, and the moment the
doors closed behind them, I dropped into my chair. I was almost
dizzy from whatever had happened between Neil and me, and my relief
at having been rescued from a potential labyrinth of
passive-aggressive conversation with Rudy.
    Rudy was the least of my worries. Now that
Neil had left the room, I went off on an emotional bender, eyeing
our might-have-been confrontation from every possible paranoid
angle. Had he felt what I had? It had seemed so obvious in the
moment. Was he still going to fire me? Had I imagined it all?
    I went on autopilot for the first forty-five
minutes of my day, answering the phone, falling back on the
comfortable routine I'd been in just a couple days ago. I'd thought
the magazine would come apart without Gabriella, but everything
seemed so shockingly normal. Maybe I could keep working here, after
all. Maybe I could snag a position someone else had vacated in a
huff yesterday. Life might actually improve.
    For the first time in a very long twenty-four
hours, I started to feel like maybe my career wasn't completely
over.
    At around lunchtime, Neil emerged from his
office and paused beside my desk. "I think you should join me for
lunch. We have some things we need to discuss. Ivanka will cover
any calls."
    Have lunch with Neil? I had a vision of
barfing up my still-beating heart right onto my desk in front of
him. I felt a bit queasy as I got to my feet, which seemed to have
been encased in blocks of lead. I went to the closet and got our
coats, handing him his first. To my surprise, he moved to take mine
from my hands.
    "I've got it," I said as pleasantly as I
could as I shrugged it over my shoulders. We were still at war,
even if I had come to a sort of uneasy peace about work.
    I followed him through the lobby, preferring
to keep a few steps behind him, like I'd done with Gabriella. He
noticed before we even reached the elevators.
    "Could you stop following along like Mary's
little lamb? You're my assistant, not my servant." He sounded a bit
irritated. At me or Gabriella? Or both of us?
    Even though we only stopped twice on the way
down, I thought it must have been the longest elevator ride of my
entire life. I stood beside him, not saying anything, my gaze fixed
firmly on the numbers lighting up over the doors. I didn't want my
eyes to stray to my right for even a nanosecond, because I was
certain he would notice me looking at him.
    Suddenly, I realized how men must feel when
standing at a urinal in a public bathroom.
    We crossed the lobby, and I noticed people
stopping to stare. Not at me, but at Neil, and why shouldn't they?
The entire building was abuzz with the takeover of Porteras ,
and people were eager to get a glimpse of the man who'd breezed in
and ousted the feared, fire-breathing Gabriella Winters.
    From the hard set of his jaw, I guessed