“What about the job?”
“What is it exactly? And what if I can’t do it, William? What if they say I can’t handle it or I can’t do what they expect of me and then they--”
He quickly wrapped her in his arms to blunt her oncoming panic. He was effectively shielding her from herself. “You’ll be fine, Joynetta. Nobody’s going to fire you. You’ll be able to do the job I guarantee it.”
She leaned back up and looked into his eyes again as if she were searching them. “But how can you be so certain?”
Her youthful innocence, her sincerity, her flat pureness was endearing her to him in such a spectacular fashion that he could hardly believe it. “Because I’ve seen you in action at Maylene’s,” he said. “You’ll be absolutely fine.”
She smiled when his confidence seemed unwavering. And she nodded her agreement. “I concur,” she said and he smiled too.
But as they continued to stare at each other, she realized, after that sudden onset of panic had completely subsided, what he truly meant by liking itdown there. And how much bigger down there he had actually gotten.
She looked again into his eyes to see if it was just her or was he as . . .as what? As aroused as she was? It was obvious that he was. She felt it jammed beneath her. But was it just the physical part? Or was it more? Because for her, it felt like more.
But it couldn’t be more. Not even the physical part. He was soon to officially be her boss. Maybe not her immediate supervisor, but THE boss. It would be a disaster for her career if she even thought about going down that road with him.
But she couldn’t move. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him.
William felt similarly stuck. And he knew better than she the disaster their lack of movement could wrought. Somebody had to put an end to those feelings or things could get out of hand. And he knew, given his maturity compared to hers, that that somebody had to be him.
He patted the side of her thigh. “We’d better get up,” he said.
It was music to Joy’s ears. She didn’t want to cause him to change his mind by being the first to say it, but at the same time she knew they had no business beingdown therelike that in the first place. She quickly got off of him and the bed too. Then she reached out her hand to help him up.
Which offended him. Was she trying to insinuate that he was old? “What’s that?” he asked her.
“Let me help you up.”
“I’m notthatold,” he snapped, refused her offered hand, and struggled to his feet. Joy smiled as he grunted, but she hid it from him.
But as soon as he stood up and saw her eyes go straight for what he knew was the outline of his highly-aroused penis, he straightened his pants and moved away from her. And went to her dresser mirror to smooth down his hair.
When he turned back, she was smiling. Was she laughing at his arousal? “What are you smiling about?”
“I got a job! And it’s not based on tips either!” Then she stopped smiling. The receptionist had told her that there wereseveral restaurants in that building. Maybe he was going to put her in one of those? “Or is it?” he asked her.
William laughed. “No, Joynetta. It will not be based on tips.”
“Well then!” she said and continued to smile. Then she thought about her friend. “Oh!”
William waited for her to say more. “Oh what?”
“I have a friend, a best friend since third grade. Her name is Contessa, but we call her Tess. Is there any way you could find a job for her too?”
William looked at Joy as if she’d lost her mind.
She saw it too. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
It was in that moment that she realized he was no bush league kind of guy. He was the majors. “Don’t you ever invite others into a room you’re barely in yourself,” he said to her, “because they may end up taking your spot. Understand?”
Joy was about to saybut she’s not like that, but she held her tongue. Gramps always told her you never really know people until you’ve got something they want just as badly as you want it. Then you’ll know who you’re dealing with. “Yes sir,” she said instead.
“Now go take your bath because I know you want to.”
“Worse than you could ever imagine.”
“I’ll handle business. Then we’ll go back to Chicago, you’ll spend the night with me, and then you’ll go to HR first thing in the morning and sign the paperwork. They’ll give you your start date, which is usually two weeks out, and then you can come back home to Bridell and get your affairs in order before you make that permanent move.”
