“I’m Joynetta Johnson,” Joy said as she smiled right back at him and shook his unusually large hand. He had a warm, alluring personality.
“Hello Joynetta Johnson. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Bobby Latham. I’m Mr. Skeffington’s chief of staff.”
She could tell he was still confused as to who she was exactly. But she didn’t know how to describe who she was either. Before she and William had their lovemaking session, it was crystal clear to her: She was his employee and nothing more. But now,after the fact, it was a lot murkier to her too.
But she was certain it wasn’t murky to a man like William at all. She was his hire, period, but what was she hired to do? She wasn’t sure if William even knew at that point. But he knew more than she did. That was why she looked for William to answer Bobby for her.
“She’s a new hire,” William said when they both looked at him.
“On my team?” Bobby asked him.
“She’ll be a staffer, yes.”
“Oh how wonderful!” Bobby’s smile regained its momentum. “Will I be her direct supervisor or--”
“No, you will not.” William said it so definitively that Sloane and Joy both looked at him.
William didn’t mean to have that edge in his voice, but the idea of Bobby making any moves on Joynetta was untenableto him. “I want you to assign someone to show her around, and to introduce her to all of the various staff level positions. She’ll come in as an assistant to me, and we’ll see where she goes from there.”
“Yes sir,” said Boddy.
Then William looked at Joy. “But you’ll go to HR first and get checked in. I’ve already let them know you’re coming over.”
Joy felt relieved that he took the time to make arrangements for her hire. “Yes, sir,” she said the way Bobby said it. But it felt unnatural for her to say yes sir to the man that had just hours earlier been deep inside of her while they were both naked and wrapped in each other’s arms. But it was her own damn fault for not stopping it when she had the chance. She was the one who had everything to lose if their decision to sleep together compromised their working relationship. He’d get rid of her if that happened. Pure and simple.
Which made her wonder again how on earth could she have so easily jeopardized her future?
William grabbed a plate out of the microwave and sat it in front of the stool in between Bobby and Sloane. “Come and eat, Joy,” he said to her.
“So that’s who you were cooking for,” Bobby said.
Joy was shocked. She looked at that plate filled with bacon and eggs and toast and she gladly sat on that stool. “Thanks,” she said, said her grace, and ate.
“What would you like to drink?” William asked her.
“Do you have a Pepsi?” Joy asked.
“A Pepsi for breakfast?” Sloane was disgusted.
But Joy didn’t even give her the time of day. She wanted a soda.
William went to his enormous refrigerator, pulled out a Pepsi, and gave it to her. But she was too busy eating. Vigorously. She was hungry.
Bobby smiled. “There’s no shame in your game,” he said, and Joy, realizing she was devouring the food rather than eating it, smiled sheepishly. Bobby laughed. William smiled too. She was such an adorable human being to him.
While she continued eating and drinking her Pepsi, William wrapped up the morning meeting with his staffers and told them to get to the office. He tossed the last of his drink into the sink and smashed his cigar into a golden ashtray as he got ready to leave too.
Bobby and Sloane grabbed up their briefcases and iPads and coffee mugs as Joy continued to eat. They were accustomed to those early morning confabs with the boss before they went into the office. Especially after a major event like last night when one of their top-tier clients ended up in federal custody.
“Do you have your own wheels, Joy?” Bobby asked her.
“A car? No sir, not yet.”
“Then you’ll ride to the office with Sloane and I.”
“No, she won’t,” William said without hesitation. “She’ll meet you there. She’s going to HR first.”
Bobby and Sloane glanced at each other. How would her riding with them negate her from going to the personnel office to complete her new hire paperwork when HR was in the same building as their offices?
