Josie mimed,Smile, as Lenny cued the camera to start.
As I gave the presentation, I had to admit it flowed much better than anything I could have created. Josie mouthed along with the speech as I talked and made exaggerated gestures when she wanted me to emote more. The little jokes and funny comments she had written into the script helped break up the dry, corporate information. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the people below in the lobby were all engaged and attentive to what I was saying. I even heard them laughing at the jokes, which had never happened before.
When I finished, Josie gave me a thumbs-up. I felt a grin spread on my face.
Tara was waiting outside the door when we left. "That was inspirational," she gushed, clasping her hands together. "You were amazing!"
"It was Josie's doing," I admitted.
Tara's expression went dark. "She made your presentation?"
Josie smiled blandly at her. "You know, just helping out my boss, doing assistant things."
"You did much more than that," I told her seriously. "Greg didn't tell me you were so good at graphics and communication."
"She's just full of surprises, isn't she?" Tara said, the skin around her eyes tense.
"It was nice of you to come by, but I guess you have that super-duper secret marketing meeting you need to go to," Josie said to Tara.
"Don't let us keep you," I told the marketing director. "It's very important that the product launch go well."
"I had breakfast delivered," Josie said as we walked into my office. There was a bag of sandwiches sitting on my desk.
"Are you planning on feeding the whole office?" I asked as she rummaged through the paper sack.
"I might have ordered extra for lunch," she said, selecting two croissants. She held one out to me. "Did you eat?" she asked.
"I had oatmeal."
"Then you can have a second breakfast."
"It's not in my schedule."
"You're scheduled to do planning for the next week," she informed me. "So we can work and eat." She sat on my desk and unwrapped the croissant sandwich. "It has sausage, egg, and cheese." Josie waved it in front of my face. "Take a bite," she whispered. "It's tasty."
She looked tasty perched on my desk. I could see the faint outline of her panties through the skirt. To quell thoughts of her underthings, I took a bite of the offered sandwich.
"Good, right?" she asked. "Once you have a taste, you'll want to eat the whole thing."
Yes, I thought.
Josie made notes as we went through my schedule. I didn't see how she could read that chicken scratch she wrote in. It looked like alien writing.
"Hunter and Greg are here," Adrian announced, opening the door. "Wait, you have breakfast sandwiches? That's not healthy!"
I stuffed the last bit into my mouth and threw the wrapper in the trash can. "I'm not eating it," I said around a mouthful of food. Adrian glared at me. "Josie was eating it," I told him. "I didn't have any."
"You're lying!"
"There's plenty more," Josie said, offering him the bag.
"It's going to be fine," I heard Hunter bark at Garrett.
"No, it's not! You need to apologize to her," my CFO shouted. "This is outrageous. I have to pull over every time someone calls me. And it'syourfault."
"I said,drop it," Hunter growled at Garrett.
We all stared at Hunter and Garrett as they pushed past Adrian into the room. Greg came in behind them, scowl firmly in place.
