Fucking Mondays. Joshua Bennett rolled over in his bed and slapped the ever-persistent alarm ringing on his nightstand. Another day of work. Scratch that, another day of being pushed around by
her.
Dragon Lady, Ice Queen,
bitch,
he could think up a thousand names to call her and it still wouldn't ease the fire in his chest whenever he thought of her.
Who was
She?
That would be his boss, Gabriela Casimiro, the bane of his very existence, the devil on earth that tormented him through his every workday and oftentimes on his weekends. This weekend, for example, he had made plans. A Saturday night out for drinks with the boys, a trip to the local BDSM club, maybe corresponding with that girl he'd met online a bit more, but of course she'd had
other
ideas. An adjusted report, twenty-five copies at ten pages each, and all due first thing Monday morning. The damn thing nearly ate up a whole day of his already short-lived weekend. He went to bed early Sunday night, exhausted from percentages, adjustments, quarterly profit margins, and net income barraging his consciousness and seemingly filling every spare moment of his Saturday and Sunday.
Muttering crossly under his breath, Joshua stepped into the shower and let the hot water pour over him. He'd be damned if she wasn't one of the hottest women he'd ever known personally, though. Dark seductive eyes, long and streaked brown hair, tall and slender. And the clothes she wore. Fuck, he never knew 'professional' could look so damn dirty. She had a way of making even the most boring of women's business suits become a curvaceously streamlined sexy and arousing outfit. Gabriela Casimiro knew she was gorgeous, too, and that just fueled her whole bitch personality even more, knowing she was the secret dirty desire of every man she encountered.
His morning wood throbbed as the thought of her, black skirt hugging that perfect ass hiked up and red heels in the air being plowed into her own desk, came unbidden to his mind. Joshua turned the water ice cold; he'd rather freeze his damn balls off before he stroked off to her in the shower like some prepubescent boy. He was in control of that; he was in charge,
not
her.
n
With a ding, the elevator doors slammed shut just before Joshua could get a hand in between them. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath. Glancing down at the watch on his wrist he cursed again: nine o'clock. It would take him at least another two minutes to get to the twelfth floor, which meant he was late. Not in the eyes of any sane rational being in the workforce, but in the eyes of that dark succubus he worked for, he was late. One hundred-twenty seconds late might as well have been two hours in her warped management mindset.
Great, just absol-fucking-lutely perfect Josh
, he thought.
The week's going to begin with a 'why-are-you-late' diatribe from the Dragon Lady
.
A few moments later the next elevator arrived, and it was only three minutes minute more before Joshua slid into his desk outside of Gabriela's office. He could hear her on the phone, speaking in that sickly sweet false tone that she saved for the people above her. Maybe he lucked out, maybe she didn't see him arrive after nine, too distracted by her call to pay him any mind.
But soon the sound of her heels clicking against the hardwood floor could be heard. "So nice of you to
finally
join us today Joshua," she said in that same sweet voice, dripping with sarcasm.
Of course she noticed, what didn't she notice? Joshua offered an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, you know how the elevators are on Monday mornings." But as soon as the words escaped his lips, he instantly regretted them.
She raised an eyebrow at him, "The elevators?
That's
your excuse?" The darkest parts of Joshua's mind took over him. Oh, how he'd love to wipe that smug
fucking
look off her face with a cane to her ass, or clamps on her tits. He'd make her scream out in pain, beg for more, make her love every agonizing second of it.
Joshua shifted in his seat to ease the sudden discomfort emanating from his dark-blue slacks. "I'm sorry Gab ... Miss Casimiro." Joshua pulled the reports from his leather attachΓ© case, a stack of papers about four inches high. "Here's your report I was working on over the weekend and the twenty-five copies you needed."
Which ate up more than half of my weekend, you goddamn cunt,
Joshua added viciously in his mind.
One of the reports was snatched off the stack on the desk, with a pointed glare, and flipped through with cool, nonchalant eyes. "You did include the two percent price increase, didn't you?"
Two percent? Joshua looked up at her, certain she was just trying to rattle him, but the look that greeted him was dead serious, cold and angry. "Before I left on Friday you confirmed that it was one-and-a-half percent, Miss Casimiro.
"Didn't you check your voicemail? It was changed to two percent. Funny how I can never reach you on the weekends," she said, never wavering that fiery stare.
You know why you can't reach me you stupid bitch, I don't answer your goddamn calls if I can fucking help it,
he thought venomously.
Four years at Penn business school. One messy termination after six years of dedicated service at a top New York advertising agency. Now, two years later and he's working for this cunt, as an assistant no less. Took a 'demotion' just to rebuild his career from the nearly bottom up. Joshua lifted his phone and saw the voicemail left at ... twelve-fifteen last night? How the
fuck
was he supposed to fix that at that time? He was already asleep! Her dark eyes glared down at him, daring him to question it. "You're right, I
did
get the message. I'll have it fixed before the meeting today; I just have to head down to the fourth floor."
She let out an agitated sigh, making the blatant hatred flare hotter in Joshua's chest. It was amazing how one little push of air out through someone's lips can set off such a violent reaction in another. "Fine, bring me a coffee while you're at it, too. You know how I like it."
I'd like it thrown scalding hot in your beautiful, arrogant face
, he thought.
He started to gather a few things, hiding the irritation bubbling beneath the surface, before her voice stopped him, "Oh, and Joshua? You have forty minutes." Seeing the obvious distress in his eyes, a dangerous smile spread across her lips, "Oh, yes. I forgot to remind you, since you arrived
late
this morning. The meeting has been bumped up to 10, it was
also
in the voicemail." With a sharp turn, Gabriela walked back into her office, that ass taunting him. How can an ass that spankable, that perfectly taut and shaped, be attached to something so vexatious?
No judge who spent more than ten minutes with her would convict him if he just threw her headfirst out the twelfth story window, he sarcastically thought in his head as he rushed to adjust the report, ever wary of the clock, before remembering at the last moment about the Dragon Lady's nonfat mocha latte.
Five minutes after his 'deadline' Joshua returned to his desk, checking the computer for any missed emails. Gabriela's voice rang sharply in his ear, "My coffee's not going to walk itself over to my desk, Joshua!"
He repressed the growl in his throat, gripped the mouse a little tighter, and wished it was her throat in his clutch, his hips thrusting against her in conjoined hate and lust.
The coffee clenched hard in his hand, he brought it over to her desk, where she was somewhat distracted before noticing him approaching. Joshua saw her quickly escaping with a click of the right-corner 'X' from a website on her PC that he couldn't quite catch a full glimpse of.
Although if he had to guess ... but no, it couldn't be. Gabriela? On