A proud smile spread across her face. “Thank you, Mr. Peterson. That means a lot to me.”

 Mr. Peterson shifted in his chair, his hands finding the lapels of his blazer and smoothing them down his barreled chest. He cleared his throat. “What I have to tell you is difficult, and I’m afraid there is no easy way to say it, so I’ll be blunt.” He looked up, fixing dark, serious eyes on her. “Patti, we’re letting you go.”

 Eyes widening in shock, all Patti could do was look down at her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Her fingers were turning white. “But you said…” Her brows pulled down. “I don’t understand.”

 Mr. Peterson pulled open one of his desk drawers as he spoke. “I know this comes as a shock. However, as the company grows and expands and we search for new ways to streamline its core structure, we find there are certain areas where we could stand to cut back.” He stretched out his arm to her, a crisp white envelope clutched between his thick fingers. “We just don’t need two accountants on the payroll.”

 Patti blinked several times before reaching out to accept the envelope. “But Lisa has only been working here for a little over a year,” she said, baffled. “I thought cuts were usually made according to last hired first fired.”

 Mr. Peterson grabbed for his pen, rolling it between his fingers. “That’s how some businesses operate, yes, but in this case, it was a matter of who cost the company more. You’ve been with us for five years, Ms. Jacobs. You’ve maxed out your raises, have full health care, work overtime most days, and you don’t take any vacations. The fact of the matter is we just can’t afford you.”

 Patti couldn’t believe her ears. They couldn’t afford her? “I thought you said the company was growing?”

 “It is,” he stated simply. “But the rules of the game have changed. We’re no longer required to hire in full-time and the benefits we used to give no longer apply.” Standing, Mr. Peterson made his way around the desk. “I understand this may be difficult for you to absorb. If you’d like, you are welcome to take the rest of the day off.”

 He held his hand out in a silent plea for her to get moving. Patti rose stiffly to her feet, the envelope in her hand burning her skin like molten lava, and allowed him to lead her to the door. “Do I get to at least finish out the week?” she asked quietly.

 “If you’d like,” he agreed.

 “Okay.” She nodded solemnly. “I think I’ll head home for the day, though.”

 “I think that’s a good idea.”

 Mr. Peterson observed from the doorway as Patti cleaned up her desk, shut down the computer, and gathered her purse. He nodded to her as she passed by on her way out. She couldn’t even muster a smile.

“Rise and shine.” Jon leaned over the blonde who pretended to still be asleep and whispered in her ear. “I’ve got fifteen minutes left before I’m late to work. It’s time to get up.” For the life of him, he couldn’t recall her name, but it didn’t matter anyway since she wouldn’t be sticking around much longer.

 “Mmm.” Rolling over, his after party snack from last night’s bar crawl raised her arms over her head and stretched, pushing her bare breasts toward the ceiling. “Can’t I just hang out here until you get back?”

 Jon gave her a placating smile. “It’ll be late when I get back.” Her lips pursed out in disappointment, and Jon just couldn’t stand the idea of sending a woman away unsatisfied. He had to uphold his reputation, after all. Lowering his head, he wrapped his lips around one pert nipple and sucked. 

“Ah, baby, yes!” she shouted dramatically, grasping his head in her hands. 

Tunneling his hand under the duvet, Jon let his questing fingers slip between her legs and into her slick heat. In no time flat, he had her writhing and praising his name to the god above.

 “Call me?” she asked hopefully, as he guided her out the door.

 He glanced at the clock, noting he had five minutes to spare. Why couldn’t women just have sex and leave it at that? It couldn’t just be a man thing, could it? Opening the door for her, he took a moment to pull her up against him, enjoying the feel of her firm breasts crushed against his chest for the last time. Framing her face with his hands, he leaned down and covered her mouth with his. It was a crying shame that he would never see this one again, because the way she sucked on his bottom lip was making him have flashbacks to last night when she had her mouth fitted around his cock.

 He felt himself get hard again and before he dragged her back into the bedroom, he drew back, disengaging himself completely. She looked up at him with heavy-lidded eyes and a drunken smile on her face.

 “I have to go,” he told her, pushing her outside and following behind her. After closing the door and locking up, he led her to her car with his hand pressing firmly against the small of her back.

 Before she got in, she turned back to him, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his lips once more. “Call me?” she repeated.

 “Maybe,” he said with a playful smile, one that he knew would get him off the hook and get her out of his driveway. Apparently, his answer was good enough for her because she left before she could realize that they’d never exchanged numbers. Oops.

 He made it into the office ten minutes overdue, but it didn’t matter anyway since he owned the place. He wasn’t there but a couple of minutes before there came a knock on the door.

 “Come in,” Jon barked as he flipped through his stack of mail.

 The door cracked open to admit his favorite person in the world: his accountant. “Good morning, Mr. Bradshaw,” Jenna said meekly as she crossed the room and took a seat in front of his desk.

 “Morning, Jenna,” Jon said brightly. He tossed his mail down with a slap and settled into his chair, folding his hands over his stomach and swaying side to side. “What brings you by? I trust the accounts are all in order. No sudden crash in the market I should worry about?”

 “Oh, no, sir,” she said with a soft smile.

 That’s what Jon liked most about Jenna. She was shy and timid, but she could crunch numbers like Shaun T crunched abs. If not for her, he’d be a rich man living in a trailer with an Escort parked outside on the curb, instead of the million-dollar condo with a BMW parked out front. He admitted it. He wasn’t the best with money, but having a team of experts to keep him in line definitely helped.

 Jenna proceeded to place several file folders on his desk and he leafed through them mainly for show, since he had absolutely zero interest in whatever was inside. If she said everything was good, he trusted it was good.

 “Stocks are up two and a half percent, which more than makes up for the recent rise in overhead costs,” she explained, keeping it short and simple like she knew he preferred. “Our sales rep reported to me this morning that Mr. Larson’s latest project has broken through to the Times Best Sellers, which is already showing promising numbers, but we won’t know how well it’s truly done until the last earnings report comes in at the end of the month. And, I’m leaving.”

 Jon was on such a high from all the good news that he almost missed her little bombshell. His hands grasped the armrests and he sat forward, his back ramrod. “Excuse me?” He laughed. “I’m not sure I heard you right. You said you’re leaving?”

 Jenna’s expression was full of fear and uncertainty. “Yes, sir,” she said, her voice trembling. “I’m getting married this weekend—”

Jon held his hand up to stop her. “You’re engaged?”

“For two years, sir,” she said, her voice growing stronger.

“Why am I only now hearing about this? I would have gotten you a gift or whatever they do for this kind of thing.” He waved his hand through the air and grabbed for the phone. “I’ll tell Poppy to pick something up for your wedding then.”