"It's like they have no confidence that you can be anything else other than what they've set you up to be." He was speaking from experience.
Kyle's dad was always nice to me, but he had extremely high expectations for his children.
We sat down for dinner, but I traded the tequila for iced tea. We sat at the table for a long time after eating, talking and laughing. I was amazed
at how easy he was to talk to; my embarrassment from earlier in the night was forgotten. Kyle was also attentive, when I spoke. He listened and
asked real questions to show he was listening. I was surprised at this, too. He never seemed to give a crap about any of his employees before.
Very confusing.
"You're Mr. Hyde is real y good," I said sometime later. He was helping me clean up the kitchen after dinner. He washed and I dried.
"What?" He asked. The confused expression on his face was comical.
"At work, you're Dr. Jekyl . Now you're Mr. Hyde."
He thought about this a moment.
"I'm sorry," he said softly.
"It's kind of scary, because I don't know which one is the real you. Are you more like Kyle the dick or Kyle the good guy?"
"I'm not going to lie..." He started slowly. "I am a wel -meaning person, but I can be a jerk sometimes. I was raised that way, to have a hard
exterior."
When I remained silent, he turned off the sink and looked at me.
"I haven't been nice to you and I'm sorry. You're bril iant, always five steps ahead of me, and you work real y hard. I would fal flat on my face
without you. I have to be tough, though. Everyone there, including you, knows that I only have this job because my family owns the business. No one
respects me because of that. So, to keep order...I have to be a dick."
"That's stupid."
He blinked at me. "What?"
"That's
stupid
. You're right, everyone pretty much believes you're a spoiled brat who never had to work for anything in your life."
"Thanks. You're making me feel so much better."
"Kyle, you could have just chosen to be a good guy. You alone made the decision to be mean and nasty. Because you are the boss's son, there
would have been order. But that's al you have is order. No one is happy working for you. If only you knew how detrimental that is to
your
job."
I turned the faucet back on. We finished the dishes in silence.
"Do you want coffee?" I asked when we finished.
He was staring at nothing, deep in thought. I was beginning to feel like a dick myself. He was being something like a normal human being and I
was beating him down. It must have been hard for him to open up to me like he did.
"My mom tel s me al of the time that I talk too much, say al of the wrong things." I said softly, not adding that I get that from
her
.
He final y looked at me. "You're a little harsh, but..." He ran a hand through his dark hair. "You're not wrong."
"I didn't have to be so blunt."
"I like that you're blunt, but it's such a drastic change from how you are at the office."
"If I start talking to you however I want, everyone else wil think they can, too. Then it would be a mess."
He nodded. "I understand."
We were standing very close. The way he was looking at me made me feel a little funny, a fuzziness in my bel y. As a distraction, I went to the
back door and pushed the curtain aside to check out the weather.
"Holy snow!"
Kyle came over and looked out. "Damn."
The snow was fal ing fast and heavy. Visibility was very low and there were several inches on the ground. We looked at each other and without
a word rushed to the foyer and opened the door. If Kyle left then, he would have to dig himself out first, and dig a path out to the street, which had yet
to be touched by a plow.
The temperature had dropped significantly. I shivered in the open door. Kyle pul ed me back a few steps and closed the door. He rubbed my
arms until I stopped shivering.
"How much snow are we supposed to get?" Kyle asked.
"I don't know. I haven't watched the news."
He looked out of the window. "It's going to be a crazy ride home,"
"Are you crazy? You can't drive home in that! Thank goodness it's a weekend and you don't have to work. You have a few appointments, but
they're lunch dates and such. Personal things." I went on about his schedule, tel ing him who to cal , who to email. He was looking at me funny, so I
stopped talking. We just stood there staring at one another.
"Hey," I said to break the freaky silent staring contest. "Let's go watch a movie. How about
Transformers
? I love
Transformers
. You know the third one wil be out this summer."
"I've never seen
Transformers
."
I was walking to the family room, but when he said that, I stopped so suddenly he ran into me. I whirled around to face him.
"I'm sorry. Did you say - what did you say?"
"I've never seen
Transformers
."
"Do you live under a
rock
!"
"Jess isn't real y into those kinds of movies," he said, but immediately looked away from me.
Jessyca Venner was Kyle's girlfriend. Hearing her name in that context threw me off a little bit, but I shook it off before he could look at me
again.
"Wel , Jess isn't here. So al ow me to introduce you to one of the best movies in the entire universe."
In the family room, I ordered him to sit down on "our" couch while I got the movie started on our enormous flat screen. I sat down on the opposite
side of the couch. I didn't want to give the impression that I wanted to cuddle and be al cute.
At first Kyle seemed unfazed by the awesomeness of the movie, but by the time it ended he was grinning and leaning forward.
"Do you have the second one?" He asked as the credits begin to rol . His face was lit up like a light bulb.
"It's like one in the morning," I yawned.
"You don't have to work tomorrow, and even if you did, you're snowed in." He stood up and stretched.
"I do so have to work," I scoffed. "My boss gives me too much work to be completed in the office."
"Your boss is a dick."
"Tel me about it." I yawned again.
"Real y. You don't have any work to do."
"Real y. I do." I stood up to stretch, too.
"I don't believe you."
"Do you not realize the amount of effort it takes to run your office?"
"Wel , I know it takes
some
." He shrugged.
"
Some
?" I stared at him. "Oh, no." I shook my head and walked down the hal . Kyle hesitated and then fol owed me.
I went into my dad's office where I set up my own work station. On the large Mahogany desk were stacks of files, my laptop, a thick appointment
book, post it notes stuck in various places with various notes scribbled on them, and a photo album. There was also the usual office stuff - pens,
staplers, and paper clips, etc.
"What's al of this?" Kyle asked, his eyes big.
"This is mainly where I do your schedule, research, and a few other things." I picked up the photo album and opened it. "This has al of the
guests for the gala. With everyone's picture there is a brief profile - or biography. Even the guests who are of little use or importance are in here.
Some guests, of course, require a little more information, like this one. This guy has a whole page to himself."
Kyle looked through the album in awe.
"Last year you didn't like not knowing who people were. This year, I am going with you to aid you, through text message, little notes, or a discreet whisper. I won't hang around you, but I wil be watching you, there if needed."
He looked at me, mouth hanging open.
"How do you get this information? How wil you remember al of these people? There must be two hundred people in here."
I smiled. "Two-hundred and six. I don't mean to sound conceited, but I'm good at what I do. You only see the surface of what I do in the office - if
you real y see it." My smile faded, because we both knew he didn't care to pay attention before. I put my hand on a stack of files. "These are various
upcoming events, meetings, dates, and other things you have to be present for or acknowledge. Most of it you don't know about yet."
He put the album down and looked at the desk in amazement.
"You're amazing." He looked at me. "I had no idea you worked so hard...I feel like such a douche bag."
"You're worse than a douche bag. You're a douche puddle, the excrement of a douching."
"Fine. I'm a douche puddle, you're right. No wonder you think I'm a dick."
"Yeah." I nodded.
"As your boss, I'm giving you the weekend off."
"I don't know...it stil needs to be done."
"I wil hire someone else to help you,"
"Yeah, right," I rol ed my eyes. Convincing him to hire Eliza the receptionist was like pul ing teeth.
"I mean it. You can't spend your life planning mine."
"That's why I get paid the big bucks." I shrugged.
"Emmy, seriously. I'm real y sorry. I real y want you to leave the work. Just for a day."
"I don't know. I don't want you to fal behind..."
"I won't. I wil be fine." He put his hand on my waist and pul ed me away from the desk, toward the door. I looked back at the desk, actual y
feeling a nervous pang about leaving it.
We stood outside the office, looking in. Kyle closed the door because I wouldn't walk away.
I looked up at him and opened my mouth to speak, but before I could speak, he leaned over and kissed me, hard. I started to back away, but he
pul ed me into him and held me so tight, I thought he was going to break a rib. I gave in, not only letting him kiss me, but I kissed him back.
He pressed me up against the wal , moved his hand down to my thighs, my ass, and then slowly back up my body. He stopped just under my
breasts, just enough to tease me. When he final y took his lips off of mine, I couldn't even catch my breath before he simultaneously started to kiss
my neck and flicked his thumb across a nipple. I gasped and my knees just gave up.
Kyle didn't let me fal , he lowered me to the floor. Right outside of the office where I spent countless hours working for my boss, he gave me a
bonus I'd never forget.
When I woke up around ten, Kyle was stil asleep in bed next to me. I watched him for a moment before I remembered what that usual y
implicated in a book or movie when a woman did that. While I had an amazing night with Kyle, I was not al doe eyed and dreamy about him.
I got out of bed, slipped into my robe and went to a window. It was stil snowing. There must have been two feet of snow out there. After our
romp in the hal way, Kyle and I checked the weather report. We were getting hit with a Nor'easter, four whopping feet of snow. I don't remember
ever seeing that much snow in Jersey.
Kyle was going to stay for the duration of the storm, and maybe a day or so more until the roads were somewhat drivable. Most women I know
would be downright giddy about being in my situation. After three times (once more after the weather and milk and cookies) in two days, I guess I
could say we were official y sleeping together. If I were normal, I would have been thril ed to be stuck with him, having someone to cuddle with on the
couch, having someone to keep me warm as winter pressed against the windows, but I never claimed to be normal.
I looked at Kyle again, but not with lust. I wondered how either of us were real y going to hold up over this weekend. A sensation of being
trapped came over me. Trapped in a box with a guy who just yesterday I thought was a huge tool.
As quietly as I could, I gathered what I needed from my room and crept out. I showered in my parents' bathroom so Kyle wouldn't hear. I made a
cup of coffee with my Keurig, slapped some butter and grape jel y on toast and went into the office. I never actual y promised not to work. Besides, it
made me feel like I was putting necessary space between us.
By the time Kyle came into the office, I was in ful work mode. I barely glanced at him when he sat down opposite of me.
"I thought you weren't going to work," he said.
"I never made any promises," I murmured, trying to concentrate on a cluster flip of an upcoming week in March.
He sat quietly for a moment. When I made no attempts to communicate, he abruptly left the room, slamming the door behind him.
I saved what I was working on, but didn't immediately get up. I didn't know what he wanted from me. We were just having sex, and just barely. I
wasn't going to be al over him or anything, and I didn't exactly feel like having sex again. I didn't understand his attitude.
With a sigh, I got up and went to find Kyle. He was in the kitchen, making eggs. He didn't look at me, but said "I'm sorry."
"No big deal." I shrugged and put my coffee mug in the dishwasher.
"Do you want some eggs?"
"No, I'm good. I see my brother's clothes fit wel ." I had given him some of Emmet's clothes he had left behind on his last visit. His brown hair
was stil wet from the shower.
"Yeah, they're great. Thank you." He flashed me a smile. "Come here." He motioned.
I hesitated, but slowly approached. When I was close enough, he leaned over and kissed my forehead, which made my heart skip a beat, which
made me mad at my stupid heart for being so stupid.
Involuntarily, I smiled. Stupid mouth.
After Kyle ate, he helped me do my Saturday cleaning. I dusted, he vacuumed. I cleaned two bathrooms and he did the powder room on the
first floor. He helped me change the sheets on my bed and then we tackled the kitchen, and put in a load of laundry. I panicked when I realized how
domestic we were being, how wel we worked... together. The cresting moment was when I real y thought about the fact that his boxers and my