Anna's Contract
Authors: Deva Long
Anna’s Contract
by
Deva Long
one
“Miss Whitehorse, this is unacceptable. You’ve stolen a great deal of money from us.”
Caden Morning, Managing Director of the Southern Region of global conglomerate Darco, Inc., stared over the edge of the printed page he was holding. He dripped with disapproval, yet when Anna Whitehorse looked into his eyes, she detected a brief flash.
A smile, his eyes are about to smile at me.
A shadowy, sensual smile, not a grin or a giggle.
This very morning, he strode in to Darco like a rock star, with a celebrity’s confident strut. Too perfect to be a mid-level manager like the others in the center offices. A man who owned the place, which he did, basically.
Silence followed Caden Morning when he walked through the cube farm. Titters and exclamations were once again uttered aloud when he closed the door to the inner sanctum of manager’s offices and meeting rooms.
Anna peeked from behind her bangs, desire running through her panties to her nipples to her brain. Though he was more slim than broad, his tailored suit jacket fit him like a glove and his pin-striped pants hugged his thighs and the bit of his ass visible below his jacket tails.
Life hadn’t been easy for Anna, and she’d been thrilled to land a desk job at Darco, and put her hard-earned night class office software skills to work. She possessed a talent for explaining technical issues in lay terms, her community college business technology instructor said so. Darco was training her to be a Customer Care Specialist. In some ways, it was a professional apologist, because the company spent more on winning contracts than engineering. Darco’s customers were in Government, security related departments. She wasn’t sure about the full extent of Darco’s business, but she had been apologizing for the problems with the company’s airport management software quite often during her training.
More thrilling than the job was the fantasy she indulged in at bedtime: finding a nice guy from upper management and building a life. A house at the edge of town. Another cat. Maybe a dog. A play-room. A baby to play in it. Being a realist, Anna’s fantasies did not often cast men handsome as Caden Morning. Not unless she’d just watched a movie featuring Brad or Ben.
Now her dream man looked at her with angry Caribbean blue eyes, startling in their intensity, popping from beneath his curled and gray tinged inky hair. His chiseled jaw jutted firmly and his sharp brows were set at the bleeding edge of fury.
Anna Whitehorse squirmed, running her hands through her own long midnight curls, tears and cheap mascara cascading down her cheeks.
Her bargain basement black pencil skirt and puffy white blouse provided insufficient coverage to hide her curves and she was sure he could sense her nipples growing under the thin shield bravely raised by her blouse and brassiere.
“I’m so sorry, sir. The money was just added to my checks. I should have notified someone I was being paid too much.” She sniffed. “But I kept it. I kept the money.”
Director Morning’s ropey neck muscles flexed under his collar. His scent tickled her nose, cinnamon and pine, with honest man-sweat riding underneath. With a twenty-percent unemployment rate among the young in the Southeast, this man pushed through new hiring rules requiring employees to sign a multi-page contract, exchanging most of their rights for a job. Junior staff, like Anna Whitehorse, had to promise to obey all company policies, not to talk to anyone about what they did at Darco. There was some complex language about a bond. She didn’t understand all of it, but she did realize that she owed money to Darco for the extra pay she had started receiving six months ago and then discreetly deposited and spent. A big pile of money.
I should have reported the error right away, I know exactly what I’m supposed to be paid each month.
Anna cursed herself for taking the money and risking her hard-won office job for a few thousand dollars.
She had also given Darco the right to run her credit, so the Director must know how being fired would ruin her.
“And you signed papers, do you remember those?”
Her face went white under the rose colored makeup on her cheeks. Her ruby lips fell open.
“I…I signed a bunch of stuff when I started.”
“Right. There were two important documents. One was a promise not to say anything to anyone outside the company about how we conduct our internal affairs. We call it the Non-Disclosure Agreement.”
He flipped the document onto the desk. “Do you remember signing this?”
She sniffed and looked at the paper. “I guess I do.”
“You guess?” His voice cracked like a whip. Anna started. Caden smiled. This time, there was no hint of friendship.
“I do. I signed it.”
Does he like it when I flinch?
“Good. And this one?” He flipped a second stapled paper bundle across the desk. “This one is your Bond Document. It says you will pay the company back for the time we spent training you if we have to let you go for cause.”
Anna traced her signature on the second contract. Her finger trembled. Her stomach flopped the way it did when an airplane she had flown on hit turbulence and her seat dropped from under her.
“For cause means something like stealing from us. Which you did when you let yourself be overpaid.”
The Director tapped his finger on the paper. Strong fingers attached to a tanned and well-formed hand. Curly hairs sprouted from his robust wrist under his dress shirt’s rolled up cuff. He could model watches.
“This third signature affirms that you have read, understood, and agreed to all company policies. Including our policies covering discipline and termination.”
Anna pushed thoughts of his handsomeness from her mind.
He isn’t asking me on a date, he’s yelling at me for stealing.
“Do you know how much you will owe Darco if we have to fire you?”
She shook her head and decided to play dumb. Maybe he would be lenient if she acted stupid. “No. A lot?”
“Seven thousand dollars plus twenty-five percent interest, compounded monthly. Seven thousand nine hundred and twenty-one dollars and eighty-six cents as of today.”
Reading the number to the cent caused her nipples to start tingling. Despite the situation and her helplessness to escape it, precision turned her on.
“Also, we will prosecute you for theft and fraud. We can’t have employees taking advantage of us the way you did.” He arched his brows. Midnight-colored hair hung over his forehead. It shone, glossy and well-maintained without being effete. She wanted to run her fingers through it and mess it up. “We’re going to use you as an example. You should get a lawyer.”
Anna jerked her hand back from the paper. She eyed it like it covered a poisonous snake.
“I can’t…please.”
Caden smiled. “I can give you another way. The contract says the company has the right to punish you for anything you do wrong. We can punish you financially,” He leaned back in the grand black Branch Manager’s chair.
“But your employment contract gives us the right to substitute physical punishment for financial,” He ran his finger along his cheek. “If you accept.”
“Physical punishment? What do you mean?”
“Have you read
Fifty Shades of Grey
? It’s popular.”
“That can’t be right. There are laws.”
Anna had read the book. And others. He couldn’t mean to would punish her with his hands? What, would he spank her? With his strong, powerful paws coated with that fine brushing of charcoal hair?
With his skin touching her skin.
She took a long breath. Her bra fit tighter than it had this morning.
“Laws against corporal punishment exist. But the courts have exempted Darco from most federal regulations. Our company’s founders, of which I am proud to be one, have strong beliefs. Deeply held. For one, we believe corporal punishment is necessary in the workplace. It’s a conviction we hold is a natural right of the businessman.” His expression changed and now he looked like Brother Kevin giving a sermon back at her Catholic school.
“It’s a way to save jobs. Instead of firing people, Darco uses physical discipline. It’s effective. Our internal research shows that employees who work with the ongoing fear of punishment are more effective and slack off less. Idle chat around the coffee machine is markedly reduced, and we endure fewer bathroom breaks. There has been no smoking at all at Darco since we implemented the policy. It’s improved our margins by over fifteen percent. And reduced our healthcare costs significantly.”
Heart hammering like a fool’s ticker before a short-tempered king, Anna dug her nails into the arms of the chair.
“After all, no one forced you to take a job here. No one made you sign these papers, did they?
”
She slumped back in her seat.
“Did anyone force you, Anna?”
Caden Morning’s eyes were locked on her chest, and her breasts pushed harder against her blouse’s cheap material.
Can he see my boobs growing bigger the more he speaks of spankings and punishments?
Why are they doing that?
He looked over her file. “I see you scored well on our hiring assessment. You’re what we like, Anna. Eager and willing to please.”
She remembered her interviewer saying something similar. “I can tell you’ll go the extra mile.”
Months ago, Anna had nodded with veiled desperation, hoping for a regular salary and a desk. The one requirement for the cushy job with her own cubicle and computer, had been her signature on a baker’s dozen pages out of a massive stack. The interviewer had been in a rush, and Anna signed without looking.
“You can’t mean…”
“You can, of course, quit. You can look for another paycheck. It’s a free country. We have roads to drive and fuel to burn. You can hit the pavement any time. But drive fast. If you refuse your punishment, my next call will be to the County Sheriff.”
Anna put her hand to her mouth.
two
Faced with Director Morning’s insane corporal punishment talk, Anna’s attention turned to her new kitten, Sir Puffin Paws. That’s what she called him. She found him last night, chased by a pack of neighborhood dogs up the tree in front of her building. Anna drove the pack away and rescued the minute furball. Now Puffy waited in her bathroom with several water and tuna filled Tupperwares.
I hope he’s alright.
Mister Paws came from the street, and should be able to survive a food and water-filled bathroom for a while longer. At least for the duration of Caden Morning’s discipline speech.
Either he’d fire her or he would force her to endure some company discipline. Caden might dock her pay or move her to an undesirable position. Either way, the next minutes promised to deliver a drama she would rather skip.
If he fires me, I can go cuddle my kitten.
“Please go sit on the couch,” Caden said.
“What?” The short brown leather couch and matching ottoman sat on the side of the office. Over it, hung a painting she had not noticed before. A roaring lion, brushed in a blurred, impressionistic style.
“I need to loop in Miss Tolling. I’m not sure the company can forgive what you’ve done, Anna. We may need to prosecute you, regardless of which punishment you decide to take.”
“But I can’t afford a lawyer.” Her voice cracked, high and shaky. Caden Morning stood. She repressed a gasp, seeing the front of his pin-striped pants bulging outward.
“Think about what I said while Tolling and I discuss your case. She’s your direct manager, so the final decision is hers.”
“Please, Mister Morning, I have rent, my mother, my car…”