Hey There, Delilah... (7 page)

Today is Thursday, which means tomorrow is Friday.  It used to be one of my favorite days of the week. Until
that
Thursday happened, of course. Now I wish I could skip them all completely.  Well, maybe not this one; today is going to be a good day.

I couldn’t sleep at all last night.  I kept replaying the
day as it unfolded. Ms. Ramirez completely caught me off guard. I mean, I knew he had a meeting with the lead prosecutor to discuss Joey’s case, but I certainly didn’t expect her to look like that. It figures that she would be drop dead gorgeous. I didn’t even want to stand next to her to walk her into Nick’s office, so I just called him through the intercom.
Chicken shit.
 

I tried not to watch their interaction, but rumor around the office is that they have something going on.  They seemed pretty profession
al, as far as I was able to see, that is until he came out and asked me to book a room for them.  I felt so defeated.  I am not sure why because I know in my head that he will never look at me the way he looks at her – I caught him checking out her ass when she left.  But it still hurt. I guess because somewhere deep down I know that I want him, and I really am worthy.  I may be frump girl, but I am smart and honest and giving and a hard worker and have a kick ass sense of humor.  But he will never look at me like I am sexy or sophisticated or
his.
 

I guess the one good thing that came of
their meeting is that she offered Joey a good deal.  I am so happy for him.

I shake yesterday out of my head, stretch my arms, and hop out of bed. I set my alarm early this morning because I have something special planned.  I smile at myself for my ingenuity.  When my mom told me that I had an interview
with the Santino Criminal Law Firm, I made sure to Google the Firm to get any details I could. During my search, I found a little piece of information I plan to use today.

Since I couldn’t sleep last night, I made use of my time baking a cake.
I go to the kitchen and pull it out of the fridge, readying it to be frosted.  After weeks of working closely with Nick, and ordering and picking up all of his meals, I have also learned what exactly it is he likes for breakfast. So I pull all of the ingredients out of my fridge to prepare him his perfect home cooked breakfast – an egg white omelet with chopped vegetables, whole wheat pancakes topped with fresh strawberries, and freshly squeezed orange juice.   I also asked Carmella if she knew his favorite dessert, so I will pick up some fresh cannolis and a coffee from his favorite café on my way in to work.  I laugh at the thought of how he is going to react. I know he will pretend to be unaffected, but there is no way this won’t at least make him smile.  And that makes me smile even wider.

He is not a huge chocolate lover, so I made a banana cake, and
am going to frost it with a peanut butter cream cheese concoction that I have always gotten rave reviews on.   I pull out the fondant I had resting in the fridge and start making balls with them to decorate. At least to him they will look like balls. To me, they are tiny meatballs…my way of paying homage to the nickname I bestowed upon him the first time I laid my eyes on him – my Italian stallion – a nickname he can never find out.  It’s my own sort of payback for all the times he teases me about my name. I would never let him know how much I love it, like he said before, he can see it on my face.  Thank God he can’t read all of my thoughts. Anyway, I chuckle to myself as I place the meatballs on top of the cake in the shape of the number “33.” 

♫♩♫♩♫♩
♫

a little more Delilah
…

I made it to work with ten minutes to spare. I had to wait a little too long at the café for Nick’s cannolis and coffee and was worried he was going to beat me here.
There is no such thing as customer service anymore. I want to make sure everything is perfectly set up before he gets in.  Carmella saw me carrying everything in and offered to help, but I want this to be all me.  I placed the omelet and pancakes on a glass plate, got him silverware from the kitchen, and poured his coffee into an insulated mug.  I also found one of those metal dome thingys to cover it all with to keep it warm.
Score! 
I put the orange juice and cannolis in the fridge for later.  It is going to be a day full of surprises. I set the plate on his desk, along with the silverware and coffee.   I usually hand him his coffee in the morning, but it just looks so perfect on his desk, I leave it there meanwhile.

Right on time, I spy Nick walking through the door, giving Carmella a nod and smile.  I am sitting at my desk, pretending to be concentrating on a document on my computer screen.
I feel him getting closer, so I look up to an unhappy face.

“Good morning, Nick.  Everything
okay?” I ask, trying my damnedest not to jump up and yell in his face.

“Hey there, Delilah. 
Yep, everything all right with you?” he asks, looking down at my hand, then my desk, then my hand again. I know he is wondering where his morning coffee is but doesn’t want to come out and ask.  He is too funny.

“Everything is good
here. Just working hard on closing out Joey’s file.  I am so happy for him,” I say, trying to distract him from the fact that I not only didn’t have his coffee in hand, but I didn’t instantly stand to greet him.

“Great.  Good job on that case by the way.  We worked hard preparing for trial, but the best cases are won
out of court,” he asserts, as he turns and heads to his office.

“Thank you,” I throw at him as his office door clicks closed.

I sit back at my desk and act as if I am still working on Joey’s file. Not two minutes pass…

“Delilah! Get in my office!” I hear through the glass wall.

I run like the wind into his office. With a huff and puff, “Yes?”

“
What is all this?”

“Ha
ppy Birthday?” I declare softly and innocently.

“What…but…how did you know?”

“Well, I am the best research assistant you have,” I say coyly.

“Delilah?”

“When I interviewed for the job.  I wanted to make sure that I knew everything there was to know about your firm, so I Googled,” I answer somewhat exasperated. I don’t think much more explanation is needed so I shut up. I think he may be pissed.  That does not bode well for everything else I planned.

He nods his head slowly and replies, “I see.” 
He takes a deep breath and I don’t know if he is going to yell at me or throw me out of his office.  By the look on his face, he just might fire me!  I turn on my heel to leave asap.

“Delilah?”

“Um, yeah?” I throw over my shoulder.

“Thank you. You are the only one
who acknowledged it.  And thank you for taking the time to make all of the things that I like. For even knowing all of the things that I like.” 

“J
eez…you’re acting like nobody has ever made you anything just because they wanted to. Today’s your special day.  It’s no biggie,” I say rushing out before he has the chance to yell at me. 

The rest of the morning
has been pretty uneventful. I field a few calls from some family members. I can only assume they are calling to wish him a “happy birthday” as well.  

Just before lunchtime, I surprise him with the cannolis and orange juice.  I think it is a crazy combination, but Carmella was right, he suck
s them down. I think I may have even caught him dipping one in the juice.
Ew!
  He doesn’t take me surprising him with them any better than he did with breakfast. At first, I think that he is pissed again, but I have come to realize that he is genuinely appreciative of my thoughtfulness; he just doesn’t know how to express it properly. I am almost saddened by the thought that nobody else has done anything special like this for him. He works so hard to fight for everyone else; I just assumed he has someone taking care of him.  From now on, I vow to take care of him, to make sure he always feels special. Like that will be a hardship. Psh!

He
is going out for lunch with his father, so that will be the perfect time for me to sneak the cake into his office. God only knows how he is going to react to this one.  When I know it is time for him to return, I head to the ladies’ room. I really don’t want to be here for this. I really am a scaredy cat!

♫
♩♫♩♫♩
♫

After a fantastic lunch with my father, I head back to the office. It’s been a weird day. Delilah is really freaking me out with all
of this stuff that she’s been doing for me today. None of my previous secretaries had ever done anything for my birthday, let alone acknowledge it.

When I get back to the office, Delilah’s not at her desk, w
hich is not necessarily strange. She’s probably just in the bathroom. What is bizarre is that the girl never leaves this building for lunch. I walk into my office and shut the door behind me, not paying much attention to my surroundings. I head over to my desk and plop down into my chair. What’s the first thing I see? A freaking birthday cake! A freaking birthday cake with little balls forming a “33” on top of it! What.the.Fuck? Did she seriously bake me a cake?

I’m so stunned that I don’t even know how to feel. I’m humbled by her kindness, I’m pissed off that all
of my other secretaries were such bitches that only cared about themselves, and now I’m hungry for some cake. I glance over in the direction of Delilah’s desk; she’s back and looking seriously nervous and fidgety. I hit the intercom button on my phone.

“Delilah, can you come in here
?” I ask, my tone sounding strange, even to myself.

“Sure,” she replies nonchalantly
, but I know that’s all an act. She is completely terrified of what I’m going to say.

I watch her as she gets up from her desk and makes her way to my office door. She’s wringing her hands together and flicking worried glances in my direction. She opens my door and peeks her head in.

“Yes, Nick?” she asks with a hesitant smile.

“Come in, Delilah, shut the door,” I reply dryly.

Delilah does as she is told but stays standing by the door. I raise an eyebrow at her and nod at the chair in front of my desk. She takes a hesitant step before seemingly forcing herself to move. She sits down and looks like she is waiting for a killing blow.

“What is this?” I ask, motioning to the cake in front of me.

Delilah winces. “A birthday cake,” she replies.

“You made it?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” I ask, obviously knowing the answer.

Delilah frowns. “Because it’s your birthday?” She says, somewhat confused
.

I stare at her. She is completely serious. I thought at first that maybe she was fucking with me somehow, but now…now I can see that she is truly just being sweet and nice and caring. My heart starts pounding. Could she seriously care about me in some way? Not necessarily in a love and relationship kind of way, but in a friend
way? It seems impossible to me. The only woman who ever cared about me was my mother, and even she abandoned me.  All of the other women in my life only pretended to care about me to see what they can get from me. But Delilah has no reason to pretend - we’re not together, she’s not my girlfriend, and I don’t buy her things – I am just her boss. I am genuinely amazed by her, and admire her pure selflessness.

I nod slowly. “
Okay,” I say.

Delilah’s frown deepens
as she eyes me warily. “Okay?” she asks.

“Thank you
, Delilah, for everything today. It means a lot to me,” I say sincerely.

Delilah’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “You’re welcome.”

“How about you go find us a knife and some plates and forks so we can eat this thing? It looks delicious,” I say with a smirk.

Delilah blows out a relieved breath and sm
iles. “Okay, for a second there I thought you were going to freak out on me.”

I chuckle. Oh, if she only knew how close I actually was to doing just
that. “I have to keep you on your toes,” I say, “Now go get that stuff so I can dive into this puppy.”

Deli
lah smiles brightly as she stands and heads for the door. My traitorous heart flutters madly.
God dammit!

♫♩♫♩♫♩
♫

After we enjoy the cake, the rest of the afternoon is pretty mundane. Nick had to run out to his car because apparently he left his messenger bag in it this morning.  He stops by my desk once more for a refill on his coffee, and then gives me a smirk and a wink before shutting himself away in his office. I can see him through the windows as he walks around behind his desk and puts his bag down on it. He starts rifling through it looking for whatever when he jumps and pulls his cell phone out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He glances at the phone and smiles, immediately answering it.

I get butterflies in my stomach each and every time he smiles like that - a genuine, heartfelt smile. He must really like whoever is on the other end if he is smiling like that. I wonder if it’s that Julianna Ramirez woman? Nick shoulders his phone and continues to search his bag. He finally pulls out a file, puts his bag on the floor next to his desk, then sits down in his chair. He continues to talk animatedly with the person on the phone for the next half an hour. I catch him laughing heartily a few times and just can’t get over how gorgeous he is.

Just before 5:00 pm, I look up from my work and see the most beautiful black man standing in front of me. My eyes are wide as saucers, my mouth gaping open like a big mouth bass. 
Get your shit together, Delilah
!  I snap myself out of the hot man trance, but I am sure my face is beet red.

“May I help you?” I manage to ask, sounding only slightly breathy.

“Hi, gorgeous! My name is Calvin King. I’m here to see Nick. Is he in?” he asks, smirking at me, as his deep, rich voice wets my panties.

Calvin King.  What can I tell you about Calvin King? He is
an Adonis. He has milk chocolate colored skin with really short black hair. It’s cut really close to his head; I wouldn’t say he is bald, but from far away, you might think he is. He has a perfectly groomed goatee surrounding the most luscious lips. And his eyes are a light brown, almost caramel colored. Mmm… I could get lost in all that sugary goodness.  Okay, don’t get me wrong, I am completely, madly, in lust with my Italian stallion. Nick is, in my book, nothing short of perfection, but if that doesn’t work out…

“Sure. Of course. Is he expecting you?” I ask embarrassed, completely unable to make eye contact.

“Yeah, we have dinner plans.”

I stand to walk in
to Nick’s office to ask if he is expecting Mr. King and I realize that he is even taller than Nick. Holy shit!

“Give me one sec,
okay?” I ask, as I head toward Nick’s door. I hope he doesn’t stare at my ass when I walk away.  Or maybe I do?

“Sure thing…”
he pauses, waiting for me to fill in the blank.

“Delilah. The name’s Delilah
.”

“Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Like the song?”

I actually laugh out loud as I am walking in to Nick’s office and tell him who is waiting for him by my desk. His face lights up and he jumps out from behind his desk to follow me out.  Calvin is still staring at me like he is waiting for an answer.

“If by ‘the song,’ you are referring
to the Grateful Dead, then yes, like ‘the song.’ If you are referring to the Plain White T’s, then I may punch you in the face,” I answer with a little attitude, but a big smile and a wink.

Calvin lets out a hardy laugh then looks at Nick. “I like this one.”

Nick just looks at me, then back at Calvin and nods in agreement, keeping a completely impassive face. Like he doesn’t want me to know that he likes me. What the fuck?  I turn to Nick and ask if he is off for the night. I would like to go home and take a long soak in a hot tub. Calvin has made me hot and horny as hell. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.  I really need the weekend to relax and square away these feelings.  Nick tells me that I can pack it up and head out. The two of them turn to leave, but then pause.

Calvin holds his arm out. “Come on, little bit. Let us two ugly beasts walk that tiny tush of yours out to a cab.”

I take his offer and walk arm and arm with Calvin as though we were walking into the prom.  Nick has this pained look on his face, but I am just too tired and flustered by Calvin’s over the top complimentary behavior to care. It feels nice being noticed by a sex God. Maybe not the one I want, but one just as hot, nonetheless.