Bad Boss

Caitlin's boss, Mr. Warner, has a reputation of being impossible to work for, and he seems to have taken an almost-instant dislike to her. But she refuses to let all his growling and bluster to scare away, like so many others before her, and when she unexpectedly finds herself alone with him after business hours, she discovers that his bad behavior was a cover for something else entirely...

Excerpt:
I had been warned of what Mr. Warner was like, long before I’d come to work in his office. It was no secret that he had scared off many secretaries and executives alike. Men as well as women.

It hadn’t kept him from being successful in his business. Though it seemed that the better he did there, the more attention he got for his accomplishments, the surlier he became.

And for some reason, he’d taken a particular dislike of me from the beginning.

Still, I needed this job and was determined to stick it out.

No matter how much the ogre growled at me.

He stepped away, heading into his private office. The door slammed shut with a bang that seemed to echo throughout the entire floor.

Only then, was I able to breathe a little easier. As did everyone else.

Fortunately, my work didn’t require me to actually have to deal with Mr. Warner on a regular basis. I was just one of many secretaries who worked in the office, and he had his own private assistant. A woman named Beth, who was nearing retirement and was nearly as grumpy as her boss.

I hated having to bring my work to her. Even if it was meant for Mr. Warner, she always made a point of looking over everything herself and trying to find even the tiniest of flaws. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who would be thrilled when she decided to retire.

And I have to admit, it was part of my motivation to stick this out no matter how much the boss hated me. I wanted the satisfaction of outlasting at least one of the ogres in this office.
Still, that didn’t stop me from muttering and cursing under my breath as she insisted that I’d made a typo on the report. It wasn’t. It was the grammatically correct version of the word that she seemed to think belonged there instead.
And she refused to even accept the possibility that she might be wrong.
I took it back to my desk.
Instead of “correcting” the so-called error, I set it aside and worked on other things throughout the rest of the day. Then told everyone that I was staying late to get caught up on things.
I watched Beth leave, smothering a laugh when I saw the way some of my co-workers struggled to find excuses not to ride down in the elevator with the grouchy old woman. I had seen Mr. Warner leave earlier for a meeting, so I didn’t have any need to worry about running into him again.
Once I was certain that I was alone on the floor, I gathered up the reports that I’d finished that day and headed toward my boss’ private office.
It wasn’t locked.
I let out a sigh of relief. The unlocked door meant I could still bypass Beth after all, and wouldn’t have to leave it on her desk instead.
Which would only bring me back to where I’d started today, once she saw it in the morning. I was certain that she would still be every bit as convinced of my incompetence then as she was now.
My high heels seemed to almost sink into the plush carpet that lined the floor of his office. At least, that’s what I used as an excuse to myself when I found myself stumbling a bit as I crossed the large space.
I set the papers on his desk, which was surprisingly messy.
One report slid off the top and floated to the floor.
I bent down to pick it up. Heard a low curse.
Glanced over my shoulder and heat immediately rushed to my face. Mr. Warner was standing not far away.
And he was staring at my ass, at the way that my skirt was drawn up and tight from my current position. His lips were drawn tight, and his expression mostly unreadable. He was clenching his fists, repeatedly, and there was little doubt that the sight of me had been enough to piss him off.
Again.
I hastily rose up. “Sorry, sir. I just wanted to leave these reports here for you before I left for the day.”