Page 27 of Over My Dead Boss
“Oh,” I say and get up as well. “Sure, we can do that. Come here.” With a big grin on my face, I reach for his head. “Who’s been a good boy? Yes, you’ve been a good boy.” The wavy hair between my fingers feels soft and silken and I want to hold on to it, but my charade is interrupted at once by his penetrating eyes, zeroed in on me, dark like the night. I hold in for a second before pulling away when Phoenix steps towards me, shifts, and walks past without saying a word. His scent coasting by, forcing me to imagine things that no professional employee should ever imagine. Ever. Especially with someone like Phoenix Cyrus.
Taking the deepest breath once he is gone, I adjust my bra and let myself sink down on the couch, then decide to take the bra and the rest of my clothes off entirely. Once I am dressed in something more comfortable, I return to the living room with my planner and open up the current week when I discover something hiding behind Phoenix’s empty bottle. On closer inspection, it turns out to be salt water taffy, pounded flat and shaped into the form of a fortune cookie.Saltwater Fortune Taffy. Eagerly, I reach for it, tear the taffy apart, and retrieve the little sheet of paper inside.
Thanks for destroying my home,it reads and I can’t help but smile like an idiot.
I consider going to his bedroom to thank him, but change my mind halfway up the stairs. I might barge in on him getting undressed and that would be… very unprofessional. Instead, for hours, I ponder about a schedule that will allow Phoenix and me to work efficiently side by side. He did say he wanted to discuss my edits, so, naturally, I try to fit some time in there to do just that. Whenever my thoughts drift off and up to his bedroom, I have to pinch myself a little to help refocus on what’s important.
My alarm goes off at 6.30 AM and I am laying on the couch still, covered with a blanket, the light turned off and my planner and pen neatly placed on the table.Did I do that?I try to recall falling asleep but only remember obsessing over the schedule into the dead of night. Phoenix and Dog seem to still be sleeping, so I walk into my room and get ready for the day. My outfit consists of something that Sienna sent that isn’t lace underwear, and I put my hair in a bun for that sexy librarian look.Not that I need to look like a sexy librarian. It’s just a good look that goes well with the clothes, is all.
When I return to the living room, it’s almost 7 AM. Phoenix is already up, breakfast served, and I am stunned.
“Figured your schedule would start at seven so…” he motions for me to take a seat opposite of him and Dog.
“So you didn’t read it in here,” I lift the planner into the air, “when you tugged me in last night?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, wasn’t me.” A spoonful of breakfast oats and fruit goes into his mouth. “Do you always thrash and kick as much when you sleep though?”
“It’s impolite to invade another person’s privacy—” I hear the hypocrisy while speaking and cut myself off. “Yeah, sometimes. I get nightmares. Like the one I had the other day.”
“That sucks. Do I haunt you in those as well?”
“Hm,” I think out loud. “Good question. I am not sure. Are you or have you ever been a flesh-eating zombie, a doctor who performs open heart surgery on me while I am fully awake… in my dream, or a mermaid who watches as I drown?”
“I’d make a great mermaid,” he says, throws a blueberry into the air and catches it with his mouth. “But no, I guess I haven’t made it that far yet. Anyway, what’s next on our schedule? I couldn’t make out half of it. You have terrible handwriting.”
“Rude, but ok. Next item on our schedule is,” I pretend to read, “you telling me one nice thing.”
Phoenix grunts long and slow, and it’s as if he’s reveling in his grumpiness a little.
“No, no,” I interrupt. “Being grumpy isn’t until 11.45 AM.” I show him the entry on the timetable.
He almost spits out his food. “That’s what that meant. You scheduled ‘Grumpy Time’?”
“Of course I did. Figured we could complain about the nice weather, the perfect air quality around here, the cheerful singing of the birds, and then go back to writing our book.”
“My book,” Phoenix whispers and finishes his breakfast. “I guess you thought of everything.”
I nod with satisfaction. “I’ll take that as your one nice thing.”
Both of us follow my schedule for the day and, to my surprise, it works without a hitch. When I return in the evening from my walk with Dog, Phoenix just finishes another chapter and if I didn’t already know that he was incapable of such emotion, I’d assume he was almost gleeful.
“What’s next?” he asks as he closes the notebook.
“Uhhh, your second Grumpy Time of the day, but it looks like that might not be necessary?”
“Don’t deprive me of the one thing I actually enjoy.” He greets Dog and all three of us take a seat on the patio outside to watch the sunset.
“Well, shoot, Cyrus.” I say as I watch the idyllic scenery that lays before us. Trees as far as we can see, birds up in the sky and not a person to be heard.This is nice, I think to myself. I didn’t know I needed a break from all the noise in the city, but I did. “What’s to be grumpy about something as beautiful as this?” From the corner of my eye, I notice him looking at me, but I don’t dare meet his gaze.
“Not much, I suppose.” His voice is still as dark as usual when he looks out into the forest again, but now the grumpiness is not alone. There’s something light and lively in him, in his voice, and it makes me feel all fuzzy on the inside. “Though I am not a fan of the orange hue of that sunset. I always prefer the more pinkish kind.”
I nod and even though I agree, I can’t help myself. “You know that’s caused by air pollution, right?”
“Well, according to my mom, it’s caused by the angels up there baking cookies.”
“That’s a cute story. You must miss her a lot,” I say carefully, not sure if this is a topic I am allowed to broach.
Phoenix nods slowly and lets his hand glide over his beard. “Who wouldn’t miss their own mother?”
