Page 61 of Over My Dead Boss
Phoenix grins over both his ears and nods enthusiastically.
“What?” I ask, knowing full well what he is after.
“THE ANSWER, OLIVIA!” His hand motions through the air, begging me to hurry.
“You already know the answer, darling. I told you so three times within the last hour.”
“Again. I need to hear it.”
“Yes! Yes, I would love to move in with you.”
“That’s not what you said before…”
“Yes, it is.”
“No, before you said that you would lovenothing morethan to move in with me.”
I look up from my computer and stare into the ocean-blue eyes across my desk. “You’re cute when you’re like this, but don’t make me regret my answer or I will stay with Sienna and the chairman.”
“I don’t think so. When I told her about my plan, Sienna was very much looking forward to Naked December, as she called it.”
I chuckle and hit send on the email that I was typing until now. “Yeah, that sounds like her. But I really need to approve the reworked covers I got in this morning, and I need to look over the blurb that Verna forwarded yesterday, and I need to…”
“… take the rest of the day off since your lovely boyfriend/now roommate planned an even lovelier date for you.”
“But…”
“When are the deadlines for all those things?” Phoenix asks and walks over to the calendar hanging on my office wall.
“Technically, they’re not until next month, but it’s better if I do it now. Otherwise, I’ll spend the entire weekend thinking about it.”
“Ugh,” Phoenix releases a pained sigh and, with no further comment, leaves the room, giving me the necessary silence to take care of my work. I am not obsessed with my new job, but who wouldn’t want to look over the covers for Phoenix Cyrus’s upcoming series? He has been working incredibly hard on them and it would be a crime to keep those books from the public any longer than absolutely necessary. I open my inbox and look for the email from our designer when my phone rings.
“Mrs. Cyrus? Could I talk to you in my office, please?”
Of course it’s him. He’s not giving up that easily. I get up and walk across the floor and into his office. “I told you not to call me that around here. People will get a wrong idea. By the way, where is everyone? It’s almost ten, and the office is empty.”
Phoenix swivels in his chair, then puts his feet onto the desk. “I gave everyone the day off on the condition that they do one nice thing for someone they love.”
“Oh, that’s really nice, but don’t you think you should have run this by me or at least informed me beforehand?”
“Oh, but then it wouldn’t have been a surprise. I’m giving you the day off as well, by the way.” Phoenix grins again, and it is as intoxicating as it is infectious. I could look at it all day long and soon enough I will be able to. Moving in together had been on my mind for quite some time as well, and with our publishing company taking off the way it did, I could even afford to pay the steep rent in the city myself. Moving into one of the apartments Phoenix owns is definitely the better option though, not necessarily for monetary reasons.
“Good, I’m glad you agree,” he says and maneuvers me out the door. “We’ve all been working like mad men even though we’re not even in the advertising industry and no one is smoking in the office. So I think it’s high time we take the day off, have a long weekend and celebrate us moving in together, don’t you think?” He grabs my coat and helps me put it on.
When we get off the elevator and out of the lobby, a snowstorm is blowing through the streets. It’s gotten cold the last couple of days, which seems quite appropriate, considering that we’re approaching Christmas and that I can always use another reason to snuggle up to the mountain of a man that I call my boyfriend.
“So what’s this lovely date you’re talking about? Where are we going?” I ask as a town car pulls up in front of us.
Secretive as he is, Phoenix refuses to answer any questions and I am even more confused when we are dropped off next to a runway that is part of a tiny airport. Before I know what’s happening, I am put on a private plane and find myself 40.000 feet up in the sky. We land sometime after lunch, and I finally have a hunch where we are going. The airport we land on looks vaguely familiar.
“Are we visiting my parents?” I ask, feeling my pulse in my throat. Even though we talk twice a week on the phone, I haven’t seen them in quite some time since we were busy with work and dad can’t travel that far considering his health.
“No, sorry.” Phoenix shakes his head apologetically. “We’re going somewhere else, actually.”
Another town car awaits to take us wherever we are going. I am feeling a little glum about the prospect of being close to my parents and yet not being able to see them. Eventually, the car stops and I know immediately where we are. Through the tinted windows, I recognize the quaint store front of the corner bookstore on Beverly Road where I used to go as a kid.
“I really hope that is the right bookstore,” Phoenix says as he looks at me critically.
