I Won’t Be In On Monday (The Annoying Hot Bosses Club #3)

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

J uniper

“So, how did it go today?” Skye asks me with wide eyes, a knowing look on her face as she leans forward. Her green eyes are sparkling as if she knows a deep, dark secret that she's dying to share. Skye may be a new friend in my life, but it feels like we're old friends. She's been dating Kingston, another partner at the firm, for the last couple of months, and I've never seen her happier. In my heart of hearts, I know that I want what she has... true love.

“How did what go today?” I ask, picking up my glass of water and taking a small sip. I avert my eyes from her gaze because I wonder if she knows that I have a crush on Remington Parker. It's not like I'm trying to hide it, per se, but I definitely don't want to look like the loser in the office who has an unrequited crush on her boss. Because I am not Skye. I'm not bubbly and cute, with fiery red hair. I don't tell my boss off and then sashay out of the office. I don't have that fire in me... other than inside of my head. Sometimes I wish that I were a woman who could speak up more. I wish I knew how to flirt. I wish that I had unbridled sex appeal that could bring a man to his knees.

“You know… how did it go with Remington this morning? Now that he knows he’s a dad, I was wondering if he was going to act differently.”

“Oh, actually, it went fine. I saw Canyon this morning, and she seems to be doing really well.”

“What do you mean you saw Canyon this morning? Were you at his apartment?” Her jaw drops as she slaps her hand on the table in excitement. The cutlery jangles for a few seconds, and I see a man at the table next to us looking over. “Dang, girl, did you spend the night there and not tell me?” She makes an O shape with her mouth. "Did you and Remington do the dirty?"

“No, Skye.” I can't help but roll my eyes. “I did not go from cleaning out his apartment and being annoyed to banging him a couple of days later."

“Well, then how did you see Canyon this morning?” She picks up her glass of water but doesn't take a sip. She is hanging on to my every word, and I wish that I had something more interesting to share with her.

“Because she came to the office with Mr. Parker.”

“With Mr. Parker?” She raises a single eyebrow and starts giggling. “Since when do you call him Mr. Parker?”

"Since he started getting on my nerves. Fine, she came to the office with Remington.” I pause. "Remington ‘the douchebag’ Parker."

“So, Remington DB Parker is letting her skip school already?” She looks taken aback. “He sounds like he’s going to be a great dad.”

“No, no, no. He didn’t let her skip school,” I say quickly. I don’t want her judging him because, even though I do, it makes me feel bad if other people think he’s a bad father. Because, quite frankly, I feel like he's trying to do a good job. He's new to the role, but he's not useless. In fact, seeing him in that role makes me like him even more. I feel like I am stuck in a weird stasis. Remington confuses me to no end, but I still can't help but be enamored by him.

“So, why was she at the office?” Skye looks confused. "Did he not know where she goes to school?"

"He had an early morning meeting with Liam Gallagher, you know that British guy who brings a lot of money to the firm.” I pause. “In fact, he came in today."

“Oh, yeah,” she says, nodding. There's a knowing look on her face. “He came in to see Kingston, too. Girl, he's hot. If I wasn't madly in love with Kingston, I'd throw my hat into the ring for a night with him." She giggles like a naughty schoolgirl. "I heard he's actually going to be working in the office starting next week. All the women in HR are going to go crazy.”

“Oh, I didn't realize that,” I say, shrugging. “But yeah, anyway, he had a meeting this morning with Remington. I think Remington thought it was going to be on the phone, but Liam showed up. I guess it makes sense that he showed up if he's going to be working here now or something.”

“I don't know the details.” Skye shakes her head. “But Lila and I were talking about it, and we were saying, if we were single, we would totally go for him, because he's just so cute.” She waves her hands back and forth. "And he's a total flirt."

“He is a player if ever I saw one,” I say and start laughing loudly before lowering my voice. The man at the next table is staring at us again. I sure hope he can't actually hear our conversation.

“Aren't all the men in the office players?” Skye makes a face. "I swear to the heavens above that nearly all attorneys think they are God's gift to women. Must be all that money they make."

“That’s true. They do all seem to have egos for days,” I say, nodding. “Anyway, he had this meeting, and it was early, so he brought Canyon with him. After the meeting, he took her to school.”

“Oh, okay, I'm surprised he didn't ask you to take her to school.”

“I think he probably wanted to, but he took one look at my face, and he knew that there was no way that I was going to be doing his fatherly duties for him.” I grin at her. "I may be a doormat, but I'm starting to stick up for myself.”

“Really?” she says. “Are you sure about that? I mean, you did give up like two days already to help him out.”

“I didn’t give up two days to help him out.”

“Didn’t you tell me that you canceled plans with your dad just so that you could go over and help him tidy up his apartment?”

“Yeah, but it was a mess, and I’m glad that I did. I didn't do it for him. I did it for Canyon. Plus, I see my dad almost every weekend. It wasn’t that big of a deal.” I feign nonchalance.

“Uh-huh,” she says, winking at me. "You did it for Canyon."

“Why do you say it like that?”

“I don't know. Maybe because you think Remington is cute. And I'm going to get you to admit it one way or another.”

"I'm not going to lie and say I don't think he's cute, because I think we can all tell he's very, very cute. But I'm not into him. He's my boss,” I say defensively. I want to tell her that I do have a thing for him, but saying it would make it true, and I'm not sure that I want to put that out into the universe just yet. Not until I'm ready to open up my heart to heartbreak.

“So what?” she says. “You know I’m dating my boss. And Lila is dating Max, who was and still is her boss. And?—”

“And I’m not dating my boss, and I never will be.” I stick my tongue out at her like a petulant little kid. I am not her or Lila.

“We’ll see about that.” She grins like she doesn't believe me.

“No, I’m telling you, I will never date Remington Parker. He’s not interested in me like that.”

“How do you know he isn’t?”

“Because he is into models and actresses and opera singers.”

“Opera singers? What?" She looks taken aback. "What Opera singer is he into?”

“I don’t know, some glamorous Italian lady that he had me send flowers to. I looked her up online. And apparently, she is the belle of the ball in Milan or something.” I tap my fingers against the table. "Members of different royal families in Europe will do anything for tickets. One prince even paid $100,000 for a box last year."

“Wow. So, you’re a stalker.”

“I’m not a stalker,” I say, giggling. “I just wonder sometimes who these women are that I'm sending flowers to.”

“True. I mean, if I worked for him, I would look up all his hoes, as well."

"They aren't hoes."

"Fine, the women he dates. You have to admit that he does get around. But I suppose that’s better than him being engaged to some absolute stunner. At least you know he is basically single.”

“And he wants to stay single for the rest of his life." I give her a pointed look. "So, no, I'm not going to become his next target. Plus, I don’t know he’s for me even if he did want me.”

“What do you mean you don’t know if he is for you?”

“I feel like…” I pause and look around the restaurant to make sure no one is listening to me. “I feel like he may be a dominant.”

“You what?” she says loudly and then she bursts out laughing. Her hand quickly goes to her mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so loud.”

“I know, but keep it down. What if someone hears us?" I peek at the man at the next table. "I said I think he may be a dominant.”

"Juniper, you have to tell me, one, why you think he may be a dominant? Two, why that doesn't turn you on. And three, how do you know this?” Her eyes are glittering, and I can tell she's more excited than she's been during the entire conversation. She's practically buzzing, and I feel slightly guilty.

I regret bringing up the topic, but I wanted to talk to someone about it. And seeing as my best friend was overseas and we hadn't spoken in a couple of weeks, I hadn't been able to get Poppy's advice and feedback. I lean forward and whisper, “So, the other day, Remington and I were having a discussion. I can’t even remember what the conversation was about right now. But we kinda drifted from topic to topic, and out of nowhere, he asked me a question."

"What question?" She frowns. "Did she ask you if you wanted to be his sub?"

"No, goofy.

"What did he ask you?" She pauses. "Did he ask you to step on him in stilettos?"

"No... plus wouldn't that hurt?"

"That's the point, right?” She looks thoughtful for a moment. “Actually wait, maybe that’s more of a masochist thing. Like the Marquis de Sade.”

"I guess so, but no, he didn't ask me that."

"Did he ask you to pee on him?"

"Skye! What are you talking about?"

"I'm just trying to guess. Tell me."

"Well, we were chatting, and then out of nowhere, he was like, ‘Do you prefer the hand or the belt?’” I press my lips together as my heart races. I don't know why I'm feeling so hot and bothered, but anytime I think of Remington, I get slightly turned on.

“The what or the what?” It's her turn to look confused. "You said that so fast that I didn't understand you."

“The hand,” I say lifting up my hand, “or”, I speak slowly, “the belt?”

“The hand or the belt,” she repeats. And then her eyes go wide, and she starts giggling loudly. “Holy smokes, Batman.” She licks her lips. “No way did stiff old Remington Parker say that. Why did he ask you this?” She looks thoughtful. "Did he want to spank you?"

“I mean, I don't think he was asking me, asking me. There is no way in hell that I would let him spank me. I think he was trying to get a reaction out of me. Maybe see if he could outrage me.” I shrug. “It was kind of weird, you know. A part of me thought maybe he was flirting, but I don't think he was. Not really.”

“He is so into you. He wants you badly,” Skye says emphatically. “Where the hell is Lila? We need her feedback. I bet she will agree with me.”

“I think she said she would be here in thirty minutes.” I pick up my phone. “And that was seventeen minutes ago, so she should be here soon.”

“She is going to absolutely die when she hears that Remington Parker wants to spank you.”

“No,” I say quickly. “You're twisting my words, Skye. He doesn't want to spank me. He just?—”

“He wants you, girl. You may or may not see that, but I definitely do. I know men like I know the back of my hand.” She stares at the back of her hand and nods. "That man wants you bad. He's probably into butts. I always used to think most guys were boob guys, but a lot of them are into butts. I think that's why they like doggy-style so much."

“You know what? I never really got that saying,” I say, changing the subject. I do not want to think of myself on my knees with Remington Parker behind me.

“What do you mean? You never got what saying?”

“That saying that you know something like the back of your hand. I mean, do you really know the back of your hand?”

She stares at me and blinks. “You know what? Let me see." She closes her eyes and starts laughing. "I can't even picture the back of my hand.” She opens her eyes and nods her head. “So, I guess that means I don't know men very well.”

“Do any of us really know men? I mean, we think we do, but then they go and say or do something really stupid, which makes us question everything we thought we knew.”

“That is true,” she says, nodding. “Did I tell you about what Kingston did last week?” She pauses. “Anyway, let's wait till Lila gets here, and then we can dish all the gossip. By the way, does this weekend still work for you?” she asks excitedly.

“Yeah, you mean for the makeover?”

She nods. “Yes, for the makeover. You are going to look like a million bucks.”

“But what if I want to look like a billion bucks?”

“I mean, I can't promise that.” She giggles. “I am not Elon Musk. Though I wouldn't mind some of his money, even though I don't want him.” We both burst out laughing, then I take another sip of my water.

“Where are our drinks? They are taking forever.” I look around for the waiter.

“I know,” she says. “It does not take that long to make strawberry margaritas.”

“No, it doesn’t. And I’m kind of hungry,” I say, rubbing my stomach. “We’re going to share a pizza, right?”

“Yeah, I was thinking maybe we could do a pizza and salad.”

“That sounds good. Caesar salad?” I ask.

“Yeah, of course. It’s my favorite.”

“I thought you really liked Cobb salad?”

“I do. But not with pizza. Plus, I don't like love the dressing options. Do you know who has the best salad dressing?”

“No, who?” I wait for her to answer, thinking she is going to name some exclusive five-star Michelin restaurant that I will never be able to afford in my life.

“Olive Garden,” she says with a steadfast face.

“What?” My jaw drops.

She grins. “Olive Garden has the best salad dressing ever.”

I start laughing then. “You did not just say Olive Garden.”

“What? You’ve never been to Olive Garden?”

“Of course, I’ve been to Olive Garden. I went when I visited Florida with my dad. We got the never-ending breadsticks and pasta. And I mean, the salad was good. But I don’t know if it was the best salad I ever had in my life.”

“Trust me,” she says, “I’ve eaten in a number of different sorts of restaurants, and their salad dressing is good.”

“Man, maybe you should get a job working for them in their marketing department because you’re selling their salad like it's your day job.”

She giggles. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t think that's the job of my dreams. But I guess I could make them a trillion dollars just from the salad dressing alone. If they gave me 10 percent of the profits, I'd be willing to share my talents.”

“Bet you could get a good .000001 percent.”

"Might still be worth it." She looks around and then bursts into a wide smile. “Finally!” She motions to the waiter approaching with our strawberry margaritas.

“Hi, sorry about the wait,” he says, batting his long, dark eyelashes. He's a handsome man and reminds me of some of the frat guys I used to see in of my college classes. “The barman got mixed up and made you Russian mules, and I didn’t think you wanted those.”

“That’s a big mistake to make.” I take my glass from him. “Strawberry margaritas became Russian mules. Not even the same liquor, right?”

He stares at me for a couple of seconds and nods. “He’s new. And may or may not be able to read properly.” He looks me up and down, a half smile on his face. “But thank you for being so patient. These two are on me.”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that,” I say quickly.

“When I say me, I mean on the restaurant, so don’t worry.” He winks. "Don't worry about it, Lois Lane.”

I grin at him. “Well, thank you, kind sir.” I'm not sure why he's calling me Lois Lane, but I'm not going to ask either.

“You’re welcome. Have you decided what you would like to eat?”

“We’re still waiting on another friend,” Skye says. “But she should be here any moment.”

“Okay, well, I’ll wait for your friend to arrive and then I’ll be back. Enjoy your drinks, ladies.” He gives me another small wink and then walks away, turning to look back at me and waggling his tongue once.

Skye stares at me for a couple of seconds. “I don't think you need that makeover. You're getting men left, right, and center without it.”

“What men am I getting?”

“Um, Marco the waiter was just flirting with you.” She wiggles her tongue. "Man wants to get down with you."

“No, he was not. He was just being nice because?—”

“Because nothing. You didn’t see him looking at me. You didn’t see him giving me any eyes. I bet he asks for your number before the evening is out.” She takes a long sip of her drink. "Lois..."

“He is not going to ask for my number,” I say, not knowing why the very attractive waiter would want to ask me out. “He is not interested in me.”

“Yeah, let’s wait and see,” she says. “Would you date him over Remington? Which one do you want more?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have Remington, and I don’t have him. Neither one of them wants to date me.”

“But just saying, what if both of them came to you and said, I would like to take you on an exclusive date. Which one would you say yes to?”

“I can’t say yes to both?” I say, laughing, taking a sip of my margarita. “Oh, my gosh, this is so good. I think I’m going to have to drink about ten of them tonight.” I watch as Skye lifts her glass and takes another sip, as well.

“I think I just went to heaven,” she says as she holds up her glass, and we clink. “Cheers.” She beams happily, the tequila going to her head already.

“Cheers.” I lean back in the booth and look around. I’m so happy that Skye and I are friends. I’m lucky to have ladies in my life who, even though they are in relationships, take time to be with me, to hang out, and take time to just enjoy life. “This is a really cool place. How did you hear about it?”

“Oh, I literally just Yelped for a bar in the area, and this came up with a 4.4 average. I’m not going to lie, the pizzas looked amazing and really big. And when you said you wanted pizza, I was like, we’ve got to go there.”

“I have been craving pizza, so I'm glad you found this place."

"Why have you been craving pizza?"

"It’s kind of funny, the reason why.”

“What’s the reason why?” she asks.

“Because Canyon kept asking her dad if they could get pizza tonight. And the more she talked about it, the more I wanted it.” I giggle. “I have a feeling she was not as lucky as me.”

“Oh, poor Canyon,” Skye says with a small smile. “I wish I had seen her this morning. I wonder if Remington will bring her into the office again. I'd love to meet her.”

“I sure hope so. She is such a sweet kid,” I say and take another sip of the delicious drink. “Like the sweetest kid I've ever met. I know this must be a really weird transition period for her. But she is doing really well. I feel like I see a connection and a bond between her and Remington already, which warms my heart because my dad is my everything.” I pause, suddenly feeling guilty about the fact that I hadn’t called my dad back in a couple of days. “I’m going to have to see if I can see him next weekend. He doesn’t really have anyone but me. And I know our weekends together are the highlight of his month,” I say, blinking rapidly. I feel like tears are going to come.

“Are you okay?” Skye looks nervous. “What happened? What did I say? What did I do? Is it because I asked you if you had a crush on Remington? I was just joking. I mean?—”

“No, it’s nothing to do with that,” I say quickly. “I guess I was just thinking about Canyon and Remington and the special relationship they have. And then I just started thinking about my dad and how he has dedicated his whole life to me. And it just means so much, you know? And I feel really bad that I dropped him and didn’t go for his lasagna when he was probably looking forward to it all day. I just feel like a bad daughter.”

“Remington needed your help,” she says. “That’s not your fault.”

“Yeah, but let’s be real, Skye,” I say, giving her a wry smile. “If it was just my boss asking, I likely would have said no. But because it was Remington?—”

“But Remington is your boss.”

"Yeah, he is my boss. Yes, I do think he’s cute. And maybe I’ve just been embarrassed to admit that out loud because I know I’m not his type. And I know you think I’m just being hard on myself or that I have low self-esteem. But I know what I’m working with. And I know what he normally goes for. And it’s not people or women that look like me.” It all comes out in a quick rush, and I hate that alcohol always makes me spill my guts.

“I truly don't think you see yourself for who you are, Juniper.” Skye shakes her head slowly. “And my goal in life is for you to look into the mirror and know that you are absolutely gorgeous on the inside and the outside. Every man in the world should want to be with someone like you. They would be lucky and happy to be with someone so sweet, so compassionate, so kind, and so absolutely wonderful.”

“You're going to make me cry. You didn't have to say that to me to make me feel better.”

“I am not saying anything to make you feel better.” She cuts me off, reaches over, and grabs my hands. “I'm saying it because it's true.”

“What am I missing here?” Lila says as she approaches the table and looks down at us. She looks gorgeous with her blonde hair in curls. She's wearing a red sweater and black leather pants, and I can understand why Max fell for her, hook, line, and sinker. She's absolutely gorgeous and one of the funniest women I've ever met in my life. “Are you guys going to run off and get married or something?”

“No.” We laugh in unison and drop our hands.

“Skye was just being an amazing friend and telling me I was wonderful because I was feeling a little down on myself.”

“Oh, no. What happened?” Lila frowns as she sits next to me. "You okay, girl?"

“I was just telling her that I have a little crush on Remington.” I pause and wrinkle my nose. “But I know he would never be interested in someone like me.”

Lila stares at me, at Skye, and then looks back at me again. “You're crazy, right? You do know that Remington would be the luckiest man in the world to have someone like you. Physically, you're stunning. Inside, you're beautiful. And once we've given you this makeover, you are going to look like an A-list star, believe you me." She stares at my face and smiles as she studies my features. "Remington's jaw is going to be hanging to the ground when we are done with you.”

I giggle slightly. “I mean, I would love to see him with his jaw on the ground.”

“He is going to be begging you for a date,” Skye adds. “In fact, when he asks you out, I want you to make me one promise.”

“What's that?”

“I want you to make him work for it.”

“Work for what?”

“You know what I mean,” she says, winking.

“What are you talking about?” Lila grabs my glass and takes a sip of my margarita. She groans in satisfaction as she hands me back the glass. "Okay, I need five of them. Stat."

“I’m talking about the spanking,” Skye says loudly as she spanks her hand. "Oh, spank me, Daddy. I've been a bad girl."

"Skye!" I exclaim in shock. "Stop it."

Lila looks at us confused. “What is going on here? Who is spanking who?”

"Remington wants Juniper on her knees and over his lap," Skye adds with a grin. "And I just want to remind her that when he asks her out on that date, he doesn't have to be the one in charge."