Under My Boss's Authority: Office Romance Collection by Jamie Knight (free e novels .txt) 📗

“Are you okay?” he asked, as I nearly jumped out of my skin for the second time that morning.

“Yeah, you just startled me is all.”

“Nearly out of your chair,” he observed.

“I just wasn’t expecting you. I thought it was just Linus and me here at lunch.”

“Let me guess, he is working.”

“He is probably eating too. If there is one thing that he knows how to do, it’s multitasking.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“You know him, Sir? I mean Tucker.”

“Likely.”

He didn’t even bring up that I’d called him sir. He was really cool for a boss and I couldn’t help but wonder if we could be something more. It might have just been conceited of me, but I suspected he might have felt the same way.

“I’ve got good news,” he said, smiling.

“What’s that?”

“You’ve been selected for the trip.”

“What trip?”

“The New Year’s Eve trip. We’ve had it planned for a while. Kind of a reward for our hard workers. But now that the pandemic has struck, I had to considerably lower the number of people coming. It’s in New Zealand, so no big trouble with Covid-19 regulations.”

“Are we able to travel? I thought lockdown was coming and that would mean we would have to work from home.”

“Indeed, there is, but I have a private jet and an in with the kiwi government. Basically, if we can bring doctors’ notes, signed of course, saying that we’re clear, we shouldn’t have too much of a problem getting in.”

“I can’t afford a doctor, I-”

“Oh, no, I’ll cover all that. It’s a vacation; there should be no out-of-pocket expense on your end. Besides which, you’ll still be getting paid.”

“Oh, cool,” I said, brightening up considerably.

“The doctor will be coming by later today. I hope it’s okay, but she’s going to do a house call at your place.”

“No, that’s fine, except I didn’t know doctors even did house calls anymore.”

“Oh, they don’t. Deena is just a wonderful friend of mine.”

“Must be nice.”

“Certainly makes life easier,” he agreed. “I already have my note ready to go.”

“When does the flight leave?”

“The day before New Year’s. I’m told they’ll be announcing the lockdown here officially on New Year’s Day, so that should give us lots of time.”

I was overwhelmed to say the least. My mind spun as I tried to process what had suddenly happened in a few seconds.

Was I really going to skip lockdown to get a back door into a safe country for a vacation with my lovely boss?

And how many people were going, exactly?

Just him and me?

I could only hope that was true!

It was all just too crazy, and wonderful, to be really true, though. At least that’s what my inner pessimist was shouting at me.

But he’d already got a doctor to make a house call, which was a sign of commitment if nothing else. As my nerves settled, I started to get really excited.

“You can go home after lunch and get ready. Have a shower and all that. She’s going to give you the once over as well as the virus test, just to make sure you are healthy to travel,” Tucker told me, coming back to my desk. “And then you can have the next couple days off until the 30th, so that you can be nice and rested for the trip.”

“Okay.”

My enthusiasm was getting even stronger. I wasn’t sure what the doc was planning to do to me but at least she was going to be a woman, so it would be less awkward if things got really personal.

I also got to go home early which was awesome. It was kind of ironic, considering all I’d been through to get here, including dating the bus, where not everyone was wearing a mask, even though I was.

“We can’t have you taking the bus home,” Tucker said next, as if reading my mind. “I’ll give you a lift if you’d like.”

“In your Aston-Martin?”

“In the Aston, yes,” Tucker confirmed.

It was all I could do not to squeal, my inner school girl just bursting to come out. Instead, I did pretty much the opposite and let my inner Bogan come out.

“Crikey! That would be bronzer, pommie.”

I’ve never wanted to die more in my short life than I did in that moment. Tucker, on the other hand, seemed quite tickled. Maybe he didn’t know what it meant.

To be fair, he had been stateside for a while, but I was pretty sure I could smell the toffee-nose on him from when we first meant. The British import luxury car and bespoke tweed suits were only the first clues into Tucker’s inner poshness.

“Sorry,” I said, just in case.

“No, no, I like it. It’s nice to hear you be yourself.”

“And here I’ve been trying to fit in.”

“Oh, you probably shouldn’t do that. Trying to fit in when it just isn’t working is like trying to jam a puzzle piece into place with sheer force alone. It won’t make things any better, and you’ll just end up frustrated.”

I was a bit surprised to hear such sage advice coming from him, but he’d also had another decade to try and figure things out than I had. I hadn’t even reached my quarter life crisis, which I’d heard could be a real doozy.

The Aston pulled up in front of my building and I could have sworn I felt Tucker’s gaze on my ass as I got out.

Not that I minded at all and to be fair, I was wearing pretty tight jeans. Not painted on but near enough. They were the closest thing to office-appropriate attire I had after missing laundry day the week before. Odd how such a simple thing could pile up like that. Both literally and in the metaphorical.

Following Tucker’s suggestion, I stripped down to zilch as soon as I was safely at my place, the door firmly locked behind me, and marched for the bathroom. The cool air feeling was weird on my bare skin. I’d never really noticed how cold it was usually.

Getting the