‘Okay. I’ll take the phones for a few hours while you do that and then why don’t you knock off early? I can handle things on my own.’
‘If you’re sure … I wouldn’t want you to think—’
‘I don’t. It was a special occasion, wasn’t it? And you’ve been doing well the past few weeks. Everyone’s allowed a night out occasionally.’
‘Thanks. If you don’t mind, I’d appreciate it.’
‘It’s fine. I know you won’t make a habit of it.’ A statement rather than a question, just so he knew I wouldn’t put up with it on a regular basis.
‘No.’ He groaned, rubbing his forehead again, ‘I won’t.’
‘So was it good?’ Leaning forward I pressed a few buttons on his handset to forward his calls to my phone, then looked up at him.
‘What?’
‘The stag do? What did you get up to? What’s the equivalent of tying someone to a lamppost nowadays?’
I glanced up, noting how bloodshot his pale-blue eyes were.
‘It was my older brother’s do. We made him dress as a woman and tell everyone we met that it was what he did to relax.’
I laughed, stepping back. ‘Oh, dear. Very mean.’
‘It was quite funny. It took some persuading but I won. He always says I get my own way, whatever I want,’ he said, returning my smile before going quiet. Our gaze held for a few seconds longer than polite and his smile widened.
Uh-oh, I thought. That’s not where I was going with this.
‘Anyway,’ I changed direction briskly, ‘I’d better get on with some work. And you’ve got that filing to do,’ I reminded him pointedly.
‘Yes.’
As I backed away, he held his place, still smiling at me, still trying to maintain eye contact. As I went back into my office I had a twinge of unease but dismissed it quickly.
Everything was fine for a few weeks. Then, one Friday afternoon, I dropped a file, muttering under my breath. Tony appeared next to me, squatting down to help gather up the papers, handing them to me, fingers brushing against mine.
‘Thanks,’ I fumbled out breathlessly, flustered by my show of clumsiness. As I stood up I realised too late we were way too close. But to step away too obviously would be rude so I stayed put, shuffling the paperwork into order.
Staring into my eyes, he brushed something off my cheek. ‘Eyelash.’
‘Thanks.’ It was a line, and an old one, but it may have been genuine, so I said nothing, just smiled and looked over my shoulder. ‘I’ve got a report to finish so…’
‘Yes, it’s due in tomorrow morning.’
‘I’ll get to it then.’ I paused awkwardly, not sure if I should say something after all.
‘I’m really enjoying working with you, Charley. You’re a good boss,’ he said, seeming to emphasise the last word.
Phew. He got that all we had was a professional relationship. ‘Good, great. Pleased to hear that. See you later.’ Turning, I swept into my office and was soon immersed in the sales data I was analysing. Forgetting about Tony and any fears I had that we were being too familiar.
But two weeks later he started ‘accidentally’ brushing against me in the outer office where he sat, as well as making mildly suggestive comments. I said nothing initially. I’d look stupid and paranoid if I raised it with him and had misunderstood what was going on.
I’d always thought there was nothing wrong with office romances if everyone was happy and they were handled sensitively, but they’ve never been for me. Especially with a junior member of staff, who’d be in an unfair position if things went wrong, given the imbalance of power. So the company’s anti-workplace relationship policy suited me fine. It was a moot point anyway. I didn’t find Tony attractive and there was something about him I was starting to dislike. So I gave him subtle ‘back off’ signals, hoping he’d get bored and leave me alone but it only increased his determination. One day he cornered me in the file run.
‘Fancy dinner with me tonight, Charlotte? Just the two of us.’
My back was to him as I flicked through confidential files in a cabinet, so he didn’t see the face I pulled or the deep silent breath I took to control my annoyance. By then there was a niggle about the potentially patronising way he spoke to female staff, but none of them had come to me and there wasn’t enough evidence to raise it with him.
Shutting the drawer slowly, I turned around. ‘Thank you for the offer, Tony, but it’s not a good idea. I’m your line manager and would prefer to keep this professional. Our contracts also make clear relationships between colleagues aren’t allowed.’ I forced away the urge to demand he call me Miss Wright. I didn’t ask any other team members to and didn’t want him to feel I was singling him out.
‘Right. I see. Sorry.’ He smiled tightly.
‘That’s fine.’ I nodded. ‘So, if you don’t mind?’ I waved a file in the air.
‘Don’t let me stop you.’
The way he looked me up and down made me edgy. Was he intending to make me squeeze past him? ‘Would you mind moving please?’
‘Sorry. Of course.’ He stepped back to let me pass.
Striding out, I chanced a look over my shoulder. He was staring after me, grey suit rumpled and pale-pink tie askew. The whole incident was another odd one, but hopefully he’d got the message.
The next day when I came in for the evening shift, he was sitting on the edge of my desk.
‘Evening, Tony. Can I help?’ Claiming my chair, I gestured him to take a seat opposite.
‘I’ve been thinking about what you said yesterday,’ he acknowledged, ‘and we can remove the problem.’ He paused, gave a smirk. ‘If you weren’t my boss we wouldn’t have a conflict in dating.’
My lower jaw momentarily dropped but I calmed myself, switching on my computer. ‘Sorry, what are you suggesting?’
‘If working together is a problem, we could change that.’
‘How exactly?’
Shrugging, he stretched his arms above his head as if totally relaxed. ‘Maybe if you worked at another casino?’
I stared at him in disbelief, wanting to wind his arms round his neck and throttle him with them. Anger sent tingles along my skin. I couldn’t comprehend what he’d said. Inappropriate didn’t begin to cover it. It was so bloody arrogant. I should give up a job earned through hard work just to have the opportunity to sleep with him? What alternate reality was he lodged in?
Going into hyper-formal mode, I straightened in my seat, squaring my shoulders. ‘I’m surprised at the suggestion, Tony. I’m very happy here and have no desire to transfer. And I have no desire for us to be involved. If you’re going to stay you’ll need to respect that. Can you work as my assistant on those grounds?’
‘Sure.’ He tried to look indifferent but a muscle ticked at the corner of his mouth. ‘It was just a thought. And after the way we talked, and you smiled at me—’
‘I was being polite.’ But guilt nagged at me. Had I encouraged him? Been too friendly?
‘It was just a thought, as I said,’ he reiterated stiffly.
‘Good. Then I think we should regard the topic as closed.’
‘Good,’ he repeated. ‘Everything you need is waiting in your in-tray. Goodnight.’ Standing abruptly, he stalked out.
After he