Mia sat behind her desk, staring blankly at her computer, thinking of Beau and his confession of love from the night before, going over her conversation with William. Speaking to one of Sam's former secretaries sounded like a good idea on paper, but was she ready for that? What if she said horrible things about her boss? Mia wasn't prepared to hear them because then she might be compelled to let him go-and she wanted more, even if it was so very wrong.
According to the calendar, Sam would not be in for lunch, so she needn't worry about ordering anything or rushing to make sure she got it to him on time. She'd been tempted to be late recently, wanting him to punish her. He had a way of making pain feel unbelievably pleasurable. The compulsion to be the perfect secretary kept her from going through with it. Eventually, she'd likely make a mistake again, and then she'd be reminded of what happened when one crossed Sam Whitaker.
She literally had nothing to do except to wait for Sam to call her into his office and go over previous conversations. Thoughts of the opera came to mind, how beautiful it was, the anguish Isolde had gone through. If Mia lost Sam, would she feel like that? She didn't think so. She wasn't in love with Sam-but she might be addicted to him.
William's recommendation kept coming to mind. Who would she even ask to help her meet with one of Sam's old secretaries? Veronica rarely came in anymore. When she did, she made a pitiful face at Mia and shook her head. Hardly anyone else in the office ever even acknowledged Mia's existence. The receptionists seemed to loathe her, not even speaking to her when she went to get Sam's lunch. A few of the guys were friendly toward her, but she was sure that had more to do with the rumors of what her real job was than the fact that they liked her personality. And the thought of asking Beau seemed out of place. It might give him the hope that she was thinking of leaving her position, and she wasn't. Not yet, anyway.
She could. She'd been there long enough that she wouldn't have to pay back any of the money Sam had initially loaned to her to buy clothes and whatever else she needed, though part of her wanted to pay him back. It was easy to justify it, though, when she thought about exactly what he was asking her to do. Mia didn't consider herself to be an escort or a prostitute, though others might disagree, but if she was a professional working with men of Sam's caliber, she could make the amount he'd given her to get started in one night easily. It was pocket change to someone who had billions of dollars.
With nothing else to do, Mia found herself searching for marketing jobs on her phone. Normally, she didn't bother. She didn't have a degree in marketing. She didn't currently have a marketing job, even though she worked at a marketing firm, and she wasn't sure she could cut herself off from Sam anyway. The night before with Beau had been spectacular, though. Was it possible he could completely satisfy her? What if she asked Beau to tie her up? Would he do it? Would that be enough? The darkness around Sam called to her, and she knew it wasn't just what he did to her that she craved, it was him. In her core, she wanted to be possessed by him, and there was nothing Beau could do to duplicate that.
A new listing caught her attention, pulling her out of her lustful thoughts. An entry level marketing job at a firm a few blocks over-no degree required, though it was recommended. The salary was only half of what she was making now, but she'd saved up a lot over the last few months, and the wages would pay for her apartment with enough over to get her to and from work. Should she look into this position at Howard Broomfield Marketing?
Before she could put too much thought into it, her phone rang, causing her to jump. Would it be Mr. Whitaker asking her to come in? No-that was silly. He had a red light for that. She glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Emily, Beau's secretary.
Emily. She was nice. They hadn't really spoken since they'd all gone to lunch together back when Mia had first started working there, but she had gone out of her way to make Mia feel welcome.
Picking up the phone, she said, "This is Mia."
"Hi, Mia. How are you?" Emily's sweet voice sang through the receiver.
"I'm okay. How are you?"
"Good, good. Say, since Sam's out of town today, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out to lunch with me. Just us girls. What do you say?"
Mia had no idea Sam was out of town. She wondered where he went, when he'd be back.... Emily calling her name brought her back to their conversation. "Oh, yeah. Sure. That would be great."
"Perfect. I'll swing by around noon, and we can decide where to go, all right?"
"Sounds good. See you then." Mia hung up, wondering if Emily had thought of this all on her own, or if Beau had put her up to it. What was it she really wanted to talk about? And why in the world hadn't anyone told her Sam was out of town?
Realizing she was being possessive, Mia tried to calm herself. It wasn't her business where Sam was or when he'd be back. She just needed to concentrate on doing her job-which today meant hours of absolutely nothing.
Rather than sit there and waste another minute, Mia began to search for online coursed she could take to finish her marketing degree. If she wasn't actually going to be working while she was at work, maybe she could use her time wisely in a different manner and finish her degree. She was only a few credit hours short of graduating, and if her previous work would transfer, maybe she could find a course that let her work at her own pace and complete her degree.
Suddenly excited about something that didn't involve men, Mia focused on her search, hopeful that her new plan would give her options so that when she finally broke free of Sam Whitaker's spell, she could make something of herself.
The hours passed much more quickly than Mia was used to. By the time Emily knocked on her office door, Mia had spent three hours looking at college courses she could complete only. "Whatcha doin'?" Emily asked, swinging into the room, a bright smile on her face.
"Oh, I was looking at finishing my marketing degree," she explained. "I think I may have found an online program that will work for me." The one she liked best let a person work at their own pace. Most of the lessons were prerecorded, but she could check in with a professor whenever she needed help, and if she worked hard, she could finish it in less than six months. It looked like they would take all of her previous credits, too, which meant it wouldn't be too expensive.
"That's a great idea," Emily said, squeezing her arm. "You could get a lot of it done while you're at work, and I bet there are people here who'd be happy to help you if you get stuck."
Mia raised an eyebrow. "Like who?" It wasn't as if she was friends with any of the people in marketing.
"Oh, I don't know.... My boss maybe. He does happen to have his master's in marketing. Come on, let's go to lunch."
Mia felt silly for asking the question. Of course, Beau would be happy to help her. She just didn't realize that's what his degree was in-for some silly reason. She grabbed her purse and made sure she had her phone before following Emily out the door. Ideas of finishing her degree would have to wait. For now, she needed to concentrate on whatever it was Emily wanted to speak to her about. While she had no idea what it might be, it had to be important.
She also wanted to ask her if Beau was okay. He hadn't texted back and hadn't spoken to her all day. During her Internet search, she'd been able to put him out of her mind, but now, she felt bad about how she'd treated him again. If she'd burned that bridge, she just might be stuck in her current position forever. She might be able to handle losing one Whitaker brother, but she could never manage losing two.