6. Daniel

6

DANIEL

“ Y es, and I shot par two weeks ago in Malibu. It was fantastic. Not such an easy course, though.” Dad wiped the sweat from his forehead for the third time in ten minutes.

The sun overhead was warm. It was a perfect day for a tee-time with Dad. I stood next to his limo, chatting with him as his driver loaded my clubs into the trunk. We had a routine of playing nine holes at least once a month. Traffic was light, which meant a quick commute, and I should be back to the office to finish off the last few filings before close of business.

“That’s fantastic. You know, I’ve not had much time to work on my game, so you’ll put me to shame out there for sure.” He laughed at me, but I knew why. He always put me to shame. Dad should have joined the pro circuit. He was that good. Meanwhile, I was a hobby golfer. I had other things I enjoyed doing much more than golf, so I never took it that seriously.

“Sir!” At the call, I turned to see Emily jogging toward me. The way her dress fit a bit looser in the top without her bra on had me ogling her once again. Her chest swayed as she approached, and I wanted to see those tits bouncing again. “Sir, you left your gloves on your desk. I was just preparing the files for faxing and I found them.”

Winded, she handed me the gloves and smiled politely at my father. His eyebrows rose in intrigue. I couldn’t help myself. She was too alluring, her body too tempting. I took the gloves from her and said, “You let me forget things like that again and I’ll have to bend you over my desk, Ms. Kline.” No one was around us except my father. He wouldn’t say anything to anyone, and his smirk told me he appreciated a little office flirtation.

“Uh… I…” Emily seemed nervous.

“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? Or are you imagining it wrapped around my cock?” I had no clue what had come over me, except that the feeling of being buried inside her this morning had me entirely entranced. She was that amazing.

She tried to hide her grin as she looked down, but she didn’t shy away. “No, sir. I was just thinking next time we should lock the door, that’s all.” Her eyes flicked nervously at my father, who shook his head and climbed into the limo at the driver’s behest.

“I gotta run. Tee-time.” I had the urge to lean over and kiss her, but I restrained myself. While staffers in the office may not be able to hear our banter, they would definitely see me kiss her should they be looking out the window. “Sorry if I embarrassed you in front of my father. He’s a good sport, won’t tell a soul.”

“It’s okay. Go have fun. I’ll have your filings ready when you get back.” She crossed her arms over her chest and backed away. “But I was serious about locking the door next time. Might want some loud music too so I can scream your name.” She winked and turned, walking away with that ass swaying with every step.

I laughed for a moment at her cheeky behavior and climbed into the limo. For a small town girl, she had sass and I liked it. Every new thing I learned about her, I loved. Emily had no idea how hard I was falling for her, and I wanted to tell the world.

“A little hanky-panky in the office, huh?” Dad asked as I buckled my seatbelt and the limo pulled into traffic. “I did a bit of that in my day too.” He winked at me and nodded approvingly.

“Ah, this is no hanky-panky, Pop. Emily is something special. I really like her. And the best part is she’s just as bold as I am.” I thought about how she seductively knelt on the ground with her ass in the air for me to admire it.

“She’s a new partner? Bringing your gloves to you like an assistant?” His eyes narrowed in suspicion, so I put that suspicion to bed right away.

“Oh, no. She is an assistant, and she’s very good at her job.” I watched out the window as we passed a line of traffic moving slower than us. Dad’s line of questioning was pretty normal for anyone I dated. He thought every woman was beneath me.

“You’re taking a serious interest in someone who is a mere assistant? Not even a paralegal? Does she even have an education?” I didn’t like his tone at all, but I knew better than to question him or go against what he thought. I lived my life very happily on my own until my parents stuck their nose in my business.

“She has a degree, Pop. She’s a wonderful woman.” I had nothing negative to say about Emily at all, and I wasn’t going to stoop to arguing with him over her socio-economic status.

The car fell silent, and I turned to my phone, scrolling my latest notifications. Neither of us spoke again until we had checked in and were driving to the first hole on the golf cart. We weaved through the thick pines on the path. The man drove too fast, causing me to grip the handle tightly.

“I was thinking of having lunch with you and Mom, maybe Nick too. What do you think?” I thought breaking the tension between us with a change of subject would be good, but Dad sat on the topic of Emily like he was king of the mountain.

“So you can bring your assistant?” His tone was dry. He was trying to get a rise out of me, which I wouldn’t give him.

“It would be nice to introduce her to Mom, yes.” The caddy stopped and turned the cart off and headed for our clubs while Dad and I donned our gloves and waited.

“You know, it’s one thing to have a little fling with a woman beneath your status. Lots of women are gorgeous and put out a little.” He took the seven-iron handed to him by the caddy. I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s another thing entirely to lower your standards to date someone who isn’t even in the same tax bracket. Paralegal, maybe—they have a shot at becoming a lawyer one day. But a mere assistant?”

Dad strutted up to the tee and balanced his ball on it. I’d have rather ignored the topic the rest of the day and just enjoyed golf, but I knew he wouldn’t let up. It was now a game of how long I could remain patient with him before I snapped. He took the swing and his ball sailed down the fairway, then he stepped aside and gestured for me to approach. The caddy handed me a seven-iron and a ball, and I took my stance. But when I took my swing, Dad started in again, and the ball sliced to the right into the rough.

“Seriously, Daniel. We raised you better than that. The best private schools. You went to Harvard, for Christ’s sake. You can’t date an assistant.”

I clenched my jaw and thrust the club toward the caddy who looked a bit frightened, but he took the clubs and headed for the cart. Pretending I hadn’t heard Dad’s comment, I climbed onto the cart and held on tightly as Dad climbed in next to me and the caddy took off.

“She’s just out for your money. You wait and see. She’s going to do something stupid like file a lawsuit for harassment, or maybe she’ll tell you her car broke down and get you to buy her a new one. Women like that don’t belong in our circle, Daniel.”

“Dad, can you just lay off? Please?” I snapped like a twig. “I just want to enjoy golf, okay? You’ve made your point.”

He fell silent, but I knew it wasn’t the end of it. He’d bring it up again later on and badger me about it. Strange how they did the same thing to Nick, my younger brother, but when he’d moved on to marry his now wife, Ginny, they’d been forced to accept her into the family. I didn’t feel I’d be that lucky.

The rest of the afternoon dragged by. We talked very little, focusing the conversation we did have on the task at hand. I wasn’t surprised to double bogey most of the holes. Dad played almost a perfect game, making note very loudly in the clubhouse afterward. All I could do was be grateful he wasn’t still harping on me for dating Emily.

By the time I got back to the office, Emily had gone for the day and I was exhausted. I had planned to ask her to chat with me about what happened this morning. After Michael’s lectures, I figured we had to discuss the difficult dynamic of my being her boss and how that could be misinterpreted on either part. A seed of doubt needled at my thoughts after Dad’s rant about her, but I’d managed to push that away. I didn’t think for a second that Emily was just out for my money. I was the one who had made the advances on her first. Not the other way around.

Still, communication is a foundation for all relationships and I wanted to start this one off right with a clear idea of her expectations and my boundaries. I sat behind my desk, unable to focus on the filings and faxes simply because all I could think about was seeing her tomorrow morning. In fact, I decided right then to ask Olivia to make Emily my full-time assistant, not sharing her time with any other partner. I wanted to see her as much as possible.