To Color Your Life - Chapter 41

“Good morning,” the boss said with his signature radiant smile.

“Evans, was it that a couple of million earned overnight that has changed you so much or something else happened that I don’t know of?” Kat leaned back in her chair, swinging the scarlet shoe on her foot.

“Get lost, Joyce. I need to talk to Emily,” the man slipped the bouquet between the blonde and the girl, “Congratulations on your new appointment, Miss Hayes.”

Emily silently accepted the bouquet and laid it on the table, turned to her work laptop, “Thank you for the flowers, Mr. Evans. As for my appointment, I did not confirm that I agree. So you shouldn’t have congratulated me on this. Sorry if this sounds impolite.”

“Oh, I need to edit a few more pictures. Have a nice day, Emy,” Catherine kissed the girl on the cheek and got up from her chair. She looked at the boss with a sympathetic look, “You are a fool,” she whispered in Evans’s ear and, whistling a cheerful melody, walked away.

Justin watched for a minute the phenomenal speed with which Emily’s fingers were moving across the keyboard. Realizing that they were not going to stop, he decided to interrupt her himself, “Miss Hayes, follow me into the meeting room, please. I want to hear your opinion on the proposed position. If something does not suit you, you can safely express it to me, as to your boss.”

Oh, there is a lot of it that does not suit me! But is the boss ready to hear it in person?

Emily nodded and rose from her seat. The meeting room was not far from her desk. She remembered how the last time Catherine and Justin retired there to discuss the details of the future shooting (in which she eventually participated), and then this fact annoyed her for an inexplicable reason.

Now this reason was clear. Jealousy. Plain, banal jealousy.

Eh, Hayes, and you got hooked a long time ago already when you yourself did not realize it, Emily sighed.

The boss opened the door of the room and let the girl go ahead. Then he went in and closed the door tightly behind him.

In the next second, Emily was in a tight embrace.

“What are you doing? We’re at work!” She hissed at Justin and jerked, but the man only squeezed her even tighter.

“I miss you. That’s number one.” He kissed her temple. “I want to apologize for yesterday. That’s number two.” The next kiss touched the edge of the girl’s ear. “And three – I’m afraid that if I let you go now, you’ll beat me,” he chuckled and kissed her neck.

“Who do you take me for, Justin Evans?” Emily bridled her head and looked indignantly at her boss. “I am not some drama queen to throw a scandal in the workplace!”

Although I really do want to beat you.

Her indignation was immediately swept away by the hot lips and tongue that impudently invaded her mouth.

Evans’ kiss was persistent, greedy. His hands slid down the girl’s back, grasping her like tenacious whips trying to envelop the tree in a protective cocoon. As if she was the source of his life force, and he drank from it and could not get quench his thirst in any way.

Emily’s knees trembled. She hugged the man and pressed her whole body against him, surrendering under the pressure of this insane energy.

Justin Evans was her madness. A car without brakes. Parachute with clipped lines.

The boss grabbed the girl under her hips and sat her on the table. Emily let out a painful moan as his hand slipped under her blouse and began his journey up her back.

“Justin, stop!” She broke the kiss with difficulty and gently pushed the man away. “I already realized that you missed me.” Her eyes intended to make out the bulging “proof” below Evans’ waist, but her brain had not yet given up completely to the impulses of the body.

“You kind of wanted to apologize?” She looked expectantly at the boss, whose gaze remained a little blurred and defocused and wandered over her face and neckline.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I got carried away,” Justin sighed and grabbed Emily in an armful. “You’re right. Forgive me please.” He buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath.

Goosebumps ran down the girl’s neck. If not for the last echoes of reason, she would have gladly surrendered and melted in these strong hands.

It seemed like a civil war was brewing between her brain and heart.

Why didn’t you come back? Why didn’t you call? Turned off the phone and didn’t even warn me that you wouldn’t come? Did you not like what happened between us? Was it not as important to you as it was to me?

There were so many questions in her head that Emily wanted to ask, but the girl said nothing.

Love is a verb. And a verb is an action.

And she decided to give the right to act to him.

“Oh Emy, my sweet Emy. I feel like such a jerk. Joyce is right, I’m a complete idiot. My reason is so stupid that I am even ashamed to admit it.”

My sweet Emy.

Apparently, Emily was also a complete idiot, since a short phrase with her name from a man’s lips filled her body with warmth, as if a supernova had exploded inside it.

“Not saying what this reason is doesn’t make it any less stupid, Justin.” Emily hugged Evans back and buried her chin on his shoulder.

“I fell asleep.”

What?

She turned to his face to see if he was joking, but the boss meant it in all seriousness.

“I was busy. It was a little nervous. I had to wait a while. I closed my eyes for a couple of minutes, and when I woke up, it was already three o’clock in the morning, and my phone got discharged. No, I, of course, could have come to you at three in the morning. But I decided not to disturb your dream and explain everything today.” The man sighed and rubbed his nose behind the girl’s ear.

“Ahah, don’t do that! It’s ticklish!” Emily cringed, hiding her ear in her shoulder.

“That’s a completely different thing, Miss Hayes. Now I don’t feel that you are ready to kill me with a stern look,” Justin grinned and kissed her on the cheek.

“What were you doing if you got so tired and fell asleep?” she asked.

“Well, some family business,” the man raised his eyes to the ceiling as if checking the light, “Nothing you should worry about. Aren’t you angry anymore?” he looked down at the girl.

“I wasn’t angry,” Emily replied, but from the raised eyebrows of Evans, who clearly didn’t believe her words, decided to confess. “Okay, I was angry. A little. But I was more upset. I thought…”

She bit her lip, wondering whether to tell the whole truth to the end. What if he considers her weak, or that she completely lacks self-esteem?

“What did you think?” asked Justin in an ingratiating tone. His eyes radiated warmth, and Emily’s tension faded away.

“I thought you didn’t like it. Well, making love to me.” She spoke the last words almost in a whisper and looked away. She didn’t want to call it sex. What happened between them was more than just sex for Emily.

Hayes felt the boss’s fingers squeeze into her shoulders for a second and then relax. “Look at me.” The calm and confident voice was hard to resist.

Emily looked up and looked confusedly at Justin.

“If one time is not enough for you, I will repeat this every time I enter you.”

“Justin!” She hit his chest with her hand. Heat flashed across her cheeks.

What a shameless… impudent man!

He hasn’t said anything yet, but she’s already ashamed.

Evans laughed, the vibration of the air in the man’s chest echoed pleasant tingles on Emily’s fingertips.

What a charming and seductive, shameless naughty man.

“You’re right, my dear. I did not just “like it”. I was in complete delight and total ecstasy. You know, I’m even glad you don’t know how amazing you are. Otherwise, I would have to wage a bloody war in competition for your attention.” Justin tucked a lock of Emily’s hair behind her ear and leaned over to her lips, leaving a light kiss.

“The truth is, because of Joyce’s trick with this photoshoot, this competition may soon appear,” he frowned, demonstrating his unwillingness to share Emily’s attention with anyone else.

“Stop!” This reminded her of another fact, which was worth discussing immediately. “Come on, explain to me, who came up with the idea of ​​hiring me as a model, huh, boss?”

“Oh, that’s… The thing is,” Evans began, but was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Emily immediately jumped off the table where the man had seated her before, hastily straightened her skirt, and stepped back from him.

Heck! She didn’t even think that the door could have been open all this time!

The boss shook his head but did not comment on her actions.

“Come in,” his voice echoed from the walls of the spacious office.

“Mr. Evans, I’m sorry to interrupt you from an important conversation.” Mrs. Parkinson entered the meeting room. The golden rim of her glasses looked platinum from the cold lighting in the room. The woman, as always, was dressed strictly and with style.

“The Board of Shareholders started the meeting more than half an hour ago. Your father is wondering why you are not there yet. Stephanie said she couldn’t reach you.”

The boss wrinkled his forehead as if the woman had brought him not news, but a rotten piece of meat, “Damn, I forgot my phone in the office. Is he really angry?”

“It’s hard to say, sir,” Mrs. Parkinson replied evasively. But her facial expression gave an unambiguous guess.

The main boss was unhappy.

Evans turned to Emily. “I have to go. I’ll pick you up after work, then we’ll talk.” Ignoring the stranger in the office, he bent down to the girl and kissed her on the cheek, after which he hurriedly left the room.

Emily stayed where she was, not daring to move.

And why did this woman give her such awe? Probably, if her grandmother had caught her and Justin, it would not have been so embarrassing.

“Miss Hayes,” the general manager said to her.

“Yes, Mrs. Parkinson?”

“Excuse me if my words sound rude to you. I understand that at the moment you are driven by feelings. But try not to mix your personal life and work.”

“Okay, understood,” Emily was fiddling with her fingers nervously behind her back.

“There was an important appointment yesterday afternoon that Mr. Evans missed. He is now at a very important stage in his work, and such cases negatively affect his reputation. Do you understand what I’m talking about?” The woman looked at the girl intently, as if she wanted not only to hear but also to see that the latter had realized the meaning of her words.

Yesterday afternoon? He was with her in the afternoon yesterday, Emily realized. But the boss said he had a day off! So, he lied? But why?

The chaotic swarm of thoughts made Emily even more confused.

Mrs. Parkinson took a step towards the door and added as she walked, “The fact that Mr. Evans has allocated an additional position in the magazine and offered this position to you does not give you complete freedom of action. You are a smart girl, and I’m sure you understand that.”

“I have not yet agreed to work as a model,” Emily hastened to clarify until the general manager left the room.

Mrs. Parkinson turned around and looked at the girl in surprise, “Miss Hayes, I’m not talking about the latest decision of the magazine’s board. I mean your appearance in Pharaoh.”

“E-excuse me?” Emily asked, trying to make sense of what she had heard. “Kelly said-”

“I don’t know what Miss Ohara has to do with it, but your friend doesn’t have that authority. It’s Mr. Evans himself who personally selects employees of the Pharaoh magazine and offers them an opportunity to work with us, You are no exception, Miss Hayes. Now, let’s get back to work,” Mrs. Parkinson replied and silently closed the door behind her.

Emily looked around in confusion. Long table with two rows of armchairs, plain walls, no unnecessary details. Everything was so gray and so cold compared to the bright interior of the women’s section of the magazine.

The magazine of the famous Pharaoh Publishing House, where it is impossible to get a job even by an acquaintance and where a simple cleaning crew worker must pass a serious selection competition.

And here she is, who just came because she was told so.

How did she end up in this company? What is she doing here?

What the hell is going on?!