("Stay. I'm not done with you.")
Janelle looked up from her desk, eyes wide.
Everyone else had gone home. The office was quiet now, filled only with the soft hum of lights and the low click of Mirabel's heels as she walked across the floor like she owned everything including her.
Janelle swallowed. "I finished the reports, ma'am. I was just about to"
"Sit."
Mirabel's voice was calm. Soft. But it wasn't a request.
Janelle obeyed.
Mirabel stepped closer, placing a folder on the desk, her fingers brushing deliberately over Janelle's as she let go. Janelle felt it every second of it. That touch that lingered.
"You've been doing good work," she said, leaning a hip against the desk, one leg crossed over the other. "Quiet. Obedient. Perfectly presentable."
Janelle looked down shyly. "Thank you…"
"But," Mirabel murmured, tilting her head, "you're too polite. Too neat. You don't even question why I ask you to stay after hours."
Janelle stiffened. "I just assumed"
"You trust me that much?"
Janelle hesitated. "...Yes."
Mirabel's lips curved. "Good girl."
The praise shot through Janelle like heat.
Mirabel turned then, walking slowly toward her glass-walled office. She didn't look back but her voice came again, low and sharp like a thread of silk catching fire.
"Bring your notes. You're working inside tonight."
Janelle grabbed her folder with shaking hands, legs a little unsteady as she followed.
Inside the office, the lights were dimmer. Warmer. The air felt heavier. More intimate.
Mirabel didn't sit behind her desk. Instead, she perched on the edge, watching Janelle like a cat watches a twitching mouse. Her eyes never left her.
"You ever worked this close to a boss before?"
Janelle shook her head.
"No?" Mirabel smiled. "You'll learn."
She handed Janelle a pen. Their fingers touched again. Longer this time.
"Start reviewing the first quarter numbers. Read them out loud."
Janelle's voice trembled slightly as she obeyed.
And Mirabel just watched.
Watched her lips move. Watched her breathe. Watched the nervous way her thighs pressed together when she fumbled a word.
She didn't speak again until Janelle finished.
Then, she said:
"You should stay late more often, Janelle."
And smiled.
---
To be continued