Being the Boss

23

It's not very long I'm sorry! But I hope you enjoy it regardless!

Mary waited for Brad's reply. She knew that Brad harbored feelings for her, so it wouldn't be that bad for either parties. As long as he remembered that she had no intentions of a real relationship, everything would be alright.

Brad blinked, surprised by Mary's request. He had thought about being with Mary for a long time. She was the flame and he was the moth, everything that she did attracted him to her. He couldn't help but want to be around her, but he also knew that if he got too close, he would get burned. Now she was offering the one thing that he didn't have to him, and he didn't know if he could do it. He knew that Mary only needed him for this plan, she didn't feel for him the way that he felt for her.

"Are you serious?" he asked, dubiously. A small part of him wanted it to be some sort of sick joke, where she would laugh and slap him on the arm and say 'of course not silly'.

But that wasn't what happed. Anger kindled in Mary's eyes, and she replied, "Do I look like I'm joking?"

"No," Brad stuttered, suddenly afraid of Mary's wrath, "I don't know Mary, are you sure this is what you want to do? Feelings could get hurt you know?" Brad continued, mostly arguing for himself.

Mary shook her head, "The only people who will get hurt are the Knightly's, besides it's all a farce. We're not really dating, so there's no real feelings. Right?"

Brad felt his heart clench, "Sometimes people don't mean for feelings to happen, they just happen," he reasoned, hoping that Mary would see where he was coming from. "I can't help myself."

Mary sighed, this conversation was not going as she had intended, "Look, either you're helping me or you're not," she stated, giving Brad the ultimatum.

That was when Brad knew that he could never be with Mary. He couldn't compete with her and her tunnel vision. She did what she wanted to get results, any casualties where just that, casual. It didn't bother her that she was asking him to put his emotional well-being on the line to help her with her plot. She didn't flinch when she talked about destroying the livelihood of another person, as long as she was happy, everything else could burn.

"I'm waiting," he heard Mary say.

Before he could stop himself, Brad blurted out, "I'll do it."

Mary smiled and Brad felt his heart pang. He wish he didn't feel anything other than friendship for Mary, but that wasn't true. She was smart and beautiful, she had a sense of humor that he could get along with. He admired her ambition, but feared how ruthless she could become.

"Thanks so much!" Mary gushed, tossing her body towards him to engulf in a hug, "You're the best Brad, honestly, and I don't know what I would do without you."

Brad pulled Mary closer to him and buried his face into her hair. Before he could enjoy the scent of her, he had to remind himself that it was all fake, and to not get too attached."No problem, I'd do anything for you," Brad replied truthfully

.Mary pulled away and took out her phone, "Now that you're on board, I have some things to take care of. I hope you're not busy next Friday, because we're going out."

Brad tried to think if his schedule and hoped that he was free on Friday. Once he was mostly sure that he was free, he made a not to tell his secretary to make sure not to plan anything on that day."What's going on next Friday?"

Mary, who had made her way into the kitchen to grab drinks called out, "We're going to make our first outing as couple, it's going to be great. Johnathan's not going to see it coming." She came back into the living room and handed him a glass

."This is all to get back a Johnathan?" Brad asked, "All for revenge?"

Mary nodded, "Sometimes to succeed, you need to do unpleasant things," she said offhandedly, most of her attention was focused on looking for the television remote.

"So, pretending to date me is one of those unpleasant things?" Brad commented.

Sighing, Mary put her glass down and turned to Brad. She didn't understand what was so hard to grasp about her plan. With everything happening, she though he would be more excited about it. If he still harbored feelings for her as she though, then why was he asking so many question? It was a win-win deal. She got to crush the Knightly's and Brad got to be in a relationship with her, albeit a fake one. Mary knew that she needed Brad to be all the way committed to the cause, and she was going to do whatever it took to convince him that he was on the winning team.

Shifting her weight so that she was fully facing Brad, she reached her left hand out to cradle Brad's cheek, though he was usually clean shaven, she could feel his 5 o'clock shadow and she thought it was cute. She saw Brad's eyes dilate as she used her other hand to pull his tie, and bringing their faces mere centimeters apart.

They didn't break eye contact and Mary could feel Brad's heart beating frantically, "There's nothing unpleasant about this," she whispered before closing the distance between their lips.