In the Life of Laynie

Chapter 1 📷Where it Began

The room was alive with music, chatter, and laughter. I looked around and sighed. That was not the way I wanted to spend my night off. My initial plans for the evening consisted of cuddling a blanket on my couch with a pint of cookie dough ice cream, and binge-watching Friends.

If Mr. Stein had not insisted I show my face, I would have happily been doing just that. Those office parties were nothing but a way for people to kiss up to the big guy. Don't get me wrong, I completely understood why the single ladies jumped at the chance of landing a bachelor like Milo Stein. He wasn't only an absolute god in looks with his flaxen hair and chocolate eyes, but he was wealthy. His company was one of the largest publishers in the country.

I started as his assistant at twenty-four. It was supposed to be a temporary job. Photography was where my heart truly lied. There was nothing quite like capturing life's precious moments. I only started there to buy some time until my big break came. After a few months and no luck, I stayed to pay my bills. Suddenly, another hopeless year had passed, and I decided to continue working at Stein Corp while keeping my passion for myself.

Just as I chose to relieve my sore legs, I heard him hollering my name from across the room. I absolutely wished that he wouldn't call me like some kind of pet. It was degrading. Tossing a carrot stick back onto my paper plate, I pushed up from the table. My long raven hair concealed my nervous face from the prying eyes.

"Come, Miss Carter," He hollered, using his hand to beckon me forward. Following a struggle to push through the large crowd, I was at his side. Mr. Stein looked down at me with his deal closing smile and placed a hand on the small of my back, flagging down a sever shiver. Although I worked close to him every day, the innocent gesture made my heart twitch nervously.

"Four years, Miss Carter, and I've never seen you just relax," He stated, handing me a glass of champagne.

How would he know what I looked like relaxed? It's not like he had ever taken the time to get to know me. The most common things I heard out of his mouth were "Get my coffee, where's my lunch, tell so and so I'm unavailable". I did most of the talking, informing him of appointments, and when his dry cleaning would be picked up.

Don't even get me started on the numerous messages I relayed from desperate women begging for his returned affection. Those proved to be a bit awkward when reading out loud. Some of those women were not shy about their sex life or what they were willing to do for my employer if he gave them a shot.

"What good would I be if I sat on my ass, relaxing in the office, sir?" I asked him, taking a sip of my fruity beverage. When he laughed, my lips formed a smile. It was a rare thing to hear him chortle sincerely. He often used a half-hearted chuckle in the office when a client presented a poor joke.

"I wasn't aware, you could be such a smart ass," He smirked with curiosity knitting his brow.

"Well, I wasn't aware, you actually had a sense of humor." My boss's eyes traced my face, making me question my choice of words. In all the time I had been there, he never gave me more than a short sideways glance, so the extended gaze was very hard for me to discern.

The pointed coughs from our surrounding coworkers demanded his attention. Something about the way he looked at me, made me want to run as fast as I could towards the door.

I can't deny that I had taken more than a handful of moments to stop and appreciate his mouth-watering features. But I harbored no interest in anything romantic with him. Not only because he was my boss, but he also sat far too deep into the public eye than I'd ever cared to be. Any outing involving a woman, regardless of it being a date or not, turned into a week's worth of messy gossip.