Boss Lady

Ross looked at the torn-out magazine page tacked onto the wall of his cubicle. In the picture, a man lounged in a reclining with a drink in his hand. A bikini-clad woman, who looked a little like Carmen Electra, leaned against a palm tree and gazed blissfully at the man. The headline across the top said, "Palm Resort and Spa -- The Sexiest Singles' Scene on the Beach"

Ross sighed.

"One more day," he whispered to himself.

He had the next morning all planned out. His alarm would ring at 5:30 a.m. He'd drive himself to the airport, board the plane and try to live a life that didn't so closely resemble hell. If it all worked out, he'd be sipping a daiquiri on the beach before noon. All that lay ahead was one week's vacation -- his first since taking a job analyzing computer code three years ago. Maybe he'd even get laid by a real woman, not his usual, which was a hooker or some transsexual weirdo he'd meet in an Internet chat room.

Ross heard his boss' voice down the hall. He couldn't make out the muffled words but could tell she was closing in on him fast. Breaking himself from his daydream, he shook the mouse on his computer to remove the screen saver. A spread sheet popped up just as the boss rounded the corner with her assistant. Ross hunched over to make it look like he'd been closely studying the screen.

"Hello, Ross," the boss said.

Ross spun on his swivel chair and rubbed his eyes, as if they were strained from hours of analyzing numbers. When he looked up, the boss was standing uncomfortably close to him, as she usually did.

"Hello, Mrs. Michaels," he said.

The first thing he noticed was her scent, which never failed to knock Ross off guard. Mrs. Michaels wore an expensive French perfume that he recognized from a peel-and-sniff ad in Vanity Fair.

Lisa Michaels was a beautiful woman who knew how to use her sex appeal to get what she wanted. It was simple with Ross. All she had to do was talk to him. He became a stammering mess. Authority figures and sexy women always made him nervous. Merge the two into one and it was more than he could take.