Your boss

Casey smiled up at her boss in an attempt to mask the awkwardness of the situation. He regarded her as a hawk does its prey for a moment, then his dry laugh hit the air around her again, but this time with all the light of complete expectancy.

"Oh my dear, forget about that old goat. He isn't important. Let's walk and talk. I feel like some fresh air." He looped his arm through hers and started to head towards the balcony outside.

Casey's mind stood frozen as she tried to observe the man and his attributes without seeming too obvious. It was hard since he walked beside them at a slow, effortless pace, seeming indifferent to the fact that she was there at all.

He was tall and slender, yet well-defined in all the right places. There was no doubt that underneath his clothing was the outline of whipcord muscles. His slightly tanned skin seemed almost the opposite of sun-kissed somehow, in a way she could not place. The man was tall, and he had this one golden blonde curl that kept falling into his eyes. He was beautiful in a way that was almost inhumane. She tried to think of anything else, to pay attention to what Tobias was saying, but it all flew through her head like nothing. Pay attention!

She glanced over at the gorgeous, eloquent image of a man, only to catch him smiling at her smugly. She flushed and looked back at Tobias with as much interest as she could feign.

"Young lady, we are here at the wonderful deck we have been trying so hard to reach, and I would say your mind has been thoroughly elsewhere. So why did you kidnap me this evening other than to let me spend a few moments in your radiant splendour? You do look spectacular. Who dressed you tonight, and can they do so every day?"

She looked at him, her mouth dropping in shock for a moment before she burst out into laughter. She rapped him lightly on the elbow and upper arm with her purse and made small chiding noises as if he were a child.

"Now, we have been over this. You are really rather not my type: handsome, rich, spoiled, sweet, innocent, funny, oh yeah, just that little thing you know that keeps me from dating people," she said, smiling into her boss's sweet and kind face. A face that belonged to a man who had been a good friend to her these past couple of years.

"Ethics. I am a low-down, rotten, money-grubbing man," he chimed in, laughing.

"Well… that and you are my boss." She smiled and gave him a quick wink and a peck on the cheek.

"Yes, I suppose there is that too. But though not really, technically Dan is your boss."

"Yes, but you are his and the rest of the company's boss. You do own it, you know," she said in light humor.

"Oh yes, I do suppose that is slightly true." He smiled at her, his face alight with a kind of youth she hadn't seen on his face in a long time. "Now I think I will leave you in Cyrus's capable hands, and I will go and get some refreshments. I will be back soon." He gave her a small pat on the back, then turned and disappeared into the crowd.