Loving Maverick

An Impossible Inconvenience

"Good morning, Mr. Singh." The morning receptionist flirtatiously smiled as he walked past the front desk.

"Good morning Vivian." Maverick replied with a small smile. "How are you?"

She seemed to blush. "I'm doing much better now." She said. "It always does a woman good to see such a handsome face as yours in the morning."

Maverick gave an amused smirk. Vivian had been trying since his first day, it seemed, to try and hook him but he just would never bit the bait. As beautiful as Vivian Lawson was, she jus wasn't his type.

"Well, I appreciate the compliment. I'll see you later, Viv. Have a good day." He said and walked away.

"You too, Mr. Singh." He started for the elevator. "Uh-wait-uh, Mr. Singh!" She called to him.

Maverick turned around. "Yes, Vivian." 

She blushed a little. "Um, it's Friday." She said. "Surely, you have plans on a Friday evening." 

"No." He replied. "As a matter of fact, I don't." He informed. 

"Well, then maybe I could change that." She said.

Why hadn't he seen this coming? "Unfortunately, I'll be working late tonight, Vivian." Before she could say anything else, he started walking away in hopes to avoid further conversation. "Thank you for the offer."

"Maybe next time?" She called after him.

Maverick gave her a small smile and nod-not because he was thinking of taking her up on her offer but because...well...he didn't know what else to say or do a this point.

Maverick stepped into the elevator that would lead directly into his office. No one had access to it but him and he was glad for that. He didn't like being around too many people at once. Sometimes it would spike anxiety and paranoia.  Not to mention the fact that he didn't want anyone talking to him really.

He leaned his head against the wall of the elevator and just tried to think about how he would get through his day, handling all of the appointments that was scheduled for him. Not to mention, in the havoc of being so busy, he'd left his office in sort of a mess.

His thoughts were raising while his body stood there stagnant. In that moment, he wished he could be under a vehicle right about now. He hadn't touched that car in nearly a week. That wasn't good for him; his knowledge of cars was rusty.

When the ding sounded, he knew that he was at his office entrance. With a sigh, he walked into the office and was immediately met with an intoxicatingly sweet scent. It wasn't food, though, it smelled tantalizingly delicious. 

When he further ventured into the office he saw an incredibly curvy backside facing him, slightly bent with a pair of black cargo-like pants that hugged against her thighs, with a pair of serpent skinned beige platform pumps. Her back was revealed only slightly, but enough to see that she had a tattoo.

He liked the view, admittedly, but he tried shaking the thought out of his mind as he took in the fact that there was a woman in his office.

"Excuse, me what-" His voice startled her so much, she shot up and the papers that she'd had in her hand were suddenly wildly dispersed across the floor as she turned around.

"Oh!" She grabbed her chest and started to breath heavily. "Merda!" She hissed.

Maverick watched on as she grabbed her head and took a deep breath. "I'm-I apologize." Was the only thing he could think to say when he realized who she was.

"I-I'm sorry, I jus-I have bad nerves." She said as she bent down to start picking up the papers.

Maverick helped bent to help her. "Here let me help you with these-"

She extended her hand to him. "I got it-I no I got it, thanks!" She said and started bending lower to grab the rest of the papers.

Maverick stood and watched her work fast in retrieving the papers in those heels. They were high and he was impressed. 

When she was finished, she stood without a problem, realigned and sorted the papers out before placing them in a folder on his desk.

"I'm sorry I frightened you." Maverick said again as he watched her walk to the desk.

"No-I it's fine." She said. "I'm-yeah." She turned around to face him with a suddenly stressed smile. "Good morning Mr. Singh."

"Good morning." He replied. "I wasn't expecting you here...so soon." He confessed, though his confession was only partial to the truth as he wasn't expecting her at all. He had completely forgotten that he had decided to give this girl another chance.

She chuckled sheepishly. "Surely, I don't come off as that irresponsible." She smirked and headed over to the other side of the room.

And as she moved, Maverick could not resist watching every one that she made, the scent that she carried with her bringing him back to remembrance of what he caught whiff of earlier before entering his office. 'Wow, that's amazing.'  he thought. 

When she turned around, he noticed her lips moving but didn't catch a word that she had said as he found himself, taking in, once again, what she was wearing-from the front this time. She noticed that her shirt was collared and though it seemed to be meant to fit loosely in a way, her breast wouldn't allow it and the crop in it was faint but what little tummy it would show, was covered by something underneath.

"Mr. Singh?" He heard Stevie Vidal call his name.

Maverick looked up at her face just in time to see her shift her glasses onto her face and pull a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Wh-yeah."

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Just thinking." He said aloud before walking away.  He'd definitely have to ask his father if there was a strict dress code at Maverick Industries when it came to the assistance; although, admittedly, she wasn't dressed inappropriately. 

"Oh, okay." Stevie reluctantly replied. She watched him make his way to his desk to sit before she started talking again. "I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to just sit here or go somewhere else and wait for you to call me, or whatever. So, I just took the liberty of straightening out your office."

It was only  then that Maverick noticed how organized and clean his desk was, as well as everywhere else in his room. All of the highest profiled files were next to the phone on his desk, by dates, while the others were on the other side of his desk awaiting his attention. He looked through them all and was very impressed by what he saw. The way she organized it, actually made him feel like there was less of a work load.

"You went through these?" He asked.

Stevie was reluctant in answering, since, she couldn't necessarily get a read on whether he was upset about it or not. "I-yes-yeah, I did." She finally answered.

"Dates, appointments, times, highest pricing negotiations." He was very impressed. He really didn't think that she was even capable of doing this. He looked up at her, brow raised. "You didn't have to do this."

She shrugged in return. "It's my job." Stevie countered. "So, yeah...I did." 

"It's your job to keep my appointments on file and remind me of meetings and to get my coffee and lunch when I'm busy. You didn't have to clean my office, Ms. Vidal."

"And yet...I did." She said. "Cleaning your office and organizing your desk was the only way that I was going to even find and or figure out your scheduled appointments and meeting." She said. "I-I'd like to think that I'm worth more than a coffee run or a sandwich order, Mr. Singh."

She emphasized that last part and by that time, Maverick knew that he had offended her. He didn't know why he even made an attempt to do such a thing. He started to apologize when the apology was suddenly stuck in his throat.

"Maverick!" He heard his father say before he could even further dwell on his stubbornness for too long. 

Stevie rolled her eyes at Maverick and then within in a moment's notice, switched her frustrated expression to a smile. 

"Good morning, Mr. Singh." She said, shaking his hand. 

"So you're back, Ms. Vidal." He smiled. He seemed reluctant at first, until he saw the turn around of his son's office. "I can see that it is going to be a pleasure to have you here." 

Stevie smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Singh." Then her smile suddenly faded. "I'm sure....that you've probably heard about the misunderstanding that was had between your son and I." She said. "And I just want to say that I am so sorry and-I-it won't happen again and-"

Abhu laid his hand on top of the one that she had reached out for him to shake. "All in the past, Ms. Vidal." He smirked. "I heard about the good deed you did in straightening the whole situation out; and I, as well as my son appreciates your effort." He said. "Besides, I couldn't very well let go the daughter of an old friend." He smiled. "I know your father." He informed her.

Immediately, Stevie's eyes widened as she thought about the potential thought of him telling her father about what happened that night and how it nearly cost her this job.

Abhimanyu seemed to know exactly where her thoughts were headed and quickly put them at ease. "No hard done, Ms. Vidal. I'm sure that this can stay between you and I." 

As Stevie released a sigh of relief, she heard Maverick walking up from behind her. "I was about to show, Ms. Vidal her office." He said to his father.

"Okay." Abhimanyu said and then turned his attention to Stevie once again. "It has been a pleasure, Ms. Vidal. I look forward to hearing great things about you." He then passed a gaze over to his son. "Nanraaga vilayadunga, Maverick." He said, suggesting that his son play nice in other words.

Maverick got the hint. He looked at Stevie VIdal. "Shall we?" He stoically replied as his father left the office.

"Sure." Stevie returned with the same enthusiasm-or lack thereof. She could sense that working for him would be harder than she had originally thought.

"After you." He said and so Stevie walked out of the office before him. Because Maverick's office was so big in size, what should have been a next door walk was a little longer than such. Still, it didn't take but a hop, skip and  jump to get to where Stevie would be stationed. "This is you." He said and then gestured for her to go into the office.

Stevie looked around and saw that the office was significant in size and quite nice. Just like her boss's, the office was wall to wall was half glass leading into a dark gray-ish blue walling at the bottom. The floors were a dark blue gray wood grain and the fourth wall, which was facing where the elevator was located, was the same blue-gray color as the partial glass and wall combos around the room. The door was also glass but it stained with Maverick Industries logo and at the bottom it was just plain glass.

It was large and spacious-though of course not as large as Maverick's office; this is something that anybody would expect, however. 

The sun beamed in, drawing Stevie closer to the window. It was there that she noticed the reasonably sized balcony outside. She couldn't look down fully because of the black steel bars that blocked the view unless she went outside; but the thought of even going on that balcony made Stevie's heart race.

"Do you like it?"

Maverick Singh's voice caught her off guard, making a jump again. "Really need to stop doing that." She muttered and turned around. "It's beautiful. "She said as she ran her hand across the sleek desk. "I-yeah, it's beautiful."

Maverick could sense that something was the matter, however. There was clear sign of reluctance in her expression. "But?" He asked. He found it hard to believe that she would find anything wrong with the office. He wasn't so fanciful in his tastes but even he liked the office space. "What could possibly be wrong?"

She felt the incredulousness in his tone when he asked the question. "I can't help but think that you feel inconvenienced by me." She said.

Maverick was caught off guard by her assumption; and better yet her gumption to confront him with such an accusation but he wasn't going to back down. "I only mean that there is virtually nothing for you to be complaining about." He said, looking around the room. "I'm sure any woman would be crazy about this room." He said. "So, I don't understand what your problem is-"

Stevie scoffed. "Yet again, sounds like I'm being an inconvenience to you." She couldn't believe this man. He came into the office being rude and she didn't like it.

"Well, depending on what you say next, I'll let you know." He retorted. "And if I'm being honest you're coming off a little bold for someone on thin ice in the first place-"

"Thin I-thin ice?!" She incredulously snapped. She had had enough of holding her tongue. No, she was not a confrontational young woman and she did want to make the right impression but she had had about enough of this man and his blatant lax attitude toward her and her feelings. "My concern, Mr. Singh, was concerning the chronic migraines that I have. I was only going to ask if there was any protocol against me, placing some sort of blinds in here on the days where the headaches were overly sensitive. Second, otherwise, I have no complaints about the office, though not necessarily my taste; because you know...I'm not like any woman that you've ever met!" With every correcting word that she made, she stepped closer to him. "Third, my thin ice, thickened, the day that you decided to give me a second chance. So as far as I am concerned, Mr. Singh, either you leave the past in the past or you find another assistant-one that will only make coffee runs and sandwich orders for you and baciare il culo." She hissed. When she finished, she couldn't help but feel a slight bit of shame and guilt for getting so out of line with her boss. She hated herself for feeling this way because logically speaking, she didn't do anything wrong. "If you just hired me....as a favor to my cousin..." She looked up at him. "Then maybe I should leave."

Maverick didn't even say anything. He was too surprised to say anything; and suddenly he felt guilt for how he apparently made her feel. Still, the bull in him would not back down-he wanted to but, something in him just couldn't seem to. He never felt the need to back down before-unfortunately, even when he was wrong. Why now? Why now, did feel the need to do so even in being unable to? 'Because it's Stef's little cousin.' He told himself.

Regardless, of what he was thinking or why he couldn't apologize-or even why he wanted to but couldn't, his silence only frustrated her even more. Not sure what he wanted to do next, she resigned. 

"I'm going to take my fifteen." She finally said. "Guess, I'll know when I return whether I should go home or not." She replied. She then left, leaving Maverick to stew in his words.