Mr. Tanner's Babysitter

                                                                                        Payton              I placed a light knock on the door of Geneva’s office, who just so happened to be my supervisor.             “Come on in, Payton.”            The door creaked faintly as it pushed open. “Geneva, I was wondering if I could steal a moment of your time.”             “Well, have a seat.” Geneva clasped her hands together and sat them on the wooden desk in front of her. “Please, do not tell me that you are here to lecture me yet again about this ridiculous notion of you becoming a writer for this company.”            That was the plan. For the past two years, I would randomly stumble into Geneva's office and desperately ask her to reconsider. “I have been working my ass off for this company for five years now. I love being an editor. It’s a wonderful job, but I told you when you offered me this job that I planned to move into writing myself eventually.”            Geneva was an extraordinary boss. Probably the best boss I have ever had before. For the first year of my employment working for Tanner’s Publishing, she was the one person that made me feel right at home. My skills were recognized early on, and I was moved into the highest-paid editor position offered here. As amazing as this opportunity was, I did not want to be an editor for the rest of my life. My passion was in writing myself. One day, my works would be published for all to see.             She was a remarkable woman, too, and had accomplished many amazing things since I have been here. Geneva has worked for the company for over ten years and dedicated her life to this job. You could tell by the way she carried herself around the office that she took this job seriously, but for some odd reason, Geneva had a soft spot for me. “You know that I do not make the rules. I am one person, Payton. That request must be sent up through many different supervisors before it ever makes it to Mr. Tanner. That decision will ultimately be his.”            “But you can put in a good word for me. I have asked you many times to please send in that request. You promised me with my last editing job that if I reviewed all the manuscripts and picked out the best one, you would do that for me. Have you even sent the request?”            Her curly short brown hair whisked around, almost slapping her in the face. “Do not go and get an attitude with me now, Payton. I am doing the best that I can here. You are not the only employee I have to please. Do you have any idea how many promotions request I get daily? Your request will be under review shortly. Please, just give me a week.”            I smoothed out my light gray pencil skirt before crossing my arms. “You will not be able to keep me here forever. I will give you one week and one week only. After that, I am out of here.” I could not help but let the smile slip from behind my lips.             “Okay, now get out of here and back to work,” Geneva said while flashing that all-knowing smile back at me.            Sitting back down in my cubicle, I went to work on my computer, searching for my next manuscript. By lunchtime, I was halfway through a suspense novel that I did not want to put down.              In the cubicle next to me sat a guy named Mark, who had become a close friend of mine. “Hey, bookworm.” He threw a pencil at me that nearly missed my face. “Where do you want to have lunch today? My treat.”             Mark came to work for Tanner Publishing two years after I started here and was the only friend I had made in the five years I worked here. His dimples were shown through his perfect smile. He was a good-looking guy but was the type of man that liked to sleep with a different woman every week. When we first met, Mark tried hitting on me, but I shut him down rather quickly. s*x or having a relationship was the last thing on my mind right now. My main focus was to finally get this company to see what I had to offer it. Once that happened, then maybe dating would not seem like such a bad idea. Regardless of how many times I shut him down, it did not stop him from continuously trying to get me in his bed. Mark was a good-looking man. He had dark black hair that was short on the sides and more extended toward the front. The most attractive thing about him was his baby blue eyes, which I was sure how he lured all those women into his bed. The body he had on him did not hurt either. When he was not at work, he was at the gym, and it showed in his muscular shape.             “Payton? Are you awake in there?” He snapped his fingers in front of my face.             “Yes, relax. I was thinking of what I want to eat. Does Mike’s sound okay to you?”             “Mike’s again? Don’t get me wrong, the food is great, but there are only so many times someone can eat there without getting burnt out.”             “Well, I happen to love the food there.” The menu was so vast that you could eat there multiple times a week without getting bored of having the same food over and over again. “I am in the mood for one of his spinach sandwiches.”             Mark made a gagging noise while sticking his finger in his mouth. “Yuck. I will never understand how you can eat something as nasty as spinach. However, I will commend you for taking good care of your body. A man can appreciate a woman that looks after her figure.”             “Do not start today, Mark,” I warned. Today was not the day for his remarks regarding my body.             He laughed it off. “Look who needs to relax now. You know how I feel about you, Payton. We don’t need to go down that road again. You know where to find me when you finally get off your high horse and decide to give me a chance.”             My eyes rolled in reaction to his absurd remark. I grabbed my black leather jacket off the back of my chair and wrapped it around my shoulders. “Okay, I am ready.”             We soon were approaching Mike’s, which was only a block away from our work building. Mark pulled out my seat for me, pretending to be a gentleman, but I knew him well enough to know what he was up to. As we placed our orders, Mark, of course, was checking out our waitress.              He flashed a bright red when he realized I caught onto what he was doing. “Sorry,” he muttered. It was so unlike Mark to get embarrassed by getting caught checking out women. “I should not be eyeing other women when I have the most beautiful of them all sitting across from me. Seriously, Payton. In the past few months, you have begun to really fill out that magnificent body of yours.”             I closed my eyes shut. “Okay, Mr. Big Shot. If you know so much about my body, what color are my eyes?”             “Okay, I will play along with your little game while we wait for our food. You have green eyes, but not just any green color eyes. They are more of a sea-green if you pay close enough attention to notice that sort of thing. Next question.”             It astonished me to know that Mark had noticed such a small detail about me like that. “That was an easy one. After all, you have known me for a few years now. Now you close your eyes.” Once I could see that Mark shut his eyes altogether, I moved onto my next question. “What is my precise hair color? No, peeking!”             “Your hair color is a medium champagne color. I thought you were going to throw something tough my way. You have to know that I know everything there is to know about you physically.” Okay, he got me there. “You have an olive skin tone with long glossy legs that I believe to showcase your height around 5’5.”             “Now you are just showing off.” I hated that he knew every fine detail about my body because I never did see Mark in that light. The flirting was harmless and meaningless, though I knew he felt differently.             Our food was soon being brought out to us. We were not halfway through our meals when the alarm on watch started to beep, letting me know that lunchtime was over. The rest of the workday was mostly quiet. That was until I was called into Geneva’s office as everyone was heading out for the day.             “You wanted to see me,” I said as I entered her office. The door was already open for me when I arrived.              “Yes, Mr. Tanner has requested a private meeting with you. I sent your request in after our talk this morning.”             “That was so quick. I figured it would be at least another week, as you said.”             “After you left, I felt bad for not taking the time to get around to it. Therefore, I listed it as a priority. Now, gather your things, and I will walk you upstairs.”             We ended up taking the elevator to the top floor of the building. This would be the first time that I had ever met Mr. Tanner. In the five years that I have been here, no one I knew had ever been close to him. I fidgeted with my fingers on the elevator ride. It was a nervous habit that I yet to break myself from. Geneva walked me over to his office and lightly knocked on the door before opening it and escorting me inside. Much to my surprise, she did not join me.             “Have a seat, and I will be with you in one moment,” a dark voice spoke to me. As I mustered up the courage to look up and see who this man that extraordinarily little people have seen, I gasped in shock. My mouth hung wide open as I stared into the eyes of the most absolutely gorgeous man that I had ever laid eyes on in my life. He had his dark brown hair combed back with a spiky beard and mustache that seemed to be just growing back through. The navy-blue attire he was wearing made me drool and left something to the imagination. “Sorry about that,” he said. I snapped awake as if I had been caught checking him out. He grinned softly but never gave me the impression he knew I was eyeing him top to bottom. “Geneva sent your resume over to me, and I have to admit that I was generally impressed with the work you have done here in the last several years.”             “Thank you, Mr. Tanner. I love working for your company, but I do aspire to be more than just an editor here.”             He walked around his desk and sat at the edge of it, only mere inches from where I was sitting. “Please, call me Trent from now on. As I was saying, I realize what a valuable asset you are to my company. However, we do not currently have an opening for a writer position. I believe you have a keen eye, which has been proven recently with the story you recommended. What was it called again? Ah, yes, Love Me Not. Impeccable decision. With that said, I do not want you to walk away from this company. Geneva has proceeded to tell me if not offered a writer position; you are willing to walk away. I would like to offer you a proposition, one that will benefit both of us.”             Trent was intimidating as hell, just by the way he spoke so confidently. He was a man that was sure of himself that I could tell. “What…” I cleared my throat before continuing. “What sort of proposition?”             “I am glad you asked. Many of my employees know little about me because that is the way I like to keep it, but I do have two boys that require an in-home babysitter.”             “Why tell me this?”             “Because I have closely paid attention to your resume here, which says in your free time you volunteer at Ann’s babysitting services. Is that something you do to help someone else, or do you thoroughly enjoy it?”             “I love children. I always have considering I was the only child.”             He smacked his lips, which made me jump slightly. “Excellent. I propose that you come to fill in to be my son’s babysitter, and I will allow you to write for me. Once you have fulfilled your duties as their babysitter, I will make you a full-time writer here.”             Excitement coursed through my body. This was an opportunity of a lifetime. Not only would I be watching children, which was something I loved to do, but I would also be stepping closer toward my dream. The only question was, why me?