Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 150: Bye Roberta

Chapter 150: Bye Roberta

Emily was not one of those people who had grown up lacking affection. Quite the opposite actually. Despite being down one parent, when it came to her emotional needs being met, Emily had never once felt cheated. Her mom was one of those people who gave affection freely.

From hugs to kisses, compliments, all that good stuff that a child needed to nourish them emotionally. Emily had gotten from childhood, and even as an adult her mom still lavished her with love. So hugs were nothing new to her. She had been hugged plenty of times in her lifetime.

But she had never been hugged by Derek Haven before. Emily had been his personal assistant for two years and somehow a hug had never come up. Sure, she had witnessed him hug plenty of people. The classic handshake that turns into a brief hug was pretty big when it came to celebrating signing deals.

So Emily had seen him give plenty of those. But when Derek had hugged her, she had realized that just as he had what she personally called his professional smiles. The ones he only ever gave during business meetings, and his own natural smile. The one that showed off his perfect teeth, and had his eyes lighting up. Derek also had a professional hug and a natural hug. And Emily was honored to have been able to experience Derek’s natural hug. It had felt amazing, as though she was wrapped up in the biggest, warmest cocoon there was.

A thick blanket made of pure muscle that had just enough give, for her to be able to burrow closer and be comfortable. Emily felt scandalous thinking it, but truth was truth, and she had to admit it to herself. Derek Haven’s hug felt better than her mom’s hug, which was not to say that her mom’s hugs were bad. It was just, there was something different about getting a hug from Derek. Maybe it was the way in which he was so much bigger and broader than Emily, or maybe it had been the way he had easily picked her up and spun her around. But whatever it was. It had made Emily feel as though she was new to the whole hugging business. In fact, when Derek had put her down, Emily had felt as though her brain were made of mush.

If a customer had come in soon after the hug had ended, Emily had no idea what she would have done. In fact, scratch that, she knew exactly what would have happened. Had she not already been on her way out, she would most certainly have been fired because in the state that she had been in. She would not have been able to utter a single, coherent sentence. Everything out of her mouth would have been gibberish. That was how much Derek’s hug had fried her brain, leaving only her heart to go off like a firework in her chest. Everything suddenly warm and tingly, making her want to just stand in place and grin like a lunatic.

But lucky for her, she had been able to regain her senses in time to make sure that Derek left and went to get ready for work. "Do not worry, I will be there. You know me, I am never late for work,"

She had told him as she had ushered him out the door.

And then she had begun her final task of helping the day staff to settle in, and officially relieve her of her duties. They had finished, and Emily, glad in her own clothes, was happy that she would never have to see the awful purple uniform again. But she would miss the Roberta name tag.

It was strange, but Roberta had felt like a shield. It had protected her from a lot of things. Whenever difficult customers were berating or insulting her, they would look at the name and be taking out their frustrations on someone called Roberta, and Emily would feel safer.

The fact that they were getting her name wrong, allowing her to distance herself from the situation, which in turn meant that she was able to keep her cool. Running a thumb over the name tag one last time, Emily handed it over to the manager. Then she signed off everything, proof that she had returned all that did not belong to her.

With the ink barely dry on the paper, Emily bid the manager farewell and made her way out of Bee’s diner for what would be the final time. For a bit of luck, she knocked on the doorframe once on her way out.

Her plan had been to take public transport like she normally did, then do a mad dash once at home so that she got ready at super speed. But when she walked out and found Derek there waiting for her, leaning against his car, that plan was quickly thrown out.

Crossing the street she went to stand next to him.

"Derek, what are you still doing here?" She asked and he shrugged.

"Aren’t you the one who told me that you have never been late for work? I am here to make sure that you keep that record. Which is why instead of just leaving, I decided to wait for you," She could have argued. Could have told him that she would make her own way home. But honestly, it would be a waste of time and it would be using effort that she did not have. Neither of them had slept. Getting into a pointless argument was not worth it. They both had to get ready for work after all.

"All right, drop me off and then go and get ready, okay," He nodded, opening the door for her and waiting until she was settled in, to close it behind her. Then he went around the car to get to the driver’s side. The moment that the car joined traffic, Emily settled down.

Soft music played in the background. Neither of them in the mood for useless conversation. Closing her eyes, Emily let herself sink into the expensive seat, instantly regretting it. With her eyes closed, her other senses went into overdrive.

Not only could she feel the softness of the material that she was sitting on, she realized that she could smell Derek in the car. During the celebratory hug, back at Bee’s, Emily had been assaulted by the comforting smell of Derek.

Something that reminded her of a fireplace during a cold winter day, of a campfire, warm and bright, the only protection against the darkness of the night. It was a strange thing that instead of saying things like, he smelled like lemon or citrus or whatever. Derek’s scent made Emily think of warm things, things that chased away cold. And that scent had seeped into the interior of his car, and as Derek drove her home, it settled all around Emily, making her feel more relaxed than she had in a long time, and she allowed herself a quick nap.

By the time that they made it to Emily’s apartment building, less than ten minutes later, Emily blinked awake feeling more relaxed than she had any right to be.

Trying not to focus too much on it. She got out of the car, and over, looking in on Derek, who stared back at her. His hands on the wheel. "See you at work," That was all she said before closing the door, and that was all that was needed. The two of them taking a few seconds to just smile at each other.

And they had every right to. After all, they had just decided to join hands, to jump over a huge mountain that they had never realized that they were both trying to get over.