Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 181: Problem Solver

Chapter 181: Problem Solver

Emily Molson often brought out the weirdest urges and impulses in Derek. Things that he had never thought of himself doing suddenly seemed like the most logical things on earth to do whenever he was in her presence.

It was something that he did not like to think about,

but that did not mean that it was not there. That afternoon was proof of that. He had just spent his lunch hour doing what was quite literally children’s games. At some point he and Emily had even tried holding their breaths to see who could hold their breath the longest. The winner of course getting to bask in the glory of beating the other.

Derek had justified the other games as being necessary to get what he needed. But there was absolutely nothing that he could say to himself that would explain why, in the seven minutes before the end of his lunch break, after he and Emily had finally come to an agreement on the days that they would be taking for themselves.

He had been having a thumb war with Emily.

It was childish, and it had been so juvenile that a part of Derek had been very embarrassed of himself. But at the same time, he had not been able to help the smile that had spread across his face as he had watched Emily.

The thumb war had been just for the sake of it, no stakes attached. But Emily had taken it very seriously. The tiny tip of her tongue sticking out. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she had moved her thumb against his, trying to get the upper hand.

Emily was strong, he could admit to that. But even so, Derek was stronger. Rather than just overpowering her with his stronger thumb, however, he had held back. And it was not one of those reasons where people were like, ’oh she’s a girl, I did not want her to feel bad if she lost,’

No, it was nothing like that.

The reason that Derek had held back and let that thumb war continue for as long as possible was because for those few minutes he got to hold Emily’s warm hand in his. Their thumbs rubbing against one another as they wrestled for dominance. And when Emily finally won.

A feat established by her cheating. She had tickled the back of his hand with her pinky finger. The loud cheer that she gave had made the loss totally worth it. What had made it even funnier was when she had immediately gone quiet.

Pulling her hand out of his to quickly slap both of her hands over her mouth. Derek had found the expression on her face comical, but at the same time he had been missing the feel of her hand against his.

But now lunch was well and truly over and the two of them were headed for the office. He had no time to worry about how soft and warm, her hand was.

They were late getting back, but Derek was the CEO. They need not have worried about such things. He would have been content to walk at a leisurely pace. But Emily was not having it.

"Derek you cannot be late. You have a meeting in fifteen minutes, and it is with one of the top clients," She was saying as she dragged him along. Expectly weaving both of them between the throngs of people. When they had left the office to go to lunch, Derek had been regretting not taking his car. But now, he no longer did.

The fact that they were walking( well he was mostly being pulled along), was allowing him to realize something. The Emily that he had seen back when they had been at the motel and they were going to be late getting to the airport, was the Emily that came out whenever deadlines were about to be missed.

It was actually kind of cute.

Almost as though Emily carried a staff sergeant in her breast pocket. And when things got tense, she just pulled the sergeant out and they got to work. "Staff sergeant," Derek murmured and Emily turned back to him.

"Where?" She asked, looking around and a wave of uncontrollable laughter came over him.

Emily genuinely thought that there was a staff sergeant around. Somebody whom Derek was addressing. When he continued to laugh, her eyes went from searching the area to looking at him worriedly.

"Derek, are you alright? Are you having an episode, because of the lack of sleep," She asked, her eyes shifting around nervously. Aware that they were close enough to the company headquarters that they could be overheard.

She looked genuinely worried and that sobered Derek up, his laughter fading.

"No, no, that is not it at all. I just thought of something that reminded me of a staff sergeant that I know," He told her, and Emily gave him a look. "You know a staff sergeant personally?" He smiled at her question.

"You could say that. But that is a long story. Are you not the one who said that I have a meeting to get to in 15 minutes?" She nodded, remembering herself. And just like that, she let the whole staff sergeant thing go. And as she marched forward, one foot in front of the other, her back straight, her shoulders open.

Derek could not help but think of her as a staff sergeant once again.

He was pretty sure that if Emily ever found out that at some point in time, he had referred to her as a staff sergeant. Even if he was only doing so in his mind, all hell would break loose. But he did not mean it as an insult or as a way to demean her in any way.

Staff sergeant was quickly becoming something that he viewed in a positive light.

Sure, he had PA Emily, and for a while there had been waitress Emily, but he had to say Staff Sergeant Emily had a special place in his heart. There was just something about the take charge attitude that staff sergeant Emily had, that Derek liked.

The moment that staff sergeant Emily showed up, things that had been impossible before, were suddenly done and dusted in a matter of seconds. Following after Emily, Derek could not help the smile that graced his features.

He remembered back at the solar panel plant when it had seemed that they were going to be late, and miss their flight. Then staff sergeant Emily had shown up, and voila. Not only had they been on time, Derek had found himself carrying both his own luggage and hers. That had been a wild time. He really hoped that he got to see more of staff sergeant Emily.