Playing the Bosses

Gifts

Eva knew it would be an interesting day when she woke up to see an email she received at 4:23AM from Caleb asking her to see him in his office first thing in the morning.

As she usually did, Eva arrived to PMC Group about 30 minutes before her "bosses" were to come in and she prepared their schedules — placing Adrian's on his desk, printing Justin's for their morning meeting, and preparing to email Caleb's.

Adrian was the first of the three men to walk into the office and he was greeted by other colleagues with smiles, though the one on his face grew almost involuntarily as he got closer to Eva's desk. She had been working there for over eight months and no matter how much Adrian tried to fight it, Eva was one of the brighter parts of his mornings and he missed her while he was away.

"Welcome back, Mr. Collins," Eva greeted cheerfully once Adrian reached her desk. "How was your trip?"

"It was wonderful and everything went smoothly," Adrian replied as he held up a tall, slim gift bag and sat it on her desk. "In fact, I even had time to get you some Napa Valley wine."

"Oh?" Eva questioned with a smirk, locking eyes with him as she took the bag. "Based on the email I got from Mr. Peterson at four this morning, I'm sure it's going to be a long day and this wine will definitely come in handy this evening."

"Oh, geez," Adrian groaned. "What's he up to now? I'm sorry he gives you such a hard time. He can be difficult."

"I assure you, Mr. Collins, there's nothing I can't handle when it comes to Mr. Peterson. Besides, the nice part about long days is that I'll have an excuse to take a long, hot bath while I down a bottle of Napa Valley wine."

"Well, I admire your positivity, Ms. Eva."

Adrian didn't realize what he said until the title crossed his lips out of habit already. "I mean— er... I mean— Eva."

"'Ms. Eva' is fine," she teased with a wink before casually changing the subject. "Anyway, I've placed your schedule on your desk per our new system. Just email or call if you have any questions or need any assistance."

"R-right... Have a nice day." Adrian noticed how Eva had a way of catching him off guard with her comments that felt flirtatious before quickly, but smoothly changing the subject. It was like she knew exactly how to tease him without being so overt about it and he wondered if she'd read him as submissive.

"Enjoy your day as well, Mr. Collins."

Not long after Adrian went into his office, Justin arrived and also had a gift bag in his hand for Eva. As had become their routine in the mornings, she greeted him in Japanese and they exchanged some small talk before going into his office.

"I didn't want to forget to give you this," Justin chimed, handing the gift bag to Eva. "Just a little something I got you from California as a thank you for being such a great assistant."

"Thanks, Justin," Eva replied as she opened the bag and pulled out a personalized Route 66 license plate with her name on it. Looking over the gift, it wasn't really her taste and she didn't like it, but she appreciated the thought and pulled a fake, small smile to her face and gave Justin a nod of approval before putting it back in the bag.

"Are you and Adrian trying to spoil me or something?" she quipped.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"Oh! He didn't tell you? Adrian bought me a bottle of wine from Napa Valley as a souvenir."

Justin didn't understand why, but something about hearing that Adrian also bought Eva a gift slightly bothered him, especially knowing that the wine was likely more expensive than the license plate he purchased.