I’ve never been so relieved for Monday. I’m nervous for my first day and while a part of it is the fear of messing up, of somehow Leo finding out and ending everything before it gets started. The larger, much larger, part is about the need to see Leo again. I tell myself, he can’t have been as beautiful as I remember, that my response to him was because of nerves and not as strong as I thought it was.

––––––––

An hour later, as Leo comes out of the elevator, I’m proven wrong. It’s just not fair for him to be so beautiful. My mouth goes dry at the sight of him, a heavy, throbbing begins from deep inside me. He’s wearing a suit in a black and gray pinstripe with a snow white shirt and steel gray tie. I can’t take my eyes off him. Then he frowns as he sees me standing behind Carol, who is walking me through the various reports showing me what I’ll need to run at the beginning of every day.

He barely looks at me. “I will need a double shot this morning.” Without a second glance, he goes into his office.

Was Leo mad at me? Did he already regret hiring me? I look to see Carol frowning. “I forgot to tell you. He’s hardcore about his coffee. It needs to come from the lunch place downstairs in the building. But only if Demetrius makes it. Call down and ask if Demetrius is working, his schedule is here. I would still call before you go down, sometimes he calls in. If Demetrius isn’t working you have to go this coffee shop,” She taps the listing for a coffee shop a block over, “don’t even try going to the big-name coffee place on the corner. It’s always espresso, two sugars to each shot and breve which is half and half instead of milk.

“The coffee shop and Demetrius all know Leo’s order so always tell them you’re getting coffee for Leo. Never call it in ahead though. He wants it as hot as possible and in this tumbler.” She opens a drawer in the credenza behind the desk. There are several stainless-steel tumblers gleaming in it. Beside them are white cups sitting in saucers. “When you get back to the office he wants it served in the china.”

I shake my head, all of this for coffee? “Every day, you have to do this?”

“Oh yeah, usually twice a day. He starts the day with a cup, usually an hour to two hours later he’ll want another. It’s rare for him to start out the day with a double shot though.”

“He doesn’t have a machine someone could use here to make it?”