Midnight Ch. 04

No Sex until chapter 7 - VirtualAtheist

*****

Nathan popped into the bank and returned with a fat envelope, that he handed to Erica with the words, "You don't need to spend all of it, but I don't mind if you do."

Erica examined the contents and her eyes widened slightly, then she squared her shoulders and declared, "Right! Me and Manni are gonna spend, spend, spend. You boys can go and do whatever you want," she glanced at her watch and continued, "We'll meet at the Green Ginger Man at say... Half five?"

Alan's eyes lit up, "Sure! Come on Nathan."

With a wave, the boys buggered off, leaving me and Erica together, "Ok, where first?" I asked.

"First thing, we'll get Nathan's bits done."

She led me to an outdoors type shop and dragged me inside. I must admit, I was nonplussed, "What are we doing here?"

"Nathan's instructions. We're replacing your wardrobe, but he insisted we need a few things from here. So I'm getting it out the way and then we can have some fucking fun!"

I laughed. I still found it funny when Erica swore.

Anyway, we bought two pairs of heavy walking boots, several pairs of thick woollen socks, a Fair Isles jumper and some heavy shirts. when Erica started looking along a rack full of corduroy trousers, I exclaimed, "Cords? I don't wear cords! Why can't I have some jeans instead?"

Erica grimaced, "I know they're not pretty, but Nathan was most insistent about getting you some cords. You'll have to ask him why."

"Okay, I suppose."

Anyway, that was the beginning of a wild spending spree. We picked out dresses, jeans, shoes, a few smart business outfits, slacks, skirts, some lovely, dressy blouses... You name it, we bought it!

Erica paid cash for everything and refused to allow me to see the receipts. However, more than once, I'd seen the telephone numbers being displayed on the shop registers as my new clothes were rung in, and asked in dismay, "This is too much. How much money did he give you?"

She patted me on the cheek and said, "He gave me an envelope full of never you mind."

We stopped off at Marks & Spencer's and Erica grimaced as we sorted through the underwear section. More than once, she would hold up a bra in my size and offer her professional opinion, "Yuk! Think I'm gonna be sick."

For some reason, she only bought me a couple of pairs of panties and one bra, and wouldn't be drawn on why we bought so little.

I found out why two days later when a parcel was delivered the house addressed to me. Puzzled, I ripped it open and found a box labelled Rigby & Pellor that contained ten deliciously sexy bra and panty sets in a variety of colours. Oh boy! From that day on, I never wore any other undies, and the Marks and Spencer's crap went straight in the bin!

I stopped wearing tights too! Far too yucky for my new undies. Hold up stockings all the way for me, from now on!

Anyway, The last shop we visited was Boots, I needed toiletries and whatnot after all, and this hair doesn't get that lovely shine all by itself you know!

Then, weighed down with bags, we eventually made our way to the the car, dropped off our shopping and headed over to the Green Ginger Man.

As we entered, I saw Alan and Nathan sat at our table deep in animated conversation. Nathan had his back to us, he looked over his shoulder and waved. Then Alan noticed us and smiled as we approached. Nathan stood up and said, "I just need to pop to the gent's then I'll get your drinks. What are you having?"

As Erica sat down next to Alan, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek and threw Nathan a slightly puzzled look, before answering, "Half a lager and lime please."

Nathan smiled and then directed those fucking eyes at me. Once again I couldn't help but shiver slightly as I answered, "I think I'll have a white wine please."

He nodded and then headed over to the gents. He had a bit of difficulty, there were a group of people in wheelchairs that had taken over a couple of tables near the door leading to the toilets, so it was a bit of a squeeze.

I sat down and sighed, before telling Alan about the shipping order of clothes in the car and he politely pretended to care.

As we chatted, I felt the famiiar itch between my shoulder blades and glanced over at the toilets, to see Nathan coming through the door, looking over at me as he shook his hands dry. He had to wait for a short while as the disabled party were making their preparations to leave and took up all the walkway between the tables.

I turned back to Alan and Erica to see her looking at me strangely, "How do you do that?" she asked.

My brow furrowed, "Do what?"

"How do you two know when the other one enters the room?"

I sat in silence for a moment. Did I? Nonsense I decided, it was just coincidence, nothing more.

I answered, "I dunno what you mean."

She didn't seem satisfied, but simply said, "Okay. If you insist."

Nathan had reached us by this time and placed our drinks on the table, and the chat continued.

Someone ­ I don't know who ­ suggested that we have a meal, so we did.

The food went down nicely, the wine flowed and the chat was fun. At some point in the evening Erica declared that Nathan was our D'Artagnan, seeing as we were quite obviously the Three Misfiteers.

Oh how we laughed... Well we were tipsy. That is, all of us except Nathan, seeing as he was driving.

Me and Nathan decided to leave Alan and Erica to it. They were in the mood to tie one on and get a taxi back. Alan would leave his car at our place... Our place? I'd only been there one night and it was only temporary until I could find another flat, so why was I so quick to think of it as our place? Anyway, Alan's car would stay at ours and he'd collect it tomorrow when he was in a fit state to drive.

Nathan wanted to get back and read a couple of articles. Besides, tomorrow I wanted to start earning my pay as his EA, so I thought it best to be fresh for the morning.

We made our goodbyes and Erica left us with the words, "Nathan, if she offers you bacon and cream cheese bagels for breakfast, say yes!"

I agreed that it was a good idea, so I made him stop off at the 24 hour garage for bagels and a pot of Philadelphia. After unloading the car at home (home, hee hee) we left all the bags in the dining room, except for my toiletries, undies and my new thick bath robe that were taken upstairs and thrown on my bed.

Then I made a couple of coffees and placed one on Nathan's desk as he sat there reading Palaeontology Today or Digger's Digest or whatever the fuck it was. I took a sip of my drink, then grabbed a pen and a sheet of printer paper and started making a list of everything I needed to do to sort out the rubbish tips that were Nathan's house and office.

I asked, "Which do you want me to sort first?"

"Sorry?"

"The office at the university or," I waved my hand around vaguely,"This shit pit?"

He laughed and replied, "The office first. I'm giving a lecture tomorrow afternoon, so I have to be there. Besides, it'll give you a chance to meet some of my colleagues and students, and we can get your admin done."

"Okay. Dress?"

"Jeans and a casual top will be fine. We don't stand on ceremony unless there's a big visit on."

"Cool."

Nathan spun round to face me and asked, "Do you drive?"

I shook my head without looking at him, as I scribbled out my 'to do' list, "Sorry. Why?"

He replied, "I think it'd be best if you were mobile. There'll be times when we travel about and it would help if you could share the driving," he stared into space briefly and continued, "Best we see about getting you a car as well... Once you pass your test, that is."

I looked up at him in surprise, "Really?"

He nodded.

"Nathan... All these things. The job, letting me stay here, the clothing and now driving lessons and a car... Why are you being so nice to me?"

Yet again I was transfixed by his diamond drill gaze, he said, "I see something special in you, Midnight. I can't quite explain it, but I think you'll be a great asset to me, so I need to make sure I look after you."

For some reason I couldn't put my finger on, I found myself stung by his words. An asset? Is that all I was? A tool? Merely an employee? I know it was silly of me, after all it wasn't his fault that he affected me like he did. I don't think he even noticed to be honest, although I found it strangely warming that he said he needed to look after me. Even if I was just an employee.

Taking care that I gave no sign that I was disappointed, I forced myself to smile sweetly, "Thank you."

He grinned, "No charge," and then returned to his magazine.

As we headed up to our rooms that night, he bid me goodnight with a phrase that was to become a feature of my life. As I pushed open the door to my room, he murmured, "Sleep well, Midnight," as he entered his own room, closing the door behind him.

The next morning, after we had feasted on bacon and cream cheese bagels, we walked into the Earth Sciences Building. He introduced me to the shared secretary, Paula, a somewhat overweight, middle aged woman. She had jet black hair that flowed in curls down her back and a cheeky smile permanently etched on her face. She was very friendly and personable and, I discovered, gossip central for the entire university. She always knew who was doing what to whom, and in some cases where, when and how often!

I liked her.

I met a few of the other members of the faculty, but I was unable to catch all of their names. Ah well. There was time for that. And I was also introduced to the two students that Nathan was mentoring. Luke Iverson and Allison McMasters. They were both in their middle to late twenties, which surprised me at the time.

Allison had long blonde hair all the way down to her backside, she was usually all smiles, bubbly and with a pretty, girl­next­door, fresh beauty, with a slim and leggy frame. Luke on the other hand was less to my taste. He seemed somewhat arrogant and supercilious. I imagine he could have been considered handsome, what with his mop of unruly dark hair and hazel eyes. But only if his attitude was adjusted.

Over time, I would become friendly with Allison, but Luke... Not so much. I knew he didn't like me, but for once, it wasn't because of my colour. I just think he thought I was not quite good enough, not quite bright enough to associate with the big brains of the Palaeontology Department. I noticed that he didn't have much time for Paula either.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. First things first. I had many forms to fill in for my University ID. I wasn't staff, I was an employee of Smethwick Palaeontology Services, but I would need access to the library, the computer system and a door card so that I could access the Earth Science laboratories.

After that was all done, I rolled my sleeves up and got to work sorting out the office. All the books were ferried out and placed in piles along the wall in Paula's office. The paperwork was simply gathered up and just dumped in a pile on Nathan's desk. That made it awkward for him to work, but hey, we all have to make sacrifices.

With guidance from Paula about who was who to speak to in order to get shit done, I had an extra desk, chair and telephone delivered by Works Services, and an order was placed for a PC for me. Unfortunately that would take a couple of days, but I wasn't terribly fussed, I had loads to keep me busy. All of the tickets and paperwork regarding travel and accommodation was piled in my shiny new in­tray and then... Then I could make a start on getting those fucking books sorted out!

We stopped for lunch and grabbed a quick sandwich at the campus coffee shop, then it was back to the grindstone. Sort the books into piles alphabetically and then place them on the bookcases.

And that was my first day as an Executive Assistant.

That night, after hearing the words, "Sleep well, Midnight," from Nathan as he sat working away at his Mac, I went to bed knackered and slept like a dead woman I can tell you.

The following day, I finished off putting the books away and then cracked on with the papers. I filled my desk and the floor with paper as I tried to make sense of which pages went with which.

More than once, Nathan need to help me as they weren't all page-numbered or labelled with the file name in the bottom left corner. That was fucking annoying and I wasn't shy about telling him so!

Nathan had the decency to blush and agreed that from now on, he'd make sure his documents were formatted properly. Anyway, once they were sorted properly, I stapled them together and put them into alphabetic order.

Job done?

Nope!

Then I had to sit at Nathan's PC and see if I could find them on the harddrive or in his shared directory on the University servers. I found most of them. So the ones that could be binned, were binned and the others were placed in a lever arch folder so that they could be recreated on the computer over time as a 'when I have a minute' job.

The next few days were spent at home making it 'more like summat and less like nowt' as we say in Yorkshire. I must admit that it was a slower job and ended up taking more than a few evenings as well. Not only was there so much more crap to clean up and sort out, but I also had to go mad with Nathan's business debit card on Amazon. Bookcases, replacement filing cabinets (his were broken), a desk and chair for me, a few bits and pieces of stationery and of course, my own Apple Mac. The Mac was more expensive than a PC I know, and I wasn't being greedy, it's simply that a Mac is so much better for the jobs I needed a computer for, and it took up less space on the desk.

I also bought his and hers iPads and iPhones... For when we would be out and about as Nathan said we would be as time went on, and showed him how to work them... Then showed him again.

Like I said, technology really wasn't his thing.

Once the furniture was in place, I could then link all of the electronic toys together.

Then it was the same routine as per the office at the University.

Nathan, I discovered, was something of a workaholic and more than once he would be working until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. Or at least he did, until I started taking more and more of the admin that was bogging him down off his hands, but he still put the hours in.

The tickets and travel documentation was sorted out and filed. I created the spreadsheet to start controlling them properly and the returns started being delivered to the accountants in a timely fashion every month... I received a very nice thank you card from them for that.

I also took on the task of going through the constant stream of emails. I didn't feel able to make any decisions about request for his attention at projects around the world, so I simply collated them into lists and passed them to him, so that he could decide which ones he responded to... Which was most of them.

Then I'd be online booking, trains, flights, hotels and hire cars.

Life was busy, life was good... On the whole.

I'll never forget my first pay packet either. Initially I thought there had been a terrible mistake, but Nathan looked it over and saw nothing wrong.

"I'll never spend all that!" I cried.

Nathan explained gently, "Look you're not a secretary or a personal assistant. You're an executive assistant and that carries more responsibility and more pay. Over time, I expect you to take on more authority and become part of the decision making process. Obviously, I'll let you get your feet under the table first. I know you're at the bottom of a fairly steep learning curve."

Well! I did the only thing I could do. I went straight out and bought new hair straighteners and an electric Ladyshave that I could use in the shower. Oh yes! I know how to live the high life, me.

Ooh ooh! I almost forgot, I also spent two hours every Tuesday and Thursday behind the wheel of a red Mini Metro, learning to drive.

At least once a month, I'd sit in on a staff meetings and take the minutes. And also the weekly informal get together with Nathan and his students, record the minutes in shorthand and produce a printed reports that would be kept as a record of their progress. Nathan also needed me to create PowerPoint presentations and the scripts to go with them. The technical wizardry required to import images and create bullet points were absolutely beyond him.

Call me petty, but I was secretly proud of being better at some things than Nathan, what with him and his brain the size of a planet.

But the best thing, the absolute best thing about my job was spending so much time with Nathan.

We would sometimes chat as we worked and sometimes we would sit in complete silence beavering away on what it was that currently had our attention. But it was always a comfortable silence. Sometimes, as I was creating a presentation, I'd feel his eyes upon me, I'd pause, glance at him and offer a shy smile. He would simply stare at me for a long moment, return that half smile of his and then go back to his work.

And every time I felt his eyes on me, I would shiver. Sometimes, brief images of a carnal nature would flit across my imagination and I would have to shake my head to return my concentration to my work, and at the same time ignore my hardening nipples and the dampening of my panties.

I wish I knew how it was that he could affect me like this. But I never dared imagine that the feelings might be returned. It would be too risky to even try to find out. After all, what would I do? Declare my affection with flowery words? Throw myself on him and cover his face with sloppy kisses? Really?

And what if I was wrong? What if I embarrassed us both?

I'd be mortified!

And I know that he wouldn't be able to keep me around. Not only would I be risking my job, but I would also be risking my home. And make no mistake, the house I now shared with Nathan was my home. I had only been there a month or so and I already felt more comfortable than I ever had at Orchard Park.

No. Nathan could never know how I felt about him. It was painful to me, but that was the way it had to be.

I still remember the first time I hugged him. It was completely impromptu and improper but I just couldn't help myself. I had just passed my driving test and when I told Nathan, he insisted on dropping everything and taking me into the city centre to buy me a car.

I know, right? He was buying me a fucking car!

So I threw my arms around him for a massive hug. And was both excited and disconcerted at the same time. I disengaged with as much dignity as I could muster, and was unable to look him in the eye as I murmured, "Thank you. You don't really have to get me a car you know."

He simply replied, "Yes I do."

We arrived at the used car showroom, I didn't expect or want a new car, so I started looking over the second­hand, little hatchbacks and whatnot.

Nathan gave me a strange look, "What are you looking at those for? You need to be looking over here."

He indicated the other row of vehicles, which were all 4x4's. My expression must have spoken volumes as he explained, "You'll be coming with me to some digs from time to time, so you need a car that can carry a big load, also, we may need to travel cross country to get to some of them and a poxy little Mini won't be up for the job."

I was wide­eyed and wetting myself as I looked over the row of mighty beasts in front of me... And then I saw it... I saw the car I wanted. It was an old Vauxhall Frontera. 2.5 litres of diesel monstrousness in the most lovely shade of dark blue. It was a really old one, you know the square body that looked like a box on wheels and it had a huge chrome bull bar on the front. But best of all, a previous owner had added silver flame decals down the sides. I fucking loved it!

Nathan laughed, "You know Vauxhalls are crap, don't you?"