Chapter Ten
Jay
“You’re in early. Even for you.” I look up, taking my head out of my hands to see Skyler standing there, coffee in one hand and her bag in the other. It’s not even seven a.m. and she looks all done up and ready to go. “Oh no.” She drops her bag on the floor and sets her coffee on my desk before leaning up against it. “Did the date go that bad?”
I run my hand through my hair, trying to make sure it’s all in place. “Is it that noticeable?”
I didn’t put in much effort this morning, just grabbed the first thing I found in my closet, which was a black flowy skirt that comes to my knees, and a simple light pink button-up shirt. I push my glasses back up my nose, frustrated that I’m so easy to read.
“No, you look great. Your eyes are just sad.”
I let out a deep breath and give in. I tell her about the date and every horrible, sweet detail of it. That date was terrible, but it was wonderful, too. When I left Jordan, I was excited and happy, even with everything that had happened. He’s asked me out on another date, but the more I sat and thought on it last night, I think he was trying to be nice. I almost killed the man. Well, killed him might be an exaggeration, but still. He’d backed away from my kiss at the end of the night. I tried to play it cool like it didn’t bother me, making a joke and smiling, but it kept replaying over and over in my head as I tossed and turned last night.
“Yeah, that’s pretty bad.”
“I know.” I drop my head back into my hands and cringe.
I feel Skyler’s hand on my shoulder in a reassuring hold.
“It would almost be outrageously funny if I didn’t like him so much. The worst part is, what if he slowly starts to back away from me? I’ll lose the only friend I have around here.”
“Hey, you’ve got me. And we’re having drinks tonight,” she reminds me.
I remember I told Jordan I would cook for him tonight. Maybe this is a way I can get out of that. Give myself some time to clear my head and not feel so sorry for myself.
“You still want me to come?” I ask, thinking maybe she might have told someone she invited me and other coworkers gave her crap about it.
“Hell yeah.” She gives my shoulder another squeeze.
We both look over as the elevator dings, and Mallory and Miles exit together, holding hands. A small smile pulls at my lips. That always happens when I see them together. They’re so in love. He chased after her for years and would do anything for Mallory. She is his everything. I want a love like that. Jordan flutters through my mind.
“Hey, lovebirds,” Skyler says, getting up from my desk and grabbing her bag and coffee.
“Hey.” Mallory smiles back while Miles gives a nod.
“Mal, drinks tonight.”
“She can’t drink, she’s pregnant,” Miles throws out instantly, as if we don’t know she’s pregnant. From the way he is with her, to the small bump that is already showing, we’ve got the picture.
“They have small plates there, too. Paige and Mal love small plates.” I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling as a scowl forms on Miles’s face. He clearly didn’t want her to go. If it was up to him she’d be trapped away in their condo, where they’d never leave.
“I do love small plates,” Mallory says dreamily.
“Sir,” I say, standing as they get closer to my desk.
“Give me ten, Jay.”
I nod and sit back down in my chair as he starts to pull Mallory into his office. As she’s being pulled away, she shouts over her shoulder that she’s in, and then we hear the office door lock.
I put my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. I know he’s in there trying to convince her to not go but in the end Mallory will win because Miles can’t help but give her what she wants even if he doesn’t want her doing it.
“More like thirty minutes,” Skyler says, wiggling her eyebrows and making me giggle harder behind my hand. “Tonight.” She taps my desk in farewell and walks away.
There was no question in her statement. She said I’m going, and truth be told, it will probably be good for me. All the other ladies are in relationships, so maybe I can pick their brains. I’m terrible at relationship stuff. One would think someone who reads and writes romance as much as I do would be better at it.
I can’t even go off my own parents’ relationship. They’re still happily married to this day. While I love them both, I’m not into the free love they both espouse with their hippie lifestyle, but my sister seems totally okay with it. I never wanted to be the oddball in the family, but I always felt like a prude compared to them. I was the one who didn’t know how to relax and have a good time.
Maybe that’s why I kept messing everything up with Jordan. I worry too much, like I do with everything, but I can’t turn it off. Except when he’s kissing me. I can’t work through a single thought when his lips are on mine.
Before I let my mind wander down that daydream path, I click on my keyboard, deciding to email Jordan. I texted him last night, but he didn’t respond, which wasn’t like him. That was when all my worrying about our date started.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Cooking
Sorry, but I have to cancel tonight. I forgot I told Skyler I’d go out for a drink with her and some people from work when we get off.
Hope you have a pleasant day.
Jay
Blah. God, that sounds terrible. I hit Send and wish I could snatch the email back. Hope you have a pleasant day. What is wrong with me? I shake my head at myself. I stare at my computer for minutes, but no response comes. I don’t know how long I’ve sat there when the door to Miles’s office opens and Mallory comes out.
“Small plates are on.” She winks at me as she walks by, her hair a little ruffled.
I shake my head and smile.
Grabbing my notepad, I give a knock before entering Miles’s office and get back to work. We go over what needs to be done today and other projects in the works. I’ve been noticing our workload is getting less and less with him handing off more projects to different department heads. It gives me more free time, but I’m not sure how I feel about that. I like staying busy.
Everyone he entrusts seems competent, and I haven’t had to chase them down. Except one. I roll my eyes thinking about what Jordan had to do to get that file—the file that still isn’t adding up.
I go back to my desk and get to work on the items Miles has flagged as urgent. Setting up some meetings and drafting some emails, I keep busy with what I know. I can do this all day every day, and it keeps my mind from drifting places I don’t want it to go.
When I look at the clock and see the time, I call in lunch for Miles, Mallory, and Skyler, and then order something for myself, too. I don’t want to run into Jordan in the cafeteria. I can’t even bring myself to check to see if he’s emailed me back. It’s easier to get lost in my work than to have to deal with the embarrassment I’m still feeling.
When the food comes, I take Miles’s and Mallory’s into Miles’s office and drop Skyler’s off, too. She normally eats at her desk while she works. If she doesn’t eat at her desk, it means she’s using her lunchtime to shop.
I set mine on my desk next to me, but I don’t really feel hungry. I head to the small break room to grab a drink from the fridge but stop still when I turn around and see Jordan standing in the doorway. The room isn’t big as we don’t need a giant room with so few of us on this floor.
He walks toward me without uttering a word. He takes the drink from my hand and places it on the counter. He looks just as handsome today as he does every day. But today there’s an edge to him. Or maybe he’s on the edge. Something about it—him—makes my breathing heavier, and not because I’m scared. It’s because I’m instantly turned on by the look he’s giving me. Like he’s a predator and I’m his prey.
I take a step away, and he follows until my back hits the wall. Everything we did in the park on our picnic comes flooding back, the wonderful things he made me feel, how he got me to lose control and not care about anything but the two of us.
“You’ve been ignoring me, little bird,” he says. His voice sounds deeper than normal. I tilt my head back so I can look him in the eyes.
“I have not. I texted you three times last night and you didn’t respond. Then I sent you an email. In fact, I think I might even be pestering you.” I try to say the words in a stern voice, like the one I use at the office when I have to scold people.
“Hmm,” he says, leaning down, his nose coming to my neck and traveling up. Then I feel his lips on me as he places small kisses up and down my neck. My eyes fall closed, and I turn my head to the side, giving him more of me.
“That tone won’t work on me, babe,” he informs me as he presses into me, and I feel his hard erection between my legs. His mouth moves to my ear.
“I had to get a new phone this morning. Mine didn’t survive the water last night.”
“Oh?” I only half hear his words. I lean into his lips, wanting him to go back to kissing my neck. He chuckles, and his mouth goes back to it. I reach up, wanting to have my hands on him. I run my fingers through his hair as I try to rock against him.
“Fuck. You’re lucky I turned off the cameras in here,” he growls, and I feel us moving, but I don’t open my eyes. My back lands against another wall. “Take what you want, little bird. I came up here to give you what you need.”
I don’t really understand his words, but I keep moving against him. The thick ridge of his cock hits me perfectly between my legs as I wrap my thighs around his waist. My lips go to his, and suddenly I’m hungry for him. My orgasm climbs closer to the surface as I rub my center over the hard line of his stiff length. Everything about him is so perfect against me, and I moan for more.
He grips my hips hard, and I start to come undone. He consumes my pleasure with his mouth as my body can’t hold back any longer.
My orgasm explodes through me, and he kisses my cries of satisfaction, trying to quiet them. As I pulse, and as warmth floods my body, his body jerks against me, and he groans.
I pull my mouth from his, burying my face in his neck and trying to catch my breath. I’m wrapped around him, up against the wall of the break room, and I’ve just been given the most intense orgasm of my life.
I hold on to him, breathing in his scent and marking it on my skin. My eyes are still closed. I don’t want to leave this moment and go back to all the thoughts I was having before.
“You feel better now, little bird?” I hear him ask, and finally I get the energy to lean back and look him in the eyes.
“I, well, I—”
“I know. You got caught up in your head, probably thinking something that isn’t true.”
“Maybe,” I admit.
“My phone crapped out on me last night, so I went to get a new one this morning first thing. Otherwise, you would’ve had me walking you to work while you ate one of your muffins.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t care about the phone. I only care that you thought I was ignoring you. I would never ignore you. It’s impossible for me to do that.”
I smile at his admission. I lean in, brushing my lips against his. I should have known better. My Jordan would never do that.
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“Crap. I said that out loud.” Heat hits my cheeks.
“I liked it. So keep on saying it. I told you that you’ve been mine for as long as I’ve known you. Even if we weren’t together like this then. So trust me, I’ve been yours before you ever knew it.”
God, I love that. “Did you get my email?” I ask.
“Yes, and I responded, but you haven’t checked your emails in a while.” I’m not going to ask how he knows that, because I have a pretty good idea it has to do with breaking security rules. “Then I watched you drown yourself in work, getting lost in your head, so I waited for my moment.”
“You waited?”
“Yeah. I’ve been trying to get a chance to get you alone. Because we both know when I get my hands on you, your mind calms.”
I melt even more into him. “I do, don’t I?”
“I like it. It means you need me, and I fucking love the idea of you needing me.” He leans in, kissing me again. This time it’s soft and sweet, but he pulls back before I want it to end.
“I better let you get back to your desk before someone comes looking for you.”
“Oh crap! I forgot where I was.” I look around like my surroundings are new. My gaze darts to the camera in the corner.
“I turned it off. No one saw anything,” he tells me, putting me back down on my feet.
“About tonight...”
“You’ll make it up to me. I get you all day tomorrow.”
“You can come, too, if you want. Meet us there. I think the girls and I are walking over together. I’m not sure where we’re going. Skyler didn’t say, but she said work people are coming, and you work here, too.”
“You want me to be there?”
“Yes,” I say instantly.
“I’ll be there.” He leans in, placing another kiss on my lips. “Until then, little bird.” He walks over, picks up the drink I’d forgotten about, and hands it to me. He opens the door for me and follows me back to my desk before giving me another quick kiss and exiting onto the elevator. I can’t help but watch him go, thinking how silly I was being and how I let myself get so worked up over nothing. I’m actually mad at myself for thinking he would do something like that. I’ve known Jordan for a while now, and he’s not that kind of guy.
I shake my head and eat my lunch while clicking the email Jordan sent me this morning. It was sent long after I went into Miles’s office for our morning meeting.
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Cooking
No worries, little bird. You can make it up to me by giving me your whole Saturday, and maybe even your lunch break today.
I wanted to let you know I had to get a new phone this morning. If you texted me last night, there’s a chance I didn’t get it.
I miss you, and I’ll be coming for the goodnight kiss I didn’t get last night as soon as I can.
J
I look down at my lunch, feeling guilty. If I had read that email this morning, I could be having lunch with him right now. But then I wouldn’t have gotten him in the break room just now. Something about him seemed a little different in there. That was a side of him I’d never seen before.
My email pings again, and I see it’s a new email from Jordan.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Smile
Smile, little bird. I had the best tasting lunch a man could ask for in your break room.
I glance up at the camera and smile. Then I end up blushing, which is what I seem to do a lot around him anyway.
I click out of my emails and get back to work. I’m glad that I have a stack of things to do today. It will keep me busy so time won’t pass so slowly until I see Jordan again. When the time nears five o’clock, I start packing up my desk. I go over my last emails to try to clear them out, answering the ones I can and forwarding the ones I’m unsure of directly to Miles.
As I’m working, one pops up.
From: [email protected]
Subject: none
Watch your step, you little bitch. Or you won’t be smiling much longer.
I read the email and roll my eyes. For half a second, I think maybe I should send it to Jordan, but then I decide not to. I’ve been called worse and threatened before. Most of our corporate mergers piss someone off, and my email address is on our website. Disgruntled employees create fake accounts and send me hate mail at least once a week. This doesn’t even make the top fifty.
“You ready?”
I look up to see Mallory and Skyler standing in front of my desk, looking excited, with a brooding Miles standing behind them. His eyes never leave Mallory, and I shake my head. I delete the email and grab my bag.
“Yep! Where we going? I want to text my boyfriend and let him know the place.”
Both Mallory and Skyler make “ahh!” sounds, and Skyler grabs me by the arm, locking mine with hers. “So you and the big scary man are back on? I want the details before he shows up and becomes your shadow.” She looks over at Miles, whom she’s clearly taking a dig at. She’s trying to poke at him, but I like the idea of having a shadow of my own.