Chapter Five

ON THURSDAY MORNING WHEN JESSIE got to the office, Jack was already there.

“Good morning,” Jessie greeted him, smiling.

She felt her heart pound just a bit faster when he glanced up at her and gave her a slight smile. She pulled a small package from her bag and set it down on his desk.

“What’s this?” Jack asked.

“Blueberry muffins. I made them this morning.” Jessie smiled shyly. “I brought some for the whole office, too. I put them in the break room.”

“Oh. Well, thanks.” He pulled a muffin out of the little bag and popped it into his mouth. “Damn. That’s good.”

He reached for another one and took a bite. He thought his sister, Sarah, made the best blueberry muffins he’d ever had, but Jessie’s were right up there.

His eyes swept over her light pink pencil skirt and white tank top. He supposed he would get used to working with her, but it wasn’t going to be easy to keep his thoughts professional. Not if she was going to walk around looking like a girl-next-door fuck fantasy every day.

“How are you?” Jessie asked him, turning on her laptop.

She put down her gym bag, which held her clothes for Diana Powell’s yoga class. Hopefully they would catch her doing complicated yoga positions, thereby confirming that she was lying about her alleged injuries.

“Good,” Jack answered briefly, turning his attention to his computer screen.

“So, Zoey and Chris seemed to hit it off the other night,” Jessie said, turning in her chair toward his desk.

He turned in his chair, also, so they were facing each other.

“Yeah, seemed like it,” he agreed.

“I’d ask you if he’s a nice guy, but he’s your best friend, so even if he wasn’t, I guess you wouldn’t tell me,” Jessie assumed, smiling at him.

He smiled back at her, his eyes lighting up mischievously. “Well, he is my best friend,” he was making fun of her choice of words. “So you’re right, I wouldn’t tell you. But just for the record, he is. A nice guy.”

“Good.”

Jack gestured toward her gym bag. “Is that your stuff for tonight?”

Jessie nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. You can change this afternoon and I’ll get the camera set up before we head over there.”

“Okay.”

Jessie sighed as she turned in her chair.

Later that day, Jack asked casually if she wanted to go get lunch with him. She agreed, pleased that he was warming up.

They had lunch at Castle Pub again and it was fun. They laughed and joked with each other. Jessie did most of the talking, as usual, but Jack engaged her.

When they got back to their office building, Jack held the door open for her. She glanced up at him as she walked inside, his blue eyes raking up and down her body, making her pulse speed up and butterflies start swarming in her stomach.

She stumbled slightly on her heels and Jack reached out instinctively to steady her, his hand grasping her arm until she regained her composure.

“You okay?” Jack smirked as Jessie’s cheeks turned pink.

Jack stared into her eyes. Could she be any more obvious? It was pretty clear to Jack that this little cutie had the hots for him. The way she blushed every time his eyes swept over her, the way she stumbled over her words sometimes.

Not that he was going to do anything about it, of course. He wasn’t that fucking stupid.

Jessie nodded, averting her eyes. “Fine, thanks.”

She tried to shake off the warm flush spreading across her skin in response to his hand on her body. He was all man, radiating an aggressive confidence and sexual energy that she could almost feel pulsing from him. She felt overwhelmed. He was way out of her league. The last thing she needed was to get her thoughts and feelings wrapped up in a guy like Jack.

IN THE BATHROOM AT WORK, Jessie changed into yoga pants, a tight-fitting tank and running shoes. She secured her long blonde hair in two braids and looked at herself critically in the mirror. She wondered where on earth Jack was going to attach the body camera.

Her outfit was black, as he had requested, so the camera wouldn’t stand out. He had also asked her to make sure there was at least one button on the front of her top, where he could attach what he called a button camera.

Jessie had indicated to Diana Powell that she had always wanted to try yoga, but the truth was that Jessie had being doing yoga for several years. She tried to get to a yoga class once every week or two at the gym near her home.

When Jessie walked back into their office, Jack seemed oblivious to her tight outfit. He barely glanced at her as he prepared the tiny body camera.

He was not as oblivious as he seemed, but he kept his expression neutral. The outfit she wore revealed a well-toned body with curves in all the right places, which Jack couldn’t help but silently admire again, as he had the other day when he’d seen her in that red bikini.

He attached the camera to the front of her tank top. He sat in his chair and she stood in front of him. It was a bit awkward, since he had to put his hand inside her tank top to attach the camera properly. She giggled when his fingers brushed against her as he fumbled a bit with the camera.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I’m a little ticklish.”

He smiled slightly but said nothing. He was trying hard not to think about where his hands were or the feel of her perfect little body beneath them. He breathed in a scent that he now recognized as coconut rather than sunscreen. He felt his cock stir and fought against the reaction she was causing.

He tried to stay focused on his task, but it wasn’t easy. His finger grazed lightly over the platinum cross that hung on a chain around her neck and lay against her soft skin. He glanced up at her briefly. She looked away, up toward the ceiling, patiently waiting for him to finish.

They left the office about an hour before the yoga class was scheduled to start, to account for rush hour traffic. Jessie carried her pink gym bag which also held her rolled up yoga mat. At the gym, Jack dropped her off, letting her know he would be parked at the back of the lot, waiting for her.

At the front desk, Jessie stopped and paid the daily rate since she wasn’t a member.

She peeked inside the room where the yoga class was to be held. It was five minutes before the class was scheduled to start, and the instructor was stationed at the front of the room, stretching and talking to a couple of participants. They already had their yoga mats set up close to the front and were sitting cross-legged on them, waiting for the class to start. The room was quite full, and Jessie scanned the room of mostly women, looking for Diana Powell.

Her eyes stopped suddenly as she caught sight of her. She breathed a sigh of relief. There had been no guarantee that the woman would actually be here tonight. Any number of things could have prevented her from attending the class. Luckily she was here and Jessie quickly calculated where she should set up in order to obtain the best video footage of her target.

She claimed her spot, unrolled her yoga mat and then removed her shoes and socks. The mini body camera was so small and undetectable that Jessie couldn’t even tell it was there, but still she was a bit nervous about it. Although, if it fell off, it would just look like a button to anyone who didn’t know what it was.

Jessie followed the instructor through the poses—the bridge, the cat, upward facing dog, right triangle, tree, and half-cobra—aware that in some positions the camera was recording the floor, or even her own reflection in the mirror, but hopefully there would be a good amount of video of the lying Diana Powell.

The woman did not seem to notice her. Jessie wasn’t particularly concerned with whether or not she recognized her anyway. After tonight, if all went well with the video recording, the case would be over.

When the class was finished, she headed for the locker room. She pulled a clean white towel and a bottle of coconut scented body wash from her gym bag, and then rinsed off in the shower quickly, lathering herself all over and then rinsing thoroughly under the spray of warm water.

She dried off and changed into a pair of dark blue denim, ripped shorts and a black and white tank with black high tops. She left her hair in braids and reapplied light mascara, pink lipstick and her favorite cotton candy flavored sparkly lip gloss.

She left the gym and walked to the other side of the parking lot where Jack waited. He was standing beside the SUV, talking on the phone. He watched her with no obvious expression as she walked toward him. He ended his conversation and hung up just as she got to him.

“How’d it go?” He tried not to let his eyes wander over her, but the sight of her in those little shorts and tank top made it difficult.

He had been on the phone with Chris making plans to meet in an hour or so at a sports bar to watch the Braves game.

“Good, I think,” she said, holding out the small camera that she had removed from her tank top. “I guess we’ll know soon enough.”

He took the camera from her and opened the passenger door, eyes all over her ass as she climbed up in the seat.

Jack hooked up the camera to the mini DVR player so they could review the footage that Jessie had secured. They watched together, happy to find that the video had come out clear and there was plenty of footage of Ms. Powell in compromising positions.

Jessie tried not to be embarrassed when the footage was of herself in the mirror, performing the yoga poses which when viewed with a certain perspective could be seen as rather provocative. She glanced at Jack during one particularly impressive position, only to find that he was glancing at her at the same time.

“Do you do this a lot?” he asked.

Jessie shrugged.

They both looked back at the small screen and Jessie felt her cheeks flush. She wondered why she felt so self-conscious. It wasn’t like her. For some reason, Jack Turner made her feel like a shy, high school girl.

Jack was oblivious to her discomfort at that moment, thinking only about how flexible she was and how that might be interesting in bed.

“Well, I think we got what we needed. Good job.” Jack seemed satisfied. “We can wrap this up tomorrow. You going out tonight?” he asked casually, glancing over at her.

“No, I told my Dad I’d stop by and eat dinner with him. My Mom’s working late tonight.” Jessie looked forward to seeing her Dad. He was a good cook, too. “I have to pick up Libbie anyway.”

“Where does your Mom work?” he asked, rather absentmindedly.

“At Southern Medical Center,” she answered.

“What does she do there?” He glanced at her as he turned the key in the ignition.

“She’s a doctor. A trauma surgeon. Of course that means she’s always worked really weird hours. My Dad texted me a couple of hours ago. Something came up… she has a surgery.”

“Huh,” Jack grunted in response.

Jessie remembered that Chris had said Jack’s mother had died when he was a little boy. “You were in third grade when your Mom died?”

Jack looked at her, surprised. “How did you…”

She put a hand over her mouth. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I just said that. I was talking about my Mom and it just came out. Chris mentioned it the other night.”

Jack had adored his mother and he had tried his best to remember as much as he could about her. She had been loving, affectionate and kind, very pretty, with long blonde hair. He remembered some little things about her, like the kind of music she liked, and the way she tucked him into bed each night singing to him in her sweet voice with the slight southern drawl, not unlike his own.

He had one small picture of her that he had kept all these years. In the picture she sat on the beach smiling, with Jack and his sister, her arms around them, the same pretty smile that had lit up his world until that terrible day when she was taken away so suddenly and tragically.

The rest of her pictures his father had gotten rid of, not wanting to be reminded of the love of his life. Jack had missed her so much at first, but after a while he didn’t think about her anymore, at least not very often. It was better that way.

Jessie reached over, put a hand on his arm and touched him lightly.

“I’m sorry, Jack.” She felt him stiffen and quickly took her hand away, sensing his discomfort with her touch. She was an affectionate person but she realized that not everyone was as comfortable with that level of physical contact.

Jack looked uneasy and he hesitated before responding. “It’s okay. Yeah, I was about eight. She died in a car accident.”

“That must have been really hard.”

He shrugged and changed the subject. “So what does your Dad do?”

“Oh he deals in boating supplies. Of course he’s obsessed with his boat. He’s great. We’re really close.”

Jack nodded.

“And your Dad?” Jessie asked.

Jack ignored her question. She noticed his attention had been fixed firmly back on the mini DVR which was apparently still running.

“Ooh… nice.” Jack smirked, as Jessie looked at the screen to see what had caught his eye.

She cringed as she realized the video recording was still playing and she had apparently forgotten to turn it off before stripping off her yoga pants in the locker room. The camera, still attached to her discarded tank top and laying on a bench, had recorded her stripping down and standing in her sports bra and underwear. She grabbed for the screen as she saw her own image reaching to pull the sports bra off. Jack laughed and held it away from her so she couldn’t reach it.

“Oh my God!” Jessie exclaimed. “Jack! Give it to me!” She couldn’t help but laugh even though she was totally embarrassed.

“Wow… you want me to give it to you?” Jack asked, laughing, still moving the screen away from her so she couldn’t take it. He had stopped watching it but she was fun to tease. “I don’t know, Jessie… after I make you come so hard you can’t fucking breathe it might make things awkward between us at work. But what the hell… if you ask nicely… I might give it to you.”

Jessie laughed at his joke, twisting her words as if she meant them in a sexual way. Her cheeks flushed at his suggestion, even though she knew he was just playing around. “After I make you come so hard you can’t fucking breathe.” Those words had sent a shiver of anticipation through her and tingles all over her body, even while she laughed and struggled to get the camera from him.

“You know that’s not what I meant!” Jessie had one hand wrapped around Jack’s wrist and the other grabbing onto the screen, but she wasn’t strong enough to wrestle it away from him. It was as if she wasn’t exerting any strength at all. She was no match for him.

“No? Are you sure? Cause I’d be more than happy to give it to you.” They were both still laughing.

Jessie changed her strategy. She stopped laughing and removed her hand from his wrist and brushed it over his rock hard thigh instead. “Hmmm maybe… let me think about it,” Jessie teased, reverting to her old decoy persona.

This surprised and distracted him momentarily, long enough for her to snatch the screen away from him. He looked at her uncertainly like he wasn’t sure if she was serious or not.

Once she had the screen she moved her hand away. “Ha!” She laughed. “Got it!”

He laughed. “You almost had me.”

“Sorry, Jack.” Jessie smiled. “I guess I have to figure out how to delete that part.”

“I’ll delete it, don’t worry,” Jack said. “Rookie mistake… always make sure you know where the cameras are pointing.” He laughed again.

“I don’t trust you not to look at it,” Jessie said. “I better delete it myself.”

Jack smirked. “This may surprise you, Jessie, but women actually undress for me willingly. Enthusiastically, even. If I ever see you naked it’ll be because you want me to.”

“I’m not surprised at all, actually. I’m sure there are thousands of women ready to strip for you anytime you look their way, but I’m definitely not one of them.” Jessie laughed. “And just in case the temptation is too much for you to handle, I’d still rather delete it myself.”

Smiling that smirky smile she was already starting to look forward to, Jack pulled the car out of the parking lot and began driving back to the office. They made small talk for the rest of the drive back to the parking garage of their building. He walked her to her car, since the garage was mostly deserted.

“Going out?” she asked lightly.

“Yeah, meeting Chris to watch the Braves game.”

They reached her Lexus. “Well, this is me,” she said. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He nodded. “Drive carefully.”