Kenneth
That date with Jessica goes better than I ever could have hoped for.
The drinks and dinner that I’d arranged wasn’t anything too special - no dramatic gestures or crazy extravagances. Not quite the sort of thing I’d like to do for Jessica - not then, when I wasn’t even sure how the whole evening was going to go.
I’ll have the chance for all that later.
No, it was just being around her that was special. Being on a date with my childhood sweetheart, ten years later. Talking to her - really talking to her for the first time in so long. Feeling her open up and be the girl I remember so well…but different, too. She’s older and more mature, of course, but it’s more than that too. She seems less…fragile.
And somehow, after we’d gotten past all the difficult things we needed to talk about, it feels like she’s happier than she was back then, too. I mean, I know it’s stupid trying to compare a twenty-eight year old woman to an eighteen year old girl, but…it’s hard not to, when so many of my memories are tangled up in that.
I’ll get used to it, though, that strange sense of deja vu and reconciling those two images.
We’ll create new memories, as the people we are now.
The thought makes me smile. I’ve already started planning a couple of day trips with Abbie - and after that date together, Jessica has spent a few evenings at mine too. Not overnight, but late enough that we get plenty of time after Abbie has gone to sleep. So far, my little girl has been thrilled when Jessica has come around, and we both intend to keep it that way.
I’m a little more confident about that than Jessica. I know my daughter, and I know how much she’s needed this. If anything, I’d worry about her getting too attached, too fast - but I can’t blame her. I’m the same. I want Jessica around all the time too.
The brief knock on my open door makes me look up as Jessica walks into my office with a cup of coffee. She shuts the door behind her, which is enough to raise my eyebrows. Since that night, we’ve created some ground rules for when we’re working - and that includes resuming my open-door policy. Now that we’re seeing each other outside work, we’re just about able to resist everything we spent the last few days doing during work hours. Mostly.
There are still times when I’d love nothing more than to push her up against the desk and have her legs around my hips, but I do see her point that now we’re seeing each other again, it’s even more important to maintain clear boundaries.
Yeah. Clear boundaries. The thing you’ve been so good at from the start.
It does mean, though, that her closing the door now is noticeable - and I give her a concerned look as she walks over.
“Are you okay?” I ask, barely noticing the coffee she places on my desk before she turns to me. “Has something happened?”
Has her Mom…
“No, no, nothing.” She shakes her head, then leans back against the corner of my desk.
That gives me a perfect view of her long legs stretched out in front of me, but I barely even notice that as my gaze locks on hers.
“I’m going to look for another job.” She finally says, in a quietly determined voice.
“But—” I blink, objecting instinctively before pausing. “Shit. You’re right.”
I lean back in my chair, letting out a long breath.
Of course. How else is this going to work?
We haven’t gotten around to talking about it - beyond the immediate what do we do at work together - but she’s right. We can’t keep working together and pursue a relationship, for a dozen different reasons - the appropriateness of it being only one. I just didn’t want to admit it yet.
I groan at the thought.
“God damn it, it’s going to be impossible to replace you.”
Her mouth curls into a smile and she laughs slightly.
“Well if you had to pick between having me at work or…”
“I’d pick having you.” I confirm, with the grin that always comes at the thought that I do have her. “In life and everything. With me. Beside me. Not working for me.”
“Romantic.” She teases, but her eyes are sparkling.
“Mm. Still going to be grumpy as hell about this, though.”
“Of course.”
“Do you want me to transfer you to another part of the company, or…”
I already know the answer as I ask it, but I want to offer anyway. Just in case.
She’s shaking her head before I even finish the thought.
“No. I think it would be best if I left entirely. It’s just too…”
“Messy?”
“Yeah.”
“What do you think you’d like to do?” I ask and she blinks at me, as if she hasn’t quite thought about it.
“I hadn’t really thought about it. I was just going to look for another secretary job - that shouldn’t be too hard, so long as I have a good reference.” Her mouth curves into a smile at that thought, and I match it.
I pull her off the desk and onto my lap, startling a cry out of her.
“I’m sure we can find a way for you to earn that…”
“Kenneth!” She pushes at me, righting herself, half-laughing and half-outraged. “We said we weren’t going to do this anymore!”
“If you’re leaving, I should probably make the most of it while I can…”
She glances over her shoulder at the door, wriggling on top of me in a way that’s obviously not meant to be enticing, but has my cock hardening almost immediately.
“Someone could come in!”
“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m the boss around here.” I grin. “No one is going to come in without permission.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Are you sure you want to find another secretary position?” I continue my original thought, despite how enticing other things are now that Jessica is in my arms.
She frowns. “What do you mean? What else would I do?”
“You sounded so enthusiastic about the events management role you had before—”
“Ohh, not you too.” She groans and I raise an eyebrow in question. “Gramps already has enough opinions about wanting me to go back to that.”
“And you don’t want to?”
She shrugs. “It’s not that - it’s just they’re not that easy to come by. I don’t think I could find a position like that here, except maybe some sort of voluntary thing. And I’ve got bills to pay, especially with Gramps needing extra therapy now - that’s going to be hard enough once I leave. There are some bonuses to being a super executive secretary, instead of just the regular everyday kind.”
She grins at me at that remark, but I’m frowning.
“You know, Jessica, I don’t want you to have to worry about—”
“Ohhh no.” She shakes her head. “Stop right there. We’re not talking about that. We literally got together days ago—”
“Years—”
“Days.” She insists, with a scowl. “I’m not having you start saying things like that. It doesn’t feel right.”
My frown deepens.
Infuriating girl.
Then the irony of the situation hits me and I can’t help but smile, slightly ruefully. I’ve spent so long being worried about dating attracting women who’d only want me for my money…I’ve never once considered how to try to convince one to accept it.
Because I’m going to do that. I’ll make sure of it. I want Jessica to be able to do what she wants to do - and I definitely don’t want it stressing her about her grandfather’s care.
“Okay.” I make a show of relenting, for now at least. “Not yet, then. But eventually—”
A knock at the door sends a jolt through both of us and Jessica jumps off me with a yelp.
“Shit.” I mutter, then call out toward the door. “Just a moment!”
“I told you.” Jessica glares at me, putting herself back together with far more speed and ease than I would have assumed possible. “I’ll leave you to it.”
I glance at the time. “It’s getting late anyway - you’ll be heading off to see your grandfather, right?”
She nods. That’s something else we’ve agreed to, though she was hesitant about it at first, until I convinced her that she did more than enough work regardless of how we arrange it.
These days, she leaves a couple of hours early to spend a little more time with her grandfather - and I’ve seen a noticeable difference in her since we started doing that. She’s still worried about him, but the anxiety and stress seems to have eased off a little.
She’s my personal secretary, so it’s no one else’s business what her working hours or situation is - she doesn’t need anyone’s approval but mine to ‘work from home’. And to her credit, she does actually insist on making up the hours, even if I tell her it’s really not necessary. I haven’t had such an efficient secretary for years anyway.
It’s another thing that bothers me about her changing job.
What if they don’t let her do that? Don’t give her that time? She needs it, even if she won’t admit it.
Something else for me to chew over.
The knock comes again, interrupting the thought, and Jessica is already heading toward the door when I look up.
“Wait.” I say, then call again. “A minute.”
My god, who is being so damn insistent?! The last time I checked, I’m still the boss, and I definitely don’t have a meeting scheduled.
“Good luck with tonight.” I finally say, my voice soft as Jessica turns around to look at me. “I’ll be at home if you want to come over, after. And I’ll be there in an instant if you call.”
She gives me a half-smile, nodding, but I can see the slight clouds in her eyes.
“Thanks, Kenneth. I might take you up on that.”
Then she raises an eyebrow at me in question, laying a hand on the doorknob and not giving me a chance to say anything else. I nod, somewhat resigned. She opens the door, exchanges a few words with the person on the other side and then slips out.
I shift my chair under my desk, trying to conceal the slight bulge in my pants as the determined knocker walks into the room.
Of course. Patrick. Who else would it be?