Jimmy

“You wanted to see me?”

I looked up from my desk and saw Ashley standing in my office doorway. I felt a tug in my gut, a tug I had felt when her voice fluttered against my ear over the phone. I drew in a deep breath as I studied her, taking in the way her skirt fell haphazardly against her legs. She had her thick-framed black glasses on and her red hair up in a bun.

I still didn’t understand why she kept it up like that.

“I did, yes. Come take a seat,” I said.

She hesitated for a moment, and that was when I saw the flicker of frustration in her eyes. I watched her make her way to me, sitting with purpose and poised to get up as quickly as she could.

“I wanted to ask you about the investor’s balance sheets and check up on the issue we experienced this morning,” I said.

“I sent you an email. Didn’t you get it?” Ashley asked.

“Have you made any progress on it since the email?”

“I would’ve told you had there been any,” she said. “As far as the balance sheets go, they all look good. Minus the one investor who’s investing in a very stupid way if you ask me.”

My eyebrows hiked at the way she spat that word.

“Stupid,” I said. “How so?”

“Every other investor writes a check quarterly. And I’ve got most of them asking if direct deposits into their accounts here are possible, which I’m working on. But Mr. Matthews invests every two weeks like he doesn’t have all the money up front. Or possibly doesn’t trust us up front. So I have to keep after him. He also hates the idea of direct depositing, says the checks create a paper trail.”

“So do direct deposits. He can print out his bank statement anytime,” I said.

“Exactly. He’s becoming more and more difficult. I have a meeting set up with him next week to discuss how we can resolve the issue before it slams us into another wall like it did this morning.”

I studied Ashley while she spoke. The tension in her shoulders. The way her lips downturned in a displeasing way. The impatient fire behind her eyes. This was more than Mr. Matthews, though he could be frustrating.

There was something else wrong.

“Is your mother all right?” I asked.

“She’s fine,” Ashley said.

“Has she gotten home from the hospital?”

“Is that all, Mr. Sheldon? Because I’ve still got some work to get done before I get out of here, and I’ve got plans.”

Mr. Sheldon.

She hadn’t called me that in a few days now.

“You seem ... on edge,” I said.

“Been a rollercoaster of a day. I’m looking forward to pizza and drinks with my friend,” Ashley said.

“Sounds fun.”

“When did you get married?” she asked.

My eyes fell to my ring before they flickered back to Ashley. She was staring at it, wringing her hands in her lap. Was that what was bothering her?

Why would that have been bothering her?

“I’m not married,” I said.

“Then why are you wearing a wedding ring?” Ashley asked.

“Nina and I split up, and I needed to still seem like a commitment kind of man,” I said.

“You’re wearing a wedding ring because you’re no longer dating Nina?”

“It’s a long, drawn-out argument I don’t really feel like going into right now. Like yourself, I’m looking forward to my Friday evening, but in the business world, men like me have to appear committed. Breaking things off with Nina caused some turmoil with some future clients, so I went and bought this to make it look like I’m now a married man.”

“To the girl you broke up with,” she said.

“I’m working it out as I go along,” I said with a grin.

Ashley snickered and shook her head, but that snicker turned into a giggle. The smile that spread across her face lit something on fire in my chest. Her eyes were gorgeous when she smiled. They lit up a room whenever she walked into it. “If I may say, it’s kind of a dumb idea. Not sure it’s going to work.”

I stood from my chair and strode around the desk, stopping to lean against the edge of it.

If she had been so concerned about my getting married, then it meant only one thing.

“I’m having a hard time not thinking about that night,” I said.

Ashley turned her smiling face to me as a blush crept into her cheeks.

“The night at the party?” she asked.

“That one. Yes,” I said.

“I don’t know why,” she said. “It was only a night.”

“Is that how you feel about it?”

I watched her swallow thickly as her gaze dipped to her lap. I stood from my desk and reached for her hands, wrapping my fingers around them. I took one of her hands in mine and pulled her from her seat, and she followed my lead like she had that night. Her skin felt soft against mine, warm and inviting like her thighs had been to my hips. I could see her chest panting slightly, her skin flushing with anticipation at what I could possibly do next.

I crooked my finger underneath her chin and pulled that beautiful emerald gaze to mine.

“Jimmy.”

“When I told you that night was the best night I’d ever experienced, I was being serious,” I said.

“This isn’t—”

“And it wasn’t because we were drinking or had gotten caught up in our dancing. It was because of you, Ashley. You were the reason I got caught up in the heat of the moment.”

I watched her lips part to speak before she stopped herself.

Slowly, I bent to her level. My eyes stayed connected with hers as our lips grew closer and closer. I could feel her pressing into me. I could feel her hands sliding up my torso. Her breath was hot against my lips as she fell into me, my arms caressing her back. Her tongue was fire, and mine was ice. I could feel her trembling as I tasted her sweetness. Our lips melded together, and I could feel hers swelling underneath the impact.

Underneath the ministrations of mine.

She let out a little moan, and I grinned against her. I had her right where I wanted her, how I’d thought about her since that night. In my arms, against my chest, unable to resist me like I had tried so hard to do with her.

Then, someone cleared their throat in my doorway.

Ashley pushed away from me and whipped her head around. She pushed me so hard I almost went stumbling backward. My eyes opened and flickered to the door, plotting revenge on whoever had soiled this moment between the two of us.

But nothing could have prepared me for the person standing in the doorway of my office.

“Hello, Jimmy,” Nina said flatly. “Nice to see you found a slutty replacement.”

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THE END

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