Chapter 9

Jason

As I leaned against the break room wall, stuffing a sandwich in my mouth, I pulled out my phone and dialed Jana. We had seen each other almost every day since Sunday, and I could definitely get used to replacing my Thursday night club run with dinner. Work had been crazy for both of us, but we tried to make time to at least grab dinner or a drink before heading home. It wasn’t the ideal situation for me, I wanted more time with Jana, but I knew things would calm down eventually.

“Hello?” I could tell she picked up the phone without looking to see who was calling.

“What are you wearing?” I breathed creepily into the phone and listened to her chuckle on the other end.

“Oh, a pair of red clown pants, some suspenders, a parka, and black socks,” she said nonchalantly. “Oh, and of course my favorite pinstriped tie.”

“Mmmm, that sounds sexy,” I said laughing.

“Weirdo,” she replied. “Whatcha’ doing over there? Slacking off?”

“Hardly,” I said letting out a deep breath. “I was taking a 30-second lunch break, shoveling in this turkey sandwich, and trying to plan my escape.”

“How’s that going for you?”

“Well, seeing as there are forty guards watching my every move I think Ryan may be on to my plan,” I joked.

“Only forty? You must be building trust,” she said chuckling.

“How’s work, beautiful?” I could stand here and talk to her all day.

“Ugh, busy as hell. You?”

“Well considering I am getting to actually eat today I would say things are only at hyper speed, not warp speed,” I replied, looking over at everyone moving toward the conference room. “But before I am whisked away to my next meeting, dinner tonight?”

“Yes, please,” she said, a smile in her voice.

“Good, I’ll pick you up at eight. I got us reservations at Taylor’s on ninth. Bring a jacket because they gave me a rooftop table,” I said trying to impress her.

“Oooh, fancy stuff,” she said in a high-pitched voice. “Okay, I’ll be ready and waiting.”

“See you then gorgeous,” I replied, hanging up the phone and staring down at her picture smiling.

“You ready?” Ryan popped up behind me.

“Yep, after you, boss man,” I said as I bounced off toward another meeting.

The meetings today seemed to fly by, but I was relieved to know I had brought a change of clothes since I was just leaving the office at a quarter after seven. I took the company car this time, wanting to make Jana feel special. She was already in the lobby by the time I pulled up, and my heart skipped a beat as she walked outside. She pulled her coat around her but not before I caught a glimpse of the sexy sequined dress she was wearing. Her heels were at least six inches, and her stockings shimmered, drawing my attention to her mile-long legs. Her hair was in loose curls that fell around her shoulders, and her makeup was dark and mysterious. She was a knockout.

I kissed her on the cheek as the driver opened the door for us. We rode quietly through the lit streets of the city, and I tried to keep my mind off of her hand placed on my thigh, squeezing softly. I could take her right now in the car and wouldn’t feel the least bit sorry for messing up her hair. My cock twitched in my pants. I shook the thought from my mind as we pulled up to the restaurant. It was packed, but they took us right up to our table. It was quiet and romantic on the roof, and we could see the whole New York skyline.

“This is beautiful,” she said looking out in wonder. “I really just love this city. It’s so gorgeous.”

The wind was a bit chilly, so I took my jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders as we sipped our wine and picked at the appetizer. Our conversation went from work to play and back again as we talked about the things in our lives that toppled our minds. Every time I had a chance to really talk to Jana I left feeling refreshed and confident. It was like therapy with a really hot doctor I could bone if I wanted to. As Jana took another bite of her lobster, we heard loud chattering below us. She peeked over the edge of the building down into the street, shooting back into her chair with a bewildered look.

“It’s the press,” she said in shock.

Before I could react the door to the balcony swung open, and we were blinded by a thousand bulbs. Reporters flooded the floor circling around our table and yelling out questions. I grabbed Jana’s hand and pulled her to her feet, trying to shield our faces from the bulbs. Realizing I couldn’t even see to walk through the crowd, I stopped and took in a deep breath.

“Okay, okay,” I yelled, waving my hands. “We will answer one question, but you have to stop flashing the bulbs for a second.”

“Is this your girlfriend?” One short reporter with a recorder out in front of him yelled out the question.

“Yes, this is Jana, she is a successful and bright woman,” I replied calmly. “We are in a committed relationship.”

“Does this mean you are off the market?” Another voice shouted from the back.

“I sure hope so,” Jana replied laughing.

I smiled at her candor and sarcasm and pulled her toward the door. I knew we only had a second before they followed, so we jetted inside and down the steps. As we reached the bottom, we could see the droves of cameras outside, and we turned to the waitress standing by the kitchen door waving to us.

“I am a big fan of your work,” the waitress said to Jana. “Follow me, there is a back door.”

Jana smiled at the girl, and we pushed through the swinging doors and across the tiled kitchen floor. The chef nodded his head at us as we passed and we stopped for a moment to hand our waiter some money for dinner. He smiled and asked if he could bag it up for us, but we were in too much of a hurry. Luckily, as we walked out of the back door my driver spotted us and opened the car, allowing us to race in before the reporters, just feet in front of him, could notice. He shut the door and hopped in the driver seat.

Jana and I sat back, breathing heavy in the seats. She fiddled with her dress and pulled her purse from under my jacket, flinging it on the seat facing us. She leaned her head back against the seat and laughed between breaths.

“Well, that was one way to do it,” she said chuckling.

“To do what?”

“Come out about our relationship,” she said smiling at me. “I mean I guess it had to be done at some point, but I was more hoping it would end up in a column in the Times, not a race to the car.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, realizing she was not used to all the attention. “Are you okay with this? I mean I kind of answered for both of us back there.”

“Oh, no I’m great with it! I actually feel so much better that everyone knows now,” she said leaning in and kissing me on the lips. “I kind of felt like I was going to burst before. I wanted to shout out that we were together but knew I couldn’t.”

“Good,” I said letting out a deep sigh. “I honestly didn’t even think about it. I was just so happy to have some time just for the two of us. I was hoping we would have more time than this, but it was bound to happen eventually.”

“You want to go back to your place? I’ll order some take out since we didn’t get to eat our dinner,” she asked, handing me my jacket back and grabbing her phone from her purse.

“Yes, I am starving,” I replied looking out the window as the reporters disappeared behind us.

I was relieved that there wasn’t any press at my place when we pulled up since I had gone to great lengths to make sure I had a modicum of privacy where I lived. My driver took a long way back to make sure that no one was following us. We greeted the delivery guy in the lobby and tipped him well for his vow of secrecy before retreating to the penthouse where we could be comfortable and alone. This was definitely not how I thought this night would end, but having a hot girl by my side was good enough for me.