Affinity: A Salvation Society Novel

by Harlow Layne

  “Thank you,” she blushed. I loved how the slightest little thing could make her soft skin pink up.

  We ate the rest of our breakfast in silence. Once we were done, Abbi cleaned up the kitchen by herself, even though I tried to help her. I could put a dish in the dishwasher. I wasn’t a complete imbecile.

  In no time we were in my SUV and on the road. I held her hand the entire way there with my thumb sweeping across it in an attempt to calm her nerves. “Do you want me to walk you inside?”

  “As sweet as that sentiment is, I think I need to do this on my own. I’ll see you tonight.” She leaned over the console to press her mouth to mine. Her tongue slipped across mine for only a moment before she was pulling away. I ran my thumb around her lips to help smooth away the lip gloss that I’d smeared.

  “Tonight,” I answered back.

  I snapped a picture of Abbi walking away from the car, but made sure not to get CJJ Public Relations in the shot. I didn’t want anyone knowing where she worked. I sat there watching her until she turned back to wave at me before walking inside, and the door closed behind her. Doing what Abbi suggested, I made my first post on my stories. Posting the picture of my wife, I captioned it. ‘Honeymoon’s over. Back to work.’

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Abbi

  Even though Catherine had hired me and was my boss, she wasn’t who I reported to. I’m not sure what Catherine had said to Melanie about why I’d started work a week later than originally planned, but the moment I walked in the door, I knew she already hated me.

  It’s not that Catherine needed to say anything. The entire world knew I’d married Reeves Jenner in Vegas; it had been splashed across every magazine. You couldn’t have gone online without seeing a still photo of us walking out of the chapel drunk off our asses, and I didn’t even want to know how many views all the videos on YouTube received.

  Since I woke up that morning, I’d been focusing all my energy on my new situation. Once again, it had changed. Jenner and I were no longer enemies. We were married lovers. It was a strange thought. So much had changed in the last week. It felt more like two months than eight days.

  In the span of those eight days, I’d gone from hating the man I now was sharing a bed with to, dare I say, falling for him. I was definitely falling for his cock, hands, and mouth. They always knew exactly how to touch me. Jenner had shocked me. He wasn’t the asshole he portrayed himself to be. Instead, he could be sweet and caring, and I was delighted to know I was one of the few he let in to see that now.

  A figure at my door caught my attention. It was my boss, Melanie. I almost cringed at her laser-like glare. I was sure if she could annihilate me with her eyes, she would have done so.

  “You’re going to be late for the meeting,” she hissed.

  Meeting? As far I knew, there wasn’t anything on the schedule, but one look at Melanie’s pissed off face, and I knew not to argue with her. Jumping up, I grabbed my laptop, pen, and paper, and quickly followed her out of the main area and down a long hall. I hadn’t received a tour yet, so I had no idea where we were going. Every few seconds, she would look over her shoulder to see if I was still following her. She then looked annoyed she hadn’t lost me along the way. I didn’t understand her. Was she trying to get me fired? If so, why tell me about the meeting?

  The second I walked in, Catherine smiled, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Melanie. Her eyes narrowed as she lowered herself into the chair next to me.

  “Now that we’re all here. I want to introduce the newest member to our team, Abbi Jenner. I’m happy she’s in the office after working remotely for a short time.”

  I smiled and gave a tentative wave to everyone.

  “Now that we’re at the end of the day, I would like to go around the room and get any necessary updates on our clients. I know weekends can cause a lot of fires that we have to put out.”

  A round of light laughter filled the room. I sat and listened as members spoke up about their clients. More than half of them had clients who were in trouble or were being slandered. They talked about what they’d already done about it, and then we got to interject anything we thought could be helpful. I liked it. Even though we each had our own people we were in charge of, Catherine made it feel like a team effort.

  “Great. You’re all doing good work. As you know, I’ll be out of the office for the next week, so please use each other if you need help. I ask that you only contact me in case of an emergency. Jim and Nancy will be in charge while I’m gone. Now, if nobody has anything else, we can all go home.”

  I had no idea Catherine would be leaving town when I started to work at the office. While she wasn’t my supervisor, she was the one I felt most comfortable around.

  As everyone stood to leave, Catherine called out, “Abbi, I’d like to talk to you before you go.”

  Melanie’s eyes cut to me with daggers before she turned her back on us and walked away.

  Sitting back down, I placed my notebook on top of my closed laptop.

  Catherine stood from her seat at the other end of the table and came to sit across from me. “I wanted to see how your first day in the office went.”

  “It was okay. Busy.” I hesitated to tell her about my feelings toward my supervisor. I didn’t want to complain on my first day at work.

  “Whatever it is, you can say it. I won’t judge you.”

  And I knew she wouldn’t, but it still gave me pause. Maybe I’d read the situation wrong, but I didn’t think so. Plus, I didn’t want to complain. I could manage just fine if Melanie didn’t like me.

  “I hate to say this, but I think Melanie hates me. She’s barely said anything to me all day, and when she’s around me, she keeps throwing me nasty looks.”

  Catherine’s gaze went to the door, but I knew she couldn’t see anyone since the conference room was down a long hallway. “It might not have been my best move to have her as your supervisor. I assigned you to her before things changed, but I probably should have switched it up before you arrived.”

  I didn’t understand why Melanie would hate me before we’d ever met.

  The question must have shown on my face because Catherine answered my unspoken question. “She’s had stars in her eyes for Jenner since my first meeting with him, and the fact that he’s not a bachelor anymore, being married to you might have soured her feelings toward you.” She let out an amused laugh. “Not that she ever had a chance. He never even looked at her once, let alone gave her the time of day.”

  That explained why Melanie had acted the way she had. Not that it gave her any right. It wasn’t like they were dating, and he upped and married me.

  “Did they ever hook up?” I cringed after the words slipped from my mouth. I couldn’t believe I’d just asked my boss if my husband had had sex with one of my coworkers. I wasn’t sure I could work with someone day in and day out if he’d had sex with them. Not now.

  “No.” She shook her head as her phone pinged with a message. “Like I said, he never gave her the time of day.”

  “I’m not sure how selective he was, so I wasn’t sure,” I fired back.

  “True, but he kept his dick out of the CJJ well. If Melanie continues to be a problem, let me know, and I can assign you to someone else. I need to get going in a minute, but I wanted to reiterate about keeping Jenner out of trouble. Especially while I’m gone, he needs to stay out of the news for a while unless it’s favorable. I’ve been fielding a mountain of calls about him no longer being on Alpha Blue and tamping down rumors he was a problem to work with. Unfortunately, their statement seemed to only fuel the fire.”

  “I’ll do my best. When I asked him what his plans were for the day, he seemed . . . I don’t know what exactly. Kind of sad. I think he’s used to being busy a vast majority of the time and doesn’t know what to do with himself.”

  “I’m sure that’s a big part of it, but I think now that he’s in a good place, it might do him some good to find himself. It’s not healthy to work cons
tantly, and that’s what his dad trained him to do. I can’t tell you how happy I am Jenner fired that man. He’s been making a lot of good changes lately.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I don’t think I was a conscious decision.” Leaning forward with my hands parked on the table, I confessed. “The more I think about it, the more I think we might have been drugged. It makes no sense that neither of us remembers anything. Even though I was there to celebrate, I’m not a big drinker.”

  Her lips formed a thin line, and she started to tap the tip of her fingernail on the table. “I think so as well. I’ll have someone from my husband’s company looking into it. He’s trying to get the security footage from the hotel. I promise to contact you and Jenner the moment I find anything.” She stood and pushed in her chair. “Would you like to walk out with me? I need to stop by my office before I leave. Do you have everything you need?”

  “I need to grab my phone and purse from my office and let Jenner know to come and pick me up. I didn’t know about the meeting until Melanie said I was going to be late.”

  Catherine hummed as she walked. “Good to know,” she said quietly, as if it was to herself. “Every Monday at five, we have a meeting to go over clients like we did today. Depending on what’s going on, the meeting can last thirty minutes to two hours. We never know. It’s the only one that’s scheduled every week.”

  “Thanks. I wasn’t sure if Melanie was trying to get me fired or what. I’m still not sure with the news of her crush.”

  We walked side by side until we reached Catherine’s office, where we split ways so we could gather our things and leave. I was shocked that it was only six o’clock. I had a feeling this wasn’t the norm. As I made my way to my office, which was barely bigger than a cubicle, I noticed Melanie sitting at her desk. She hadn’t mentioned having any problems with a client, so I wasn’t sure why she was still hanging around unless she wanted to see how long Catherine kept me.

  Putting my notebook in my drawer, I held my laptop while I grabbed my purse and phone. Since I was unprepared when I found out we were having a meeting and I was going to be late, I hadn’t grabbed it. I had three texts and one missed call from Jenner. I first went to the text messages.

  Jenner: What time do you get off work?

  Jenner: I called Catherine’s assistant, and she said you were in a meeting, but when it’s over, you can leave.

  Jenner: I’m outside waiting in the gray car.

  As if I wouldn’t have been able to spot him. When I left my office, I knew I had a bright smile on my face. There was something sweet about Jenner wanting to drive me to and from work. I knew it couldn’t last forever, and eventually, I’d have to take myself to work, so I’d enjoy it while I could.

  Catherine came up to me with her own gleaming smile. “Are you that happy your first day at the office is over with?”

  “Jenner left me a message saying he’s waiting for me out in the parking lot.” My smile fell when we stepped outside, and I saw Melanie eyeing Jenner, who was leaning up against his car.

  “Hey, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Even when he was at his worst, Jenner was never a cheater. He’d never do that, especially after Poppy.”

  “I know, but now that I know she wants him,” I shrugged the shoulder without my purse strap on it, “I don’t like it.”

  “I have to say I like that you’re possessive over him. It’s exactly what he needs.”

  Heat rose up my neck to my ears. It was silly to be embarrassed, but I was since she knew the real truth to our start.

  “Don’t think I didn’t notice your big smile when you were walking out,” I countered. “What’s that all about?” Maybe it was wrong to assume we were somewhat friends, but there was something about Catherine that drew me in.

  “I’ll be spending a week with my husband, hopefully without any distractions from either of our jobs, in a tropical location drinking fruity cocktails on the beach. What more could a girl ask for?” She sighed dreamily.

  “Sounds perfect to me,” I answered honestly because it did sound like perfection. I wondered if Jenner and I would ever go on such a trip. I wanted to believe what we had was real and would last, but only time would tell. “Well, I should let you go so you can start your romantic week with your husband.”

  “And I’ll let you go stake your claim on your husband.” She gave me a pat on the shoulder before getting into her car and driving off.

  Melanie continued to stand over by a dark blue car with her gaze transfixed on Jenner.

  The moment I started walking toward him, Jenner stood straight as a grin tugged at his lips. With each step I took closer to him, my speed picked up. I couldn’t get to him fast enough. When he opened his arms wide, I jumped and let him catch me. Wrapping my arms and legs around his neck and waist, I fused my mouth to his. Loving the way his stubble scratched at my skin, I deepened our kiss.

  “Fuck, I missed your beautiful face,” he said as we broke apart. Our breaths still tangled together. With each word he spoke, his mouth brushed against mine, begging me to connect us once more. “To celebrate your first day at work, I’ve already placed a dinner order for us. I thought we could eat on the couch while watching a movie so you can tell me all about your day and decompress.”

  Pulling back, I laughed. “Who are you, and what have you done with my Jenner?”

  “Mmm,” he hummed. “I like the sound of you calling me yours.”

  A loud noise from behind us broke us apart. I slipped down Jenner’s body before I turned to see what had brought us out of our little bubble.

  I didn’t see anything or anyone but Melanie at the trunk of her car. She was pretending not to look at us, but every few seconds, I could see her eyes trained on us.

  “Have you had sex with her?” It came out without me even giving permission.

  The arm that was wrapped around my waist tightened. “Who?”

  When I looked up to him, his forehead was creased with his brows drawn down as if he had no idea what I was talking about.

  I swung around and pointed to my supervisor. “Melanie. That’s who.”

  His gaze followed the path of my outstretched arm. “Her?” He said the one word with so much revulsion in his voice I knew then that Catherine had been right. “Why would you think I’d slept with her?”

  “Can we go, and I’ll explain on the way?” I leaned up and kissed his dimpled chin.

  With his eyes still trained on Melanie, he nodded once before he broke away and helped me inside the car. The moment he had the car started, and out of the parking lot, he asked. “What happened today at work?”

  I let out a bitter laugh. I’d been so excited to go to work until the moment Melanie caught sight of me and shot daggers out of her eyes. “That woman I accused you of sleeping with? She’s my supervisor, and she hates me. I wasn’t sure why until Catherine pulled me aside after our meeting and told me about how Melanie’s had a crush on you since the moment you stepped inside CJJ. Then I find out Catherine, the only person I know at work is going to be gone all week. I have a feeling it’s not going to be good. At one point today, I thought she was trying to get me fired.” I rested the back of my head on the headrest and let out a frustrated sigh.

  “Why did you think that?”

  “Because she never told me about the end of the day meeting. I don’t know. Her whole attitude toward me was confusing, and I don’t know what to think, which is probably what she wants. Or to make me miserable, so I’ll quit.”

  “This is your dream job, and you worked hard to get it. Don’t let her do that to you.” Taking my hand in his, he placed it on the gearshift with his on top.

  “I won’t. Thanks for being a good listener. It’s . . . ” I stopped, not wanting to insult him.

  “Surprising?” He raised a brow in question.

  “Sorry, that wasn’t nice,” I admitted.

  He shrugged. “It is what it is. We're still learning about each other.” He pulled up in fron
t of an Italian restaurant. After typing on his phone for a moment, a boy no older than seventeen came out holding two big brown paper bags.

  “Here’s your order, Mr. Jenner. Have a good night.” When Jenner slipped him his tip, the boy’s smile nearly blinded us. “Thank you so much. Again, have a wonderful night.” He nearly skipped back inside the restaurant.

  Jenner handed me the bags before he pulled out of his spot and back onto the road. The smell of garlic and tomato sauce assaulted my nose in the best possible way. Damn, was I hungry. I’d been so busy at work that I hadn’t even thought about lunch.

  “This smells divine, but you know I could have cooked us something, right?”

  “I thought you deserved a break on your first day.” He smiled over at me with a shy smile, and I nearly fainted. While his Hollywood smile showed how gorgeous he was, the smile I just saw showed who he was on the inside, and it made me fall just a little bit more for him.

  When we got to a stoplight, I leaned over the console and pressed a kiss to his stubbly cheek. Normally he was clean-shaven, but I found I preferred him with a smattering of stubble.

  His hand caught the back of my head and pulled me back into him. Our lips melded together, and as his tongue swept across my lower one, a car horn honked from behind us. Laughing, I sat back down in my seat.

  “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

  “For you being you. Thank you for letting down your walls and showing me who you really are.” I was grateful I was one of the few he’d shown himself to.

  “I’m glad you like what you see.”

  It didn’t take us long to roll passed the security guard and into the garage.

  “Before I forget, Alex called today and invited us back to Missouri for the fourth. I guess they’re celebrating there since she has to hand over Mason to his dad for a couple of weeks after that. What do you say? Do you want to go?”