The Deal

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “Patrick,” I yelled into the phone. “Patrick, I didn’t throw myself at him, and I still made out with him. Oh, my gosh.”

  “Mom, is that you?” he cheekily replied.

  “Patrick. I was leaving my parents’ house, and Jason asked me to help him. I helped him, and then I was making out with him. Then I ended up telling him I was a virgin, and it freaked him out a little bit but not a whole lot. Basically, he asked me out on a real date, but we can’t do it right now, and we are going to keep working together. Oh, my God, I think my face is going to explode from smiling so much,” I babbled on and on without giving Patrick a chance to answer.

  “Mom, if this is you, I can’t understand a thing you’re saying,” he continued to tease me.

  “Patrick!”

  “Okay, okay. I’m not sure I am tracking what’s going on, but I’m super excited for you because I can tell you are excited. Are you on your way here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, you can tell me all about it when you get here. Keep your hands on the wheel and concentrate on your driving. I’ll see you soon,” he said and then hung up on me.

  It was probably a good thing that he refused to have the conversation with me while I was driving. I was really excited and could hardly concentrate on the road, let alone keep trying to explain to him what had happened.

  My legs tapped with excitement as I drove down the interstate to my apartment with Patrick. Everything was coming together. There was a huge sense of relief that Jason and I had this connection, and it wasn’t just made up in my head. I wasn’t this girl who was throwing herself at a guy wanting him to like me—no, he actually did like me.

  I probably shouldn’t have told him I was a virgin, but no one really knew it, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have guessed it by the way I was flirting with him. In the moment, it just felt like the right thing to say, and I was relieved to have gotten it out of the way. Sure, he didn’t decide to carry me off to his bedroom and make love to me that moment, but I could live with what we had going on. And a real date seemed like a pretty damn good idea.

  When I got to my apartment, the dark night air had engulfed everything, and there was an unusual number of stars in the sky. I stopped for just a moment to look up and admire the sky and then watched as a shooting star jetted across right in front of me. Quickly, I closed my eyes and made a wish. Not a wish that I would have made as a child, but a reasonable wish that a grown woman would make.

  I wish for an amazing first date with Jason.

  I said my wish softly under my breath and opened my eyes to see Patrick standing in our window and looking down at me with anticipation. He motioned for me to hurry up and get up there, and I did just that—taking two steps at a time and running up the stairs until I burst through our door.

  “Finally, geez, what were you doing out there?”

  “Patrick, I’m in love,” I said dreamily as I spun around our living room with my hands out. “This has been the most perfect day ever.”

  “I thought you texted me earlier that this was a horrible day?” he asked as he smirked at me.

  “No, no, no, it’s now a perfect day. It’s ended on the most amazing note.”

  “Okay, tell me all about it,” Patrick said as he slapped the spot on the couch next to him, and I plopped down to tell him every last detail.

  I was so relieved to have Patrick there to listen to my blabbering. We talked for nearly an hour before I finally crawled into bed to get a few hours of sleep before I had to work the next day. As I closed my eyes, I still felt the hurt in my cheeks from smiling and laughing so much throughout my evening. A feeling of euphoria drenched my body with happiness, and I could honestly say I hadn’t felt this happy in a very long time.

  By the time my morning alarm went off, I felt more rested than five hours of sleep had ever felt. I bounced out of bed and into the shower before grabbing a work outfit that I’d been dying to wear. This skirt was slightly shorter than I should wear to the office, and the blouse was sheer enough that I could have worn a tank top as well as a bra. But I felt on fire as I slid my slinky lace bra on and buttoned up the red silk blouse over it. You could see the form of my breasts, but I wasn’t showing too much cleavage. As I slipped the skirt on, I wiggled my hips and pulled the zipper up and looked in the mirror at my ass just to make sure the skirt covered it all.

  The game was officially on now that I knew how Jason felt for sure. For just that one day, I was going to look like sex on heels as I took full control over what was going on with Jason and me. The teasing and flirting in the office was about to go atomic.

  When I got to the office, I walked with purpose to my desk and sat down to get started on my work right away. I finished one of my projects before Jason even arrived at the office.

  “Good morning, Ms. Cook,” he said with a mischievous smile.

  “Good morning, Mr. Hartley,” I replied.

  I stood up and leaned over seductively as I grabbed some papers from the other side of the desk. I’d tried this little move when I first started working with Jason, but it hadn’t had much effect on him. This time I got a much better response, though. I felt his body move a step closer to me as the front of his pants gently touched my ass.

  “Can I help you find something?” he asked, pretending like he was trying to be helpful.

  There wasn’t anyone else around, but it was a good cover story in case someone happened to come by. I pushed my ass back toward him just a touch before turning around with the papers in my hand.

  “Here’s a copy of that report you had me working on,” I said in a little bit of a huskier voice than I normally used. It was fun to play this game with Jason, and I suspected the next few weeks of work were going to be a hell of a lot more enjoyable than the first month had been.

  “Thank you. I can’t wait to read them,” he said as he moved away and stood in the doorway of his office. “That’s one fine skirt you have on there.”

  “This old thing?” I teased and spun around.

  As I spun, I saw the elevator door open, and Zelda got out with Kevin. They were engrossed in a conversation, but I quickly sat down and pretended to be working so they wouldn’t see how much I’d been flirting with Jason.

  “I’ll talk to you later. Email me, though,” Jason said with a quick smile before he went over to talk to Kevin.

  The two men looked like they went straight to talking about business as a serious expression crossed Jason’s face. I tried to listen in on what they were talking about, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. Sometimes I could understand the business mumbo jumbo they were saying, and other times it sounded like they were speaking in a foreign language.

  I went back to working with a new level of intensity. I wanted to finish another project purely so I could walk into Jason’s office and hand it to him. Jason was really busy throughout the day and constantly went from his office to several other people’s offices. It was nice to see him coming and going like normal again and not trying to avoid me.

  Every time he walked by, I stopped typing for just a moment as our eyes locked, and he went into his office or left his office. There were no words, just an intense attraction that was building up more and more throughout the day.

  “Did I tell you that I liked that skirt?” Jason said as he snuck up behind me while I was getting coffee late in the afternoon.

  His hand gently touched my exposed inner thigh near the hem of my skirt. The touch sent a shiver through my body, and I stayed in that position to see where else his fingers might be heading.

  “You are getting pretty damn bold,” I whispered.

  “No, everyone’s working hard, they won’t see,” he said as he turned and looked behind him to watch out while he let his fingers slide up and down my inner thigh.

  “You know if someone comes around that corner, it’s going to be too late. They are going to see you,” I teased.

  “Yep.” He continued
playing with my thigh and then quickly stood up as Kevin walked in the room. I grabbed my coffee, nodded at Kevin, and then hurried back to my desk. I couldn’t keep from laughing as I waited for Jason to return from the break room.

  Jason was in there with Kevin for a long time before he finally came back to his office. He didn’t say anything to me, and instead went straight to his desk and sent me an instant message.

  IM from Jason: Whoops

  IM from Anna: Oh my gosh. That’s so embarrassing.

  IM from Jason: I guess I should try harder to behave myself.

  IM from Anna: I guess I could wear a longer shirt. ;)

  IM from Jason: Don’t you dare.

  We played around over instant messenger for a little bit, but eventually, we both went back to work. Jason was still really busy with his job, and I didn’t want to totally distract him from the things he needed to do.

  Throughout the day, I worked my ass off with hardly a break as I tried to leave Jason alone and get my own work done. Jason was on a lot of phone calls, and by the time six o’clock rolled around, he and Kevin had to go to a business dinner, and I hadn’t realized it was an hour past when I normally left work.

  “Are you staying all night?” Jason teased as he and Kevin waited for me by the elevator.

  “No, I’m coming. Sorry, I was trying to finish something up.”

  I hurried over to the elevator and made a point to stand on the opposite side from Jason. I didn’t make eye contact with either of them and instead just stood there and looked at my phone. When the elevator finally opened, I sent a text message to Lilli and then hurried off to my car.

  “See you tomorrow,” Jason said.

  “Yep, see you both tomorrow.”

  ***

  Working and flirting with Jason was the perfect combination for me. I was driven over the next several weeks and worked hard to show that I could manage the flirting and working that we had going on. It was exciting to come to work, and I had more energy than I’d had the first month of working, that was for sure.

  Every morning, I put on a sexy business outfit, did my hair and makeup and tried to think of a new way I could flirt with Jason. We still hadn’t managed to find time for our official date, but that didn’t matter all that much. I knew he was busy with Clyde on the weekends, and work had been crazy busy as well.

  He had me going through each of the divisions of my father’s company and pulling financial reports for him. When I happened to mention that to my father, I noticed he looked a little worried, but surprisingly, he let it go without giving me a half-hour long sermon.

  Kevin even managed to give me a compliment on how hard I was working and the awesome work I was getting done. It was exciting to get some validation from someone other than Jason.

  I could see how working and dating your boss wouldn’t work for some people, but it was working fabulously for me. We had a chance to talk and hang out with each other every day, and even though we were busy, we still found a hidden moment every now and then for a sexy kiss in the corner of his office or some other cool place.

  By the end of the month, I was working late into the evening on a Friday and so were several other people in the office. We all had our own little projects we were trying to finish up before heading home for the weekend. No one was particularly chatty as we had our heads in our computers and were typing away.

  Fred and Mary from our accounting department were still in their offices working on something for Jason. Kevin and Jason were huddled in the big conference room with many of the reports I’d made for them over the last two months. Even Zelda was still at her desk trying to finish up a project.

  By ten o’clock, I could hardly keep my eyes opened as I emailed off my finished report and looked up to see that Zelda had gone home. I wandered down the hallway and noticed the whole accounting team was gone as well. Then I went down the opposite side of the hallway and saw that only Kevin and Jason were left in the building.

  I stood outside of the conference room for a minute as I listened to the two men arguing about something. I couldn’t make out what they were saying from there, though, so I moved down to the office next to the conference room. I’d been in there visiting one afternoon and remembered you could hear through the vent rather easily.

  “It’s not working, Jason. We are going to have to piece the company out,” Kevin said with a little bit of exasperation in his voice.

  “Come on, Kevin. You are being dramatic. They still have money in reserve and are still the best at bidding on commercial projects. Let’s put a few million into them before we destroy the company.”

  “That’s ridiculous, and you know it. This is your cock talking and not your mind. I don’t care if you’re boning his daughter. This company needs to be dismantled before we lose everything.”

  Jason was quiet, and I stood near the vent waiting for him to defend my father and his company. There was no way Jason was going to destroy everything my father had worked so hard for. I knew him. I knew Jason just wouldn’t do that. He’d promised my father they were going to help them get back on their feet. That was the whole reason for this deal.

  “Okay, let’s start putting together the sell-off documents. We need to get some good bids, though. I can’t go to Edward without having some offers on the table.”

  “This is for the best,” Kevin said.

  “Yeah, I know,” Jason replied.

  My pulse was throbbing so loudly in my head that I could hardly stand up. I hurried to my desk, grabbed my purse, and quickly ran to the elevator just as I heard Jason and Kevin coming out of their meeting.

  I didn’t look over at them; instead, I jumped into the elevator the second it opened. I closed my eyes and hoped they hadn’t seen me, but I knew they had.

  “Goodnight, Anna,” Jason said as he held the door open with his hand.

  “Yeah, goodnight,” I said with disgust in my voice and pushed the button to close the elevator door.

  I couldn’t even stand to look at the man after hearing what I had just heard. He was going to sell off my father’s company. After everything that had happened between the two of us, I was in shock at how willing he was to destroy my family. This was going to devastate my father. It was going to kill him, I just knew it.

  Chapter 11

  Jason

  “Is this what you meant when you said you had everything under control?” Kevin asked.

  “What? It’s fine. She was probably just tired.” Even I didn’t believe a damn word I was saying. Anna must have overheard us talking. She was clearly upset, and I needed to make sure she wasn’t going to run off and tell her father what she had heard.

  “Yeah, damage control might be nice,” Kevin said as I looked at him and then at the stairwell. “We can’t afford to have Edward and Marcus flipping out on us before we’ve even put together a good deal for them to look at. Go,” he said and waved me off so I could catch up to Anna.

  I rushed down the stairs and out into the parking lot just as she was pulling out of her spot. I hurried around to the front of the car and gently tapped on the hood before walking to her window when she stopped.

  Her cute lips were pressed together roughly, and she wouldn’t even look me in the eyes. My heart sunk at the realization that she was genuinely angry with me. It was a new thing for the two of us, and I wasn’t prepared to handle it just yet.

  “Anna, can we talk?”

  “I have to go,” she said without looking up at me, but I thought I could see tears rolling down her face.

  “Did you overhear Kevin and me talking? I can explain.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  She rolled her window up and pulled away from me. Kevin was walking up to me as she left the parking lot. I shook my head in disappointment.

  Anna hadn’t even given me a chance to explain what she had heard. I really wouldn’t be recommending breaking up her father’s company if it wasn’t the b
est possible option. Plus, just because the company got sold off wouldn’t mean that anyone would lose their job at all. Many times when new owners bought part of a company, they would then keep the staff on to run it – sometimes even paying more and providing better benefits because the new owners were typically part of huge corporations.

  “So yeah, this was why I said not to sleep with her,” Kevin said almost under his breath. “You have gotten us into a big mess here. If she gets pissed, she could file a lawsuit or something against us because you’re her boss. Damn, Jason, this is a mess.”

  “I didn’t sleep with her, she’s a virgin,” I said and then winced at the information I’d just willingly given to Kevin.

  “Wow, okay, so you definitely need to not sleep with her. But what’s all this touchy-feely shit that’s been going on in the office? I thought for sure you two were sleeping together.”

  “No. We are just flirting and having fun. I promised to take her on a date before I slept with her.”

  “Jason, what the hell is going on? This is exactly the mess I didn’t want to happen.”

  “I’ll take care of it. I’ll talk to her. Don’t worry. She probably doesn’t understand how this could all end up working out really well for her father. I mean he will end up stinking rich after we sell off the company. He’s got to be thinking about retirement soon.”

  Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. This was what he did when he got anxious. Kevin wasn’t really the yelling type of guy, and his sensibilities always helped us in our business dealings.

  “Apologize to her, talk to her, and sleep with her if you have to,” he said as my mouth literally dropped open. “We can’t have this thing going off the rails, and if she will listen to you and keep quiet, that’s a good thing. However you need to do that, just do it.”

  The gravity of what he was saying was huge. Kevin had basically just said he didn’t care if I slept with Anna or not and that keeping our business deal was so important he was fine with it all. I wasn’t about to manipulate Anna or pretend that we were something more than we were, but I did care for her, and I hated that she was upset.