“What?” Anna asked as she noticed I was smiling.
“Nothing, I was just laughing about the timing of things.”
“Like how I almost had you in my mouth?” she whispered in my ear. Shit, even her whispers made me hard.
“You are naughty,” I joked.
“You know I am,” she teased. “Okay, I’ll be at work tomorrow,” Anna said loudly so Patrick could hear her.
“Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I replied and started to get up from the couch.
“Thanks for a great date.”
“Oh, that was a horrible date.” I laughed. “But if it counts as our first date, that just means I have a lot of room to improve.”
“See you tomorrow.”
I gave her a peck on the cheek before heading back down to my car. There was a huge sense of relief as I climbed in and made my way to the office. I hadn’t told Kevin where I was since dropping Clyde off, and I saw at least a half-dozen text messages from him when I glanced at my phone in the parking lot. Instead of bothering to read them, I just drove to work. It was going to be much easier to explain things to him when I was there in person.
I put the windows down and turned the music up as I sped down the freeway toward my office. Life was good at that moment—carefree and fun with everything falling into place. I couldn’t wait to get the new deals put into place and get Edward and Marcus on board. When we got everything settled, it would be such a relief, but even with all the work we had ahead of us, I was still more relaxed than I’d been for months.
Anna was to blame. It was her smiling face and constant upbeat attitude that intrigued me and drew me to her. She wasn’t like any woman I’d ever dated. Even with what she thought was an absolutely horrible thing I was doing to her father, Anna still gave me the opportunity to explain and actually listened to me when I told her my side of things. She was angry; she did yell a little, but she didn’t stop believing that I wouldn’t purposely hurt her father. That meant a lot to me.
As I sped into the parking lot of our building, I saw Kevin on the phone and standing at the window. When he saw me pull in, he hung up and disappeared from the window, and I suspected he’d be waiting for me the second I got out of the elevator. He’d probably been worried sick about what was going on with Anna and Edward and how it would affect our company.
Chapter 14
Anna
“She was literally on her knees about to suck him off when I walked in,” Patrick said loudly as we all sat around the table at Starbucks and most of them laughed.
It was out now. Everyone knew for sure that I was a virgin and that Jason was the man I was going to lose my virginity to. I was embarrassed but tried to take it like a champ as I sat there and smiled while Patrick, Summer, Amy, and Rebecca used my life as their morning humor.
“Okay, I think they get it.” I tried to stop the conversation from going any further.
“You should have seen his face when I walked in. It was a mixture of anger and utter disappointment. He was looking forward to that blowjob, and I totally ruined it for him.”
“Anna, why were you going to blow him?” Summer asked in her usual rich girl attitude. “You’re a virgin. He should be on his knees for you.”
“I just felt like it. We were in the moment.”
“No, not the best plan,” Amy added. “You are in charge. You have a commodity that guys will literally kill each other for. You need to take advantage of this precious gift you have.”
“Maybe I could tell my guy that I’m a virgin and see if he buys me the Mercedes I want.” Summer laughed as she sipped her tea.
Who actually got ice tea when they went to Starbucks? I never understood that. Starbucks was a coffee house, and you went there to get coffee, or maybe a hot chocolate, but tea just seemed weird to me. But then again, Summer was a little weird. She was obsessed with having the latest and greatest things and was so materialistic that I couldn’t imagine any man being able to put up with her.
“Can we just stop talking about my sex life,” I begged them. But my urging went on deaf ears, and they continued with their tips and ideas for how I should live my life.
It was exhausting being the center of attention in our little group. I liked it much better when we were talking about Summer and her various rich boyfriends or listening to her complain when her parents threatened to take away her monthly allowance. Having everyone talking about me and giving me their opinions was utterly tiring.
“What if you held out and got married?” Rebecca asked. “Like stayed a virgin until your wedding night?”
“I’ve thought of that, but I don’t plan on getting married for many years, and it seems a little unrealistic for me.”
“Oh, what if you kept teasing him until he proposed and then you denied him?” Summer laughed.
“Summer, that’s a horrible idea. Then I don’t get to have him as a boyfriend or a husband. What are you talking about?” I scoffed at her.
She just shrugged her shoulders and went back to drinking her tea. I couldn’t take much more of the gossiping about my life and had to say my goodbyes so I could head into work. It had been a really long week, and going into work on a Friday and then enjoying the weekend was exactly what I wanted to do.
“See you Saturday?” Amy asked before I left.
“Ugh, where are we going?”
“No idea yet. But it’s your birthday so we will find someplace that will let you in. Invite your new boy-toy,” Summer teased.
“You mean her boss?” Patrick added with a snicker.
“Oh, you mean her neighbor?” Rebecca chimed in.
“Oh, my God, you guys! I’m going to work. Text me where we decide to go, and I’ll come for a little bit.”
The funny thing about their comments was that they were all true. Jason was my boy-toy, boss, and neighbor—well, an old neighbor at least. It was funny, and I saw the humor in it; I just couldn’t keep laughing at the same old jokes.
I made it to work right on time and felt totally weird as I got out of the elevator. How much did people know about why I hadn’t been there? It was awkward as I walked past Zelda’s desk and over to mine. But when I sat down, there was a small bouquet of flowers with a card that read ‘Welcome Back.’ It looked like it was from Zelda, and as I looked up at her, she gave me a quick wave.
“Thank you,” I mouthed since I didn’t want to walk all the way back over to her desk.
She just smiled and waved at me and then went right back to her work. I sat down and pulled my email up to see what I needed to be working on. Sure enough, there was an update from Jason, just like there had been every day that I’d worked.
Without hesitation, I put my purse down and got to work. Jason’s office door was open, but he wasn’t in there, and I ended up working quietly at my desk for most of the morning. It was as if nothing had changed at all. No one in the office seemed to know the drama that had gone on, and by lunch time I’d settled back into my day to day work.
“Anna, can we talk to you?” Kevin said from a few doors down.
Kevin was a nice man and a really genuine guy who, up until that moment, I felt was someone who I could trust. But as I walked slowly toward him, I got a horrible feeling in my gut and became nauseous as he continued to look at me sternly. He was the parental figure around the office, and everyone listened to him, even Jason. Although Jason clearly made decisions with Kevin, there definitely seemed to be a hierarchy in who was in charge.
“What’s up?” I asked as I walked into Kevin’s office and saw Jason sitting there.
Kevin’s office was twice the size of Jason’s. Although Jason had explained that he let Kevin have the bigger office because he was actually in the office more than Jason, that wasn’t at all what I’d seen in the months I had been working there. But I had no idea what went on before the purchase of my father’s company.
“Well, this looks ominous,” I said under my breath as I sat down next to Jason. “What�
�s up?”
Kevin closed his door and then walked calmly over to his desk as he sat down across from us. His jaw clenched, and he appeared to have a lot to say but was being very careful with his words. “We need to make a change,” he said in his dry tone of voice.
“Okay.”
“It’s a good change,” Jason added as he smiled widely.
“It would make me feel better if your label wasn’t as an intern,” Kevin added. “I’m aware that you and Jason are close, and I understand how those things go. I just feel very awkward about your current label.”
I tried not to laugh at Kevin because I could tell he was serious, but when I looked at Jason, I noticed he was also trying not to laugh. We both pressed our lips tightly together as the corners of our mouths turned up, and we turned to look at Kevin so he could finish what he was saying.
“Okay,” I said again.
“So how about if you are a contract employee? Like a special short-term employee who is paid privately and not through the company?”
“Sure,” I said agreeably. “Whatever works for you.”
“Wow, that makes me feel so much better,” Kevin said as a visible relief washed over him. “Okay, well we can work out the details, but I think this is for the best.”
“It’s a great idea, Kevin,” Jason said. “Come on contract employee, would you like to go to lunch?” Jason joked.
“Sure, contract boss, I’d love that.” I giggled, and the two of us left Kevin’s office. “What was that all about?” I asked when the door was safely closed.
“Oh, you know Kevin, always over-analyzing everything. But hey, this way he’s not grumpy about me flirting with you, so it works for me.”
“Works for me. You guys were in there all morning?”
“Yeah. Let’s go eat, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
We went across the street to a little sandwich shop and found a booth in the back of the place. It was Friday afternoon, and the crowd was big, but most people were grabbing their sandwiches and leaving so we had the corner to ourselves.
“Seriously, Kevin scared the crap out of me. I thought he was going to fire us both.” I laughed.
“He’s pretty intense, I know.”
“Okay, so what else is going on?”
“We found a couple of interesting companies, but I’m going to go check them out before we accept their offers. I was wondering if you’d like to come with me? I mean, it might help you understand the whole process, and when it comes time to explain it to your father and Marcus, it would be nice to have someone they trust in on the conversations.”
“Go with you? Like travel to the companies?”
“Well, most are located in Illinois, so it would just be a day trip. There’s one that has a corporate location in California, and this would be the start of their expansion to the Midwest, but all the others will be in the state.”
“Um, sure. I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but it sounds interesting. When would this all start?”
“This weekend. I was thinking of driving down south and staying Sunday night so I could talk to them first thing on Monday. The sooner we are able to get this enormous deal put together, the better it will be for everyone.”
I couldn’t help smiling at Jason as he explained what we were going to be doing. This was the kind of business I’d imagined I’d like to learn about. I loved traveling, and even road trips were exciting for me. This was going to be so much fun. “Sure, that sounds great,” I said as I took a big bite of my sandwich. “Oh, crap, I forgot…” I said as I tried to cover my mouth and finish chewing. “My friends are having a birthday party for me this weekend. But I think it’s just on Saturday night. It should work. I’ll be tired, but if you’re driving on Sunday, then I’m game.”
“Wait, what? It’s your birthday?”
The genuine excitement in Jason’s voice made me smile. He looked almost giddy as he bounced in his seat and waited for me to respond.
“Yep.”
“This is very exciting. At my age, we don’t celebrate birthdays anymore. It’s more of a casual dinner and nothing too exciting. No one likes getting old once you pass thirty.” He laughed. “But at your age, I bet it will be a fun party.”
“It will be entertaining, I’m sure.”
Jason took a big bite of his sandwich and we sat quietly eating our food for a bit. I couldn’t help watching how his rugged jaw moved, and then suddenly I flashed back to remembering his lips on my breasts. The soft scruff of his beard moving against my skin as his lips pulled me into his mouth.
I automatically thought of what this trip might be like for the two of us. Did inviting me mean that we would be sharing a room? I was excited by the idea of spending time with him in a hotel. I was so distracted by my own thoughts that I didn’t hear Jason as he asked me a question—I only saw the look on his face while he waited for me to answer.
“What was that? Sorry, I was spacing out.”
“Your birthday. Since you aren’t twenty-one, where will you go?”
I couldn’t help laughing at his question. He’d seen me in a bar before. He knew I had a fake ID and wasn’t afraid to use it. But for the fun of it, I decided to answer his question.
“We will probably go back to Club Lively. It’s not my favorite, but I’ve been going there for years, so it feels like home when I’m there.”
“Years?” He chuckled. “When did you first start going there?”
“About three years ago.”
“Geez, you are way wilder than I was when I was your age. I thought I was being rebellious when I stayed out late at the high school football game.”
It was a common misconception that because I had a fake ID and went to clubs that I was this crazy wild girl. Admittedly, I drank way before I should, but relative to my older friends, I was pretty responsible. I hadn’t gone home with random guys and still had my virginity intact. The real issue was that my friends from school had all gone off to college, and the friends I had now were all older than me. They were going out to the clubs and dancing and partying all night, and I was stuck at home. I finally got the ID so I could just hang out with them. The drinking was just a fun side effect of having the ID.
“Do you want to come to my party?” I asked with a little wink. I wasn’t about to admit that I wasn’t as wild as he thought because I was pretty damn wild when I was around Jason.
The years that I’d known him had me feeling really comfortable. I was just as comfortable around him as I was with my friends, so there was no reason he shouldn’t be invited to my party. Okay, well maybe the fact that he was technically my boss made it a bad idea, but I still wanted him there. And we had just made me a contract employee instead of an intern, so that worked for me too.
“I’ll see if I can find a sitter for Clyde. I can’t ask Rosie, she’s been working really hard for me lately, and I need her to cover next week when I’m traveling.”
“Oh, yeah, I understand.”
“But my brother and his wife might be able to help. They were going to have Clyde at their house on Sunday anyways. I’m sure they could do an overnight Saturday too.”
A smile instantly filled my face at the possibility of Jason coming to spend my birthday night out with us. Even though he was older, I really did think he’d get along with me and my friends. Well, for the most part at least. “I’d like it if you came,” I said as I let my fingers linger near his.
“Yeah, I’d like it if I got to dance with you again. I still have dreams about you and me on that dance floor.”
“That was a fun night.”
“I swear every time I’m with you is a fun night.”
“That’s good.”
Our conversation had slowed, and I was turning into an excited teenager the longer he looked at me. Jason’s eyes were like a deep blue ocean that I could get lost in. I knew there was danger in them. His desire had boiled up and shown through by the way he glanced down at my body. I relished the way he l
ooked at me.
His fingers gently touched mine as he let one of them stroke up and down the back of my hand. I took a deep breath as I felt the connection growing. I had to cross my legs to calm the desire I had for him.
As I crossed my legs, Jason looked down and moved his chair closer to mine. His eyes were fixated on my thighs, and he didn’t even pretend like he wasn’t looking. I watched as he licked his lips with desire, and I felt the heat building up inside of me.
“We should get back to work,” he said as his eyes finally looked up at mine.
“Yep. Lots of work to get done.”
And just like that, the moment was past, and we were heading back to the office. I couldn’t wait to get him back on the dance floor. I was looking forward to feeling his hands on my body as we pressed against each other and moved to the music. This was going to be one of the best birthdays I’d ever had.
***
“Be nice to him, please,” I said to my friends as we waited for Jason to arrive at the club.
“Anna has a boyfriend,” Summer teased.
“He’s not my boyfriend. We aren’t anything but friends. Still, try not to be too crazy around him or too weird. Just be normal,” I said as I tried to reel them in so they wouldn’t scare Jason away.
“I think we should just be ourselves. If he can’t handle us, then that’s too bad for him,” Patrick added.
“Shit, here he comes. Act natural,” I mumbled as I tried to look like I was in a conversation with Amy and not noticing Jason as he smoothly walked across the club.
It was impossible for me to pretend that I hadn’t seen him, though. My eyes kept looking over at him, and soon I was staring at him as he walked toward me. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt, a much more casual look than I’d seen recently—although I did love it when he was dressed like a normal guy and not wearing his business suits.
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