by J. L. Ryan
He realized the way that came out, but he wasn’t about to apologize for it. “I think that we could in essence make a great team, because even though you don’t see it…I do value your opinion.”
“That makes me feel good. Thank you!”
He smiled, “Now, let’s enjoy the food.” He took a bite of his salad and saw that she was finally getting comfortable and he breathed a sigh of relief. Everything he had said to her was the truth. None of it was lines that he was just feeding her and he hoped that she understood that.
***
Marisa stared down at the picture of Troy’s ex dancing with the other man. Her mind kept going back to lunch with Jeffrey. He definitely surprised her by the easy tone. She had expected everything to be awkward and then when he told her why he chose her for the job, she found herself distracted. There was a heat in his eyes when he spoke the words and she didn’t know if it was because she was attracted to him or lonely, but she suddenly felt like doing more than going to lunch with him.
She shook her head, removing the vision from her mind. She looked back down at the picture, tracing the outline of the couple. As she was doing that, she picked up the picture and stared at an image that she hadn’t seen before.
She got up and moved to the window light. In the corner there was a faint image of a man staring in the direction of the couple. It was definitely Troy. She was sure of it.
She got up and hurried to his office. She stopped when she heard his voice echoing through the door that was a crack. “You can’t do this to me, Janelle. Haven’t I lost enough?” She paused, leaning in toward his door. “Please, don’t…Dammit…” she heard the sound of a slamming phone and she cautiously proceeded. She considered leaving, but she had come this far. She knocked and heard the faint sound of his voice, “Come in!”
She opened the door and saw that he was sitting at his desk, looking drugged. “I can leave,” she stammered.
He shook his head, “Don’t bother.” He sat up in his chair. “Find something?”
She proceeded to his desk, awkwardly. She held the picture, but before putting it in front of him she said, “tell me about you.”
He looked up and confusion was evident. “Pardon me?”
She took the seat in front of me. “Well, it seems that I did most of the talking at lunch. I think you have a story to tell. What is it?”
He shook his head, “Not worth telling.”
“Come on, Mr. Bradley. I’m sure there’s something. You have a beautiful family. Start there.”
When he looked up, she sat back. There was agony on his face and she regretted saying anything. He reached for the picture and stared at it. “Do you know why this picture is on my desk?”
She shook her head, “Probably because it’s your family and you want to show them off.”
“Well, at one time that was true. However, now it just holds bad memories.” She watched as he traced the picture of his daughter. “Her name was Jasmine.”
“Was?”
He nodded slowly, looking up. “She drowned last year. She was just five years old.” He smiled, “Believe it or not, I used to be a very charismatic gentleman and a family man. However, one weekend we had decided to go camping and I was going to have to work late on Friday night.
So, I told them to go up without me and I would come up Saturday. My wife and daughter were in a boat when a storm came through. She tried everything she could, but the boat capsized and Jasmine went under. She was wearing a lifejacket, but the boat pinned her under.
My wife couldn’t find her until it was too late.” She could tell that the memories were painful and tears were forming on his eyes. “I never blamed her, but she didn’t know how to swim and she blamed me for not being there.”
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Bradley.”
He nodded, “Please, call me Jeffrey.” She nodded, as he continued. “She called me and I rushed to the hospital, but it was too late. Right after the funeral she said she wanted a divorce. It was an amicable one. We didn’t have a prenuptial, but I didn’t worry about her taking me to the cleaners. It finalized and I thought things were done.
My dad died last month.” She covered her mouth, realizing the hurt he was feeling. “I was left a hefty sum of money. My ex is suing me for damages from the loss of her daughter.”
“Can she do that?” She asked in disbelief.
He nodded, “Unfortunately, people sue for all types of reasons.”
“It’s your daughter, too.” She argued.
“I know, but her heart is still healing.” He frowned, “My heart is still healing.”
“My feelings exactly.” Marisa stated. She was irritated by the news, but she wanted him to know that she appreciated him telling her the story. “Thank you for opening up to me, but I just think that you’re getting the raw end of the deal.”
He smiled, “Yeah, you and me both.” He shrugged, “It is what it is and I will just have to fight through. Justice will win out, right?”
“I suppose,” she mumbled, staring down at the picture.
“You did want to show me something. What is it?” she got up and walked around his desk. She put the picture down in front of him and pointed out the image. She was so close to him, that she was sure her breath was tickling his skin.
Their eyes met and she saw a fury in his eyes. She looked down at the picture. “I think it’s Troy.”
He looked back to the picture and slowly nodded. “I’ll be damned.”
“If he was there and saw the affair happening before his eyes, he could have gotten jealous. There is just something about him that…”
“Doesn’t feel right,” he finished her sentence.
“You feel it, too?”
He nodded, “I just don’t want to jump to conclusions, but this is a very good start.” She stepped back from him, needing a breather. He stood up and turned to her, “Thank you for listening today and Monday we’ll try to dig deeper into figuring out the truth.” He moved closer to her and she thought she saw that his eyes moved to her lips briefly.
“I think I’m going to head out for the day. You alright with that?”
He started to nod, but then his lips went down to hers and he kissed her. She pulled away, not knowing what she wanted. His eyes remained connected to hers. “I’m messed up, no good…” he started.
“I know…me too,” she whispered.
However, that didn’t stop the notion that she wanted to feel his body against hers. “Sexual encounters at work are never a good idea.”
She nodded, “I know…” before she could get anything else out, she felt his hand snake around her neck and he was pulling her back into another kiss. “Hm…” she moaned. “Wait…” she breathlessly spoke, breaking from the passionate embrace. “Are we even thinking this over?”
He shook his head moving closer to her and putting his hands on her blouse. “We’re being irrational. Just go for it. He ripped the shirt from her body and it fell to the floor. His lips went to her neck, while her hands went to his shirt, removing it from the confinement of his dress pants. She started off tediously undoing button after button, but then knew that she needed to move the show on the road. She busted open his shirt, the way that he had busted open hers. Her hands trailed down his chest, while he continued to kiss her neck.
As his tongue slowly weaved its way out of her, she dropped her hands from his head. She closed her eyes and took in deep and slow breaths. She felt him easing his way back up her. Her eyes opened and she stared at him. She only saw desire and nothing else.
Monday morning, Jeffery walked into the office and as he passed Marisa's office, he couldn't even look up. When he had time to think about it, he realized that it wasn't right. He took advantage of the situation.
He looked down at his desk, where the picture that started everything was still lying in a heap of papers. He smelled her sweet perfume and instinctively kissed her, but it should have stopped at that.
He picked up the pict
ure, clearly seeing Troy Houser as he watched his wife dance with the other man. There was a glare in his eyes and it wasn’t able to be refuted. He had the strange feeling he did, similar to the one that he felt when Troy left their meeting.
As he was looking at the picture, he heard a knock on his door. He glanced up to see Marisa in his doorway. “I’m sorry to bother you, but can we talk?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer her, as she entered his office and closed his door behind her. When she turned around, he tried to read her mind, yet he saw that it wouldn’t be an easy task.
“What’s on your mind?” He asked, putting the picture down and looking back up at her.
She was hesitant, glancing around his office and he wondered if she saw the visuals, too. “I want to talk about Saturday,” she walked over and sat down in his chair.
He wanted to avoid it at all costs, but he could see that she was not having that in mind. “Okay.”
“It wasn’t planned…” she began.
“No…it wasn’t,” he concurred.
“I guess that I was wondering how you felt about it?”
He thought about that. He would be lying if he said that it wasn’t what occupied every moment of his mind. He would be denying everything if he said that he didn’t want to rip her clothes off and enjoy another day of sex with her.
He bit back the thought and just looked at her. “You are a very passionate woman, Jamison.” He groaned, knowing what words he would speak next. “I’m not looking for a relationship.”
“I’m not neither,” she whispered.
“What we did on the floor of this office, needs to stay between us.” She nodded, proving that she was aware of that. His eyes wandered to her lips, the same lips that he could have remained kissing all night, but he looked away.
“We let impulses take over and I’m too much of a stickler to make sure that never happens again.”
Her face fell and she looked down at his desk. He knew that he saw hurt in her eyes, but she stood up and nodded. “I am glad that we’re on the same page. It was something that we both needed in the moment, we claimed it, seized it, and that was it. Thank you for your time.”
She turned from him and left his office. He hadn’t expected her to be so casual about it, but he supposed he should have been glad. Instead, he was trying to figure out how he could forget it.
***
Marisa sank down in her chair, after leaving his office. She didn’t know what she had expected him to say, but she didn’t think he would resort to his abrupt attitude. As she was contemplating how to forget about him, her phone rang. She picked it up, “Hello?”
“Hey honey, I was just seeing how things were going?”
She groaned, hearing her mom’s voice. She had given the phone number, because she didn’t have her cell anymore.
Now she regretted it. “Things are going great. I absolutely love my job.” She wanted to be as enthusiastic as she possibly could. She hadn’t told her about the apartment, because she knew she would worry and that wasn’t good for anyone involved.
“Good…good…” her mother was saying. “I was wondering if you had time to think about this weekend.”
“I don’t know, Mom. He has me working weekends and I might not be able to get away.” She looked up and saw that he was entering her office, “I have to go. I’ll try,” she quickly hung up the phone and stood up. “I’m sorry, I…”
“Please, you don’t have to apologize. Everything alright?” He asked, a look of concern etched on his face.
She smiled so show that everything was fine. “Yes, it’s fine, but I did want to ask you something.”
“Sure,” he replied, taking a seat.
“Well, every Fourth of July my family has a big barbeque. The whole town comes and it’s something pretty cool, but I haven’t been back for it since I left home.
I was wondering if maybe you didn’t need me this weekend and I could go back to Pennsylvania.”
“Well…” he replied slowly, “you’ll be in Ohio this weekend, for business.”
Her eyes got big, “What?”
He pushed the folder toward her. “I forgot to mention that every year there’s a two day lawyer’s conference in Columbus, Ohio. Your ticket and itinerary is inside.”
She nodded, knowing that she couldn’t change that. “Okay.”
“I am sorry, Marisa,” he spoke as he stood up. She saw that he appeared to be genuine.
“I understand,” she replied, looking through the paperwork. She didn’t see him as he left her office, but she pushed the folder away. She picked up the phone and called her mom back to give her the news. It couldn’t be helped and she would just make her see that.
***
Jeffrey sat in another boring meeting. He didn’t like coming to this conference, but it was necessary to keep face. As he was drowning out the topic at hand, about the quality of lawyer care, he glanced to Marisa, who was sitting next to him.
He wished things could have been different, but there was no way to go back. Every minute he spent with her, he grew more enamored with her beauty. Yet, it wasn’t enough to make him throw out all worries and just let what happened…happen.
He shifted in his seat, to the growing erection in his pants. His leg slid along hers and she shot a look in his direction. “Sorry!” he whispered, turning his attention back to the speaker.
The speech lasted for another thirty minutes and when it was done and they were walking out of the room, he turned to her. “That…was interesting,” she replied.
He laughed, “Well, you really don’t have to lie.”
She looked at him and they laughed together. She looked away and shrugged, “Yeah, it was pretty boring.”
They headed out of the building and the warm air blew past him. “At least it was the last meeting for the day.” He glanced at his watch and saw that it was five o’clock. “Want to grab a bite to eat before going back to the hotel?”
She paused. He saw her bite her lower lip. It was a trait he found endearing. “I don’t know.”
“Please, at least let me do that. It’s the least I could do from dragging you to these boring meetings.”
She slowly nodded, “Okay.” She followed him to his car and he opened the door for her. She looked up at him and cocked her head. She shook her head and snickered, then got into the car.
He came around, but before starting the car he gave her an inquisitive look. “What’s so funny?”
“I suppose that I am just thinking back to the first few days of working with you. You were anything but gentlemanly.”
He nodded, thinking back to all the arrogance he portrayed. “I suppose I have changed…a little.” He also knew that a big part of that was due to her.
“You have changed, but more than a little.” She spoke, sitting back in her seat.
He started the rental and pulled from the parking lot. He saw her staring out the window, as if she was thinking. “Any preference of where to go?” He asked, breaking into the silence.
She shook her head, “Whatever!”
He continued to drive, until he was pulling into a Pizzeria. She opened the door, not giving him a chance to. He held back while she walked ahead of him. His eyes sauntered down her frame and then he cursed himself. This wasn’t helping the fact that he didn’t want to mix business with pleasure.
As he rushed to the door to open it up for her, their eyes met. Her smile was pure and sweet. She entered the restaurant and he knew that what he was doing to get her out of his mind wasn’t working and it would require an adjustment…a big one.
***
Marisa tossed and turned in the bed. She didn’t know what her problem was. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to sleeping on a hard bed. She sat up in her bed and turned on the television. She flipped through the channels and landed on an old movie.
As she watched she began to imagine herself and Jeffrey portraying the characters. She groaned, when the leading male and leading female
began kissing. It was like Jeffrey’s hands were all over her body and his tongue was dipping into her mouth.
She quickly changed the channel. She didn’t have time to have thoughts like that running through her mind.
She started watching a classic sitcom episode of I Love Lucy. She was laughing along with the television audience, when she heard the phone in her room ringing. She glanced at the clock to read eleven o’clock. She reached across the bed and answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Hello, Marisa…I’m sorry to call so late.” There was a hesitation on his end. “Is that the television I hear?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep.”
“Me neither,” he admitted to her. “A lot on my mind.”
“Right. There’s been a lot of information thrown at you…I mean us, today. So, it makes sense that our minds are reeling.”