AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You got it. Friday is fine, I’ll see you then,” I said, eager to end the conversation as quickly as possible. I hung up the phone just as Belle exited the bedroom, her face pale.
“What is it?” I asked her.
“That was Sally asking me to dinner Friday night,” she replied, her eyes wide.
I nodded, determined not to make this a big deal. We could handle this. All we had to do was be
in the same room for a few hours without being all over each other…God this was going to suck.
“It’s okay. We will be fine. We just need to be careful.” I motioned for her to come over and join me. She sat on my lap, laughing as I curled my arms around her. “Do you trust me?” I murmured, tickling her sides as she squirmed in my arms.
“I trust you!” she gasped, tears in her eyes. She leaned down, her mouth connecting with mine in a long, slow kiss.
***
“You’re quiet today,” Carly commented, placing a coffee on my desk. I looked up at her and nodded. The truth was I felt awkward around Carly now I was with Belle. Though we hadn’t spoken about being exclusive, our relationship was moving at such a pace that it was at the stage where even looking at another woman made me feel guilty. In the past, perving on women had almost been like a second job to me.
“Yeah, just flat out with this deal,” I explained. It wasn’t a complete lie. Carly smiled, leaning down so her elbows rested on the edge of my desk. I averted my eyes away from her cleavage, which was hard considering her breasts were almost in my face.
“Maybe you need some help relaxing?” Carly suggested. She stood up, her fingers flicking open her shirt.
“Carly,” I began, not sure how to phase what I needed to say without offending her.
“Come on, Jack, let me relax you,” she whined, squeezing herself in between my legs.
“Carly! Fuck, just stop it, will you?” I snapped. She gaped at me in shock. I sighed. Way to go, Jack. She pushed past me and ran out of the office. “Fuck!” I yelled. The last thing I needed right now was more issues with my staff. I didn’t have the time to train someone new, let alone deal with a possible harassment charge. I needed to straighten this out, but I had no idea how to do that.
Sighing, I realized what I had to do. I pressed the intercom button and asked Carly to come in. There was no other way around this other than to tell the truth and hope that she could keep it to herself. She walked in and sat down, avoiding eye contact with me the whole time.
“Look, it’s not you, okay? The truth is I’m kind of seeing someone. No one knows about it, and I’d like to keep it that way.” I spoke gently and apologetically.
Carly looked like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You’ve met someone? You, as in Jack Falcon? As in the guy who sleeps with a new chick every night? Are you serious?” she asked, incredulous.
“Yes I’m serious. Would I make that shit up?” I asked, annoyed.
“I don’t know, Jack, you do a lot of things to get yourself out of an awkward situation. And I’m pretty sure what happened a few minutes ago was awkward. At least it was for me.” Carly shrugged.
I sighed. “Shit, Carly, I’m telling the truth here. I know, I know: Jack Falcon has a girlfriend—call the press, announce it to the world. Whatever. I’m telling you the truth.”
“Why? I mean why are you telling me this?” she said, confused. At least she seemed to believe it now.
“Because believe it or not, I actually like having you around. I want you to keep working here, but this,” I motioned between her and me, “it needs to stop.”
“Okay,” Carly agreed. I looked at her, my eyes narrowed. That seemed too easy. There had to be a catch.
“Okay? Just like that, it’s fine?” I said suspiciously.
“What do you want from me, Jack?” she laughed. “You’ve got a girlfriend, which means you don’t need me for any of that, at least not for now,” she added, her eyebrow raised. I scowled at her, not liking her assumption that I’d end up cheating on Belle. “That’s fine. So long as I keep getting my bonuses and I’m allowed to make my snide remarks, then okay. I’ll keep this to myself.”
“Fair enough,” I agreed. “Thanks, Carly,” I said, feeling better about the whole situation. She nodded and left.
I leaned back in my chair and thought about everything. It felt surreal calling Belle my girlfriend but that’s what she was, wasn’t it? And that’s what I wanted, right?
I couldn’t deny to myself that I had some pretty strong feelings for Belle, but something stopped me from telling her exactly how deep those feelings actually ran. I don’t know what it was—maybe I was afraid of getting hurt, which sounded ridiculous because and I’m the king of hurting people. We didn’t speak about the future often, but the suggestion was there. A little comment here and a reference there were enough to make me freeze up.
I thought about the future often, but putting those thoughts into words was hard. Part of the problem was she was so good and so perfect. She had all these great things ahead of her. I didn’t want to drag her down. I didn’t want her regretting being with me, and I couldn’t imagine her not waking up one day and wondering where the hell her life went.
***
