AllFreeNovel
Share Us
es of shirtless Jeff. The painting he created, the darkness in his eyes and the way it felt to touch him. That was just lust playing on her fear of commitment she told herself. It was Jared she wanted. He looked over and she smiled at him as he continued to share more detail about the epic paintball game and how great of a weekend it was.
“Oh yeah, and Jeff is going to be coming out next week to stay with me for a while. He has a contract for some carpentry work and since it is only two weeks it makes sense for him to stay with me. Mom said you got to know him a bit more. I know he is rough but he means well. And he said he is looking forward to spending time with both of us,” Jared said.
Coming back to work after a long weekend was always difficult. Suzie however was looking forward to the distraction. It had been a quiet car ride home and she could only use the excuse about being tired for so long. Eventually she would have to figure out what to do, especially if Jared’s brother really was coming to town.
Putting distance from the incident, and sitting back at her desk, catching up on emails, Suzie was feeling less stressed. Yes, she had lied but it was to protect Jared. She did not want him to get hurt over something that should have never happened. And, as soon as she got the chance, she would tell Jeff to never speak a word of it to Jared. Everything could move forward just fine and she and Jared would…would what. Well they loved each other, so they would continue building a relationship and help each other with their careers because that is what couples did. An image of Jeff shirtless, then touching her flashed across her mind and Suzie slammed her head onto her desk.
“Super excited to be back at work, I can tell,” Laura joked as she walked to the cubicle next to her and sat down. “You are needed in the conference room fifteen minutes prior to the monthly operations meeting. Betty asked me to tell you.”
“I definitely missed your sarcasm.” Suzie checked the clock. Thirty minutes until her meeting in front of all the managers and then a staff meeting. Of course Jared was a manager so he would be there. Usually that helped her feel calm, today it just added to the chaos. Her position was the first of its kind as her work was overlapping three different departments. Her usual manager did not like it so she had to work twice as hard to prove herself, especially because the financial manager did not approve of her and Jared seeing each other. She had made a big fuss when she found out, before they were official. It had almost cost them both their jobs and they were on a trial basis of sorts.
“You forgot these.” Laura handed her the report Suzie needed for her meeting, she left them in the printer. At least the report was positive news. Everyone would be happy with the results and they could quickly move on. Suzie was looking forward to the staff meeting where she could zone out.
Suzie smiled goodbye to Laura who was answering phones during the staff meeting. As she sat down in the room full of managers, she looked down at the report and gave herself a silent pep talk. She knew she could do this and her report justified her assertions. Smiling, her confidence raised, Suzie gave her report to a satisfied management team. Afterwards, everyone stepped out to refill coffee before the staff meeting. Suzie stayed in her chair and let out a sigh. Jared pulled up a chair beside her and covered her hand with his. The warmth of his touch sent a shiver throughout the rest of her cold body.
“You did great. I am so proud of you,” Jared said, and then he took a quick look to see if anyone was watching. The room was empty so he kissed her gently.
Hearing footsteps, Suzie pulled away and got up to get coffee herself. The meeting began as everyone sat down. A few minutes later, Laura knocked on the door and interrupted the meeting.
“Sorry. Jared, your brother is on the phone, it is urgent,” she said.
Jared excused himself. “I’ll take it in my office,” he said to her.
“Okay, line one,” Laura said and returned to her desk.
The meeting continued though Suzie did not hear a word of it. She knew the brother was Jeff, so what? She was not going to live her life frightened of what might happen, she knew that much. It was ridiculous to worry about what everyone else was doing. Suzie doodled on her paper to make it look like she was taking notes. She was giving herself another little pep talk again. It still bothered her that she hadn’t told Jared what happened with Jeff. What bothered her more is she knew she would never tell him and would downplay it if he ever found out. It was just a little lie. If Jeff told him he had kissed her, she would admit that she had not initiated it and she had ended it. Innocent accident was all it was. Then Jeff kissed her again, in her mind and she saw his painting.
“Thank you Suzie for volunteering to be the chair of the committee. I will send over all the relevant files later today.” The grouchy financial manager was actually smiling. The downside was, Suzie had volunteered to take on an additional project and she was already swamped.
Suzie felt exhausted and could not wait for the day to be over. It was going to be a shower and bed kind of day and she almost wanted to walk, except her stuff was in Jared’s car. Finally the day was over and Jared came to the makeshift door in her cubicle, ready to go.
“Want to get something to eat before I bring you home?” Jared asked.
“No, I am too tired. I just want to go home and go shower and go lie down,” Suzie said.
“Okay sweetie no problem, I will get you home. I have a few things to do anyway,” Jared said. “Jeff is coming a bit early and he needed to talk to me.”
Forcing every inch of her body to not flinch, she followed him out, got home, showered and immediately went to bed. She slept dreamlessly.
A loud knocking woke her up suddenly. It was dark and she did not know what time it was. Stumbling to the door while rubbing her eyes, she peeked out to see Jared standing at her door with flowers, pizza and beer. Her stomach growled. She had not remembered to eat lunch. Quickly, she opened the door. Jared came in with a flurry handing her the flowers and juggling the pizza and beer. Suzie watched Jared set up the table while she put the flowers in water and set them on the table.
Jared was sitting and serving them pizza and beer. She kissed his head and sat down next to him. He always knew just what she needed. She was famished.
“I thought you were busy tonight. What time is it anyway?” Suzie asked between bites.
Ignoring the second question, Jared covered her hand with his. “I am never too busy for you. Besides I was hungry and I figured you hadn’t eaten yet either. You looked so tired when I dropped you off I knew you would go right to sleep.”
Suzie squeezed his hand and drank for a long moment from her beer bottle. Watching Jared swoop in and take care of her, bringing over supper and flowers, she knew how lucky she was. Everyone wanted a man like him and she was not about to lose him over a small lie. Finishing her bottle of beer and getting herself and Jared another one, Suzie steeled her determination to get back in the groove with Jared and forget Jeff altogether. Who cared if he was going to be in town. She would be with Jared anytime she saw him; there would be no reason for them to be alone together.
“Thank you,” she said, looking Jared in the eyes. “This is exactly what I needed.”
Jared stared back at her before moving her hand to his lips. “The beer might have been a bit much since we have an early day tomorrow and I have to get some work done tonight, but pizza without beer just doesn’t fit. Besides, we need to ease back into the work week.”
When they finished, they cleaned up together, until Jared grabbed her to him. Spinning her in the kitchen, he stopped when her face faced his.
“The only problem with working with you is I have to look at you all day and not touch you,” Jared said and then he kissed her. Bringing his hands to her face and then hair, he pulled her to him for a deeper kiss. Then, he gently guided her towards the living room where they sat on the couch. “You rocked that meeting I knew you would. In fact, afterwards in the managers meeting everyone said that they no longer had misgivings about the position and…”
“Wait. No work stuff,” Suzie interrupted him and put her finger on his lips. “I do not want to know what happened at the managers meeting. We should not even talk about work when we are together. Isn’t it a violation of our work agreement?”
