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Shaking my head, I drop the file and try to focus on work. But she refuses to get out of my head. I keep thinking about the scowl when she kept glancing at me at the studio.Was she jealous then too? The woman had been some random member of the photography crew who thought she could get lucky. I couldn’t even concentrate on a word she was saying because Bella’s stare was making me uncomfortable.Everything about that woman drives me crazy!
There is another knock on my door and I look up as Jessica waddles into my office, her stomach is getting bigger but she still insists on moving around like she is in herfirsttrimester.
“What is it,” I snap before I can stop myself. She narrows her eyes at me and I wince.
“I can’t cometosee my CEO Brotherin his fancy office anymore?” She turns around.
“I’m sorry,” I quickly say, knowing she will probably bring this up later. “I have a lot onmymind.”
She turns around and waddles to one of the seats in front of me. “Expecting someone else?” she asks.I was hoping it was someone else.
My thought surprises me. When did I become a masochist?
“I was in the neighborhood and thought we could grab a bite together.” She gives me a bright smile.
She takes me to an ice cream shop and immediately waddles to the counter with glee. “I’ll gettwoscoopsof chocolate and one scoop of mint,” I hear her say as I reach the counter. The attendant looks at me inquisitively. “Nothing for him. He doesn’t like ice cream,” Jessica replies for me, throwing me a look of disgust.
I help her with the ice cream as we find a place to sit. “Does Malcolm know you are here?” I ask her immediatelyafterwe sit down and she freezes. “I knew it.”
“Come on, I’ve been good for a whole week. I deserve a prize.”
Jessica has an unhealthy obsessionwithice cream whenevershe is pregnantand ithasbeen a thorn in herhusband’sside trying to get hiswife to live a healthy lifestyle for the baby’s sake. I have half the mind to call Malcolm, butJessica always manages to touch my soft spot.
She happily digs into the ice cream once I concede. “So how is working with Bella?She seems to have a complaint per week of you.”
“Your friend is driving me nuts,”in more ways than one, “but she gets the job done, so I’m not in a hurry to let her go.”
She smiles at that. “Bella ishard-working,and if you ease up on the pressure she would perform wonderfully.”
But I don’t want to ease up because then I would be acceptingthegood qualities,andnext thing you know I just mightsee her in a different light from ten years ago and fall for her. But I don’t say any of that. Instead,I just grunt.
“This is the same reason you guys nevergot along years ago. You could never see the good in her,” Jessica pushes. “Come on, give her a chance. You would love her.”
Love. Am I falling for Bella? No, that’s just ridiculous.
“Last I checked, I’m supposed to be hanging out with my sister,” I attempt to change the topic.
“This comes with the package.” She pointsthespoon at her. “And I wouldn’t have to do this if you weren’t so hard on her. Your rules are choking her.”
“The same rules that all my employees before her obey?” I raise my brow and she sighs.
“She needs a win,Jake. These past few months have been hard on her.”
The thought ofBella hurting makes me uncomfortable, but I still reply, “I’ll thinkabout it."
Jessica continues talking, but I am in a world of my own. I’m not sure what I feelfor Bella,but itis scary. I must be deranged. We are like thirteen years apart and she is best friends with my junior sister. That pretty much qualifiesher as a sister to me.
You had no problem with that the other night, or the night before that.
I cut short Jessica’s visit by feigning busy. She makes me pay for the ice cream because,for some weirdly intense reason, Malcolm has beenmonitoring her credit card record and would lose it if he sees even a cake shop pop up in her transaction.
Sometimes I look at the couples around me and feel relief that I am single.
I bury myself in my work back at the resort as a distraction. I repeat it the next day and the next. I keep myself busy or out of the resort so I don’t see Bella. On my third day of avoiding her, I’m walking out of the resort when I catch sight of her laughing with Jessica. She also catches sight of me and determination fills her eyes. Leaving Jessica, she heads straight for me.
“Boss.” She plants herself in front of me, blocking my path.
I grunt, not from irritation but because of how strong the urge to reach out and touch her is. Am I this far gone?
