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When it was all over, we lay there together, my head resting on Jack’s chest. A slight sheen of sweat covered his skin, and we were both struggling to catch our breath.
"God," he panted as he swallowed, trying to wet his throat again. "Fuck me."
I giggled, hearing his total surrender.
I hadn't felt this relaxed and content for a very long time.
We lay there for a moment, tangled in each other's embrace, our breathing slowly returning to normal. And then Jack propped himself up on one elbow and looked down at me.
"I know we still have a lot of baggage between us," he said, his voice serious. "But I can't help how I feel about you, Maya. I hope you can give me a chance to prove to you how much I've changed."
My heart skipped a beat at his words, and my stomach dropped like an anchor. Why did I do this? How can this really work out? Why can't I resist him?
“I don’t know…” I said, searching my brain for anything rational and reasonable to say. I was chewing my bottom lip and tasted blood. Jack’s face fell.
“I understand,” he said, taking my cheek in his hand. “We have a lot to work through. Let’s just see what happens.”
He kissed me again and my brain stopped working…again. Thankfully, it caught up with me, and I gently disentangled myself from Jack.
At his disappointed look, I dropped one more chaste kiss on his lips.
“You caught me in the middle of some work,” I said, thankful that my brain found an explanation. “I have some things I need to finish up before a deadline.”
Jack caught my lips in one more searing kiss and we both managed to break apart to get dressed. We were throwing flirty, sexy glances at each other the whole time.
Part of me knew that my life had just changed forever. The physical attraction between us was as strong as ever. The afternoon had been so…intense.
But a glance at the clock told me that it was almost time for the horse and carriage to turn back into a pumpkin. Eli would be home any minute. Reality quickly set in.
I knew that we would have to face the outside world and that the consequences of our actions could be far-reaching.
Chapter 9
Jack
Idecidedtogoback to the office after Maya had gently kicked me out. Despite the sooner-than-wanted departure, I couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across my face. I felt like I was on top of the world. I had never felt this happy in my life. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I was finally free to be myself and live my life again.
I exhaled deeply, letting out all the oxygen from my lungs. As I sat for a moment in the parking garage, I said a quiet “thank you” to Ava for allowing me to let go and move forward.
When I arrived at the office, I could tell that something was different. Everyone seemed to be buzzing with excitement, and I could hear them whispering and giggling as I walked through the open space. It was puzzling, to say the least.
As I started to walk into my office, I could hear everyone whispering behind my back as they got ready to leave for the day. Normally, like any sane person, I would have been self-conscious and uncomfortable, but today I didn't care. I was too happy to let anyone else's opinions bring me down. Unless I had my shirt poking out of my fly. But then again, I was still too blissed-out to really care.
All I could gather from the whispered chatter is that people caught on to the fact that the boss might have a new girlfriend. Rather than be embarrassed, I found it thoroughly amusing as a group of women was huddled around a cube, throwing secretive glances my way.
An even wider grin threatened to rip my face in two as I sat down behind my desk. I couldn’t stop thinking about Maya and how amazing it was to reconnect. I was still so elated by our time together that it was hard to focus on anything else. Every time I thought about her, my heart would skip a beat, and a warm feeling would spread through my chest.
My body was reacting to my emotions in ways I had not experienced in a long time. My palms were sweaty, and my heart was beating faster than usual. Even my stomach was fluttering with excitement. I felt like a teenager experiencing his first crush all over again. Giddy.
For some reason, I liked being out of control. I had felt so out of control of my life for the last couple of years, mired in grief and pain. But this was…happy. Joyful. Like each day could bring a new, wonderful surprise. It was the complete opposite, and my heart felt lighter.
I decided to take a walk to get a late coffee, bypassing the machine in my office. The gossip continued, and I just shook my head and laughed to myself. I had always encouraged a friendlier work environment where everyone felt free to connect. It was sort of backfiring on me now. But still, I didn’t have anything to prove to anyone, and who cared if I was dating again? Everyone would move on from the rumors soon enough. Besides, I was happy, and that was all that mattered in the end for me.
And anyway, the looks that people were giving me were far from judgmental. They looked…happy for me. Genuinely. It made me wonder how they’d thought of me the last couple of years.
I walked into the large breakroom with the high-end coffee machine. There were some things in this world that were just worth doing right, and that included coffee.
Focused on my mission, I didn’t even notice the group at first. But as I fumbled with the coffee machine, I suddently realized that the room had grown very quiet. I quickly checked my fly. Nope. That was ok.
