~~~
Jason was powerless to stop the flow of self-righteous comments that continued to flow from his mouth. Even though he seemed to have no shortage of disparaging remarks to make to her, he was still reeling from the evening. The shock of realizing that the beautiful, sexy, sultry woman that he was unable to take his eyes off of when she’d popped out of the cake was, in fact, his assistant had just blown him away. Never one to spare more than a passing glance at women he considered too obvious, he was completely captivated when Claire had looked at him after jumping from the cake.
He knew those green eyes; he knew the curve of her face, and his body seemed to put it all together before his mind could catch up. The most surprising aspect had been the protective instinct that had almost immediately kicked in along with the recognition. He wanted to run up and drag her behind him until he could cover her up. He wanted to punch anyone in the crowd that dared look at her, including his friends.
Who would have thought that he would be standing in a bathroom stall with his assistant holding her hair back while she retched? At that moment with her obviously in distress, all he wanted to do was take care of her, make every bad thing in her life disappear. She was so small and trusting curled against his chest while she slept at the rest area. This certainly was a night of firsts for him.
Sparing a quick glance at her, he was surprised to see a small hand reach up to her face and quickly wipe what appeared to be a tear from her cheek. Good job Jason, way to make a lady cry. Feeling something inside his chest clench, Jason vowed to find out more about this other life that his assistant was living. Who was the real Claire and why was he suddenly so desperate to have that question answered?
~~~
As they finally arrived at Harold and Liz’s Home Claire asked the question that had been on her mind for the last minutes of their trip. “Are you going to say anything to your friends about tonight?”
“No," replied Jason tightly, "I think the less they know the better. You go straight up when we get in the house, and I’ll make up something to pacify them and no one will be the wiser.” Greatly relieved, Claire murmured a quiet thank you and followed Jason to the door. There was no sign of anyone in the foyer as she made her way up the stairs as quietly and quickly as possible.
Claire stepped inside her bedroom and went straight to the bathroom. She quickly peeled off her clothing and stepped into the steaming shower. With a moan, she closed her eyes and let the events of the evening fall away. She eased into the shower seat and laid her head back able to relax for the first time in hours, the steam from the shower causing her eyes to become heavy and hard to hold open.
Suddenly cold air rushed into the shower as the door was jerked open and Claire was again in the bathroom with her boss. “What’re you doing in here?” shrieked a furious Claire.
“I was waiting in your room to make sure you were ok and when it became apparent that you weren’t coming out and there was no noise coming from here other than the shower, I thought you might have fallen and hurt yourself. Do you know how irresponsible it is to sleep in the bath or, heaven forbid, the shower?”
“Well, add it to the long list of things about me that you find irresponsible! Let’s see, there’s my stripping, my drinking and now my sleeping in the shower; is there anything else you want to add to that tonight Jason?” She knew she was starting to get hysterical, so she jumped up, determined to get out of the shower and away from his prying eyes.
Too late, Claire felt her feet start to lose purchase on the slick shower floor and flinging her arms out, desperate to find something to break her fall; she felt pain shoot through her hip as it connected with the seat she’d just been sitting on. Strong arms were suddenly around her, and she was being lifted from the shower and cradled against a hard chest.
Despite her protests, Jason gently deposited her onto a chair in the bedroom and quickly went back to the bathroom for her robe and towel. She grabbed the robe from his outstretched hand and tried to put it on without standing and giving Jason a better view of her naked body. With a muttered oath, Jason pulled her into a standing position and slid the robe on her arms and belted it around her waist. When this was completed to his satisfaction, he pushed her back down into the chair and began drying her hair with the towel.
“I can take it from here Jason,” said Claire as she tried to get the towel from his hands.
“Just sit still for a minute; we don’t need yet another mishap to add to the evening.”
Claire replied angrily, “There would not have been a mishap if you hadn’t barged yet again into the bathroom with me, were you raised in a barn?”