She called it bad fortune; he called it endearing. It was obvious she was quite used to the frequent mishaps and had learned how to handle them with grace through the years. God, she looks so beautiful and sexy tonight. He had seldom seen her wear anything with color in it and the blue dress she was wearing seemed to make her sparkle; her eyes were luminous. Her tanned shoulders had felt smooth and soft when he had put his arm around them to help her inside earlier. Her scent was intoxicating, and he was again grateful for a tablecloth covering his groin.
This whole dinner thing was probably a mistake. The idea had just popped into his head this morning when he had seen her sitting there at her desk, smiling up at him with those beautiful soft lips. Before he knew it, the invitation had been issued. He was damn lucky he hadn’t already blown this merger by now. If they could just get the sex out of the way, he would be able to breathe again, to focus. They were both adults so when whatever was between them burned out, life could return to normal. He could be in public without having a constant erection, and business would again be foremost in his mind.
He was so damn angry when she’d thrown his offer of financial assistance back in his face with the insulting accusation that he needed to buy sex. Someone willing had never been an issue for him. He kept his affairs out of the office and off the front page. The women he had been involved with through the years knew exactly where they stood with him. They enjoyed each other while it lasted, but they always came in second to the company.
His mother was constantly harping on him to settle down no doubt because she felt it was expected, and his answer to that was why? When he came to the point in his life where he was content and no longer felt driven to complete the next big deal then he might entertain the thought. Something in his chest tightened when he looked at Claire and thought of her settling down with someone else in the future.
At least he found a way to help her without offending her again. If she ever found out there would probably be hell to pay, but right now it seemed worth it to see the happy, relaxed expression on her face. Hopefully not having to worry about finances or her neighbor for awhile would make her life easier. Soon, he would get her out of his system, and his life would be his own again, and he would insist that she benefit enough to do away with the weekend job permanently.
~~~
Claire ruefully pulled the fork from her lap and laughed, “At least I didn’t stab myself with it.” Dinner had been wonderful, full of laughter and shared stories. Jason seemed interested in every boring detail of her life up until the present. Claire carefully avoided any mention of her father and mainly talked about her mother and Chrissie. He in turn told of his summers growing up around the beach with an often absent mother who tended to drink too much and needed to be taken care of and a workaholic father.
He said he probably didn’t have any siblings because they simply forgot to take care of it as they did most everything other than Danvers. Luckily, his mother’s sister Ella had lived with them and tried to provide him with some type of maternal figure. It was obvious from the warm tone of his voice that he loved her very much. Ella had since moved to Florida and lived in a retirement community there that Claire suspected he paid for.
His parents lived in Charleston where his mother chaired several charities to keep up appearances. His father golfed most every day and still attended the occasional board meeting at Danvers. His childhood that she thought would be so vastly different from her own held many similarities. She could tell that, for the most part, he had never been a child. He seemed to always be taking care of either his mother or Ella. The neglect of his childhood still seemed preferable to the abuse of hers.
Looking down at her watch, Claire was surprised to see that two hours had passed. They’d long finished dinner and dessert and were now just drinking coffee and talking. “Oh wow, it’s getting late,” said Claire picking up her pen and pad again. "We had better go over what you need for the rest of the week.”
“You know what?” asked Jason. “I really don’t want to ruin a great evening talking about business. This is the most relaxing meal I’ve had in weeks, and I just want to leave it at that,” finished Jason.
“Sure, you can call or email me tomorrow,” said Claire. The waiter returned and Jason quickly settled the check. Carefully putting his arm around here again, Jason walked slowly as he helped her back to her car.
“Are you ok to drive with that foot?” asked Jason.
“I’m fine, really. It looks a lot worse than it is,” said Claire. Jason made no move to remove his arm from her shoulders and finally Claire started to pull away from him.