Chapter Seventeen
Claire picked up the items on Louise’s list and arrived in time for lunch. Louise had decided to make a late brunch and Claire tucked into a plate of eggs and bacon with gusto. Her mother was having a good day today, and the three of them remained at the table long after the meal was finished chatting and laughing. Louise asked several questions about her trip, and Claire hated not being completely truthful with her. Claire could tell by the sparkle in her eyes that she suspected there was more than Claire was telling, but she didn’t press her.
As she was leaving, Louise told her that her nephew would be by tomorrow to start the roof repairs. Claire left a check to pay him, in case he finished the work before she returned home. She gave her mother and Louise one last hug and promised to call and check on them while she was away.
~~~
Jason was in trouble. He felt it in his gut, and his gut was never wrong. The plan of getting Claire out of his system didn’t seem to be working. After a night of the best sex of his life, he still wasn’t remotely satisfied. In fact, he ached to be with her, inside her again. The scary part was it wasn’t just the sex he missed; he missed her. He had lain awake in bed this morning enjoying the feel of her curled into his side, her bandaged toe resting on top of his leg, her small hands lying so trustingly on his chest. His body was screaming at him to wake her, his mind was telling him to run like hell. He practically bolted out of the bed and into the bathroom.
While in the shower, he convinced himself that the tender feelings were just because he had known Claire for awhile. They’d worked closely for several years so it was only natural to feel more for her than just some one night stand. There was no reason this couldn’t work to his advantage. As his assistant she could travel with him while they were involved, and with the merger in progress no one would question the sudden need for that.
The novelty of crossing a line and sleeping with someone at the office had to be what made the sex so good, so forbidden. When the novelty wore off as it would, they’d move on. He felt better after working everything out in his mind and decided to give Claire a call to make sure everything was still a go for Charleston. He hoped he could continue to block the voice in his head urging him to run.
~~~
When Claire arrived home from her mother's, her cell phone rang.
“Hey beautiful, how is your day going?” asked Jason.
Pulse kicking into high gear at the sound of his voice, Claire tried to sound cool. “Hey, it’s going great, how about yours?”
“No problems, everything is on schedule.” Claire wondered if anything ever dared to go off schedule where Jason was concerned.
“Did you get someone lined up to cover the office while we’re away?” asked Claire.
“Yes, everything is taken care of. How is your mother doing today?”
“She’s good actually; I had lunch with her and Louise earlier, and she was her old self.”
“That’s great; I’m glad you had that time,” said Jason warmly. “I’m going to work from my home the rest of the afternoon. I’ve several conference calls lined up, and I need to pack as well. I should be free a bit earlier so how about I pick you up around six?” asked Jason.
“Ok, I’ll see you then,” said Claire.
“Oh and Claire, I’ve missed you today.” Not waiting for a reply, Jason clicked off after that comment.
Claire felt warmth flood through her. She had of course missed Jason terribly today but was shocked to hear him admit that he felt the same way. She couldn’t delude herself into thinking that this was anything more than sex to Jason. This wasn’t a fairytale, and he wouldn’t be taking her off to his castle. He was, however, taking her off to Charleston where she would have the rest of the week to pretend just for a little while that her prince charming had finally arrived.
She was surprised to hear her phone ringing again. She quickly answered it thinking that Jason had forgotten something. As soon as she said hello, she cringed as Suzy said, “Well, well, well, is someone finally getting laid?” Despite being horrified at the question, Claire couldn’t contain the laughter that burst out. No matter how crude or shocking Suzy could be at times, you still had to laugh at some of the things that came out of her mouth.