Weekends Required (12 page)

“Oh it’s just my neighbor, Billy. I can never seem to get into my apartment anymore without him stopping me,” said Claire.

“Is he bothering you?” demanded Jason.

“It’s nothing major; he just wants to be more than my neighbor and I’m not remotely interested.”

“Let’s see if we can let him really know you’re not interested.” Jason shoved his door open and walked around to her side to open her door. Speechless, Claire stayed in her seat looking up at him. “Come on sweetheart, let’s get inside.” Jason grabbed her hand and whispered in her ear, “he’s looking at us, play along.”

Too surprised to resist, Claire allowed herself to be pulled out of the car. Jason shut the door behind her and put his arm around her shoulder.

As they walked onto the sidewalk, Billy approached them. “Oh Claire, I thought someone had parked in your space and I was coming to take care of business for you.” Hitching his jeans a little higher as he delivered that line, Billy then turned to look at Jason inquiringly.

 Jason offered a hand and said, “Jason Danvers, appreciate you looking out for my girlfriend, Bill.”

“That’s Billy or William, not Bill. I’ve never seen you here before; how long have you known Claire?”

“Oh we’ve been close for several years, isn’t that right baby?”

“Er, um, yes several years. We usually stay at Jason’s house that’s why you never see him here.”

Billy’s eyes darted back and forth between them as if sensing something amiss but unable to grasp exactly what it was.

“Well Bill, it was nice meeting you, see you around; I’m sure.”

As Jason led her away she heard Billy say, “It’s Billy!” Jason took the keys from her hand and opened her apartment door following her into the entryway. Claire collapsed against the wall, laughter shaking her body.

“That was so funny! You really had him torn up calling him Bill; he’s very serious about his name,” Claire managed to choke out between peals of laughter.

Jason didn’t seem to see the humor in the situation that she did. “Claire, I don’t know if you should take him so lightly, he seemed very territorial towards you. Are you sure that you have never had any type of relationship with him?”

“Ugh, are you kidding me? Give me credit for having some standards. I’ve never had any type of anything with him nor have I ever given him any hope that I would. I think he’s just a lonely person who likes to imagine things are something they aren’t. He probably does the same thing to all the female residents here.”

With a skeptical look, Jason asked, “Have you ever seen him doing that?” After some thought, Claire reluctantly admitted that she hadn’t. “Please be careful and for heaven’s sake, don’t do anything to encourage him, you never know about people Claire.”

Touched that he was concerned, Claire said, “I promise. I’ll be careful, thank you for being so concerned.”

 
Danger, Danger, look away, run, now!
Even with her head telling her to run, Claire couldn’t turn from Jason. Time seemed to stand still as they looked at each other.

With a muttered oath, Jason closed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms. “You have had me half out of my mind tonight; I’ve got to taste you.” With that comment, Jason’s lips took possession of hers. Heat slammed into her as he pulled her even closer.

 Claire moaned as she opened her mouth to his seeking tongue. Shivers of desire and pleasure coursed through her as Jason’s tongue thrust into her mouth just as his thigh pushed its way between hers. Like a starving person, Claire feasted on the sweet, hot stroke of his tongue. Jason’s hand slid down her back to the curve of her bottom, and she lost what little sense of preservation she had left by rubbing herself urgently on the erection she could feel burning against her stomach.

“Oh god, I want to be inside you Claire; you’re killing me!” With her bottom cupped in his hands Jason lifted her off of her feet and said roughly, “wrap your legs around me.” Claire wrapped her legs tightly around him, causing her dress to bunch up around her waist. Jason’s erection now pushed hotly against the thin silk of her black lace panties. His tongue blazed a trail of fire down her neck, moving closer to the swell of her aching breasts. Jason lowered the top of her dress exposing the tight, pebbled nipples.

Claire slid her hands in his soft, silky hair and moaned loudly as Jason took a nipple into his mouth and started to suck it. Never had she been so grateful to be without a bra. Claire urgently tightened her legs around him, rubbing herself harder against his erection as she felt herself close to orgasm.

“Oh God,” she panted, "oh please!”

“What do you want baby? Tell me what need.”

“You,” Claire croaked out, “I want you!” Almost sobbing with the force of her desire, Claire was helpless to stop the raging storm within her. Dimly, she heard a ringing sound. Suddenly, Suzy’s voice filled the apartment from the answering machine.

Claire jerked back like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her. In disbelief, Claire realized she had her legs wrapped around her boss, and her boss had her breast in his mouth. Despite the aching need between her legs, Claire started pushing at Jason and telling him to stop. Jason lifted his head and stared at her with flushed cheekbones and wild eyes.

 “What’s wrong?” he gasped out.

 “We… We can’t do this; you’re my boss,” replied Claire weakly.”

“I was your boss two minutes ago too and it didn’t seem to matter then, what’s changed exactly?” asked Jason with frustration apparent in his strained voice.

“I…I lost control; I wasn’t thinking. Could you please let me down?”

Jason reluctantly lowered his hand from her bottom, and she steadied her legs and stepped back. She quickly pulled her dress down trying to cover her breasts again. Claire couldn’t meet the gaze that she felt burning into her. Finally, Jason stepped back further, took a few deep breaths and ran his hand raggedly through his hair. He turned to look at her again, and Claire saw the desire and confusion on his handsome face.

“Claire, I’m confused; I’m all for a woman’s right to say no, and that isn’t even the main issue here. You have worked for me for what, three years now? In that time, there’s never been even a close call between us romantically and then suddenly in the last week I can barely walk by you without a raging hard on. I know that seeing you in that club over the weekend in damn near nothing probably has something to do with it but I don’t think that’s the cause of what happened tonight. Who are you really Claire besides the person tying me up in knots? Don’t even answer that,” ground out Jason as he walked towards the door, “I don’t think I can process anything else tonight.” Without looking back, he opened her door and said, “I’ll pick you up at eight in the morning, please be ready,” and shut the door quietly behind him.

Claire pressed her hand against her mouth as she sagged to the floor. Would sleeping with Jason have been any worse than the ache she was left with now? If Suzy hadn’t called, they’d be in her bed or on her floor right now making love; instead, she was left with nothing but frustration and regret.

Was it regret that she let it go that far or regret that she stopped it? Claire didn’t dare answer that question. She’d always thought Jason was drop-dead handsome and entertained many fantasies through the years concerning him, but that was as far as it went. Now not only were some of those fantasies coming true, she was also forced to admit that she was feeling something for him other than desire which she knew was a huge mistake.

People like Jason didn’t fall in love with people like her. She worked two jobs to take care of her mother, Louise and herself. She couldn’t afford to have an affair with her boss and lose one of those jobs. Not only would that spell disaster for her, it would also basically put her mother and Louise out of their home. She was too old for a crush; it was time to get back to the reality of being Jason’s assistant, not his girlfriend or bedmate. She forced herself from the floor and made her way to the shower. Claire vowed that tomorrow everything would be back to a professional level; she couldn’t afford for it to be otherwise.

  Chapter Eleven

The next morning Claire was waiting outside her apartment at five minutes before eight and, as promised, Jason’s Mercedes pulled into the parking lot at eight. Quickly opening the door before he could leave the car, Claire settled herself in the seat and offered a quick good morning. Jason had the morning news on the radio, and it filled the silence in the car and offered a much-needed diversion. He seemed content to avoid all conversations, and soon they were arriving at Danvers and heading up in the elevator. Jason stepped off to get a coffee and Claire continued on to their office floor.

By the time Jason arrived a short time later Claire was hard at work replying to her emails from the previous day. The morning continued on as if nothing had ever happened. Around noon, Jason came out of his office and said, “Claire, we will need to work on Saturday and possibly Sunday this week and better plan on it for next weekend as well.”

The blood drained from her face as she asked, “Why would that be necessary? Everything is up to date on the merger.”

“I’m going out of town for a few days to visit the headquarters for Mericom and won’t return until Friday. By the time I return I’ll have further revisions to make to the contract that will need to be completed by Monday. The next week will follow a similar course and there’s a possibility you will need to accompany me to Grayson’s, but we will finalize that next week.

“But I already have plans for those weekends,” cried Claire.

His steely gaze burning into hers, Jason said, “Yes, I’m sure that you do have other engagements planned, however, I feel that this job and this merger are your clear priorities and if not, then we’ve a serious problem.”

The threat in his voice was clear and Claire knew that if she continued, she could well find herself unemployed. “Ye… Yes, they are and I’ll be here on Saturday. Are we starting early?” Claire asked hopefully.

“No, I’ll be late getting in on Friday so let’s give ourselves some extra rest on Saturday and come in around lunch. We can have dinner brought in later so no need to worry about that.” With her heart sinking Claire managed a nod and Jason was gone.
Oh great, he wasn’t going to let up on the weekend work, ugh.

She already had bachelor parties planned with Pam for the next few weeks, and they were all several hours away. She was going to have to call Pam and cancel and hope that she could find a replacement for her. She decided to put that off for later and gathered up her purse to go to the cafeteria for lunch. As luck would have it, Suzy was just coming down the hall towards her office when she stepped out. Claire walked over to the elevator where her friend was waiting.

“Hey hey girlfriend, I’m starving, let’s go grab some eats,” said Suzy.

“Are we going to the cafeteria?” asked Claire.

“Nah, why don’t we walk around the corner to the sandwich shop? I could use a change of scenery,” replied Suzy.

“Ok, that actually sounds good, maybe we could get a table outside.” Suzy kept the conversation flowing until they’d reached the sandwich shop and settled into a shaded table outdoors.

“So, what were all the fireworks with boss man last night?” asked Suzy.

Nearly choking on her iced tea, Claire said, “What’re you talking about?”

“Oh come on babe, do I look like I suddenly got stupid overnight?” laughed Suzy.

She knew it was pointless to continue to act ignorant. Claire sighed, “I don’t know Suz; I really don’t.”

Suzy finally asked, “Has something been going on between you two that I don’t know about?” Claire decided that if she could tell anyone the whole story without being judged it was Suzy.

She poured out the story of her second job and the reasons behind it. Finally coming to the part of her encounter at Jason’s friend’s bachelor party during the weekend and what had happened in the restroom afterwards, Claire kept going until she’d told Suzy everything, including what occurred the previous night. Suzy sat in silence looking at her with her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

“Holy shit, who are you and where is my friend Claire?” exclaimed Suzy. “I feel like I’ve entered the twilight zone where you turn into me, and I turn into you. Why in the world didn’t you tell me what you were doing on the side? You should know that I of all people wouldn’t give you grief about it.”

Claire reached over and took her hand seeing the hurt on her face. “I know you wouldn’t Suz; I was just embarrassed to tell anyone, including you, about my financial problems and the second job. You know I would never be doing a job like that if I didn’t desperately need the money.”

“Claire, we could have figured out something; I don’t want you to think I would ever look down on you or judge you, hell, I would probably do that job just for kicks.”

As she leaned over to hug Suzy, Claire said tearfully, “No more secrets then, I’m sorry Suz, and I know you’d never look down on me, you’re not made that way.”

“Ok, enough of the slobbering all over each other, tell me when you’re going to do the boss man because I’m dying to know how he is in the sack.”

With a laugh, Claire playfully swatted at her. “I’m not doing anything with him; it was all a mistake, and he appears to regret it as much as I do,” said Claire.

“Yeah right, if that was regret I saw jumping between you two last night I’ll give up leather skirts and start wearing plaid.”

“The lines between us got blurred with everything that happened this weekend and then with the accidental groping of him under the table last night. I think it’s all going to settle back down into our normal routine now and be fine though,” assured Claire.

Suzy looked at her shrewdly asking the one question Claire didn’t have an answer for, “Do you want things to settle back to normal though?”

The subject of Jason was avoided for the rest of their lunch and all too soon they were walking back to the office. Suzy asked, “Hey you want to go out one night this week for dinner?”