“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?”

“Let me see how things are with mom and I’ll let you know. I need to go by there tonight and take some groceries.”

“Claire, you know that if you or your mother needs anything you can ask me right? I’ve money saved, and I would be glad to help you if you need it,” said Suzy.

Claire felt like her friendship with Suzy had turned a corner since their conversation at lunch. She hugged Suzy again and thanked her. Suzy said with her usual dramatic flair, “We’re going to have to cut this hugging shit out today, before you know it we’re going to be braiding each other’s hair and wearing matching pinky rings,” Laughter shaking her body, Claire felt pounds lighter than she had that morning with the support she’d received from Suzy.

Suddenly remembering dinner the previous night, Claire asked, “hey Suz, what did you think of Grayson last night? I thought I noticed some sparks flying over there as well,” joked Claire.

“Ugh, paleeze, in his dreams! He’s a stud, I’ll give him that, but his blood probably actually runs blue. I’ve more important things to do with my time than literally have the life sucked out of me by Mr. Uptight. I mean he probably doesn’t even own a tour t-shirt, who doesn’t have a Bon-Jovi Tour Shirt, you know?”

“Wow Suz that’s a lot of detailed protesting, sounds like Mr. Uptight hit a nerve last night. I’m sure with the advent of eBay you could buy him a Bon-Jovi Tour Shirt,” laughed Claire. With a very rude hand gesture, Suzy stalked off towards her office and Claire laughed all the way into hers.

~~~

The rest of the week continued peacefully at work. Jason called in several times a day but with him out of the office it was easier to believe that they could return to a normal working relationship. On Wednesday evening she’d splurged and took her mother and Louise for dinner. Her mother didn’t like going out much anymore; she preferred having her meal while watching her favorite TV shows. Luckily, she was having a good day, and Claire enjoyed the time with her.

The one unpleasant aspect of the week had been calling Pam to cancel for the weekend and also informing her that she would not be able to work the next weekend as well. To say Pam was upset was an understatement; livid was a more accurate word. Pam had informed her that she would be hiring someone, and rather than her normal assurance that Claire could work all the weekend parties, it would now be a matter of who Pam felt more comfortable scheduling.

Claire had a feeling that her employment with Partiez Plus would be ending soon. The overtime pay for the weekend work from Danvers should be sufficient to fill the gap until she could find another weekend job. It was possible she might have to work several part-time jobs to compensate for the loss of income but as usual, she would do what needed to be done.

Claire had promised to have a drink with Suzy after work on Friday night, and she was looking forward to hanging out with her. Just as she was finishing up for the day, Suzy glided into her office. “Hey chick, you ready to split?”

“Yes, just finishing up here,” grimacing down at her tan slacks and equally plain white blouse, Claire said, “I wish I had on something a little less…”

“Drab, dull, old lady?” injected Suzy helpfully.

With a swat to her friend’s arm, Claire finished, “I was going to say formal but thank you for those kind words.” Suzy of course could never be called any of those things. Today, while wearing a black leather mini-skirt with fishnet stockings, mile-high heels, and a hot pink t-shirt with a skull on it, she was as far removed from boring as you could possibly get.

Claire locked up and soon they were on their way to a bar a few blocks away that Suzy liked to hang out at. Claire had never been to this particular place, and she dearly hoped it wasn’t some type of biker bar. Suzy was blessed to fit in wherever she went; unfortunately, the same wasn’t true for Claire.