Realizing that she had the power to excite someone like Jason to this degree gave her a sense of heady intoxication as she allowed herself to be firmly molded to his body. Teeth and lips nipping and licking their way down her neck, Claire felt his hand cup the mound of her breast, his thumb slowly flicking the hard nipple through the lace of her corset. “Oh Jason, please!” cried Claire.

“What do you want baby? Tell me,” rasped Jason.

Claire wanted nothing more than to free the hard bulge from his pants and wrap her legs around his hips. She ran her hand down to the butt that she’d admired for so long and pulled him tightly against her, wrapping her ankle around his to bring their bodies even closer together. Jason raised his mouth back to hers and thrust his tongue inside as his hips thrust against hers mimicking the action of his tongue. Just as her hand went to the snap of his jeans, a third voice in the room was heard.

“Well, well, this restroom is certainly getting a lot more interesting!” Claire felt Jason stiffen as she looked over in a daze and met the amused gaze of her friend Julie. “I wondered what was keeping you, and now I see you have a very good reason for taking so long,” Julie laughingly said.

Claire felt her face flame with embarrassment at being caught making out in a restroom like a teenager. She jerked away from Jason and ran into one of the stalls. As the sound of a door slam vibrated through the restroom, Claire could only hope it was Jason leaving so she could quietly die of mortification.

“The coast is all clear girl, now tell me who that hunk was and don’t leave out a single juicy detail.”

“Could you hand me my clothes?” mumbled Claire. Cracking the door of the stall, she took the clothes Julie handed in and dressed quickly. She knew she couldn’t put Julie off any longer so she opened the door and stepped out to see the amusement that still lingered in Julie’s eyes.

As her eyes started to tear up the amusement left Julie, and she walked over and put her arms around her. “What’s going on Claire?”

“You would not believe it, even if I told you,” replied Claire.

“Try me, very little shocks me. Brian said something upset you during the routine tonight, and you took off as fast as you could. Would that something be the hot guy who just left?”

“That’s my boss at Danvers, Jason Danvers.”

Julie took a moment to digest this and said, “Ok, so your boss is here tonight, did you know that ahead of time?”

“No, I wouldn’t have worked this party knowing I could be risking my job at Danvers,” cried Claire. “I never even gave a thought to the fact that Jason was spending the weekend with his friend Harold for his bachelor party, and you said the bachelor's name was Winthrop,” gulped Claire.

“Oh honey that’s his last name, the name is Harold Winthrop.”

She realized that she never actually knew Harold’s last name and sighed.

Julie asked, “So what exactly led to the restroom scene I walked in on?”

“I recognized Jason and Harold when I jumped from the cake. Harold didn’t seem to know me, but I could see Jason possibly did. That’s the reason for the change in routine. I made sure to keep out of the direct line of sight from Jason, and I really hoped he would not be able to place me. I came straight back here to change and heard the door and thought it was you. Things really got out of hand, and I don’t even know how it happened.”

“Have you and Jason been sleeping together?”

“No, of course not, I’ve never even been attracted to him.” Ok, so that was somewhat of a lie.

“How could you be alive and not be attracted to that hunk? And from where I was standing the feeling was mutual.”

“I’m afraid I might have lost my job tonight; he’ll surely fire me.”

“For what? It takes two, and he was just as guilty as you if we’re taking names here. I’ll cover for you if you want to leave,” offered Julie.

“No, I’ll work in the kitchen; though, if it's ok with you, just give me a minute to freshen up.” Giving her another sympathetic look, Julie left the restroom.

~~~

Jason shut the door to the restroom and was glad to escape the prying gaze of Claire’s co-worker. In another few minutes, he would have taken Claire right there against the restroom wall. How could he have possibly overlooked how beautiful she was? Had he never noticed it during the time she worked for him? Apparently he was way too preoccupied at work. Under the shapeless, drab colored clothing was a body any man would kill to possess. Her response, although timid at first, had literally blown him away and her passion seemed to burn as hot as his.

Was his mouse of an assistant really an experienced woman of the world and a stripper to boot? Although admittedly, she’d not stripped but the line between being a stripper and jumping out of a cake at a bachelor party seemed pretty fine if you asked him. Surely, this violated something in her employment contract. Although this didn’t qualify for the non-compete clause, this must be an ethics violation.

The thought of firing her though and probably never seeing her again strangely held little appeal for him. If she valued her job with Danvers International, she would simply terminate this side job. A strong, unexpected wave of something curiously like jealousy ripped through him at the thought of men looking at her jumping out of that absurd cake at parties such as this one. He would take care of this immediately and heaven help any of his friends who had the bad fortune to make any other lewd comments about her body tonight. From this day forward, Claire would find that weekends at Danvers were a requirement which would leave her little time for anything else.

~~~

Claire made it into the kitchen without running into Jason again. She’d almost expected him to be waiting for her outside the restroom, but the coast was all clear. Julie pressed a glass of something strong and fiery into her hand and told her to drink up. Alcohol was something Claire almost never consumed and this particular one brought tears to her eyes but as instructed she finished it completely. The burn of the drink in her stomach seemed to settle it and her nerves. Julie refilled her glass again, and soon she was feeling much better although maybe a little lightheaded. She was also quite certain she was actually giggling.

All her worries about Jason seemed to melt away, and she was enjoying joking around with the waiters as they came into the kitchen for their next tray. Distantly she was aware that she’d just finished her third drink… Or her fourth, and that maybe she should slow down since it would soon be time to drive home.

Finally, the party was starting to finish up, and Claire gathered her stuff to walk out with Julie. They always escorted each other for safety, and Claire felt herself stumbling on her walk to the car. “Claire, I think I need to drive you home; you’re in no condition,” said a concerned Julie. “Hey Max lives in the Columbia area; you can catch a ride with him, stay right here while I go talk to him.” She assured Julie she would not move, and she leaned against the car waiting for her to return.

She saw a figure walk back towards her, and in her alcohol induced haze it was a male and assumed it was Brian. She walked towards him with an apology on her lips for the inconvenience of the ride and came to an abrupt halt when she recognized not Max but Jason instead. Claire stared at him with what could only be described as a deer in the headlight’s expression. “I thought you were already gone?”

“We’re parked across the road and its taking awhile to get everyone together to leave since a few of the guys have had too much to drink. It looks like you have the same problem, and as we’re going back to Harold’s, I assured your friend Julie that I would see you home.”

“But you can’t,” stammered Claire, “what about your own car?”

“My friends and I rented a car for the evening since alcohol would be involved as anyone responsible would do.” Her cheeks burned at the not too subtle insinuation that she was not responsible. Claire still stood silently, hesitant to get into the car even though it looked churlish to refuse.

Jason seemed to take her silence for agreement and placing his hand on her elbow he effectively steered her towards the passenger seat of her small car. He settled her in the front seat with instructions to buckle up. Jason shut the door and went around to the driver’s side and was forced to adjust the driver’s seat before he could fit his length into the car. The compact size of the car brought them into a much closer proximity than she was comfortable with. Claire reluctantly handed her keys over to Jason and settled herself as close to her door as she could for some much-needed breathing room.

Chapter Seven

She remained quiet as Jason drove her small car with ease down the now empty streets. The silence was finally broken when Jason sardonically asked, “So not only do you strip, you also have a drinking problem?”

Claire jerked upright indignantly replying, “I told you I’m not a stripper, and I certainly don’t have a drinking problem. If you must know, that part is your fault!”

“I’ll play along, how is your drinking my fault?”

“If I’d not been upset from you groping me in the women’s restroom, I would not have resorted to alcohol to settle my nerves,” Claire defended hotly.

Seeing Jason’s mouth tighten into a hard line, Claire feared she may have gone too far in her defense, but what could he expect? He accused her of being a stripper and an alcoholic all in the same sentence. “When you put it out there Claire, you have to expect people will take you at face value. Apparently, you enjoy this type of work, or you’d not spend your spare time doing it. Even going so far as to beg off work under the pretense of visiting family,” continued Jason.

The silence after that last comment seemed to linger as if Jason was waiting for her to defend herself. Her stomach picked that moment to start to rebel, the nausea increasing with every moment that passed. Never being one to drink much alcohol, even in social settings, Claire’s stomach was in protest mode as the churning became harder to ignore. “Can we stop off at the next rest area please?’

“We will be back at Harold’s soon, can’t it wait?” asked an impatient Jason.

“No, it can’t, please pull over at the next opportunity.”

Jason replied in a surprisingly gentle voice, “Just hold on, there’s a rest area coming up soon.” Claire hoped that she would not cap off what was already a humiliating evening by throwing up all over her boss. He does deserve it though. She was grateful to see lights up ahead as they approached a rest area. As soon as Jason parked the car, Claire bolted from the seat and out the door.

Thankful that the area was very quiet and deserted due to the late hour, she barely made it into a stall before becoming violently ill. She lost track of time as her stomach continued to heave. Claire was startled to feel someone behind her and realized too late that in her haste, she’d failed to latch the stall. She turned around in shock to see a concerned Jason.

“Let me help you, do you feel like you’re finished?” asked Jason quietly.

Nodding yes, Claire started to leave the stall when yet another wave of sickness overcame her. She jumped back to the toilet as her stomach continued to dry heave. Gentle hands held her hair and began rubbing her back. The kindness was almost her undoing; she felt like collapsing to the floor and crying. Jason patiently stood there soothing her and when at last she could leave the stall, he took a wet paper towel and wiped her face. Too drained to fight it, Claire allowed Jason to help her from the restroom and to a bench near her car.

“Let’s sit outside for a few moments and make sure you’re ready to travel before we start back out.” Claire was surprised when he put his arm around her and urged her head to his shoulder. Maybe some fresh air would help settle her stomach.

~~~

Claire awoke and realized she’d fallen asleep with her head on Jason’s shoulder. It embarrassed her to not only be sleeping at a rest area but also sleeping off a hangover on her boss’s shoulder. She was grateful the darkness hid the color she could feel creeping up her cheeks. Great, not only does my breath smell like a dead cat, I probably drooled all over his shirt as well.

“Are you feeling better? It’s probably not very safe to continue lingering here in the dark if you’re ready to travel again.”

“I, I’m fine,” said Claire as she tried to smooth her rumpled and stained clothing as best she could. Only being able to imagine her appearance now, Claire hoped this whole evening was simply a bad dream that she would wake up from soon. Jason effortlessly steered back into traffic, and she hoped that her stomach would hold for the rest of the trip.

“So how long have you been in this, shall we say, line of work, Claire? Was this a childhood dream of yours or something you just lucked upon later?” So much for the softer side of Jason I witnessed at the rest area, thought Claire, this sarcastic question left no doubt as to whom she was dealing with. She tried her best to ignore the question, turning her head towards the window and letting the silence lengthen. “How does one get into stripping anyway? I’ve always found those life choices fascinating.”