A little bump in the road
“Good morning, Mister Evans,” Jordan greeted as Tyler strolled past her desk.
“Jordan, my office, please.”
She smiled as she stood up and followed him to his office.
He did this every morning. He wasn’t trying to keep their relationship a secret, but he was also quite strict about keeping their personal life and professional life separate.
Every office had its fair share of rumors and Tyler didn’t want their relationship to be a point of discussion at the water cooler.
It was one thing they both agreed on, so she didn’t argue.
She walked in and he closed the door behind her.
“Good morning,” he said, placing a long kiss on her lips. It was chaste, no tongue, just the simple way he’d been greeting her for the last two weeks.
Unlike every other day, he kept the door closed, walked to his desk and sat down. “There’s something I need to show you, but I don’t want you to freak out.”
“Okay.” She felt a mixture of worry and apprehension as he opened his briefcase.
He placed a tabloid magazine on his table but kept his hands over the cover. “So that night we all went out to Q’s,” he began, “someone had a camera.”
He lifted his hands and her eyes widened for a split second. There, on the right corner of the cover of Hot Gossip, was a picture of Tyler kissing her as they danced in the rain.
“Does Tyler Evans have a new girlfriend?” she read out loud. “I know I was drunk that night, but they could have at least gotten my good side.”
Their picture on the cover of a trashy magazine didn’t faze her and she thought the joke would lighten the mood, but he still looked uneasy and that sort of made her uneasy too.
She lifted the magazine, flipping through the pages until she found the section dedicated to their love affair.
There were a lot more pictures of their drunken night and they weren’t too bad.
The article, however, was just demeaning.
No, actually the article was downright fucked up.
It said, in no uncertain terms, that this millionaire tycoon was having a rebound fling with his skanky secretary.
She knew she shouldn’t have worn that skirt.
“Why does everyone think I’m your secretary?” She tried to keep her tone light, but he didn’t buy it. He saw straight through the fake smile and indifference she was trying to show. Her mood was plummeting by the second.
“Jordan, I’m sorry. This is one of those ugly things that comes along with me and if you—”
“I don’t care what other people think…I care about what you think.”
That was her way of begging for reassurance and again he saw it immediately. He was quiet for a long time, staring at her like she could read his thoughts. She couldn’t. “You’re asking me if…I’m using you as a rebound?”
“You and Trisha only broke up six months ago. The two of you were together for three years…I mean, are you really over her?”
He didn’t confirm or deny anything. He didn’t answer his question or hers. He just continued staring at her, which was only causing more doubt to play on her mind.
“We’re nothing alike,” she said, “and it does make me wonder how the same man could be attracted to two women who are so different.” She nipped her lip, debating whether she should go further.
In the end, she decided to voice her thoughts.
She was falling for him at meteorite speed and she needed to know what they were and what they weren’t.
“Tyler, if I’m just some momentary distraction… a fun pastime—”
“That’s enough.” His words were soft to show compassion, but there was an edge to them, letting her know that something she’d said had angered him.
“Jordan, you don’t know everything about me, but there are three things you do know.
I don’t do flings. I don’t make a decision without thinking about it first. And I certainly don’t do things for the sake of fun. So what does that tell you?”
This was something new she was discovering about him.
Instead of answering the question, he threw another back at her.
It took a few seconds and then it clicked.
He had trouble articulating how he felt.
His hesitation when they’d discussed his mother should have been the first clue.
The word fond was the second, but this was the first time she was really seeing it.
He used twenty words when three or four would suffice.
I like you or I care about you weren’t easy for him to say, but she accepted his roundabout way of saying it.
“It tells me…I shouldn’t give a fuck about this article.”
He smiled and stood up. “Yeah, Roman.” Closing the gap between them, he cupped her face with both hands. “Insecurity doesn’t suit you. Don’t doubt this. I don’t.”
“Okay.”
He kissed her, wrapping his arms around her in one of his bear-like cuddles.
It wasn’t the chaste good morning type kisses.
It wasn’t lustful either. It wasn’t even anything in-between because it held no physical connotations.
That kiss was all emotion, Tyler’s way of telling her that he might be falling for her too.
It was some time later when she finally walked back to her desk, still feeling a little dazed.
When her brain eventually reached full capacity again, she remembered it was September twenty-second, Shane’s birthday.
She formulated her excuse to end the call if he started talking too much and then reached for her cell phone.
“Hi, Jo-jo.”
“Hello, brother. Happy twenty-ninth birthday.”
“Thanks. And what a happy birthday it is. If I remember correctly, I’m the same age as your boss now.”
Oh, no, she thought, shutting her eyes. She knew that tone. It was the one that always preceded the request for a bribe. He’d seen the article. He went on to tell her about how exactly he had discovered the magazine and how it had just made his day.
“What would our father say?” he asked with fake concern. “Here he thought he was raising a good, respectful woman only to find his only daughter on the cover of some trashy tabloid, kissing her boss.”
She rolled her eyes. “Dad likes Tyler. I don’t think he’ll really care. Mom too.”
“Maybe. But what about Dom? Seeing pictures like these…it would break his heart. You bring dishonor to the family name, Jordan.”
“Fuck you. What do you want?”
She could almost picture the evil smile on his face. “I want a cake.”
“Shall I FedEx it to you?”
“Not today. Christmas. I want that nice sponge cake you make with the strawberry frosting. And I don’t want that box shit. I want it made from scratch.”
“I hate baking, Shane.”
“I know,” he replied with a sick chuckle. “Thanks for the call, sis.”
She hung up the phone and hit her head on the table. Why couldn’t she have had four sisters?
As the day went on, she started receiving some very strange looks.
More of her colleagues were questioning her with their eyes.
Mervin at least had the balls to say something to her face, but the rest of them just silently judged and restricted their discussions to the vicinity of the water cooler.
By five she was annoyed, ready to yell at these assholes and tell them to mind their own business.
And just when she was ready to explode with exasperation, her phone beeped.
She knew before she even saw the message that it was Max. And he was pissed.
Max: Why is there a picture of you and your BOSS making out on the cover of Hot Gossip???
She rolled her eyes. When it came to her boyfriends, Kevin and Shane were easy to deal with.
Dom and Max…not so much. If there was one thing she had learned in her twenty-five years, it was not to combat Max’s temper with hostility.
That was asking for trouble. So as irritable as she was, she decided to settle on good, old-fashioned sarcasm.
Jordan: He tripped and fell on my face
Max: I thought he said you guys DON’T have that boss-accountant sort of relationship.
Jordan: I know right! He told me the same thing
Jordan: Yet still he fell on my face
Max: Give Tyler a message for me, will ya?
Max: Balls and shears
Jordan: Don’t know what that means but sure. I’ll tell him.
That sort of worked. He was still peeved, but he’d get over it soon enough. She saw Tyler heading towards her desk and shut down her computer.
“So Shane and Max saw the magazine,” she said once he reached her, “and Max wanted me to give you a message.”
“Balls and shears?”
“Yeah…how’d you know?”
“I got it before.” He shrugged, releasing an aggravated breath. “I don’t want to talk about that stupid article anymore. Let’s go out for dinner.”
“Sure.” She stood up and pulled on her coat. “What are you in the mood for?”
“Maybe some…Peking duck,” he suggested, his lips tilting up.
Her eyes automatically narrowed. “Do you like pissing me off?”
“Ah, c’mon. I was trying to make you feel better and I’m new at this joke thing.” His arm went around her shoulder as they walked to the elevators. It was the first time he’d done that in the office, but it didn’t really matter anyway. Everyone knew about their love affair now.
“Well, the first rule is to not make a joke about something that someone else is sentimental about. You know I love ducks.”
“Noted.” The elevator dinged and they stepped inside. “Just keep tutoring me, oh wise one. Though, I should give you fair warning. Once I’m funny, there will be no stopping me. A bad-ass with a sense of humor? You won’t be able to resist.”
She smiled. She already couldn’t.