26. Jack ‘J’
26
JACK ‘J’
A lone in the boardroom, where he waits for Sara to have a conversation with her boss, J makes several adjustments to his pants. They’re tight and awkward to move in because once again, he’s suffering from a sustained boner, which is taking a hell of a long time to disappear.
He forces his mind to think about other things.
He thinks about hiking but that leads back to Sara, which only makes his dick throb harder. He thinks about Midas, but that only makes him picture Sara in that dress he’d wanted to tear from her body the moment he laid eyes on her.
Every thought somehow leads back to her.
The way she’d sunk her fingers into his hair while she chewed on his lip and opened her legs for him drove him wild. It left him wondering how he’d managed to stop himself from spreading her wide and having her right there on the boardroom table. When he brushed a finger over the glossy material of her panties and felt how wet she’d become underneath, he nearly lost his shit. She wanted him.
But she wanted to keep things professional. He figured that was her way of telling him she wasn’t ready to get involved with him…wasn’t ready to date. There was something deeper there, he was sure. Which meant he had to tread carefully. He had to continue proving to her he wasn’t a jerk. So far, showing he valued her enough to enlist her expertise with his company appeared to be a good first step to gaining her trust. And even though a working relationship wasn’t what he wanted with this girl, he’d take it for now.
“Hey.” A rough voice comes from over his shoulder, immediately killing anything that was going on south of his waist. A guy in shorts and a sweat-stained muscle vest is taking out his headphones as he walks into the boardroom.
J recognizes him at once; it’s the guy from Midas, the Ken doll, Drew. He’s also someone he owes an apology to.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Drew stops short a couple inches from J.
“I’m glad I ran into you,” J begins, ignoring Drew’s sharp tone. “I wanted to apologize for how it went down the other night. I was out of line.”
Drew crosses defined arms over his chest. He’s a couple inches shorter than J, but he’s still a solid guy.
“You think? I hope you apologized to Sara too, after the way you treated her.”
He’s protective of her. J eyes him cautiously as he attempts to figure out why.
“I did. It’s why I’m here.” J admits coolly.
Drew smiles coldly, showing off blinding white teeth. “And she accepted?”
J frowns. “She understands that it was a misunderstanding and appreciates that I want to make things right. With everyone.”
Drew laughs coldly. “Well good for you guys. But see, I’m not really a second chance type of guy. Your status might have everyone fooled, but I’m not that gullible.”
J nods. He can’t force the guy to accept his apology, but he is curious why he seems so interested in him and Sara.
The exchange leads J to draw his own conclusions…
“You care about her.” J raises a brow.
Drew nods in a So? kind of way. “Let’s just say I think she’s better off without some silver-spoon jerk who treats her like she’s some shallow-minded schemer.”
The only thing J can do is visualize himself at Midas and think about how much he doesn’t want a repeat of that. He does his best not to react to this guy’s insults, taking a steadying breath instead.
“You said you were on the hike with her?” J asks, releasing his white-knuckled fists from within his pockets as he drifts toward some level of calm.
“No,” Drew replies, smirking. “I said I was in her hotel room when she got back.”
Another comment J could have gone without hearing again. It bugged him the first time he heard it, and it bugged him now.
Who is this guy? And was he really in Sara’s hotel room?
Before he can sicken himself further with images of Sara and another man, the boardroom door swings open.
“Great to finally meet you. I’m Walter Schneider.” A man in a gray suit strides to shake his hand while Drew makes an exit. “Kirby has just filled me in with your proposal and I couldn’t be happier that you’ve decided to enlist our expertise.”
Sara slips in behind Walter looking pleased with herself. J can’t decide what kind of relationship the two of them have, but from the way this guy didn’t even hold open the boardroom door for her gives him a decent understanding of how things run around this place.
“I have preliminary paperwork here for you to sign,” Walter says, producing a document along with a pen.
J raises an eyebrow. They’d barely passed introductions and the guy was asking him to put pen to paper? He flashes a look at Sara who appears undeniably mortified. She rolls her eyes, mouthing sorry from behind her boss.
J smirks, places both hands in his pockets as he steps toward Walter, not intending to tower over the guy but doing it anyway by default of his size.
“Enthusiastic.” J nods. “That’s great, I like that. Why don’t I leave you my secretary’s details? Forward the paperwork, and I’ll make it my priority to look over at some point today.”
Walter looks less than pleased but arranges his features to seem agreeable none the less.
“I’ll have someone return these, signed I’m sure, by the end of the day,” J says. It’s a more generous offer than he’d give to most, but something about the way Sara suddenly looks nervous makes him want to move the process along. He’s immediately unsure of this Walter dude. Bad energy all round. He’d have to keep an eye on him.
“Nonsense.” Walter chuckles. “Let us do the legwork.” He turns to Sara. “Kirby doesn’t have plans, I’m sure. She’ll pass by your office after work and pick them up.”
J feels his knuckles tighten in his pockets. He knows Walter isn’t leaving anything to chance by sending someone to collect the contracts on the off-chance J should string out the process. It was just good business practice. His gripe is with the way he demands Sara’s time without asking her first. Did he know for sure she didn’t have plans after work? Or did he just expect her to become available when he wanted?
J's about to reject the offer when Sara runs her fingers through her hair and speaks up.
“I don’t have plans. I can come by.” She shrugs, appearing genuinely indifferent, which makes J relax a little.
“Great, then it’s settled.” Walter’s face lights up like a Griswold family Christmas tree. “Welcome aboard Vandenberg.” He shakes his hand again before exiting the boardroom.
Sara waits for the door to close before throwing her head back and sighing with exasperation. “Ugh, he is so pushy. He’s like that with everyone. Hey, I don’t have to come by your office tonight if you’re not ready to sign anything.” She talks a hundred miles per hour. “I mean it’s so embarrassing, I’m sure you want your legal team to look over things first before you make a final decision. You know what, I won’t come. Just take your time.”
And pass up the chance to see her again? Not fucking happening.
“No.”
“No?” Sara frowns.
“I don’t need time.” J smirks handing her his phone. “Put your number in there, I’ll text you the address for later.”
As she takes his phone and punches in her number, he can’t help but enjoy the rush of adrenaline that courses through him. It wasn’t a date, but he’s managed to lock in more time with her, time to get to know her, time to figure her out, which above all, is the thing he wants the most.
She hands him back the phone, their fingers brushing in the passing. “I guess I’ll see you tonight.”
Tonight .
His mind goes into overdrive and all he wants to do is make a damn reservation, tell her to put on the sexiest dress she owns, and let him spoil her like she deserves.
He’d stick to the rules, however. Business only, for now.
“You’re sure you don’t have plans?” He confirms one more time.
“Looking forward to seeing you are my new plans,” she says, grinning as she turns, her chestnut hair moving around her like a glistening waterfall.
He’s almost too damn scared to look over at her now. Because something inside his chest is pulling. A string around his vital organs. A signal to his brain that yet again, the girl swaying her hips as she walks away, has awoken a feeling inside of him he thought might never surface again.