“I’m so proud of you,” she exclaimed to her son.
“Thanks Mom, I have to go back over with the team now,” he said, as he practically danced back over towards his teammates. She’d love to go back to being a kid, carefree and excited so easily. Her stomach clenched as she thought about the excitement that rushed through her body when Derek had stood so close to her.
She pushed those thoughts out of her head. She was with her son now and wouldn’t think of Derek. She had to put up with him in the office but he wasn’t allowed to invade her private time. She sighed, as she realized how hard it was going to be to keep the man out of her thoughts when she had to work with him all day.
Age had been far too good to the man. His boyish muscles had matured and when he'd taken off his suit jacket, exposing his wide shoulders and large biceps, she had to fight drooling. She'd once known his body as intimately as she knew her own and she missed the feel of his hands on her. She hadn’t had any man’s hands on her in far too long.
Maybe it was time to start dating again. She’d been asked out by Jacob’s wrestling coach and put him off. Maybe she should just accept the invitation. She’d think about it and not do something rash because her hormones were in an uproar.
The match ended shortly and she and Jacob headed to the car. “How would you like to go to dinner tonight?” she asked him.
“Yes! Can we have pizza?” he pleaded with her. The kid could eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner if she let him.
“That sounds perfect,” she replied and headed to the local parlor. She gave him a bunch of quarters for video games and then sat watching him from the table. They soon ate and then headed home. Both were exhausted from their busy day and quickly went to bed.
The next morning, Jasmine rode the elevator up to her floor, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. She was hoping Derek would have other things to do that day and not want to spend the entire time with her in the office again. She didn’t know how many days in a row she could stand being with him all day long, before she exploded.
The man smelled far too good for a stuffy executive and when she was with him, she couldn’t get the images of herself wrapped in his arms, out of her head. She had to remind herself not only had he walked away from her, after stealing her innocence but then he had come back to take over her father’s company as well. He was heartless and she’d be much better off remembering that.
She could in no way allow him to know about her son. He cared only for himself and anything he deemed his, he’d take mercilessly.
She sat down at her desk and no more than five minutes later, her buzzer was ringing. She picked up, already knowing who was on the other line. “When did you get in, I have been trying to get ahold of you for an hour,” Derek’s voice snapped over the line.
“I got here a few minutes ago and I’m twenty minutes early, as it is,” she said with frustration.
“Get over here, we need to go through the rest of the files,” he commanded and then hung up.
She wearily got to her feet and walked to his office. The secretary wasn’t even there and she had passed many empty offices along the way. He really was changing everything about the building. All those familiar faces were going to be gone. She didn’t particularly like any of the people who were getting fired but it was still nice to have familiar faces around her. There was some comfort in it.
Jasmine walked in the door and Derek had to make sure his features remained void. She was stunning in her green skirt suit. It matched her eyes to perfection. She once again had her hair up in the unflattering bun, which he wanted to yank out, but her face was stunning. She wore hardly any make-up, being she was one of the few women who simply didn’t need it.
She sat down at the table and he sat next to her. Her light scent drifted over to him and he could feel his pulse start to race and his pants start to get far too tight. He’d have to take her far sooner than he planned just to get her out of his system. Then he could get his libido back to normal.
He knew he was affecting her just as much as she was affecting him. He could see her chest rising faster as her breathing deepened. He could even see her pulse speed up through the delicate skin of her neck. He was going to test his limits of control that day.
He scooted far closer to her than was needed. He could see she wanted to move away but her stubborn attitude refused to allow her to show any weakness. Their shoulders were brushing together as he leaned in to look at the file she currently had opened in front of her.
“So what have you been doing the last ten years?” he asked her. For once in his life he had zero interest in the business in front of him that needed to be done.
“That’s none of your business, it has nothing to do with my job,” she snapped and tried to pull his attention back to the file. “This is Anthony, he works in accounting. I have spoken to him on a few occasions and even went to my father because it looked to me like he was into some unethical business practices but my father said it was fine. I would personally not trust him,” she finished, as she pushed the folder closer to him.
Bringing up her father was as good as throwing cold water in his face. His libido was put on hold as he took the file. He looked through the exceptionally detailed folder and then added the man to the fire pile. They continued to go through the files one by one and they mostly agreed on who deserved a chance to stay but every once in a while they came to an impasse.
She would argue for some person to stay but she’d lose. Once he set his mind on something, it was difficult to change it.
She pulled forward another file and made her case for the man to stay employed. He looked through and decided to let him go. He tossed the file into the termination pile and she snatched it back out. “I really think you need to interview Henry. He’s a good man and does exceptional work. You don’t even know him, so you can give him the courtesy of at least speaking with him, before you end his employment,” she demanded.
Derek raised his eyes at her outburst. She’d argued for a few people but hadn’t been so emphatic about it. He wondered who this Henry was and if he was possibly her reason for having to leave yesterday. He moved him over to the interview pile, just because he wanted to see who the competition was.
“Thank you,” she said although it came out through clenched teeth and didn’t sound like a ‘thank you’ at all. It sounded more like she wanted to call him a few names.