Author's note:
Thank you very much for reading the first part, and for all the feedback. I appreciate it more than I can say! I hope you enjoy the second chapter, and continue to email me/comment with your opinions!
Also, to the reader who mentioned the importance of coffee; you're brilliant! I'm a coffee junkie, and I threw in the coffee bit for you!
Cheers!
Ginger M.
*****
She hadn't been able to think coherently since Monday, and it was all his fault. Marc. Why did he have to go and complicate things like that? Having a name to go with the face...
and
body was driving her up the wall, but that's not what bothered her the most. She was shocked -almost scared- when she recalled his telling her that he knew who she was.
How, what, huh?
She had been alone in the suite when she woke up, which set off a number of alarms in her head since she was
always
the first to leave after their encounters. She never fell asleep on any of the expensive, lavish furniture pieces with him, and barely spared time to clean up in the powder room after they were done with each other. Her control over her surroundings was slipping; he was the final string that attached her to her command over things, and that was severed, too.
Working for a company like
Γlsi Dussant
, put her in a world where everything was a label, a designer name, and a season-hot commodity; hence a man with no name was everything she needed to balance her life. In a world where everyone dreaded horrid Mondays, and complained about them all week long, she looked forward to the first day of the week, because it was her
Jack Day
. Well, no more.
Mind made up, she decided that she wasn't going back to the hotel on Monday, she wasn't going to stay and find out how he knew her name, and whether she was going to fall for him and have him break her heart just like Curt did all those years ago.
On Monday morning, she cranked up her posh coffee machine adding an extra scoop of her
Starbucks Blond Roast
, and an extra cup of water; if she couldn't have
Jack
she'll enjoy
Joe
.
She refused to look at her
Howard Miller
silver pyramid desk clock, and ended up flipping it face-side down when she couldn't focus on anything else but the ever moving little arms that edged closer and closer to the Six O'clock mark which indicated her Marc -no,
Jack
time.
He's probably going to appreciate her not showing up since he was obviously in rare form the other day, and he slipped and let things progress like that. She was doing
him
a favor, and not avoiding an awkward situation.
"You're a very selfless person, Jillian; self-sacrificing to no end." She murmured to herself and dug out for a pack of gum in her second desk drawer to hide her coffee breath.
There was a knock at the door, and she straightened in her chair trying to look like
Balanced Boss Lady
for whoever wanted to see her, "Come in." The pack of gum she found was empty. Damnation!
"Jillian, you're still here?" her casting agent stuck her head in with its mass of brilliant bottle-red hair decorated by the woman's trademark chopsticks, "It's after 7:00!"
Her heart tripped, but she plastered a shaky smile on her face, "I had a lot of work to do."
Mints, she had mints.
"You've been here since 8:00 am, you never do the whole
Manic Monday
thing."
A vision of
Jack
sprawled on the corner chair by the ceiling-high windows with her between his legs flashed in her mind, and she blinked a few times trying to think of something else other than his cum shooting from his penis to cover her breasts...her open palms massaging it over her full twin globes with her eyes locked on his.
"I had some important things to do. What, with Mr. Dussant's son taking over the company we have to be in tiptop shape." she swallowed and shook her head, it wasn't a complete lie, "I went over some prospects for the..." she swallowed the rest of the sentence. She was going to say
soon-to-be-vacated positions
, but that was still a management-only discussion, "it's boring, really, just growth and payroll adjustment stuff." She waved her hand dismissively as she located her pack of strong mints, and popped two in her mouth.
The redhead, Veronique, planted her butt in one of the progressive 1960's style chairs Jillian had ordered to be specifically made for her, and reached reflexively for the clock righting it, "Look, I know some people might get canned, and I don't care about that because I know I'm not one of them. I know my professionalism, and work ethic are stellar and I won't ever worry about my job, but I
am
worried about you. You've
inhaled
a whole pot of coffee today, and only came out for lunch-" lifting up a hand and nodding in explanation, "I know that because I use your fancy coffee maker when you're out of the office, and I had to settle for instant crap today, seriously, not cute, Jillian."
That made her laugh, "Oh wow! I...I don't know what to say to that!"
"I don't mess with your stuff or anything, but I did see that list you prepared for the upper management folks the other day, and I think you're doing the right thing."
Chuckling, Jillian said "Remind me to lock my office door when I leave." She folded her laptop closed after hitting the "send" tab emailing Mr. Dussant
Junior