Weekends Required (Danvers #1)(11)
Claire nervously replied, “Um no, not really. I haven't seen them in a while and wanted to look my best.” Are the words 'I’m a complete liar' plastered on my forehead?
“Well you should certainly have no problem with that, you look like you’re ready for a date,” Jason replied tightly.
Oh yeah, I’m ready for a date with a whole room of horny guys in a few hours. “I, um, no, nothing like that,” Claire replied as she turned away to continue down the hall.
“I’ll walk you down,” said Jason falling into step behind her.
As she hurriedly made her way to the stairs, she heard Jason say with amusement, “Claire let’s slow down before mishap number four occurs before you make it out of the house.” She forced herself to slow her pace lest she end up at the bottom of the stairs in a heap. She prayed that she would give Jason nothing further to laugh about today.
Harold and Liz walked out of the family room and stopped in the foyer to wait for them. “Wow, you look great,” said a smiling Liz. “You’re more than welcome to join my girls' night this evening, Claire.”
“Thank you for offering Liz; however, I have family expecting me.”
“Please drop by in the family room if you get home early Claire, my friends are a little loud but are a really great group of ladies, and I know they’d enjoy your company.”
Claire smiled at Liz warmly and thanked her. She was really surprised at how comfortable she was with Liz and Harold. They seemed the exact opposite of Jason, and Claire was curious as to how the friendship had continued over all these years. Liz and Harold were the type of people to settle down and promptly have two children who were as well-mannered and lovable as they were.
Jason, however, was the type to spend his whole life driven for the next merger with his eye always on the bottom line. When and if Jason did marry, Claire could picture him with a cool blond who spent most of her time shopping and redesigning their penthouse or country home. Try as she might, Claire couldn’t picture Jason with children, although she could see that being an only child, there must be pressure to provide the next Danvers heir. It was suddenly quiet and Claire realized that Jason had asked her a question.
“I’m sorry; I was just going over the directions to my aunt’s home can you repeat that please?”
Jason’s blue eyes twinkled as if to say, ‘I know you’re lying, but I’ll let it pass.’ “I asked what area you’ll be traveling to. Harold and I could give you a lift and pick you up later tonight if we’re going to be near your family.”
“No, that’s ok; my aunt lives off the beaten path so to speak, and it would be too far out of the way,” stammered a flustered Claire.
In his quiet voice, Harold said, “Claire it would be no problem; we’d be happy to drop you off anywhere you need to go.”
Hey, great, could you drop me at the gentlemen’s club an hour away? My aunt really likes to party. She could feel herself starting to panic as she said, “that’s very thoughtful of you both, however, I promised my aunt that I would take her to dinner and I’ll need my own transportation for that. Thank you both though for offering.”
This thankfully appeared to satisfy them both and the topic was dropped. Claire looked down at her watch and announced that her aunt would be waiting for her and after saying goodbye to everyone, Claire walked towards the front door. Jason stepped in front of the door and opened it for her asking, “What time will you be back this evening Claire?”
Wow, she thought when Jason had assumed a role as her daddy; she gave a vague answer, “I’ve not seen my aunt in quite a while, so I plan to spend several hours with her.”
Claire made her way to her car. She risked a quick look over her shoulder and saw Jason leaned against his black Mercedes watching her with an unreadable expression on his handsome face. She hurriedly climbed into her car and buckled her seatbelt trying to control the urge to speed away.
Claire took a deep breath and turned her car towards Florence. She was familiar with the area of the party she was working tonight so she didn’t anticipate any problems with finding the location. Claire was aghast at her sudden reaction to Jason as not only her boss but very much a man. In the time that Claire worked for him, she’d of course noticed how handsome he was, especially with Suzy pointing it out numerous times a day; and yes, like everyone else in the company, she had plenty of fantasies about various sexual positions with him but she never actually saw him as a person.
Her fantasies were the same as she would have for Tom Cruise or George Clooney, lust from afar but business as usual each day. Away from the office and the stress of her life, Claire was seeing Jason in a different light. She was suddenly noticing things about him that she shouldn’t be; like the way his eyes seemed to sparkle when he was laughed, the way he obviously loved his friends and, lord help her, the way those faded Levis cupped that gorgeous butt. How many times today had she forced herself to stop staring at him? She practically wiped her mouth a few times to make sure she wasn’t drooling. Claire vowed to return things to their usual professional behavior.
The landscape between Columbia and Florence was rather sparse after leaving the city of Columbia. Myrtle Beach seemed like Los Angeles compared to the small towns she was now passing through. Claire knew she was approaching her exit and mentally prepared herself to enter what she called the ‘Partiez Plus Mode.'