Weekends Required (Danvers #1)(43)

Claire entered the store and was excited to see all the beautiful clothing filling rack after rack. A pretty girl around her own age came up to her as she was looking through some dresses. “Hey there, I’m Ashley, what’re we looking for today?”

Claire smiled at her and said, “I’m going to Charleston for the week, and I would like some casual clothes, something different.”

With a wiggle of her eyebrows, Ashley asked, “For business or pleasure?” Taking note of Claire’s blush at the question, Ashley smiled and said, “Ok, pleasure.”

Soon Claire’s arms were loaded with colorful sun-dresses, Capri-pants and sleeveless tops. Claire modeled each selection for Ashley. Finally, she ended up with a short yellow sundress with multi-colored flowers on the bottom of it and another sundress in turquoise. Her favorite was a halter dress in a beautiful emerald-green color that made her eyes sparkle and put her br**sts proudly on display.

Ashley matched the sun-dresses up with cute strappy sandals and the halter dress with high heeled wedge sandals that laced up her ankles. She also selected some shorts that showed entirely too much leg and a few pairs of Capri linen pants with matching silk tanks. Ashley even matched up costume jewelry that complimented each outfit.

Claire cringed as she waited for Ashley to ring up her purchases. She was relieved and surprised that the total was far less than she could have hoped for or expected. She thanked Ashley profusely and assured her she would be back. With a spring in her step, Claire left the shop humming.

So this is what being in love feels like. Wow! Where had that thought come from? It was more like being in lust. Sex with someone hardly qualified as love. Still, it was such a great feeling to have someone to want to look attractive for. Claire hadn’t felt that way since college. The few people she’d dated since then never filled her with the desire to buy different clothing, or want to look more feminine.

Until Jason, Claire had never noticed anything lacking from her wardrobe or her social life. There was a nagging voice in the back of her mind telling her that this couldn’t last, but for once, she was going to live in the moment. No matter what happened between them, she knew she would be better for having this time with Jason; even if it was only brief.

Claire checked her phone to see if she’d missed any calls while inside the store and saw that she had a new message. Eagerly playing it, hoping it was Jason, Claire was disappointed to hear Pam’s voice. She wanted Claire to know that she had hired a new girl for the bachelor parties. When Claire had weekends available again, Pam would try to schedule some work for her. She made it clear though that Claire's days of having all the weekend parties were over.

Maybe it was for the best. She could probably pick up a weekend clerical job at one of the area hospitals, the difference being it would require more hours than Partiez Plus had. Next week she would sign up with an employment agency and see what they had to offer.

Chapter Seventeen

Claire picked up the items on Louise’s list and arrived in time for lunch. Louise had decided to make a late brunch and Claire tucked into a plate of eggs and bacon with gusto. Her mother was having a good day today, and the three of them remained at the table long after the meal was finished chatting and laughing. Louise asked several questions about her trip, and Claire hated not being completely truthful with her. Claire could tell by the sparkle in her eyes that she suspected there was more than Claire was telling, but she didn’t press her.

As she was leaving, Louise told her that her nephew would be by tomorrow to start the roof repairs. Claire left a check to pay him, in case he finished the work before she returned home. She gave her mother and Louise one last hug and promised to call and check on them while she was away.

~~~

Jason was in trouble. He felt it in his gut, and his gut was never wrong. The plan of getting Claire out of his system didn’t seem to be working. After a night of the best sex of his life, he still wasn’t remotely satisfied. In fact, he ached to be with her, inside her again. The scary part was it wasn’t just the sex he missed; he missed her. He had lain awake in bed this morning enjoying the feel of her curled into his side, her bandaged toe resting on top of his leg, her small hands lying so trustingly on his chest. His body was screaming at him to wake her, his mind was telling him to run like hell. He practically bolted out of the bed and into the bathroom.

While in the shower, he convinced himself that the tender feelings were just because he had known Claire for awhile. They’d worked closely for several years so it was only natural to feel more for her than just some one night stand. There was no reason this couldn’t work to his advantage. As his assistant she could travel with him while they were involved, and with the merger in progress no one would question the sudden need for that.

The novelty of crossing a line and sleeping with someone at the office had to be what made the sex so good, so forbidden. When the novelty wore off as it would, they’d move on. He felt better after working everything out in his mind and decided to give Claire a call to make sure everything was still a go for Charleston. He hoped he could continue to block the voice in his head urging him to run.

~~~

When Claire arrived home from her mother's, her cell phone rang.

“Hey beautiful, how is your day going?” asked Jason.

Pulse kicking into high gear at the sound of his voice, Claire tried to sound cool. “Hey, it’s going great, how about yours?”