I Do the Boss (Managing the Bosses Series, #5)(14)
She turned the car off and let her head drop back as she closed her eyes. "Okay. Anything for you."
"There's my girl. Sleep naked and I'll wake you up when I get home."
She chuckled and got out of the car. "You always know just what to say to save yourself, don't you?"
"Most paupers do, love."
Chapter 6
If Alex touched Jamie when he got home that night, she wasn't aware of it.
She woke to Mark banging on the back door fifteen minutes before her alarm went off, though, which left her crabby and grumbling under her breath about anything and everything as she walked to the back door. She tugged her robe on tighter and jerked the door open.
"What?" She barked at him.
"Nice to see you too. Get dressed. Let's go for breakfast and then we'll get into the office." He walked into the house, moving past her and heading to the kitchen. "I'll make you a cup of coffee while you jump in the shower. Hop to it."
"What? Why?" She followed him into the kitchen as she pressed her palms to her eyes and rubbed softly. "You're usually leaving right now. What's going on?"
"I just wanted to talk to you about Kristen. She's driving me crazy, and I got into three tense conversations with Paul yesterday. It’s f*cking ridiculous." He shooed her off. "Go get dressed and we'll talk in the car. Seriously, I don't want to give the paper any more ammo about us."
"Us?" She started to turn, but paused. "What do you mean?"
"Remember in the park the other day? I'm sure they were taking pictures to implicate us having a relationship outside of the great friendship we have." He shrugged and worked on getting the coffee started.
"No way. I don't believe that." She rolled her eyes, turned and walked back toward the bedroom.
"You're na?ve. Prepare for the worst and you'll be pleasantly surprised the very few times it doesn't rear its ugly head," he called after her.
"Okay Negative-Nancy." She closed the bedroom door behind her and got into the shower, enjoying the hot spray as it washed over her. Alex hadn't come home the night before, of if he had it was only for a short period of time. Chances were, he'd fallen asleep on the couch and never even made it into the bedroom with her.
It was all part of being with a man who was married to his job. It was a damn good thing he was so attentive and loving in the times that he wasn't consumed by work. It was enough to keep her feeling important and not worrying that their relationship was less than it was.
"No second guessing today." She got dressed and walked back out to find Mark on the floor, rolling around with Jake. "You're going to wrinkle your shirt."
"And?" Mark smirked. "I heard girls are drawn to guys who look like they need help getting their shit together. If I look all put together and perfect like my brother does, then I'll never find a woman."
"What? That's dumb." She laughed and walked into the kitchen to get a travel mug of coffee. "What does that say about me, then?"
He walked in, brushing his chest as he smiled. "That you aren't going to play maid, secretary, or house-wife for any man. You want him to have his shit together and ready to go wherever you lead."
"Oh, brother." She shook her head. "Where do you get this stuff?"
"Cosmo, duh." He winked and pulled his keys from his pocket. "You want me to drive?"
"Yeah, sure. I almost died on the freeway yesterday. I could use a break from driving." She walked into the living room and grabbed her purse. "Did you and Paul end on a good note yesterday, or is there still a lot of tension between you?"
They walked out into the warm early morning, and Jamie turned to lock the door and set the alarm on the house. Tension in the office sucked no matter who it was between, but Paul and Mark worked closely with each other, and sharing an office couldn't have been much fun in the midst of the drama.
"I don't know. We weren't talking by the end of the day." Mark got in the truck and buckled up as Jamie followed suit. “The guy’s an idiot.”
Men! Toss out some testosterone and they all have to see whose dick was the biggest. Instead of talking things through, they’d rather call each other dummies and avoid having a conversation about the problem. Jamie had a feeling if Mark had just told Paul he was into Kristen; it would’ve prevented the whole scene. Then again, why was Kristen agreeing to go out with Paul if she was interested in Mark? Unless she wasn’t? Or maybe she was trying to make Mark jealous. Okay... women were as crazy as men. "Do you really like Kristen enough to think something is going to come between your and Paul’s friendship?" Jamie took a tentative sip of her coffee, checking the temperature.
"I like her. She's beautiful and a load of fun, but am I willing to fight for her? I don't think so." He let out a long groan. "I thought about it half the night and the thing is, I'm not the kind of guy who wants to fight over a woman. I'm good finding someone else, and will eventually get off my ass and start dating, but when faced with the challenge in the office, I'm all in. I can't stand losing. Is that dumb?"
"It's not dumb, but it's also not worth the effort. It sounds like you're fighting for Kristen so that you don't lose, not so that you win her. That's the prize at the end of the rainbow, right?" She smirked.