If they could build skyscrapers and bridges to cover miles, they should surely be able to build a cake with a bottom door to avoid having to be lifted to the top. Brian and Max were always asking if maybe she’d gained a pound or two as they mock staggered trying to lift her. Claire checked the top of the cake to make sure there would be no mishaps with it opening and then settled in.
The increase in the noise level told Claire that they had entered the main room of the party, and she tried to settle the nervous butterflies in her stomach. The music cued up, and Claire listened for the tap from Brian that would signify it was time for her to pop the top of the cake. The signal sounded, and Claire took a big breath and jumped up through the top with her arms held high above her head to much enthusiastic applause.
The honoree of the party was always seated directly in front of the cake and, taking a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light, Claire started to focus on that seat. Slowly blinking her eyes and hoping that she was seeing things, Claire became aware that Jason’s friend Harold was standing in front of the chair of honor with Jason standing on his right. Harold was laughing and applauding, and his friends around him were all clapping him on the back, everyone except Jason, who seemed to be studying her intently as if she were someone he was trying to place in his memory. Harold seemed to have no clue as to who she was.
The time that she was required to remain standing seemed endless as she tried to keep her head averted and avoided looking directly at Harold or Jason. She tried to act normal but was desperate to leave the spotlight before she was recognized. Claire turned to the side and signaled to Brian and Max to lift her down on the left side instead of the normal front position.
They were confused at the change but quickly positioned to assist the dismount. Claire walked to the left of Harold to give him a hug from behind with the usual congratulations. She tried to exit the area as soon as possible to avoid looking in Jason’s direction. Finally, a path parted for her and Claire made her way to the restroom with the sound of applause following her.
~~~
Jason was completely and utterly dumbfounded. Unless his eyesight, and possibly his mind as well, was playing tricks on him, his assistant had jumped out of a cake at his best friend’s bachelor party wearing next to nothing. He had been paying very little attention when the cake had been rolled out and only just glanced over when the sound of the top of the cake popping open had caught his attention.
If not for seeing Claire at Harold’s with her hair arranged much as it was now, he might have possibly missed what his eyes seemed to be telling him. His demure, mostly genderless assistant was actually a drop-dead bombshell, and even if it took his mind several minutes to accept it, his body knew as soon as he laid eyes on her.
How in the hell had he been so blind to her all of these years and, more importantly, how did one not know that their assistant jumped out of cakes at bachelor parties after hours? Claire lived a whole other life outside the office, which might be normal for everyone to some degree; however, this seemed a little extreme. His little mouse of an assistant was a stripper?
He was sure seeing her with two heads would have surprised him a lot less. Harold didn’t seem to recognize her at all and was at present receiving well wishes from the others at the party and comments of the more lewd variety were flying about Claire. For some reason, he wanted to protect her virtue and start punching someone in the face. He stalked angrily towards the direction he had seen Claire disappear to.
~~~
Claire leaned against the restroom stall shaking in reaction. How could this have possibly happened and why didn’t she make a connection that this could be Harold’s Party? Julie had said the name was Winthrop, and she’d never given it another thought. She hoped against hope that she was wrong and Jason hadn’t recognized her. Claire began undressing and vowed to stay in the kitchen the rest of the evening no matter what.
Dear God, she would lose her job with Jason over this; he would never understand why it was necessary to work this job as well as for Danvers. Panic started to set in, and she was shaking so hard her fingers were fumbling trying to unsnap the garters. At just that moment, Claire heard the door open.
“Julie, give me a few minutes, I’m having a hard time with these darn snaps.” Not thinking anything of the silence, she continued on, “God Julie you will never believe what just happened, my boss and his friends were at this party. I thought you said the bachelor's name was Winthrop? I need to stay in the kitchen for the rest of the evening and steer clear of Jason.” As those words were uttered, she was suddenly aware that Julie hadn’t made a single reply. She looked up and was looking into the blue eyes that had haunted her all day.
Time seemed to freeze as she slowly became aware that she was standing in the ladies’ restroom practically naked with her boss leisurely lowering his gaze to the corset that barely contained her breasts. She could feel her nipples standing up and saluting. His gaze lowered to the skimpy matching panties and, heaven help her, she could feel her body continue to betray her as heat pooled between her thighs. She squeezed her legs together to try to control the fire that seemed to be spreading through her body like an inferno. Claire finally gathered her wits enough to sputter, “What’re you doing in here? This is the ladies’ restroom.”
“I thought I would visit with the stripper for the evening, how much for a private lap dance for my friends and myself?”
“Wha… What?" stammered Claire, "what do you mean?”
“Well you’re the stripper who jumped out of the cake, correct?”
“No no, I’m not a stripper. I just jump out of the cake with clothes on; I don’t strip!”
“Clothes huh? I’m not sure that qualifies as clothing,” replied Jason with sarcasm dripping from his voice.
It finally dawned on her that she was still standing in a restroom with her boss, almost naked. Claire averted her eyes from his and tried to cover herself with her hands. “Could you please leave? I need to dress, and this is the ladies’ restroom.” She made the mistake of looking up into Jason’s eyes and could feel herself melt. Heat blazed there and with a muttered oath, Jason gripped her arms and dragged her against his hard body.
She went rigid at the sudden contact and tried to pull back as she felt Jason’s palms start gliding lightly up her arms leaving a trail of fire as they settled on either side of her face, his thumb gently rubbing her bottom lip. By this point, Claire had given up any thought of getting free and was mesmerized by the smoldering look in his eyes. As if almost against his will Jason leaned forward and gently laid his lips against hers. His tongue took up the course of his thumb and slowly began stroking her bottom lip. Her heart racing and her nipples turning to stone, Claire went boneless and sagged into him.
Jason took this as a sign of surrender and suddenly deepened the kiss, his tongue thrusting into her mouth. Startled at the sudden invasion, a brief moment of reality started to intrude but was quickly clouded as a hot masculine hand slid down her back and firmly cupped the cheeks of her bottom bringing her up into close contact with a hard bulge.
Realizing that she had the power to excite someone like Jason to this degree gave her a sense of heady intoxication as she allowed herself to be firmly molded to his body. Teeth and lips nipping and licking their way down her neck, Claire felt his hand cup the mound of her breast, his thumb slowly flicking the hard nipple through the lace of her corset. “Oh Jason, please!” cried Claire.
“What do you want baby? Tell me,” rasped Jason.
Claire wanted nothing more than to free the hard bulge from his pants and wrap her legs around his hips. She ran her hand down to the butt that she’d admired for so long and pulled him tightly against her, wrapping her ankle around his to bring their bodies even closer together. Jason raised his mouth back to hers and thrust his tongue inside as his hips thrust against hers mimicking the action of his tongue. Just as her hand went to the snap of his jeans, a third voice in the room was heard.
Claire felt her face flame with embarrassment at being caught making out in a restroom like a teenager. She jerked away from Jason and ran into one of the stalls. As the sound of a door slam vibrated through the restroom, Claire could only hope it was Jason leaving so she could quietly die of mortification.
“The coast is all clear girl, now tell me who that hunk was and don’t leave out a single juicy detail.”
“Could you hand me my clothes?” mumbled Claire. Cracking the door of the stall, she took the clothes Julie handed in and dressed quickly. She knew she couldn’t put Julie off any longer so she opened the door and stepped out to see the amusement that still lingered in Julie’s eyes.
As her eyes started to tear up the amusement left Julie, and she walked over and put her arms around her. “What’s going on Claire?”
“You would not believe it, even if I told you,” replied Claire.
“Try me, very little shocks me. Brian said something upset you during the routine tonight, and you took off as fast as you could. Would that something be the hot guy who just left?”
“That’s my boss at Danvers, Jason Danvers.”
Julie took a moment to digest this and said, “Ok, so your boss is here tonight, did you know that ahead of time?”
“No, I wouldn’t have worked this party knowing I could be risking my job at Danvers,” cried Claire. “I never even gave a thought to the fact that Jason was spending the weekend with his friend Harold for his bachelor party, and you said the bachelor's name was Winthrop,” gulped Claire.
“Oh honey that’s his last name, the name is Harold Winthrop.”
She realized that she never actually knew Harold’s last name and sighed.
Julie asked, “So what exactly led to the restroom scene I walked in on?”
“I recognized Jason and Harold when I jumped from the cake. Harold didn’t seem to know me, but I could see Jason possibly did. That’s the reason for the change in routine. I made sure to keep out of the direct line of sight from Jason, and I really hoped he would not be able to place me. I came straight back here to change and heard the door and thought it was you. Things really got out of hand, and I don’t even know how it happened.”
“Have you and Jason been sleeping together?”
“No, of course not, I’ve never even been attracted to him.” Ok, so that was somewhat of a lie.
“How could you be alive and not be attracted to that hunk? And from where I was standing the feeling was mutual.”
“I’m afraid I might have lost my job tonight; he’ll surely fire me.”
“For what? It takes two, and he was just as guilty as you if we’re taking names here. I’ll cover for you if you want to leave,” offered Julie.
“No, I’ll work in the kitchen; though, if it's ok with you, just give me a minute to freshen up.” Giving her another sympathetic look, Julie left the restroom.
~~~
Jason shut the door to the restroom and was glad to escape the prying gaze of Claire’s co-worker. In another few minutes, he would have taken Claire right there against the restroom wall. How could he have possibly overlooked how beautiful she was? Had he never noticed it during the time she worked for him? Apparently he was way too preoccupied at work. Under the shapeless, drab colored clothing was a body any man would kill to possess. Her response, although timid at first, had literally blown him away and her passion seemed to burn as hot as his.
Was his mouse of an assistant really an experienced woman of the world and a stripper to boot? Although admittedly, she’d not stripped but the line between being a stripper and jumping out of a cake at a bachelor party seemed pretty fine if you asked him. Surely, this violated something in her employment contract. Although this didn’t qualify for the non-compete clause, this must be an ethics violation.
The thought of firing her though and probably never seeing her again strangely held little appeal for him. If she valued her job with Danvers International, she would simply terminate this side job. A strong, unexpected wave of something curiously like jealousy ripped through him at the thought of men looking at her jumping out of that absurd cake at parties such as this one. He would take care of this immediately and heaven help any of his friends who had the bad fortune to make any other lewd comments about her body tonight. From this day forward, Claire would find that weekends at Danvers were a requirement which would leave her little time for anything else.
~~~
Claire made it into the kitchen without running into Jason again. She’d almost expected him to be waiting for her outside the restroom, but the coast was all clear. Julie pressed a glass of something strong and fiery into her hand and told her to drink up. Alcohol was something Claire almost never consumed and this particular one brought tears to her eyes but as instructed she finished it completely. The burn of the drink in her stomach seemed to settle it and her nerves. Julie refilled her glass again, and soon she was feeling much better although maybe a little lightheaded. She was also quite certain she was actually giggling.
All her worries about Jason seemed to melt away, and she was enjoying joking around with the waiters as they came into the kitchen for their next tray. Distantly she was aware that she’d just finished her third drink… Or her fourth, and that maybe she should slow down since it would soon be time to drive home.
Finally, the party was starting to finish up, and Claire gathered her stuff to walk out with Julie. They always escorted each other for safety, and Claire felt herself stumbling on her walk to the car. “Claire, I think I need to drive you home; you’re in no condition,” said a concerned Julie. “Hey Max lives in the Columbia area; you can catch a ride with him, stay right here while I go talk to him.” She assured Julie she would not move, and she leaned against the car waiting for her to return.
She saw a figure walk back towards her, and in her alcohol induced haze it was a male and assumed it was Brian. She walked towards him with an apology on her lips for the inconvenience of the ride and came to an abrupt halt when she recognized not Max but Jason instead. Claire stared at him with what could only be described as a deer in the headlight’s expression. “I thought you were already gone?”
“We’re parked across the road and its taking awhile to get everyone together to leave since a few of the guys have had too much to drink. It looks like you have the same problem, and as we’re going back to Harold’s, I assured your friend Julie that I would see you home.”
“But you can’t,” stammered Claire, “what about your own car?”
“My friends and I rented a car for the evening since alcohol would be involved as anyone responsible would do.” Her cheeks burned at the not too subtle insinuation that she was not responsible. Claire still stood silently, hesitant to get into the car even though it looked churlish to refuse.
Jason seemed to take her silence for agreement and placing his hand on her elbow he effectively steered her towards the passenger seat of her small car. He settled her in the front seat with instructions to buckle up. Jason shut the door and went around to the driver’s side and was forced to adjust the driver’s seat before he could fit his length into the car. The compact size of the car brought them into a much closer proximity than she was comfortable with. Claire reluctantly handed her keys over to Jason and settled herself as close to her door as she could for some much-needed breathing room.
Chapter Seven
She remained quiet as Jason drove her small car with ease down the now empty streets. The silence was finally broken when Jason sardonically asked, “So not only do you strip, you also have a drinking problem?”
Claire jerked upright indignantly replying, “I told you I’m not a stripper, and I certainly don’t have a drinkin
g problem. If you must know, that part is your fault!”
“I’ll play along, how is your drinking my fault?”
“If I’d not been upset from you groping me in the women’s restroom, I would not have resorted to alcohol to settle my nerves,” Claire defended hotly.
Seeing Jason’s mouth tighten into a hard line, Claire feared she may have gone too far in her defense, but what could he expect? He accused her of being a stripper and an alcoholic all in the same sentence. “When you put it out there Claire, you have to expect people will take you at face value. Apparently, you enjoy this type of work, or you’d not spend your spare time doing it. Even going so far as to beg off work under the pretense of visiting family,” continued Jason.
The silence after that last comment seemed to linger as if Jason was waiting for her to defend herself. Her stomach picked that moment to start to rebel, the nausea increasing with every moment that passed. Never being one to drink much alcohol, even in social settings, Claire’s stomach was in protest mode as the churning became harder to ignore. “Can we stop off at the next rest area please?’
“We will be back at Harold’s soon, can’t it wait?” asked an impatient Jason.
“No, it can’t, please pull over at the next opportunity.”
Jason replied in a surprisingly gentle voice, “Just hold on, there’s a rest area coming up soon.” Claire hoped that she would not cap off what was already a humiliating evening by throwing up all over her boss. He does deserve it though. She was grateful to see lights up ahead as they approached a rest area. As soon as Jason parked the car, Claire bolted from the seat and out the door.
Weekends Required - A Danver's Novel Page 5
