She grabbed an icepack from the freezer and came into the living room to tend to Eric. He had removed his boot and had propped the injured leg up on the coffee table. She gently laid the icepack on his swollen thigh. He’d had to throw his jeans out upon his return from the ER after they’d literally had to cut them open, so he’d changed into a pair of old baggy shorts. Air hissed between his teeth as he responded to the cold pack on his wound.
“Sorry…” Jordan began.
“No, it’s alright. It’s just so darn sore. I’m just glad he didn’t do more damage than he did. I wasn’t real sure at first when my knees buckled.”
“Yeah, that scared me. I was sure you were in a bad way.”
“Hell, it scared me too. I thought he’d kicked my leg off from the way it felt.”
“He sure tried.”
Eric laughed. “Hell yeah he did. Damn, it hurts!” He held the blue and purple muscle and frowned. He looked back up at her then, studying her for a moment. “Nate seems to be in better spirits with you around, you know?” Jordan tried to hide her smirk. “Yeah, I figure you’d noticed. He’s more sensitive than you know. Don’t you go breaking his heart now!”
Jordan looked down, embarrassed to be called out by someone she barely knew. How could she explain something that she couldn’t really understand herself? “Look, Eric…”
“No, Jordan. Don’t. Whatever this is… Whatever you think you’re doing, it’s affecting him… and in a good way. But I hope you don’t intend to just pick up and run off once you’re done with your little fling with him. I’ve not known Nate for a long time like you have. You know he’s not been the most popular guy in town, but he’s damn good at what he does and he’s been a good boss, and I don’t want to see him get hurt. This is the happiest I’ve seen him since I came to work here.”
“I know!” Jordan looked up then and eyed Eric, really seeing him for the first time; his brown eyes and hair, his kind face. He was Nate’s co-worker and his friend. He knew Nate and cared for him, and it touched Jordan that he liked Nathan enough to take up for him like he was. She gave a weak smile. “How did you know?”
“Ah, hell, I wasn’t born yesterday. I can see the way y’all look at one another… It’s obvious that you two are an item.”
“I don’t know that we’re an item, per se. It’s not like Nate and I have really discussed this, you know? It... well... it just kinda happened. It’s not really a relationship. It’s…”
“Why not?” He asked, his deep brown eyes frowning. She looked at him inquisitively. “You said ‘it’s not really a relationship’, why would you say that?”
“Well damn, Eric. He’s my boss!” Her voice resounded loudly, defending her position.
“Yeah, so? That doesn’t mean you can’t have a relationship.” He was completely serious and for a moment, Jordan was speechless. She hadn’t really considered what she and Nate had to be a relationship, truly, but just because he was her boss didn’t mean that they couldn’t have something more than just sexual attraction between them. Jordan had never been one to date a boss though. She felt there was a line that one just shouldn’t cross, but then again, she’d never slept with a boss either… until Nate.
She wasn’t sure how she felt about dating him, but then again, she hadn’t been doing much thinking that first night with him. Sex had just kind of happened and much to her pleasant surprise, she had thoroughly enjoyed it. Then it had just continued to happen! He’d needed her, and she’d given him all she had… And this should make her happy, she’d accomplished what she’d originally set out to do; save Nathan Butler from himself. He was becoming more aware, coming back to life. He’d finally forgiven his sister, if his actions had been any indication, and he was reconnecting with her and the rest of his family. He was opening up again.
“Are you afraid of falling in love with him, Jordan?”
“What?” she scoffed.
“You heard me,” Eric goaded.
“That’s ridiculous! Nate is… well he’s…”
Eric’s eyebrows shot up, waiting for a response.
Nate was brash and hateful, handsome and funny, and he could be amazingly tender when he wanted to be. His eyes were smoldering pools of blue fire, and she loved the curl of his jet-black hair. But she couldn’t say those things out loud, not to Eric. He didn’t know her. He didn’t know what she had with Nathan. She gulped again. How had this conversation turned so serious so suddenly?
“There’s no harm in exploring the possibility that you could.” Eric grinned knowingly at her. Before she had time to tell him to mind his own damn business, who else but Nate would walk through the living room door.
“The possibility that who could what?” Nate’s tall dark frame seemed to overpower the door frame in that moment. His sapphire blue eyes burned into hers. That sexy dark collar length hair curled up at the ends beneath his cowboy hat. Jordan gulped. Dammit, why was she so unsure of herself right now? When had this happened? She grew angry at this unwanted realization.
Eric’s smirk was confounding as both men eyed her, waiting.
“Dammit! No one! It’s none of your…” she said and pointed to Nate, then to Eric, “or your business. You got that?” She stood, her cheeks flushing as she flipped her hair. “I’m turnin’ in for the night.”
She turned to go upstairs and was well above the landing when she heard a confused Nate mutter, “Just what did I miss exactly?”
Eric laughed then and said, “I think I struck a nerve.”
It took Nate two days to get around to actually talking to Jordan. She had the previous day off, and he hadn’t hardly seen her at all, and when he finally did see her that next day, he was surrounded by people- whether it be clients or co-workers. He’d been incredibly busy, and although his heart was always in his work, his mind continued to wander back that sassy sex kitten until he just couldn’t take it anymore. It was well into the afternoon when he ambled into his father’s old office where the gorgeous redhead that had invaded his thoughts sat typing behind a flat screen. She looked up at him, startled at first by the interruption then when she saw it was him, she blushed. He could have almost laughed at her reaction to his presence. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had an affect like that on a female. She’d really only started to act this way after her conversation with Eric the other night; Nate wondered what on earth they’d been talking about.
“Hey,” he began and peeled his dusty hat off his sweaty head, coming to stand in front of the A/C not far from the desk.
“Hey yourself,” she countered and peeled her eyes from his, focusing her attention back on the computer screen, trying to appear oblivious to him. He wasn’t buying it. He liked that his appearance was rattling her. He wanted to get under her skin now, make her all hot and bothered, like she’d been doing to him since she’d first started working there. He approached her then and sat his bottom down on the end of the desk, within an arm’s reach of her.
“So, I’ve been thinkin’. I wanted to give you a break from cooking tonight and take you out to dinner, if you’d like,” Nate proposed. Jordan’s hands stilled in what she was doing and she looked up at him, a look akin to fear in her eyes.
“Why?” Why indeed.
“Well, why not, really? You work hard around here and you deserve to get to go out every now and again.” She didn’t seem satisfied by that answer so he continued, “Plus, I want to take you on a date.” There! He’d said it. He’d been thinking it for some time now. After all, they had slept together multiple times, and he really liked Jordan. Taking her out on a date was the right thing to do. It should have been what he’d done first, before he’d brought her into his bed.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea…” She shook her head and focused back to the screen.
“Jordan?” He came closer then. “I get it. I’m your boss, but honestly, so fuckin’ what?” She just stared up at him, those whisky eyes drowning him in doubt. Why was she so obtuse about this? What
difference did it really make? They’d made love together. Why was being seen out in public so much worse? To his surprise, she looked away and twiddled with her fingers but finally responded to his question.
“I have a reputation regarding my old boss,” she began.
He interrupted with his index finger to her beautiful lips. “I know, I know, but that was a long time ago and he—”
She slowly pulled his finger away and looked tearfully up at him, her eyes so innocent looking. It was a look he’d never seen on her before and it stilled his blood.
“I didn’t sleep with Harold,” she sneered. A big fat tear rolled down her cheek. “He sexually harassed me.” Nathan brows drew and anger filled him. “He said horrible things to me and threatened my job.”
Jordan wiped at her tearing eyes and sniffed. She was struggling to get this revelation out, and Nate fell in front of her on his knees, his focus solely on her as his hands squeezed at her jean clad thighs, comforting her and encouraging her to go on.
“He’d been dropping comments for weeks on end. It didn’t matter how I dressed or what I said or didn’t say. It was late one afternoon, and I had to go into his office to take him some papers. Much to my dismay, he grabbed me and started to grope at me and I fought him off. I even slapped him! He told me that I had to have sex with him or he would ruin me. I ran out. The rumor began the very next day that I’d seduced him into sleeping with me. His wife made an absolute fool out of me…”
Jordan covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Nate sighed. He had no idea. And he felt that no one else did. This was something she’d kept to herself and was finally revealing- to him. He immediately reached up to her and pulled her into his chest as he stood. He cradled her head to his shoulder and stroked her mass of curls, soothing her with soft whispers.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” Nate suddenly felt like a complete asshole after all the things he himself had said to her over the past couple weeks; all the times he’d unknowingly reminded her of the awful memory of her humiliation and degradation. He’d never imagined this was the case, and the hate he felt for her old boss in that moment filled him with the rage that he was all too familiar with. He quickly tried to calm down and focus back on Jordan. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“When?” Jordan pulled back and wiped at her face angrily. “When his wife was cussing me out? When everyone was looking at me like I was the biggest slut in town? Who would have believed me anyway? You didn’t! Why would anyone else? It’s not like I have the most solid of moral fibers anyway, right? It wouldn’t have made a difference.”
“Not made a difference?” Nate asked, incredulously.
“Yeah! It would have been his word against mine.”
“Jordan, it doesn’t matter. He targeted you. He was sexually harassing you, forcing himself on you.”
“Well, Nate, I guess I brought it on myself, huh? Because of what I was wearing, right?” She looked at him, one eyebrow cocked, the pain gone and anger replacing it.
“That’s not fair, Jordan.” Hurt hit his eyes and he knew she could see it. “Having a man tell you that you have to sleep with him is not ok. You saw how angry I was with Mitch. No means no. It doesn’t matter how you were dressed. Those men had no right to touch you without your permission.”
Her eyes dropped then. “Well, what’s done is done now.” His hand moved up to cup her cheek then so that she would look up at him. He waited until she did before he spoke.
“I would have beaten the ever-living shit out of him! The thought of another man touching you infuriates me,” Nate growled out.
She smiled slyly up at him then, bringing a smile from him as well. Her eyes were suddenly different, playful even.
“You don’t want other men touching me?”
“Hell no!”
“So…” Her hands came to his chest then and she stepped closer to him. “Only you can touch me?”
“Damn straight.” His body leaned into hers as her face came up to meet his and her lips brushed softly against his own.
“And why is that?” She pulled back just enough to look into his eyes.
“Because you want me.” He squeezed her to him, tightly folding her into his arms as his lips crushed hers and his tongue plunged into her waiting mouth. She moaned as she took it and melted into his embrace. She jumped up and straddled his hips as he propelled her onto the desk. He sat her down and continued his feast of her mouth as her hands went to his ass and his went to her face. He deepened the kiss and leaned her down, back against the desk. Her hands went to his belt buckle then and his were at her breasts, ripping at her shirt. They moaned together as her legs wrapped around his hips.
Suddenly, the door opened and they stopped dead in their tracks, Jordan bolting upright against him, hand to her chest. Then they both saw who their intruder was.
Eric’s red face stared back at them. “Damn, I’m real sorry, Jefe, but, uh… We got a problem.”
Nate sighed, annoyed as he looked back to Jordan, whose deer-in-the-headlights look suddenly amused him. He smiled.
“Be ready at six,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her cheek and adjust his uncomfortable crotch. Then he stepped out to handle the problem.
Chapter 12
“So, I think we should clarify to Eric exactly what constitutes a problem.” Nate laughed as they headed down the road in his truck.
“It sure sounds like it.” Jordan smiled and shook her head.
Jordan was dressed up tonight. The little red dress was simple and conservative, but just tight enough to enhance her curves. She wore a pearl choker with matching bracelet and dangly earrings. Her makeup was a little heavier and her hair a little bigger than usual.
Nate had trimmed his beard and his hair was more tame than usual. It was strange, but good to see him without his ever-present hat on. He wore a collared black button-down shirt tucked into a pair of slacks with some loafers she didn’t even know he owned and he smelled like a million bucks.
She looked over at him as they rode and he took her hand.
“So, where are you planning to wine and dine me, boss?”
“Somewhere fancier than where Buck took you, I can assure you.”
“So that’s why you’re wearing khakis instead of jeans, huh?”
“You like these?” He looked down at his trousers. “They’re pretty comfy I have to admit.”
“Honestly, I’m so used to seein’ you in your cowboy hat and boots that you look like a different person in preppy clothes.”
“Preppy clothes?”
“Well, you look like you’re going to a soiree or something.” This made Nate laugh heartily.
He took her hand and kissed it and kept it close to his chest. “The place is called TJ’s Steak Pit. It’s one of Nat’s and Jack’s favorites.”
“Oh yes! I believe she’s mentioned it before.” Her eyebrows raised. “Did Jack give you any dating pointers?”
“Ha! Like I need any advice! I know exactly how to treat a fine lady such as yourself.” He popped his eyebrows.
She scoffed. “Fine lady, indeed.”
“Oh? You’re not a fine lady?” Nate asked, surprised.
“I don’t think so…”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” He gave her a sultry look as he eyed her up and down suggestively. She laughed. “I think the lady I see is pretty fine.” He kissed the back of her hand again. She just shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Man, you really don’t think much of yourself, do you, Jor?” She gulped and the smile faded from her face. Her head lowered.
He’d struck a nerve. His shock was evident as they rode in deafening silence. She knew he hadn’t meant to stir her emotions. She wasn’t even aware of why she felt so despondent about what he’d said, aside from the fact that just barely a year ago she’d been diagnosed with an incurable highly misunderstood and mistreated illness and would need further surgery not too far in the future; surgery that would take her ability to
have children completely away from her. It made her feel practically undeserving to be this man’s date- less of a woman even- since the date couldn’t produce the given prospect of a future.
She’d always been a free spirit, a rebel, a wild heart, and that had gotten her the reputation for being promiscuous early on. Yeah, she’d enjoyed dating and flirting and sex, but did that really make her a bad person? Perhaps the way she’d started to feel about herself had started with that son of bitch ex-boss of hers. When one had heard it enough, they started to believe it themselves- that they weren’t worthy. Since she didn’t think much of herself, there was no need for commitment… especially now that she would be sterile. What man would want a woman who couldn’t carry on his name? Maybe that’s why she’d continued to be reckless with her heart and body. It was all a defense mechanism.
Once they got into town, Jordan was glad for the lights and excitement, and she tried to suppress her negative feelings about herself and just enjoy the night Nate had planned for them. After all, it was too late to cry over spilled milk.
They made their way in, hand in hand and Nate stopped at the concierge desk.
“Reservation at 6:00 PM for Butler.”
“Yes, Mr. Butler. Right this way.” The young man dressed in suit and tie walked them down a dimly lit dark wood hallway to a circular booth in the back not far from the kitchen. The smell of meat and wood filled Jordan’s nostrils and her stomach growled. The table had a clean stark white table cloth atop it and the booth was a deep brown leather. The host waited until they were sat before handing over their menus and telling them their server would be around shortly to get their drink orders.
Jordan smiled over at Nate. “This is nice!”
“Right?” Nate looked around admiring the quiet, well decorated dining room with its deep red walls and mahogany wood floors. “I know it smells good.”
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