by Nana Malone
Chapter Fourteen
When Jaya’s phone rang for the fifth time that afternoon, she considered putting a bullet through it. She should have turned her answering machine off the moment she got home. Trying to appeal to Tamara’s sisterly bonds had backfired on her. She didn’t know what had possessed her to try and reason with her sister. All she wanted was confirmation that Derrick had sabotaged her job prospects. What she’d gotten was a fight. Now she had a migraine looming.
Flopping back on the couch, she covered her eyes. Maybe if she continued to ignore the phone it would just stop ringing.
It was either Tamara, who she didn't feel like fighting with anymore or her father who she really didn’t feel like talking to. Her father thought cellphones were rude so he didn’t ever want to contribute to their noise. Tamara knew Jaya would screen the calls on her cell. Tamara likely didn’t factor in the caller ID on the home phone. But whatever. As Jaya sunk further into the couch with her mug of hot cocoa, she tried not to think about what a disaster her life had become. Her cell buzzed with a text message as the voicemail kicked into her land line. "Jaya Trudeaux, this is Adele Westhorpe’s assistant calling. She would like you to meet with her in her office on Thursday at one PM. please do not be late. Mrs. Westhorpe does not appreciate employee tardiness."
With a frown, Jaya sat up. Yeash! What the hell had she signed up for? Then the word employee filtered into her consciousness. Employee. Holy shit. Adele Westhorpe was offering her the job.
Her thudding heart threatened to beat out of her chest and her throat constricted. Even with the blown interview, she still got the job? Maybe Alec had intervened for her. Though as he was a bartender and Guy-Friday he hardly had the kind of clout needed to get her a job. With sweaty palms, she carefully placed her mug of hot cocoa on her coffee table. Unable to resist, she stood up and employed full booty dance maneuvers. Finally, she had something that was hers, no Tamara involvement whatsoever. And she hadn’t needed her father’s connections.
A sobering thought slapped her in the back of her head. If she did this, then it meant she was no longer part of Trudeaux. She was on her own. What if she couldn’t— she shook her head. She could do this. She was good enough to do this. All she had to do was stay on Adele Westhorpe’s good side. How hard could that be?
All she had to do was pretend Dragon Lady was the male version of Pierre. Lord knew she‘d had enough practice trying to please someone who didn’t want to be happy. And this job didn’t have to mean she’d give up her goal of Trudeaux. She’d be on board as an independent contractor. And Adele Westhorpe might not know it yet, but she was just the kind of client Pierre would love. He’d see it as major cache and hire her back in an instant.
Her mood on rocket boosters, she twirled as she scooped up her cell phone off the coffee table. Checking the text message, she couldn't help but smile. Alec.
We should review the plan for the rehearsal dinner. Want to come over?
If he was so kind as to offer her some help, how could she turn him down? Not to mention that her heart skipped at the thought of seeing him again. Those damned butterflies. It wasn’t like she didn’t know better. “He’s not staying, Jaya. No attachments.” He’d been clear with her. And she’d been clear with him. She just hadn’t been so clear on how he made her feel.
To remind her again why he was on her no go list for emotional entanglements, she pulled up her list of all the reasons why she could not go gaga over Alec. One, She did not have time for a boyfriend right now. Especially now that she was working for Adele Westhorpe and even more so when she got her job at Trudeaux back.
Two, He was not sticking around. As boyfriends went, it was good if they had some roots. Three, He was a sex God. And so good-looking it hurt to look at him. A guy like that would eventually cheat. And next time she couldn’t recover.
Four, She liked him, even though he was a sarcastic, slightly pompous ass who was entirely too reckless with his life. She’d vowed to not care about someone more than they cared about her ever again. Five, He drove her bat shit crazy with his complete and utter lack of forethought or planning. Six, She drove him crazy with her complete need for planning and structure. Seven, She liked him. So what if she already wrote that down. It was a good reminder that liking him was a bad idea…just ‘cause. Eight, He was really sweet. And made her feel like she was the only woman in the world. She needed to remind herself that men lied. Point blank. She could not trust anything he said. But what about what he did? Slamming the thought shut in a lock box, she peered at her list. This was good. She needed the reminder that he was just for fun. Nothing wrong with a little fun. A little fun to work out the kinks. Totally casual.
She repeated her reasons again. Huffing out a breath, she realized how screwed she was. She was already willing to make up any excuse to go over and see him. And a “thank you for getting me that job” reason was as good as any that she'd already been able to come up with.
Maybe it was time to relax her rules. So far they hadn't gotten her anywhere except heart broken and fired. What was the definition of insanity again? Why did she think she was going to get different results if she kept trying to do the same exact thing? Oh, she'd still go to the wedding and she'd still talk to the client, but not so she could go back to Trudeaux. Not for her father. For her. It was about time she started looking out for herself and doing things just because she wanted to.
Starting now, she was going to start living a little by the seat of her pants. In a hurry to get to Alec, she flitted to her bedroom and kicked off her bunny slippers. Now what did one wear for seduction? It wasn't like she was going to completely abandon who she was. Besides, any good seduction needed a really good plan.
