Chapter 15
When Jay walked back to his office, he found Rebecca showing Felicity photos of their four venues, and he felt ashamed of the way he’d reacted to her presence. It didn’t matter that Clarissa had ferreted her out. None of this was Felicity’s fault.
Seeing her again filled him with shame, if not remorse. She was the only girlfriend he’d introduced to Shannon and Bridger, the one he’d dated the longest, gotten the closest to, and most regrettably, the one he’d confided in about Rebecca.
He was terrified she’d figure out the Rebecca in this office was the one he’d told her about. And then what would happen?
They both turned to look at him, and he pasted on a friendly smile. “Clarissa will be back in a minute. Did you get a chance to show Felicity the venues on a map?”
“Good idea.” Rebecca pulled up a map on her computer, and the three of them studied it like they might need to navigate their way out of shark-infested waters. Jay had moved to Rebecca’s right, while Felicity stood on her left. The farther he stayed away from his ex, the better.
It had been four years, but the last time he saw her, she’d been begging him to give them more time. He’d just wanted to end it.
How had Clarissa found her? He must have brought Felicity into the office once. Obviously, Clarissa, with her attention to detail, had remembered her.
And speaking of that pain in his side, Clarissa cleared her throat from the doorway. “Felicity, it’s time to go meet with a client.” She smiled at Jay before retreating, a challenging smile that told him she was neither sorry nor afraid of him. Jay closed the door behind her.
He had to get rid of Clarissa before she ruined the company he loved, but extracting her would leave behind scars. She’d see to that. He needed to look at her employment contract, but he didn’t know how serious Marlise had been with her threat.
Rebecca touched his back. “I don’t know what to ask first or if I should.”
He turned and pulled her into his arms, loving the scent of her, the softness of her skin and hair. He should be more careful than this, considering what Clarissa did with just the suspicion of something, but he wasn’t in the mood to be careful.
Rebecca hugged him back, tucking her head into his shoulder. “You are a confusing person, Jay,” she murmured. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything. And nothing.”
He turned his face just slightly, and his nose brushed against her ear, followed by his lips. As if they had a will of their own, they puckered against the soft spot right below her earlobe. She froze.
Of course she froze. What was he doing? He never should have hugged her without the self-control he always wore like armor. He pulled away and ran his hands through his hair, swallowing hard. “I’m sorry.”
Rebecca looked at him with confusion and hurt in her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed red. Now she’d know. She’d know what he’d been holding in for the past ten years. But her next words surprised him.
“Who is Felicity to you?”
“An ex-girlfriend. I was surprised to see her. But that’s not what this—” He waved his hands between the two of them. He couldn’t finish the sentence, because he could see every word out of his mouth was making this worse. She hadn’t been changing the subject. She thought his slip up and Felicity’s appearance were related. The accusation was right there in her eyes. She saw him as any other guy, messed up at seeing someone and immediately looking for an ego boost or a distraction. But she would never be that for him. And now she wouldn’t believe him if he tried to tell her.
Rebecca backed up. “I need … some air.” She flung open their office door and fled.
***
The tears trying their best to escape her eyes only made her angrier. Jay was her boss. How dare he try something like that?
But her heart called her a liar, reminding her of the real reason it hurt. He’d crossed a line in their friendship, one she would’ve gladly crossed with him if she thought for one minute he truly cared about her in that way. But under the circumstances, she had to assume that she happened to be a convenient place to land. None of their other hugs had turned into anything like that. Why today? It had to be Felicity. Based on his reaction to seeing her again, he’d likely only thought of her, not Rebecca, in that moment.
She wiped her eyes and blew out a ragged breath. This was her job. And his. They had to figure this out. She had at least that much faith in him. He’d make this right. But only after she had a handle on her emotions. No one could see her like this.
She went next door for coffee, though she was so jittery she decided on a smoothie instead. And after staring at cat memes for ten minutes, she felt sufficiently numb enough to go back to work, smoothie in hand as her excuse for walking out. Dorothy smiled at her and crooked a finger, so Rebecca had no choice but to go over and partake in whatever gossip Dorothy wanted to dish out.
“I don’t know what Clarissa did, but both Marlise and Jay are hopping mad. It has to do with the new assistant, though she seems as sweet as pie. Poor thing. I’m afraid Clarissa’s going to chew her up and spit her out.”
“I don’t think Jay will allow it this time.” That was more than Rebecca should have said, and she walked back into her office to face what he’d done and her reaction to it. Felicitywassweet as pie. Everything about her was soft, including her voice. It wasn’t hard to imagine Jay still having strong feelings for her.
Jay was at his desk with his head in his hands. He sat up and stared when she came in. She shut the door, knowing it would probably be the last time they could do that. For a lot of reasons, they’d need to leave it open after this.
He got up and walked to her, though keeping a three foot buffer between them this time. “Becca, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I—”
She waved her hands to stop him from saying more. “It’s fine. Let’s pretend it never happened.”
