Page 120 of One Bad Idea

All of this was beyond confusing.Why was I hearing this from Jax?It's not that I minded, but itwasodd. Normally I received such updates from Jaden himself, whether by phone, email, or in person.

But this time, I'd received nothing.

After thanking Jax for the update, I returned to my own office. Silently, I stared down at the socks that Jaden had left on my desk. I loved them more than I should have. And like everything else, they confused the heck out of me.

What were they, anyway?

A peace offering?

Or just another thing to drive me crazy?

At the end of the day, I still didn't know.

I spent most of that week wondering what Jaden was doing and who he was doing it with.

As usual, he checked in at least once a day, but our conversations were brief and business-like. He didn't tease me at all, and to my extreme annoyance I discovered that I missed it.

How messed up was that?

But it wasn't until he returned that things went seriously off the rails.

Chapter 45

"You're still here," Jaden said.

I practically jumped in my seat. I'd been facing away from my office door and hadn't seen him come in.

I hadn'theardhim come in either, probably because with everyone else gone for the day, I'd been listening to music louder than I normally would at the office.

Now, I switched it off, and a sudden silence descended around us.

He was standing in my office doorway, wearing jeans and a dark T-shirt. His casual appearance caught me off guard, mostly because aside from that initial day, I'd seen him mostly in suits and ties.

Now, the sight of him in jeans brought back memories of the first day we'd met, when he'd been standing in a different doorway, giving me all kinds of grief for no good reason.

The way it looked, he was about to give me grief again.

And how did I know?He looked just as delighted to see menowas he'd looked on that very first day.

Today was a Friday, and we hadn't seen each other all week. In fact, our last encounter had been outside my apartment, when he'd scared off that Derek guy and then stuck around only long enough to chew me out for being so careless.

If his current frown was any indicator, I was moments away from getting chewed out again. For the life of me, I couldn’t imagine why. I mean, I'd talked to him just this morning, and he'd been perfectly civilthen– or at least as civil as he ever was.

I braced myself, waiting for the verbal storm that was headed my way.

But he said nothing even as the silence stretched out.

What was going on?

Finally, when I couldn't stand it another moment, I said, "Well, you might as well tell me."

"Tell you what?"

I tried to laugh. "Why I’m in trouble."

"You're not in trouble," he said. "I am."

I didn't get it. "Why areyouin trouble?"