Page 99 of Voyeur
“Fuck the bathroom. You under the stars is always my first choice.”
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jackson
I knocked on Daniel’s office door to announce my presence. Just as I went to open it, the file almost slipped from my fingers. Fumbling the papers to keep them all in, I pushed through the door and closed it without looking up.
“Hey,” I stated out of breath. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic was a bitch today.”
“Jackson,” Daniel’s formal tone had me drawing my eyes up to him, “I’d like to introduce you to the marketing team from Wellington and Russo, Carina Russo and Jake Wellington.”
As if in slow motion, with my heart trying to choke me, I lowered my gaze to take in the two people sitting in front of Daniel’s desk. I saw the brunette first as she turned to me with a smirk like she found my entrance hilarious. A playful spark flashed behind her eyes that had me fighting a smirk. My playful soul recognized hers and liked it.
But then I slowly shifted to Jake Wellington, the playfulness Carina had conjured slipping down to the pit of my stomach.
Jake freaking Wellington.
My skin tingled, hyper-aware now of the man, knowing what I’d find before I even took him in. Tall. Broad. Dark blond hair. Piercing blue eyes. Lips that were soft and kissed like my best wet dream.
I wasn’t disappointed as I scanned him from head to toe but was pleasantly surprised to find full scruff surrounding those lips that hadn’t been there a few years ago. Fluttering kicked up in my stomach just seeing him. Even after the past we shared and the hurt he’d given me, I still couldn’t fight the way my heart beat a little bit harder in my chest.
Our eyes finally met and his held me locked in place. White noise surrounded me, blocking out everything but him. The tension increased, and I had to fight the urge to rub at my skin from how tangible it was. I wondered if he could feel it too.
From the look on his face, he only felt shock. I wanted to sink into his bright blue eyes and enjoy the moment before the bubble broke and reality came crashing back, reminding me that we weren’t friends anymore. That we weren’t friends because of me. Reminding me that no matter how much I wanted him, Jake wasn’t gay.
“Jackson,” Daniel said, jerking my attention back to him. He nodded slightly to my right. Fuck, the girl. What was her name again? It didn’t matter. Pushing Jake from my mind for now, I shifted my body and turned on the charm. It didn’t matter if it was business, I always gave a pretty girl my best smile.
“Hi.” I’d expected her to be short with how petite her body was, but when she stood, she came closer to my eyes. Pretty impressive considering I was six-four. I slipped my hand into her outstretched one. “I’m Jackson Fields. I’ll be the manager over at Voy.”
“Carina Russo.” Her voice was soft but firm. “I’ll be in charge of the marketing.”
“Fantastic.” I gave her another smile. Then it was time to turn my attention back to Jake. Taking a deep breath to better prepare myself, I tried to hide the naked emotions he’d evoked a moment before. Tried to hide the residual anger from him abandoning me.
I turned my body and gave him the same charm that I’d given Carina. I figured the emotion racking my body would be less apparent if I treated them the same.
Getting the pleasure of watching him squirm was always an added bonus. When we were friends in college he’d just laughed at my antics, rolling his eyes at every innuendo.
“This is my partner in crime for the project, Jake. He’ll be in charge of analyzing the business here and the best set-up for the new bar.”
“We’ve met before.”
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