Chapter 34
STEPHANIE
"The most miserable job in the world has to be being a take-out delivery guy when it's raining out," Tiana said, carrying containers of Chinese food into our living room. "I gave him a good tip, but I doubt it makes up for having to be the person to bring everyone else food when the weather is like this."
Having a super confusing boss was no picnic either, but I nodded my agreement. "It almost makes me feel bad for ordering in."
Tiana's eyes slid to our window and the sheets of rain pouring down outside. "Not bad enough to go out there right now."
"Definitely not." As if to drive my point home, a flash of lightning split the sky and raced away in branches of blue-white light. The wind picked up, howling between the buildings as the rain lashed against our windows. I shuddered, grateful to be inside on my couch with a warm blanket.
I pulled the blanket up over my chest and reached out to take the carton of food Tiana held out to me. "It's your turn to pick the movie."
Opening the white container, I breathed in the tangy smell of my sweet-and-sour chicken and tossed the TV remote at Tiana. Then I reached over to grab my chopsticks from the coffee table. "Make it a good one."
She dropped down on the couch and picked up the remote, scrolling through our options as she popped the top of her own food. "You look like you're in need of good comedy. Wanna tell me why?"
I shook my head and shoveled some chicken into my mouth. Tiana waited impatiently for me to stop chewing before she abandoned her attempts at scrolling, crossed her legs on the couch and turned to face me. "You've had this mopey look on your face since you got home, like someone kicked your puppy or clubbed a baby seal right in front of you."
"I'm not mopey," I said. Tiana saw right through me. She lifted a brow and gave me a look that said she wasn't buying it as she took a bite of her pork chop suey. I swallowed a few more bites of my own before adding, "I'm being serious. I'm not moping, I'm just… disappointed, maybe?"
"Disappointed about what? Did something happen at work?"
I nodded, then stopped and started shaking my head. "Not at work, exactly. After. When Jeremiah brought me home."
She sighed and stabbed her food with chopsticks. "What did he do now?"
"Nothing," I said. "That's kind of the problem. I wasn't expecting him to make a move or anything. I mean I know we still work together, but I had fun with him the other night, and I was hoping he did too."
Angling her head to the side, she narrowed eyes and searched mine before they widened again. "I was going to ask why you didn't think he had fun too, but I don’t think I have to. You were hoping it was going to become a regular thing, him asking you out?"
"He didn't ask me out. It wasn't a date, it was just…" I trailed off, not really knowing who I was trying to fool by denying it. Tiana knew me better than I knew myself sometimes. "Okay, yes. I was hoping he would ask me out again and that this time it wouldn't just feel like a date but actually be a date. Is that a crime?"
"I don't think it's a crime, but it is a potential problem. Or maybe it isn't. He's the boss. It's not like you can get fired for getting involved with him if the feeling is mutual."
My thoughts drifted to Jannie and how her inappropriate feelings toward him spelled the end of the line for her, but somehow, I didn't think this was the same. "Except for that one lapse of judgment in his office, we've kept our distance at work. Well, actually, we've kept our physical distance everywhere. I don't think I'm in danger of getting fired."
"So what's the problem?" She finished her food and put her empty take-out container down, then reached for a small pink toolkit she kept all her nail polish in. She went to fetch it just before the food arrived and seemed to be back on mission mani-pedi now that she was done eating. "I know falling in love with your boss is frowned upon but—"
"I'm not falling in love with him," I interrupted emphatically.
Tiana rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she dug around in her toolkit and plucked out a bottle of cotton candy pink polish. "Are you seriously going to tell me you haven't developed feelings for him?"
I stared at her, knowing it was pointless to lie but also not really knowing what the truth was. "Fine, I might be developing feelings for him, but nobody said anything about love."
Squinting her eyes at me, she pursed her lips and sighed, a smile starting to form on her mouth. "Well, I guess it would be easy to feel something for a tall, dark and handsome billionaire."
"Yeah, I guess so," I said, trying to make sense of the feelings raging around inside me. Jeremiah made me feel so many things I'd never felt before, not least of which was a healthy dose of confusion.
The intense attraction between us hadn't faded like I might have expected it to. In fact, it only seemed to be growing. Whenever I was with him, it was like there was a string tied to my belly button urging me to get closer to him. To stay close to him. Like the other end of the string was tied to him.
A couple of weeks ago, I would have easily been able to convince myself that the other side of the string was tied to nothing but his dick. That I needed to get laid and that what I was feeling was purely carnal because, as Tiana reminded me, he was after all a tall dark and handsome billionaire.
As I'd gotten to know him though, I knew there was so much more to him than that. Unfortunately, it also meant I felt so much more for him than that.
Tiana held up the bottle of pink nail polish and reached for my foot, pulling it into her lap. "People underestimate the power and confidence a fresh coat of polish can give a girl. So while you sit there wallowing in your thoughts, I'm going to make sure you have some extra confidence walking into that office tomorrow."
"Thanks." I smiled, willing to take whatever extra confidence and bounce in my step she could give me. "Do you think the polish might also be able to find out if he feels the same way about me?"