Playtime Rules

Rule #25 No Work All Play

"I still have crazy amounts of work, but I can come over if you want."

After her vacation with JeVonte, she stayed busy at work. There was so much work to do she did not go see JeVonte for a week. It was just better to stay at her place after a long day of work. Most nights she was fast asleep, and JeVonte awoke early to get to work.

"I miss you."

That warmed her heart to hear.

All week no JeVonte and she ached for him just as bad. All her adult life she never had a boyfriend where she spent so much time with them. Usually, it was a sleep-over a few nights type of thing and keep it moving. And since no feelings were attached, sometimes after sex she did not sleep over. If she did, it was not like they were booed up and cuddled or anything. It was all transactional.

She liked everything she and JeVonte did.

"No, no, I don't want to distract you."

"You're not a distraction."

"I will be when all I want to do is kiss on that body and do all the things."

A big smile spread over her face. At the same time, her body began to warm at up thoughts of JeVonte doing all those things.

"Okay, that was a nice way to convince me to come over. I'm packing some work stuff, but I'll give us some time as well."

Because she was working nonstop that day, she jumped in the shower and made sure she was fresh and clean before she went over to see her man. Shaved her underarm and legs and needed a refresher bikini wax, but she made do with what she had. JeVonte never complained when he was down there eating if she needed a trim.

She grabbed a few things for her overnight bag and then put all her work folders in her laptop bag. This last house she purchased was a big problem. The budget was way over, whenever she was ready to sell it, her profit margin was so low. She was making little to no money on it.

Never was she this stressed over a house and making a profit.

She freed work from her mind, made it to JeVonte's, and let him wrap his strong arms around her.

"Babe, you look stressed. It's not good for you."

She could not deny her stress level was at an all-time high. What if she lost money on this house? It would be a first but she knew it went with the territory in her business.

"You still have a lot of work to do?"

"Yes, still crunching numbers and recalculating the work that needs to be done-"

"Stop, no work talk, just do what needs to be done."

"You sure babe? You wanted to spend time with me and here I am working."

"Don't worry about me. I like having you here." He kissed her back. "I'll just steal kisses when I can."

She set up a little workstation in the dining room, her laptop, her tablet, and loads of paperwork and contracts. Sometimes she hated this business. It was not as easy as it seemed. And with the way she spent money like it would never end, this setback could dip into her savings.

Cutting corners with a house makeover meant going the cheap route and she did not like that idea. She did all she could do to streamline her coats, but there was no way around it, she was losing money. Barely enough to pay her contractors.

This was the first setback of her career.

Thankfully her savings would cover everything, but that meant her cutting back on her monthly expenses. Not another expensive vacation any time soon. No unnecessary shopping just to get the Louis Vuitton sixty-five hundred dollar bag that there were only two hundred in the world. No ten thousand dollar shoes because they were cute not that she needed them.

Not that she was in the poor house. One thing her parents taught her was the value of savings.

Buried so deep in her work her attention was not on JeVonte's and his moving about in the kitchen. When she finally looked up at him, he was busy displaying food out on the counter, sectioning, and then packing it away. Probably doing his customer's meal prep for them.

"You finished over there?" he asked when he noticed her watching him.

"As finished as I can be."

"Good. No more work, now it's time to play." JeVonte walked over to take her hand. "I can tell something major has happened with your work. I want you to let it go and relax right now."

"I'm trying," she mumbled.

"No more work. Clear it from your thoughts. Think of only me."

"Well, that's a better thought." She smiled and he leaned in to kiss her.

"I know we come from two different worlds, and you showed me yours on vacation. I enjoyed myself. Buy I like to keep things simple normally."

He walked her over to the counter where all the prepped food was packed away into a large straw basket, a smaller but tall cooler beside it.

"What is this? We have to make deliveries to your clients or something?"

"No, this is for us." He kissed her cheek. "I'm taking my lady out on a picnic. Nothing fancy or anything but just thought you needed to get away."

It was so sweet! And she could honestly say she had never been on a picnic. Like ever. So she helped him finish packing everything and in the cooler were two bottles of chilled wine.

They loaded in her car and she let him drive.

"Where to for this picnic?"

"Forest Park. Nice day for a drive."

In that nearly forty minutes drive she closed her eyes and relaxed. No thinking of work.

Except she kept thinking of work. Yes, she could make more money. That was easier said than done.

As soon as JeVonte found a parking spot in the park, they got out and gathered their things.

He was so sweet and took her hand while they found a spot to lay out a nice thick blanket.

"I hope you're hungry, baby," JeVonte said as he sat the basket down, opened it, and began to take out things.

"I always could eat your food."

"Fresh strawberries and pineapple, I know you love that. Turkey and cheese pinwheels with light cream cheese, cheese and crackers, cucumber and tomato salad, fresh homemade chocolate chunk cookies, and of course, lots of wine."

She was smiling so hard she did not know what to say.

"I know it's not a fancy dinner or anything but-"

She leaned into him to give him a long, passionate kiss. It was the little things in life that mattered most. Not all the things she could buy.

"Don't stop being you, JeVonte."

"I never try." He fed her a strawberry. "Now I know we said no discussing work or money, but the only thing I can think of that is stressing you out this bad is money. Something wrong?"

She did not want to talk about it. She fed him a strawberry, ignoring the question.

"Yancy, if things are bad or something, let me know, I can help."

Yeah right. As if he had enough money to fix her problems. She knew he meant well.

"Let's not talk about that."

"Right." He grabbed the wine glasses and then one of the bottles of wine and poured some in each. "You work too hard Yancy, it's time to play."

"As long as I get playtime with you."

"Ah! You make the rules."

She never told him about her rules, and she never planned on it. The only thing that mattered was making new rules with him now.

No work, all play. With her man, whom she was falling so deep for. He may be the one. Though it was scary to think about, she liked the idea of forever with JeVonte.

A/N: A cute little chapter of them being cute! Do you think Yancy's work problems, or money problems, could affect their relationship?