Baby Steps ✔ (Under Construction)

SIX

Jude had noticed that Zara hadn't been in work for a few days. Last week, she had only been in for half the week due to a fever, but it was now Tuesday the following week and she still wasn't here. He tried not to think about it too much, but he couldn't help when his gaze lingered on her desk whenever he walked past. Her friend, Bea had caught him once or twice, but had only smiled in a friendly manner before she would return her gaze back to her laptop.

He hadn't wanted to tell her that they should keep their work relationship professional, because as soon as she walked into his office, he wanted nothing more than to bend her over his desk and take her right then and there.

And that right there, was the problem. It wasn't that they'd slept together prior to them working together, but it was the attraction and the pull towards each other that could make things complicated. Not to mention that he is now her boss, and any kind of altercations of an intimate nature between an employer and his employee, was a strick no go.

He couldn't cross that line.

He wouldn't cross that line.

A frustrated growl escaped his lips as he struggled to get the photocopier to work and do what he wanted it to do. He pressed a button, and then another and still nothing happened. Tipping his head back, he flared his nostrils slightly and huffed out a frustrated sigh.

"Do you need help with that?" A soft voice said from beside him.

It was a voice he was familiar with. One he had playing on a loop in his mind, though the sounds he heard twenty four seven weren't for the weak hearted. Slowly, he turned his head to the right and felt a small smile tug at his lips as soon as he saw Zara stood there.

She was looking up at him with a nervous smile and Jude didn't miss how she played with the cuffs of her cream cardigan. He knew something was on her mind, from the way her eyes refused to meet his for longer than a nanosecond and the way her bottom lip rolled into her mouth.

God that mouth. He wanted to taste it and feel it against his. He also wanted it wrapped around—

"Zara." He said, clearing his voice as he attempted to get rid of all the vulgar images that flashing in the front of his mind. "What a pleasant surprise. Are you feeling any better?"

Her shoulders lifted slightly as she shrugged. "Slightly." Her voice was quiet; she was shy.

Jude felt the frown make it's way on to his face before he could stop it. "Is everything all right?" He asks, his attention now fully on her.

If he wasn't looking directly at her then he wouldn't have noticed the tears that begin to well in her eyes, or the way her bottom lip began to tremble ever so slightly. Reaching forward, he placed a hand on her bicep and gave it a squeeze.

"Come on," Jude says quietly as he steers her away from the photocopier, "Let's go into my office and have a chat, shall we?"

She nods her head quickly and follows him towards his office. As soon as both of their feet are over the threshold, Jude closes the door behind them with a soft click. Zara takes it upon herself to sit down on one of the chairs opposite his desk. Her hands are tucked into her lap and she's bobbing her left knee. Jude chooses not to take his seat behind the desk as he walks towards her. He pulls as his trouser legs as he crouches down in front of her.

"What's wrong?" He asks her, wanting nothing more than to wipe away the tears that are now free falling down her face, but he resisted.

Zara shakes her head, and hair that had been tucked behind her ears have now fallen in her face. "It's nothing." She hiccuped, using the sleeve of her cardigan to wipe her face.