Chapter 1
"Good morning, sweetheart." Shannon greeted me as I walked in the door. Somebody was in a very good mood this morning. He was grinning and seemed overly happy today. I noted that he was busy moving furniture around when I came in.
"Good morning yourself... Why are you so happy?" I asked, hanging my jacket up and moving closer. He obviously arrived extra early and I hadn't seen him smile all that much lately, so, of course, I needed to know what was up.
Shannon and I made friends right away and we understood each other reasonably well. He was always sweet and kind to me since the first day I started, and I knew that we would be friends forever. He was a little flirty at first, but I was immediately attracted to his younger brother, my boss.
"I had a great time last night, didn't you? That girl gave me her number on the way out." He bragged. A group of us went to dinner last night. It was nice to go out and get away from the workplace to try and get everyone to know each other better. It was a first, and I certainly hoped it wouldn't be the last time. Jared even went and it was the first time since he hired me that he wasn't on my ass about screwing something up.
"Told ya she was flirting with you!" I smiled big, walking over to my little desk to place my purse and keys down. Picking up the list that was already waiting for me, I quickly scanned over it.
Shannon walked over and leaned on the end of my desk. "You know what I think? I believe that there may be a little something going on between you and my brother. I saw the way you two were huddled up in the corner." He crossed his arms across his chest as he teased me. I looked down, trying not to react, but just having Jared talk normal to me was amazing and hell yes, I had a big crush on him. It was great to have his total attention when away from here, but I didn't think he looked at me the way I looked at him.
"I don't know what you're talking about. He's my boss and that's it. As if he would even consider that, do you hear the way he's constantly on my ass?" No sooner did I finish talking about him, did he step into the room. "Good morning Jared," I offered, turning in his direction. I flirted hard with him last night and felt somewhat embarrassed about it this morning.
"Morning, you're here early." He smiled. "I love to see someone with such a respectable work ethic like myself." God, that smile! It just gets me every time.
Goddam, did he look hot today or what? This was getting ridiculous, I couldn't even concentrate when he looked that good.
His hair was pulled back in a messy bun and all I wanted to do was pull it free and run my fingers through it. I was so deep in thought that when he snapped his fingers in front of my face, I spoke. "Sorry, did you want me to get started on this before I go over next week's schedule?" I held up the list of things he wanted me to do today.
"I guess, it doesn't matter, you can do whichever you want first."
Everyone slowly filtered in, all of them smiling and warmly greeting me. They were all friendly and I just hoped that since we all went out the night before, I'd actually make a few close friendships. I was still kind of new and didn't know everyone's personalities.
Jared walked away and I sat, looking back down over my list of duties for the day. It was so much that I worried I may not get it totally finished before I was to leave. I got on the laptop to go over his schedule for the next week when he turned around and walked back over to me. "Samantha."
'Shit.' I mumbled to myself. "Yes?"
"Where is that book? The one I asked you to pick up yesterday."
He had to do some research for a character he would be portraying and had asked me to go and pick up some book he was interested in reading. I didn't have time to do it yesterday, but planned to do it later today.
"Sorry, I'll go now." Great, another thing to add to my never ending list. In order to economize time, I tried to combine my outing with another errand I had to take care of.
I eventually made it back, gave him his book, and started to go over next week's schedule, again. After lunch, I still had a great deal to do and watched him walk by, carrying his guitar. He vanished from my sight, but I could hear the guitar as he played from the next room. It went on for the longest time as I busied myself making reservations for when he would be out of town next month. I heard my name being shouted, but not in a good way.
"Samantha!"
I jumped up and hurried into the next room. "Yes?"
"I need that meeting on Friday to be rescheduled for some time next week. I told you last week that there is no way I'll be back in time to get to make that appointment. I just received a text asking if they could move it up an hour." He didn't even look up from his phone as he spoke to me.
"I'll take care of it right now." I reassured him.
"Make sure you do." He looked at me and even though he seemed angry, he smiled. There were at least half a dozen other people in there with him. Some I knew, some I didn't.
"You got it," I replied, biting the inside of my cheek so hard, I waited to taste blood.
By quitting time, I was so ready to go, but unfortunately, I wasn't quite done yet. I resolved to stay late and finish up the last thing I had been working on. It took me about an hour and when I finally looked up from my laptop, the place was empty. I stood and stretched, raising my arms over my head, but quickly drew them down when Jared walked by, smiling at me. "I didn't know you were still here. He said and I knew that he possibly saw down my blouse when I lifted my arms, how embarrassing.
"Yeah, I had a few things that needed to be done today. Do you need anything else before I go?" I almost hated to ask.
He squinted and looked down. "Yeah, you can actually come here for a minute. I'd like to speak to you about something." He walked into the lab and I followed.
