Bedroom Business.

Chapter 6

                                                                                       CHAPTER 6

Jade knew she was going to be late. She just knew it. She glanced at the clock as she hurriedly buttoned up her black shirt. It was just her luck that her bad luck had to surface, today of all days. Today when Nick was having a boardroom meeting with all other members of the advertising and surveying staff. It was already five minutes to nine O' clock, when she was supposed to be in by exactly nine.

For the past few weeks of working with him, he'd behaved well with her, and she'd been cool and professional. Except for the occasional moments when they'd almost come close to opening up, they'd both kept their guards up with each other. She hoped to keep it that way.

Today hadn't started well for her. First, Macy had insisted on changing the bandages around her ankle before they were finally removed. She'd done it so slowly that Jade had only five minutes to spend in the shower, or she'd be taking the afternoon bus to work.

Then her stupid blow dryer had practically blown up, leaving her hair soaking wet, with no way to dry it, so she'd toweled it and pinned it up into a sticky mess and hoped no one noticed. She slipped into a straight red skirt and slid her feet into office flats. No time for make-up, she thought, grabbing her back and hurrying downstairs into the kitchen where she grabbed a jelly doughnut.

Since the office was only a bus ride away, she preferred not to saddle Bob with the responsibility of driving her to and from work. She slung her handbag over her shoulder and headed to the station. The bus ride lasted only fifteen minutes, but it felt like fifteen hours.

As she entered the main building of COLBY INTERNATIONAL, she couldn't help but notice that the large clock by Lizzie's desk read 9:30am. She was a good thirty minutes late and everyone was in the boardroom, because every desk and office around was empty. She headed to the inner sanctum of the building where Nick's office and hers were located. As she set her bag on her desk, her phone shrilled... It was Nick.

"Hello?" she answered apprehensively.

"Jade? Are you okay?" he asked, worry evident in his voice.

"Of course, I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason, I was just asking. Why aren't you at the meeting?" he asked.

"I'm really sorry, although I'm already at the office, I didn't want to disturb by coming in now".

The line was silent for a moment before it went dead in her ear. Then she heard the door to his office swing open and he stepped out.

"Good morning sir".

"Morning Jade" he stopped at her table.

Jade was surprised that he wasn't in the boardroom.

As if reading her mind, he answered.

"John's handling the meeting," he stated. John Gordon, was his right hand man.

"Oh okay".

"Care to explain why you're late?" he drawled, leaning against her desk with hip and elbow.

"I'm sorry; I just had a really bad morning. It won't happen again sir".

Nick sighed. She still wouldn't call him by his name. Always using terms like sir or Mr. He ran his hand through his hair for the hundredth time. He'd kept his distance, but hunger was eating away at him inside. She was about to turn on her computer and delve into her work like she'd been doing the past few weeks. Nick was tired of that; he just wanted to talk, for god sakes!"

Without thinking, he put his hands over hers, automatically regretting it when he felt the zing of electricity that coursed through him. She stilled and looked at him questioningly.

"Have you had breakfast?" he asked, uttering the quickest words he could form.

He almost grinned when he heard the answering growl of her stomach, but then he grinned when he saw the look of utter dismay on her face.

He went around getting inside her small desk and chairing area.

"I know a small cafe down the road that serves excellent breakfast," he stated.

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Jade couldn't believe him. He made her do this. She would have been fine with the food that cafeteria served. But he wasn't having any of that. She couldn't believe that while her co-workers were in a meeting, she and her boss were having breakfast together in a cozy booth. When the food was served, they both started to eat without talking.

Okay, maybe the food was not that bad, but still he'd dragged her here against her will.

They were just drinking coffee now, when Nick asked her where she'd been working before. She told him. That had let the conversation flow. She found him intelligent and willing to listen. He could carry on a conversation and he made her laugh. Maybe she'd judged him too harshly from the beginning.

When he wasn't teasing her, he bullied her into letting him pay for her lunch.When they drove back to the office, Jade was in a light mood, she sensed that he was too. She was thankful that nobody saw them come in together as some of the staff was unrelenting gossips that thrived on spreading rumors. As it was, some Nick Colby fans already hated her and wouldn't even talk to her.

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