Authors: Elizabeth Kelly
Twice Tempted
TWICE TEMPTED
By Elizabeth Kelly
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to
persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental.
The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used
fictitiously.
Adult Reading Material
Author’s Note:
This novella is the sequel to “Tempted”. If you have not
read “Tempted”, please take a moment to download the novella from Amazon for
free. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the conclusion to Lucy and Jason’s story.
Lucy rang the doorbell of the large and impressive looking two-story
house. She had hemmed and hawed over going for most of the afternoon and still
wasn’t sure that she had made the right decision. The door opened; Jerry’s
wife Heather beamed at her in delight and she was suddenly glad she came.
“Lucy! Honey, it’s so good to see you! I keep telling
Jerry to invite you over for dinner but you know him – he just grumbles about
keeping his professional life separate and sneaks off to his shop in the back
to tinker with his cars. Which is just silly because the man loves you like
you’re one of his own daughters you know.”
Lucy flushed a little and Heather laughed. “It’s true. I
know he acts all gruff and serious at the office but he’s such a softie. Oh,
he’d kill me if he knew I was telling you this.” She looked around before
leaning forward and whispering conspiratorially, “You’ve always been his
favourite at the office.”
Lucy laughed. “Well don’t you tell him this but he’s always
been my favourite as well.”
Heather looked her up and down. “You look lovely tonight
Lucy.”
“Thank you.” Lucy tugged at the hem of her shirt. “I
wasn’t sure if this was a formal or casual event so I threw a skirt on rather
than my jeans just in case.”
“You would have looked just as lovely in jeans my dear.
Besides, it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing – we’ve got a mixture of everything
tonight.”
“It was really nice of Jerry to do this.” Lucy said.
“I thought so too. Jerry thought it would be good to have a
bit of a shindig for everyone at the office. You’ve all been working so hard
for the last six months and the company has been doing so well that you deserve
a night of celebration.”
Lucy was still standing on the doorstep and Heather smacked
herself lightly in the head. “Oh for heaven’s sake! Come in – come in! I
didn’t mean to leave you standing on the doorstep like a lost little waif!”
“Don’t worry about your shoes Lucy.” Heather called over
her shoulder as Lucy followed her into the house. “The others are gathered in
the living room and the dining room. Go start mingling and I’ll grab you a
glass of wine.”
Lucy went down the hallway and into the living room. She
scanned the room quickly. Nearly everyone from the office was there, and the
living room and adjoining dining room were filled with people. Alex was
standing by the fireplace talking with Maureen and Wallace, and Jerry was
standing next to Carol and gesturing wildly, his face already a bit red from
the wine.
She scanned the room again, refusing to admit to herself who
it was she was looking for. When she didn’t see him her pulse, which had been
thudding loudly in her ears, quieted down. Ignoring her disappointment she
headed towards Penny who was standing next to the large bay window.
* * *
“Oh my God! Look who just walked through the door!” Penny
couldn’t hide the glee from her voice. It was just over an hour later and Lucy
had been telling Penny about the time her brother had tried to stuff her into
the dryer when Penny had interrupted her with a soft squeal.
She looked behind her. Jason had just walked into the
living room. Immediately her face flushed and her heartbeat quickened. She
turned away swiftly.
“Damn, he looks good.” Penny sighed. “I wonder where he’s
been for the last two weeks.”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
It was a lie of course. Two weeks ago she had been in Jason’s
bed having the best sex of her life and not caring that he was her boss. But,
she thought grimly, a lot could change in two weeks. The Monday after the
weekend she had spent with Jason, she had been on cloud nine, but that had
changed quickly. By Tuesday he was gone from the office and no one knew why.
Not even Carol knew and she could always be counted on to know exactly where
everyone was at any given moment. Lucy had overheard her and Maureen talking
in the lunch room one day and Carol had shrugged when Maureen had asked her
about it.
“I don’t know. All I know is he had to leave to attend a
personal matter.” The woman had bitten into her apple. “Jerry’s been taking
all his calls and I don’t even know when he’ll be back.”
For the first few days Lucy had checked her cell phone
constantly, positive that Jason would text her, but when she heard nothing from
him her worry had turned to anger. He had been so sweet to her at the beach
house that weekend. He had made it sound like he wanted something more than
sex. He had certainly fooled her.
Lucy sighed softly and stared into her wine glass. From the
day he started, Jason had been cold and rude to her. She had been positive
that he hated her and she hadn’t been that fond of him.
“Liar!”
Her mind screamed immediately.
She was attracted to him from the start. The night they had
become trapped in the elevator together Jason had finally admitted his rude
behavior had been an attempt to hide his attraction to her. They had given in
to their mutual attraction and had mind-blowing sex on the floor of the
elevator. She had tried to stay away from him – sleeping with the boss was
about the stupidest career limiting move you could make – but by the following
weekend she had been at his beach house and in his bed and couldn’t have been
happier about it.
It hadn’t taken long for the women in the office to start
drooling over him and an office bet had been started. The first one to bed
their sexy new boss would win a gift certificate to the spa. Lucy had not been
invited to join the bet and she had told no one about sleeping with
Jason. But, after discovering the bet, Jason had bought her a gift
certificate to Heaven’s Gate Spa.
Two weeks without seeing him, without hearing his deep voice
or having him touch her in the way she had grown way too accustomed to in way
too short of a time, had left her feeling lonely and blue. She had been
confused by her reaction. A weekend of sex did not make a relationship and she
had never been the type of girl to fall quickly for someone. In fact, she
hadn’t had a serious relationship in three years and she had been perfectly
content with that.
Although Jason had mentioned he wanted it to be more than
sex between them, they weren’t actually dating yet and he was under no
obligation to share anything with her. Still, she couldn’t shake her hurt over
his two weeks of silence.
“He probably regretted what he said.”
A voice inside
of her whispered.
“He probably changed his mind about having a relationship
with you and used his two weeks away from the office as the perfect way to send
a message to you. You’re stupid if you think he would risk his entire career
just to spend some time between your legs. You’re good in bed girl but you’re
not that good.”
Lucy took a large gulp of wine. That was another thing –
despite her poofy hair, extra few pounds, and pale-as-a-freaking-vampire skin –
she’d always had loads of self-confidence. She’d never doubted her ability to
get or keep a man until Jason Young had come along, and she hated that he had
rattled her confidence so much.
So what if he didn’t want her? Like her mom always said -
there were plenty of other fish in the sea. And not one of those fish was her
boss. She was better off not having anything to do with Jason Young.
“Lucy? Are you okay?” Penny was staring
at her oddly and Lucy forced herself to smile at her.
“Just fine. Why?”
“You looked weird for a minute there.”
Penny studied her closely and Lucy widened her smile.
“I’m good.”
“Okay, well if you’ll excuse me I think
I’ll go and say hello to Jason.”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “Seriously Penny?”
Penny wiggled her eyebrows at her. “Hey, I
have an office bet to win remember. Alex is already glued to his side and
Maureen and Jamie are eyeing him up from across the room.”
Lucy moved to the dining room as Penny
practically sprinted across the living room to Jason. She stared out the patio
doors into the backyard and reminded herself repeatedly not to turn around and
scan the living room for Jason.
She smiled when a familiar voice said,
“Hello Lucy.”
She looked down at the short website
developer standing next to her. “Hey Carlos. How are you?”
“I’m good. How are you?”
“I’m well thanks. Enjoying the party?”
Lucy asked politely. Carlos was a nice guy and she had a feeling he was
interested in her as more than a co-worker, but he was definitely not her
type. Forgetting that he was four inches shorter than her, he was loud and
boisterous and commanded the attention of the room. She had always preferred the
quiet types. She was attracted to the type of guy who radiated a quiet
confidence and didn’t need to use loud words and grand gestures to get people’s
attention.
Jason’s type
.
Her inner voice whispered immediately. She groaned irritably to herself. Would
she have even one day where she wasn’t thinking about her stupidly hot boss?
“I am. It was nice of Jerry to throw this
for us.” Carlos moved a little closer and squeezed her arm lightly.
“Have you gotten something to eat yet?” He
asked.
She shook her head. “No, I was chatting
with Penny and haven’t hit the buffet table yet.” She looked behind her at the
dining room table that was laden with food.
He tugged on her arm and she allowed him to
lead her to the table. “Let’s grab a bite to eat then.”
Jason looked over Alex’s shoulder, tamping
down his irritation when he watched Carlos squeeze Lucy’s arm. He led her to
the table and they began to help themselves to the food. Carlos said something
to Lucy that made her laugh and Jason frowned. The shorter man was standing
way too close to her, his arm brushing against hers, and when he led her out of
the dining room and into the backyard he had to stop himself from following.
“Jason?” Alex brushed her hand across his
chest. “Earth to Jason?”
“Sorry? What?” He said a bit impatiently.
“I asked where you’ve been for the last two
weeks.” The blonde woman smiled at him as Penny and Maureen stared at him
expectantly.
“It was a personal matter.” He said
shortly.
“Oh of course, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
pry.” Alex said hastily.
He peered over her shoulder again but Carlos
and Lucy had moved away from the patio door and he couldn’t see them any
longer.
“So, what do you like to do for fun
Jason?” Penny asked eagerly.
* * *
Lucy gave Carlos a stiff smile and moved
his hand off her knee. It had been nearly two hours and she had been trapped
in a lawn chair listening to him yammer on and on about himself for the entire
time. She had the beginning of a headache, the approaching storm had made the air
hot and muggy, and she really had to pee.
Carlos was still a nice guy but if she had
to move his hand off her leg once more or listen to him talk about his Star
Wars collection for much longer, she was going to lose it. Her eyes flickered
upwards to where Jason was standing on the far side of the lawn. He was
surrounded by most of the single women in the office, not to mention a few of
the married ones, and as usual he looked calm and collected.
He hadn’t approached her or even looked at
her once since he had arrived at the party and she was growing angrier by the
minute. He was a jerk, she decided. He had sweet talked his way between her
legs and once he had what he wanted, he had dropped her like a hot potato. She
watched as Alex rubbed his arm with her hand and Jason smiled down at her.
Despite what he had told her, he would move on to Alex next, Lucy was sure of
it.
Alex was wearing a low cut blouse and the
tops of her small breasts were nearly spilling out of it. She stepped a little
closer to Jason and let her breasts brush against his arm. Lucy couldn’t
believe her forwardness. She was at an office party and blatantly hitting on
her boss. Of course, Jason was making no effort to move away.
Alex and Maureen left the group of women
surrounding Jason and headed for the patio. As they passed her Alex gave her a
large, fake smile. Lucy looked away. She was in no mood for games. She
rubbed her forehead and when Carlos’s hand crept down to her leg again, she
jumped up abruptly, nearly knocking her lawn chair over.
“Lucy? What’s wrong?” Carlos stood and
peered up at her anxiously.
“Nothing. I just have to use the ladies
room. Excuse me please.” She turned and walked back to the house. It was
blessedly cool inside and she headed out of the dining room and down the hall
towards the bathroom. The door was shut and she sighed with frustration and
crossed her legs.
The doorway to the kitchen was just a few
feet away and she could hear Alex and Maureen’s voices in the kitchen. When
she heard Jason’s name she couldn’t help but step towards the doorway. She
leaned against the wall beside it.
“I swear I’ll be taking him home tonight.”
Alex boasted. “Do you see the way he’s looking at me?”
Maureen snorted. “I’m not seeing anything
but politeness. In fact, he’s never anything more than polite to all of us.
Well, except for Lucy of course. God, he hates her. I don’t know how she
comes to work every day. If my boss was that cold and rude, I’d find a new
job.”