Page 7 of Undeniable You

“Are you Jo?” she asked. If I hadn’t already been completely overcome by her looks, her voice would have done it. Deep and smoky and sensual in a way that was so inconvenient at this moment. I literally had to swallow a whimper.

I should have run. I should have run away already.

“Yes, I-I’m Jo,” I managed to stutter as she stood up. She was about half a foot taller than me and the fact that I’d have to tilt my head back to meet her eyes if we stood close to each other made my lungs wheeze and I let out a cough that I hoped she wouldn’t interpret as me getting sick.

“Jo,” she said, that voice wrapping around the single syllable, “it’s nice to meet you. Larison.”

She held her hand out and I had no choice but to shake it and try not to react in any way to the slide of her warm skin against mine. The clasp of her fingers. She wore a few rings that I wanted to examine. As well as the rest of her hand. And everything else that was attached to her.

Larison seemed oblivious to my complete and total internal meltdown and gave me a soft smile that I wanted to wrap around me like a blanket.

“Shall we?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah,” I said after two seconds of awkward silence. Too much blood that was supposed to power my brain had gone to deal with other areas of my body and I needed it to come back so I didn’t completely blow this opportunity.

Larison being completely disgustingly attractive wasn’t her fault and it wasn’t enough of a deterrent to me needing this job. My reaction was just because she’d surprised me. It would calm down. Initial attraction didn’t mean a whole lot anyway. It sure as hell wasn’t more important than paying for school.

“Did you want anything?” she asked, and I shook my head as I struggled to remember how to sit in a chair. Somehow I managed to do it without injury and faced her across the table that was far too small. Having her this close was absolutely clouding my judgment.

“I’ve heard so many things about you from Sophie, it’s weird that we’ve never met,” Larison said, trying to be nice and break the ice. What she didn’t know was how much I was already burning inside.

“Yeah, I know. I know.”

That was when I ran out of words.

The coffee shop was loud, but the silence between us was louder.

“So, why don’t you tell me about your background, even though I kind of know it anyway.” Right. I had to talk now. This could be a problem.

Some of the blood that had vacated my brain must have trickled back and made me coherent enough to talk to her. It was a miracle.

Larison watched me and nodded, giving her my undivided attention. Those eyes on me were mesmerizing and I couldn’t look away if I tried.

She nodded. “That all sounds great. So I’m really looking for someone Monday through Friday from around nine in the morning to four in the afternoon. It’ll just be for the summer, obviously, because Juniper will be going to kindergarten in the fall. God, even saying that out loud makes me feel like I’m going to have a breakdown, but anyway, do you think those hours work for you?”

If she’d asked me to work one hundred and sixty-eight hours a week, I’d agree.

She also mentioned the hourly rate a little reluctantly, but it was in between the range I’d agreed on for myself, so I let out a huge breath.

“Yeah, I can definitely make that work,” I said, both excited and terrified at the same time.

Larison smiled again. “Great, that’s fantastic. I know I’ve just met you, but I was wondering if you’d like to meet Juniper? I feel like she should be consulted even if I’m making the final decision.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I said, trying not to have another heart attack. This was all happening so fast.

Larison gulped down her now cold coffee.

“Do you have time today? She’s staying with my parents right now but I need to pick her up in a little bit.”

Oh. I wasn’t.Oh. Shit.

“I mean…” I didn’t know how to respond.

“I wouldn’t normally ask, but since we sort of know each other already. It’s fine. We’ll schedule it for another day.”

I wondered how many other people she was interviewing and if I was the only one.

“No, today is fine,” I said, my voice too loud, even in this café. I needed to tone it down. “I mean, if you don’t mind. I could meet you there.” I had a car that I rarely used except to move it from parking spot to parking spot on street cleaning days.

---