Page 74 of Love & Other Disasters

“Did you have a romantic relationship with Melvin?” Agent Morales asked.

Violet laughed, “What? No, he was like a grandpa. Did someone say that I did?”

“Did you have access to any of the company’s banking accounts?”

“No.”

“Did you meet Jordan Harper prior to him becoming CFO?”

The agent must already know the truth about J.P. She’d been trying to establish if Violet had a history of bedding the CFO with questions about Melvin.

“Yes, I did.”

“Tell me about how you two met.”

Violet told the story of going to the Rabbit with Elle and giving a guy a fake name. And by the end of it, the agent with the schooled, blank expression, appeared shell shocked.

“And you started up a relationship with this man?”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” she said, fatigue taking over. “I can’t explain my attraction to him.”

Agent Morales scoffed. “Honey, everyone can see why you’re attracted to him.”

“Sure, he’s hot,” she shrugged, “but it’s more than that… I’m in love with him. And it’s such an awful idea.”

Agent Morales nodded and switched off the recorder. “The only reason it’s a bad idea right now is because he’s your superior. Get rid of that obstacle, and you have yourself a good man.”

She nodded her agreement, but that wasn’t the only reason. Only one of them. The other was that he’d move on as soon as another job came along. And therefore, she shouldn’t have fallen in love with him. Now what?

At home, Violet showered and climbed into bed. Even though it was early, she was so tired, her eyes wouldn’t stay open. Sometime later, a hand landed on her forehead, and she jumped.

“Hey, hey, it’s me,” J.P. said. “You’re burning up.” He came into focus wearing an athletic shirt and shorts.

“What are you… How did you?”

“Your door was unlocked,” he said. “I came straight from working out after I still hadn’t heard from you. I called and texted twice, and when you didn’t respond to my text asking what you wanted for dinner, I became worried.”

Violet considered laughing, but that took too much energy, she closed her eyes.

“I went to bed after I showered.”

“Do you have a thermometer?” he asked feeling her forehead again. “You’re feverish.”

“No,” she muttered.

“Any pain?”

“My molecules hurt.”

A hand tapped her again. “Sit up for me,” J.P. said. She moaned in response. “Take this, and let’s get your temperature down.”

Violet sat, her head threatened to secede from her body. She took the offered pills and collapsed backward.

J.P. returned to Violet’s house after getting cleaned up and the supplies to care for a sick person. It looked like the flu, which wasn’t good, not only because she was miserable, but they shared germs as recently as that morning. Violet was still sound asleep. This time her forehead had cooled, the medicine working to lower the fever. He went about sanitizing the kitchen and living space.

In the middle of the night, her fever spiked. She groaned and whimpered in her sleep. The noise woke him from his spot on the couch, and he roused her enough to take more pills. She fell back asleep, and when he checked on her again an hour later, her temperature had decreased.

The next morning, her fever was still down when he planted a kiss on the top of her head and left for work. He was halfway through the crush of morning emails filling his inbox when Monique walked into his office uninvited.

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