Page 42 of Joint Custody

Yeah, hearing his name said in such an official way had the antithetical effect of hearing Anthony’s name. I hid my disgust and breathed in relief. “Thank you, Ms. . . .”

“Oh, just call me Melissa.” She grinned.

His assistant was just the complete opposite of him. Smiley, friendly . . . human. She helped to relieve the weight from my shoulders. I held out the document I was holding, but before I could open my mouth, she eyed it with a pause followed by another sweet smile. “If you wait an hour or so, you’ll be able to hand it to him yourself,” she suggested.

I smiled in return, trying to prevent my face from scrunching. I had so much tension and anticipation building inside me from the thought of handing it in before time that the thought of waiting sounded excruciating. She saw the look on my face I was trying to conceal.

“Sweetheart, I’d love to take that from you, but I wouldn’t be helping you out. With Mr. Crawford, it’s best if you put it on his desk or hand it to him yourself. If you give it to me, well he might not get it in time, and well, that wouldn’t make him very happy. Besides, if it goes missing, I don’t want to be responsible for that and feel the heat of him breathing down my neck,” she said with a raise of her hand. She paused, looking at me with pity before she continued, “Okay, listen. If it’s that urgent, you’ll probably find him at the pool at this time of the morning.” She made a motion as if she was zipping her lips and throwing away the key.

“Oh, thank you so much, Melissa,” I whispered with a grin before setting off toward . . . the pool? I spun back around. Mario didn’t end up taking me on the tour he promised, but I wasn’t complaining about the tour he provided. I’d heard about the infamous pool, but I’d never set eyes on it.

“Um, where is it?” I asked and she smirked while letting out a breath as if to say “you poor soul” before giving me the directions.

Off I went, marching toward the gym, trying not to look at the sweaty bodies pumping weights as I busted through the room with the pool, swinging the doors open, ready to stun him but ended up being stunned, myself.

The pool area wasn’t packed. There were a handful of people in there as I searched for Jared Crawford. With a couple other people in the water, at first, I wasn’t sure who was who until his head popped up and down on a breaststroke, and I felt myself rock on my heels from the shock of his physique. Through clear water, I could see the outline of his broad, strong back. I’d never taken the time to look at Jared Crawford long enough to notice anything other than his attitude. But now as he wasn’t turning his snarling nostrils up at me, I found myself speechless by what he’d been hiding beneath his suit.

He rose out of the water after reaching the end of his lap, pausing to take a breath and pushing his wet hair off his face. I found my eyes moving over his chest and wide shoulders, strengthened by years of swimming, it seemed. His pecs were hard and strong, wider than the other two guys’, still a dream to look at.Oh, snap out of it, Tiffany,I scolded my mind. Dream? Really? The only thing Jared Crawford was capable of were nightmares.

For a second there, I almost forgot how much I couldn’t stand the man. Beneath those strong arms and that delightful chest was the same man who couldn’t tell his anus from a hole in his face. I would not be wasting another second gawking at him as if he were worth a second look.

I was here to give him these darn papers and that’s what I was going to do before heading back to my desk to celebrate the shock I’d been anticipating, not reeling from the shock I didn’t expect. My heels clicked as I moved from the corner of the pool I would never be able to enjoy because of this same Jared Crawford who was intent on working me to death. I dodged water puddles, hoping I wouldn’t slip and fall as I made my way over to meet him at the edge while he was finishing up his last lap. I tapped my heels and cleared my throat the closer he got, turning my head away from his back muscles rippling along with the splash of the water as I tried to get his attention.

Chapter 31

Jared

Softbluehighheelsover beautiful feet. Those were really high heels. Impractical to wear heels by the pool. They should’ve taken them off before they stepped in here. Silly but a treat to look at. I swept my hair off my forehead and rubbed at my eyes to get the water out. Dangerous for me to be losing my breath after just having caught it.

Slender ankles moving up smooth, curved calves. I gulped. Okay, we were entering even more dangerous territory because I was guessing that whoever it was that was standing before me was someone whose paycheck was my responsibility. We were off the clock, I noticed, looking at the digital display of the time above the pool. I still had a half hour before I had to come out of the pool and start getting ready to go up to the office. But we were still in my building, our place of work where I was still in a position of authority. I couldn’t be raking my eyes over whoever it was.

My heart raced as I tried to pull my head up fast enough to avoid catching a glimpse of anything else I shouldn’t. Too late. Her yellow skirt hem had me by the throat. Man was I glad her legs were held together. The water was cool enough, yet sweat formed on my forehead as I began to back up so I could put an end to this ordeal. I whipped my head upward just in time for her heels to start clicking and her throat to start clearing in impatience.

Tiffany Levine?!

“What the hell are you doing here?” I yelled at her. The words hurried out of my mouth in such a haste I was unable to control the volume as I got the attention of the other people in the pool area.

Soon, they were clearing the room, to give us privacy I supposed. I felt so apologetic as I watched them leave in discomfort. That made me furious. Damn it! Thanks to her, relaxation itself had just picked up its feet and ran out of the room along with everybody else. Wonderful. So there was nowhere I could go to escape her. She’d found my safe space too.

“Well?!” I asked as she stared at me in irritation and what seemed to be embarrassment.

She waved the document she held in her hand in my face. “What is that?” I asked.

“The work you asked me to complete,” she answered, looking at me as if I had early onset dementia.

My brows arched. There was no way. I schooled my face as I noticed a gleam in her eyes.

“Couldn’t it wait?!” I glared at her.

She glared back and leaned her body on one hip in defiance. “No.”

I narrowed my eyes at her as she stood there, refusing to leave. Her usual game, I should’ve expected that. Fine. I knew that it was impossible for her to have finished all of that before the beginning of the workday after we’d been in her office the night before, distracting her.

At least, that was my reason for being there anyway. The others were celebrating her employment here and well, I wasn’t encouraged to do the same. I was hoping my presence would rile her up and we’d stick around long enough to keep her from getting work done, prolonging the amount of time she’d need to complete it so I could tell her to her face this morning that her failure to complete the task within the assigned time was proof that she wasn’t cut out for the job. I hoped to break her and have her choose to leave.

Now she was standing in front of me, all smug? Waving papers in front of my face that I had no doubt was filled with errors, thinking she’d managed to get another one over on me. I’d have preferred to wait until after my morning relaxation routine, when I was suited up and ready for the day to look through her incomplete document and prove that she was ahead of herself but since she was being so stubborn, two could play at that game.

I gripped the edge of the pool, hoisting myself up out of the water, standing on wobbly legs as water splashed off my body onto the concrete. I was about to reach my hand out to demand the documents when I found her eyes lingering on my package. Her mouth dropped open wide as she gasped. Redness filled her cheeks, neck, and ears before she spun around, breathing heavily from the shock. I dropped my head in a panic, thinking that something shifted out of place to cause her reaction. But nothing was out. I wasn’t flashing her in any indecent way. She was just reacting to my regular, covered package.

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