Actually Love - Jessie & Zach (16 page)

J
essie’s fingers flew across the keyboard. She had almost dug herself out of the mountain of emails she’d been bombarded with following Friday night’s pot-at-the-airport fiasco. Thankfully, she’d come in and worked yesterday. If she hadn’t, then she would have been drowning today. As it was, she was just managing to tread water.

Initially, her coming into the office on Sunday had been just to get out of the house. After Saturday, she’d needed to not see Zach’s perfect face and body or hear his perfect voice and laugh for at least a few days. She was mentally referring to it as her Zach-detox.

She realized that she could only take him in small doses. Not because he annoyed her or she didn’t like him. Nope. Quite the opposite. The more time she spent around him, the more she…felt. And if this was going to work long term, then feelings could absolutely not be factored into the equation.

Keeping her hormones in check was proving to be much more of an uphill battle than she’d ever imagined. Especially since her little theory, that the overwhelming way her body responded to Zach was only pheromones and would lessen with time, was not holding up. It was actually going the other way. Every interaction she had with him
increased
her out-of-proportion desire for him.

Still, if it were only a physical attraction—even one as intense as theirs—Jessie knew she could handle it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all she was feeling. Between Zach’s insistence that she sleep in his bed so that she would be safe and eat dinner so she didn’t go to bed hungry, his sticking around Saturday and helping her move, his getting along with her entire family, watching him with Margie and Mabel, and—the real topper—seeing how amazing he was with Joey…she didn’t stand a chance.

Turning in her high-backed leather swivel chair, she let her gaze fall over the river that rushed through the city. Jessie’s fingers wrapped around the armrests, and the cold steel pressed against her fingertips as she took in a deep, cleansing breath. From her office’s eighteenth-story view, she watched as people walked over the Loop bridge. They reminded her of toy figurines. Everyone was bundled up in jackets, scarves, hats. Businessmen and women hurried across. Parents pushing strollers and holding the hands of their little ones crossed at a slower pace. Tourists taking pictures of the river and the buildings stopped every few feet to get a different shot.

Watching the nameless strangers go about their lives filled Jessie with a sense of calm. Her inner struggles to get a tight handle on her yet-unnamed, totally unwanted feelings for Zach were put into perspective as she realized that she was just a speck in the grand scheme of things. What seemed monumental to her meant nothing to the people below—or anywhere for that matter. A lot of times, it was easy to fall into the trap of letting your whole world revolve around
you
, but in reality, your world was fairly insignificant unless you used it to help others.

Which reminded her… Spinning back, she grabbed her phone and typed in a reminder for Thursday night. She would head down to Faith Rescue Mission and serve the homeless dinner. Since Jessie was a sophomore in college, she’d made it a priority to volunteer at least once a month. Back in Boston, she’d worked at the Boys and Girls club at the after-school program, helping kids with their homework. Since moving back to Illinois, she’d been splitting her volunteer hours between Faith Rescue Mission and the Pups for Life no-kill animal shelter.

Jessie knew that her life was pretty good if the biggest problems she had were the fact that she lived in a beautiful brownstone that happened to house her landlords, who thought she had a fake boyfriend, who she found herself more and more attracted to—not just physically, but emotionally as well. Yeah, she really didn’t have a lot to complain about.

There was a knock on her door, and she looked up to see Martin, her assistant, stick his head in. “Ms. Sloan, your four-o’clock is here, and she looks
fierce
.” Martin’s dark eyes widened as he overemphasized his description.

Jessie smiled. She loved how, each time Martin announced someone, he gave his colorful opinion on either their outfits or demeanor. It was always something like, “
He looks like he’s got a stick up his ass
,” or “
I don’t think this one owns a mirror
.” When she’d been promoted, her only stipulation was that Martin was able to make the move with her. He was not simply an organizational and scheduling genius, he also stayed one step ahead of her (which was not an easy thing to do). And during long, arduous hours, he always provided much-needed comic relief.

“Great. Send her in.” Jessie pulled up her schedule on her computer and saw that she was meeting with Maxine Rizzo.

After they’d met at the boxing gym, they’d grabbed a quick cup of coffee and Jessie had been more than a little impressed with the girl’s client roster as well as her ambition, which was basically to rule the world. A lot of people in Jessie’s position might not have felt comfortable bringing someone onto a team that was so good they could easily be a threat. But Jessie had always wanted only the best people on any team she was working on or in charge of. Greatness begat greatness in her book.

Jessie had already been sure that she wanted to hire the girl, but after the onslaught of new business that Friday’s incident had created, she needed to hire her. Now. She’d spoken to HR and gotten the official paperwork drawn up this morning.

“And you are
wearing
that skirt, doll,” Jessie heard Martin comment as he opened the door for Maxine.

“Thank you,” the petite brunette beamed up at Jessie’s six-foot-four assistant.

Jessie grabbed her folder with the offer she planned to make Maxi and stood, rounding her desk as Martin shut the door, leaving the two women alone. Extending her hand, Jessie said, “It’s great to see you again, Maxine.”

As the other woman shook her hand, her nose scrunched as she spoke. “You too. And please, call me Maxi. Whenever I hear ‘Maxine,’ I feel like I’m getting in trouble for something.”

“Got it.” Jessie nodded as she motioned to one of the red leather chairs in her sitting area. “Would you like something to drink? Tea, water, soda?”

“No.” Maxi shook her head as she sat. “Martin already offered, but I’m good. Also, can I just say, I
love
him! He is amazing for my self-esteem. He must have given me five compliments as he showed me in.”

Jessie chuckled as she sat in the chair beside Maxi. “Yep. That’s Martin. But as vocal as he is with his appreciation, be warned. He’s equally vocal with his disapproval.”

Maxi nodded knowingly. “Good to know.”

“So”—Jessie patted the folder on her lap, getting right down to business—“I know that originally this was going to be an interview, but a lot has happened over the weekend. I don’t know if you saw that, on Friday night—”

“I did. That was handled beautifully, by the way.”

Jessie could see the pure admiration shining in Maxi’s cheerful blue eyes.

“Thank you. I’m glad that it worked out as well as it did—for our client, as well as for our business. We have been inundated by requests for proposals. It seems overnight we’ve become the popular girl everyone wants to ask to prom.”

“Oh, okay.” A little flicker of what looked like disappointment flashed in Maxi’s eyes, but she quickly recovered by pasting a bright smile on her face. “I completely understand if we need to reschedule. You must be insanely busy—”

“No.” Jessie shook her head holding up her hand as the girl began to stand. “That’s not what I meant. We are busy. Which is why we need you on our team.”

She handed Maxi the manila folder, and the girl sank back down on the chair as she opened it.

“I’m offering you a job. Not rescheduling our meeting.” Jessie used to believe that she was an excellent communicator, but lately, she wasn’t sure if that was true.

Maxi stared at the paperwork in front of her not saying a word.

“If you want to take the week to think it over and give me your answer on Friday, that would be—”

“No,” Maxi answered, shaking her head.

“You don’t want the job?” Jessie must have really read this situation all wrong. When they’d had coffee, Maxine had made it seem like this would be her dream job.

“No!” Her eyes widened in horror. “I mean yes.” Maxi paused just a beat, took a deep breath, and clarified. “No, I don’t need to take a week to think about it. Yes, I want the job.”

Relief that she hadn’t completely lost her people-reading skills washed over Jessie. “Great. Now, do you have any questions? It’s fairly straightforward. Based on your experience, I am starting you as a lead. You’ll have a four-person team of your choosing. You can hire in-house or out. That’s totally up to you. They will answer to you. You will answer to me. Simple.”

Tears were forming in Maxi’s eyes as she nodded. “Thank you for this amazing opportunity.”

“I know a good thing when I see it. I know you are going to be an incredible addition to our team,” Jessie said as she stood. “Martin can show you to HR. They have some paperwork you need to sign, and then once your background check goes through, which usually takes seventy-two hours, you will be official.”

Maxi stood, clutching the paperwork to her chest. Jessie turned and crossed the small space to the large, wooden double doors. Opening the one on the left, Jessie shifted back to Maxi, who was following behind her.

“I look forward to working with you,” she said honestly.

“Me too. Thank you again.” Maxi smiled bigger than Jessie thought she’d ever seen anyone smile.

“Martin, can you please show Ms. Rizzo down to human resources?” Jessie asked as Maxi walked past her out the door.

“Yes, ma’am,” Martin replied as he stood from behind his desk.

As Jessie was shutting the door, she heard Martin ask, “Are you okay, sweet pea? You’re looking a little pale.”

“I got the job!” Maxi said in a loud whisper.

“Of course you did. I told you that you looked fierce. Now let’s go get you in the system so you can start getting
paid
, honey.”

Jessie had to smile. If it were up to Martin, he would have absolutely hired Maxine for her fashion sense alone. Luckily, that fashion sense came with brilliant marketing and PR strategies as well a ton of connections and a solid client list.

And she’d found her thanks to Zach. Just one more thing to add to the list of things that made him impossible to resist.
Great
.

“H
ave you seen her naked yet?” Billy asked, winking at the redhead who was about to give him a massage as he lay back on the table. At Billy’s flirtation, a blush crept up the girl’s china-doll skin.

“No,” Zach answered, trying his best to tune his friend out.

He needed to relax and let his masseuse work out his strained muscles. Relaxation was impossible to achieve if he let himself think about Jessie. Especially Jessie
naked
.

Zach breathed in deeply, oxygenating his body. He tried to clear his head as he reclined back onto his own table so that he could get the most out of this therapeutic massage. Thinking about the blond beauty he currently lived with made his chest constrict and left his body strung tighter than a rubber band pulled tautly between two fingers, about to snap. Another drawback to allowing thoughts of Jessie to take up residence in his brain was that he didn’t think popping wood beneath the thin, white sheet that covered his junk, was really the best move. To avoid that from happening, his mind needed to be free of all Jessie-related thoughts.

As he lay flat on the table, his masseuse Talia began moving her oiled fingers across his shoulders and chest. Zach closed his eyes and tried to focus on what he needed to be focused on—his next fight. He’d been studying videos all morning, and even though his opponent did have some glaring weak areas, he also had stamina like no one Zach had ever fought before and a left hook that had taken down men no lesser than himself. Zach was acutely aware of the fact that, if he didn’t go into this fight firing on all cylinders and bring his A game, he could easily walk out of that ring with his first loss, and that was an unacceptable outcome.

Sure, he would be paid for this fight no matter if it went down in his ‘W’ column or not. He’d worked to the point in his career that, win or lose, he made decent money. But Zach didn’t want decent money. He needed more than just enough to survive on. He needed enough to pay off his mom’s medical bills and start a savings account.

No fighter ever knew when their last fight would be. Injuries that took you out of the game happened all the time—suddenly and without warning. If Zach didn’t start setting himself up for a life after boxing, he could end up in bad shape. Which he could deal with if it were just him. But it wasn’t. His mom was happy—
finally
. She was properly cared for—
finally
. He didn’t worry about her twenty-four-seven—
finally
. Zach would do whatever it took to make sure that she remained at Avalon and the bills were paid.