In Love With My Personal Assistant(28)

"You must be quite the performer," James remarked. "I like that."

Nicole froze. After a moment, she nodded and then glanced to Jennifer  with a twitch in her eye. Jennifer only offered her a smile in response.  What could she say? James was hella smooth and he knew it.

"Um," Nicole swallowed and cleared her throat, suddenly uneasy. She sat  her cocktail glass down and turned to Jennifer. "It's pretty late. I  gotta go."

"You're leaving?" Jennifer sat up with a start. Her friend couldn't  leave. She didn't want to be left alone with James again. Or maybe she  really did and was just afraid of what would happen.

"So soon?" James crooned. "You should stay a bit. We have rooms for the  night so we don't have anywhere to be." For once, Jennifer agreed, but  his comment made Nicole balk.

"You have rooms here? At the Kimberly?"

They both nodded.

"Their rooms run at least $400 a night, are you serious?" Nicole was incredulous. She looked to Jennifer for confirmation.

"You should have seen the way we came. On a jet charter to New Jersey  and then a helicopter to 34th street," Jennifer reached for her cocktail  and drank it straight.

"Don't forget the complimentary 1998 classic," James added, he winked at  Jennifer. She didn't look away. She held his gaze and gulped back the  last of the cocktail remaining in her mouth. James grinned. Sexy, sweet,  and tempting. She needed a savior.

Jennifer took a deep breath and looked at Nicole. She had completely  missed their exchange. Nicole studied her phone with thought and focus.

"Nicole, what's it gonna be?" Jennifer asked, a bit pressing. She needed Nicole to be the third wheel.

At the sound of Jennifer's voice, Nicole lifted her head and turned to  Jennifer. Her eyes darted to James for a millisecond. It was a question.  Jennifer nodded, and then mouthed the word please. She bit her lip when  Nicole hesitated.

They had talked about her acting work and Jennifer's past, but Jennifer  never asked about any love in Nicole's life. It appeared that she might  have had someone after all, someone waiting for her, like Jennifer had  Andrew waiting for her. The thought made her break Nicole's gaze. She  wet her lips, her breathing suddenly difficult and labored. Her chest  heaved. She couldn't keep her thoughts together.

One moment she was fawning over the thought of James's kiss and the next  she was smiling and grinning at the thought of Andrew's caressing her  body. She was not a two-timing type of woman-she didn't understand  herself. She never thought it could be possible to feel this way for two  different men.

"I'm sorry, Jenn," Nicole said softly. She leaned in to Jennifer and  hugged her securely. "I'm kind of late to my own date. I told him you  were in town so he totally gets it but," she frowned and gestured to her  phone. "Don't worry though, I won't leave you hanging, okay?"

Jennifer frowned. Her eyes darted quickly to James. She couldn't tell if  he were listening to her or not, but a waiter stopped by with yet  another cocktail. She wondered how many that was for him. He had one  with her before Nicole came and clearly had more while he had left them  alone-in any case, how many had she had?

"Are you listening, Sweetie?" Nicole asked, drawing Jennifer's attention  back to her. Jennifer nodded quickly, but wasn't sure what she was  nodding to. Nicole sighed and frowned. "Maybe you should call it a night  too," she muttered.

"Nonsense," James called from across the lounge. "She's never been to New York before."

Nicole forced a polite smile. "She just looks like she might have had a bit too much to drink."

Frowning, Jennifer scoffed. "Please, I'm fine." Nicole snapped her eyes  to Jennifer's. After a moment, Jennifer coughed. "I mean, maybe I had  one too many," she corrected.         

     



 

James chuckled seductively and raised a brow. "Really, Jenn?"

Rolling her eyes, Nicole stood suddenly and stepped in front of  Jennifer, blocking James from her sight. Jennifer leaned her head back  to meet her friend's eyes and grinned sweetly.

"You know what I think you should do," her voice was barely audible, and  Jennifer struggled to hear her words. "Make sure you can hear your  phone and I'll call you in a bit. When I do, say goodbye and go to bed,"  she nodded firmly, "Do you understand? This is for your benefit," she  stressed.

Jennifer nodded, and then smiled. That seemed like a great plan. She'd  spend a few more minutes with James and leave when Nicole called her  back. She was such a great wing woman and it was a foolproof plan.

With a wide grin, Jennifer stood and wrapped her arms around Nicole's  thin frame. It was so good to see and catch up. It was a stark reminder  that she needed to keep in touch more. She planned to do that. No more  working late on presentations and speeches. Nope. Those days were over.  Gone. Done. Finito. She'd Skype her friends, she'd learned to surf or  something. Wait, there wasn't surfing in Chicago. Well, maybe she'd  visit Brittany in Hollywood.

Her thoughts slowed when she found herself staring into the eyes of  James. He watched her with an expression she had never seen before.  Pulling back from Nicole, Jennifer struggled to look her friend in the  eye.

"Call me more," Nicole said finally. "I miss your voice."

Jennifer nodded and smiled. "I promise," she threw in a captain's salute for emphasis.

"Don't make promises you don't intend to keep," Nicole retorted quickly. Jennifer took a moment before she nodded firmly.

"I intend to keep this one, Nicole."

A wide smile broke onto Nicole's face. She leaned towards Jennifer and  squeezed again. As she turned, she wiggled her fingers at James.

"Take care of my friend. I'm pretty sure she's had one too many."

James stood tall and extended a hand to Nicole. She looked down at it,  but didn't shake it. Instead, she pursed her lips and crossed her arms.  James chuckled.

"I'll take care of her," he leaned forward, "I promise," he winked.

Nicole turned to Jennifer and pointed a finger. "Don't forget your  phone," she called with a warning. Jennifer nodded. She watched Nicole  turn on the balls of her feet and move towards the double doors that led  inside. In the time that her eyes trailed behind Nicole, James moved  from his armchair into the loveseat. He leaned forward to block  Jennifer's line of sight and meet her eyes.

"Did you enjoy that?" He asked merrily. Jennifer chuckled.

"You're such a jerk," she said with a pout.

James frowned. "A jerk? What'd I do?"

"I'm only worth millions. I have like $250,000 in my bank accounts,"  Jennifer mocked him with a faux deep voice. James laughed again.

"Do I sound like that?"

Jennifer shoved him in his arm playfully and met his eyes with  determination. "You're missing the point. She's one of my best friends  and now she's just going to think you're a jerk guy with a lot of money.  You could have at least helped her to like you a bit."

James scoffed. "Well, she wasn't very nice to me either. She didn't even  shake my hand and I gave her a compliment," he paused. "She's beautiful  though."

Jennifer shook her head with disbelief, but whatever displeasure she  felt in the moment faded in the next second. Her lips curled into a  smile. Her phone was still on her lap from when she had shown Nicole the  picture of Andrew. She put it into her purse and sat the bag down in  between her thigh and James's knee. He stared down at it.

"What is this? Why are you setting that there?" He questioned, nudging it with his hand. Jennifer beamed before she answered.

"It's a magical barrier," she teased.

"Really?" James raised a brow, and nudged it again. "Doesn't seem to be working. What's it guard?"

"Me," Jennifer grinned.

"From?"

"You."

James pursed his lips. He held Jennifer's gaze with a blank stare. After  a moment, a smile crept onto his face. He placed a hand on the back of  the loveseat and walked his fingers along the bound leather back until  he reached her shoulders, but he didn't touch her. His eyes danced and  toyed with Jennifer's stare.

Somewhere, she tried to remember if this was something she should avoid;  but, when she met James's baby blues, her heart and mind melted from  reason. James moved his hand towards Jennifer's face. He touched her  cheek and then stroked her skin with his thumb. She didn't want him to  stop, but he did. He moved his hand down and trailed to her shoulder  where he gently took hold of her. A ravenous smile emerged.         

     



 

"Do you really want to keep me back?"

Breath caught in Jennifer's throat. She didn't want to answer that  question; James didn't wait for an answer. His fingers danced teasingly  along the back of Jennifer's shoulders. She arched her back, and pushed  her chest out. James simply followed the curved of her spine, dropping  his fingers in between her shoulder blades. Jennifer shrugged and raised  her shoulders high. The movement caused him to stop, but the tempting  grin never left.