Page 101 of My Office Rival

I pushed open the door. “Hello?” I called. “Anyone in there?”

“I think you’re going to need something bigger. I’m going to need an office.” I took two steps toward the voice before my brain caught up to my body and I stumbled.

“Jason?”Surely I’m mistaken. He’s not here.

He came into view and my heart thumped. He was so impossibly beautiful, dressed in slacks and a slightly rumbled white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. His eyes were electric and his expression honed in on me.

My whole body prickled under his gaze. “What are you doing here?”

“I want you back,” he said simply and took one step toward me.

I backed away like an animal scenting a predator. I shook my head. “You want me to quit this job. I won’t, Jason, I won’t do it. Stop trying to change me.” My voice was breaking and my back hit the kitchen island. He advanced on me, his eyes soft, and I shook my head. “This is painful enough without seeing you here, looking all perfect, so stop, just stop—” My breaths were coming short and my throat was tight.

He crowded me, lifting one hand to cradle my cheek, and I closed my eyes at the feel of his rough palm. So delicious. So not for me.

“I’m not asking you to change,” he said. My eyes flew open. “I’ll do all the changing, sweetheart.” He gave me a gentle smile.

“Can we talk somewhere that isn’t here? Please?” he asked. His eyes were pleading, and I gave a jerky nod. “Come on. I’ll drive you.”

I followed him numbly out the door and into his car.What is he doing here?

When we were finally in the enclosed space, the faint hints of his cologne, his shower products, and his skin filled my nose with their scents and made my head fuzzy. I wanted to lay my head on his shoulder.He’s not yours anymore.My chest ached.

“Jason.” My voice was unsteady. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m going to drive and explain, and when I get to the end, you can decide whether you want me? Okay?” He gave me a small smile.

I blew out a shaky breath. “Okay.”

“I told you I had foster families, but I never told you why.” He took a deep breath and turned right. “My mom was a drug addict. My dad disappeared when I was just eighteen months old. I heard this all from my first foster family, mind you, and I don’t remember much of my time with my parents. But when my dad left, my mom got worse, until she was told to clean up her act, or they would take me away from her. And she couldn’t.” Another deep breath. My heart cracked a little.

“The grip of the drugs was too strong. She didn’t have enough support, she had no resources. So they took me.” He turned left, his face bleak.Oh, Jason.

“And I know now that, of course, she couldn’t stop doing drugs, not without a family, or money, or a job,” he continued. It was too much of an uphill battle for her. But for years, I told myself it was because I wasn’t enough. And when my first foster family, the only ones I ever really cared for, kicked me out, I told myself I still wasn’t enough. That hardened me. It was the first time I thought that everyone was destined to leave me. And I guess—” He cleared his throat. “I guess I never stopped believing that.” His voice was thick ashe turned into the driveway of a neat little house. Tears tracked down my face at his words.

He shut the engine off and we got out of the car, the cool air drying the moisture on my cheeks. He came around the front of the car, a rueful smile on his face.

“Jason, I’m sorry.”I left him. I hurt him like everyone else did.I felt sick. “I’m so, so sorry. I realized once I arrived here that you’d been trying to change for me this entire time. I guess I’m a little fucked up too. I keep waiting for my dreams to be taken from me, and I thought you were asking me to give them up for you. I vowed never to do that for a man, so I pushed you away.”

His eyes were soft. “I would never ask you to give up your dreams,” he said. “I’m so, so proud of you.”

His words made the tears fall harder, until his outline was blurry. “I know you are. And I’m so ashamed of how I ran. I should have told you that I choose you, that of everyone you’ve known, I wouldn’t be the one to leave you. That you could count on me.” My voice shook. “I should have asked you to come with me.”

“Ask me now,” he said thickly.

“But you hate small towns. I would never do that to you—”

“Ask. Me.” His blue eyes were electric.

“Jason, will you move to Texas with me?”

“Yes.” He gave a short nod and then he was there, pulling me to his chest as I shook. “You didn’t let me finish my apology,” he murmured. “Having you, and then having you ripped away… This past week has been the worst week of my life. Those weeks in the rental house were probably the best. I’m sorry for that day in the conference room. And I’m sorry, I’m so sorry if you ever thought I didn’t want you or that I wanted you to change.” My heart was pounding at his words. He pulled back and tilted my head up so lake-blue eyes met mine. Soft, serious, perfect.

He brushed his thumb over my cheek. “If you let me, I’ll spend every day forcing you to take things for yourself. Making you share your burdens with me. Say you want this.” His eyes were shadowed with need, with doubt.

Hope flared in my chest and spread, until my whole body was alive. “Jason,” I whispered. “Every night in that rental house, I thought to myself that one day a very lucky girl would get to keep you. I ached to be that girl. If you want me, I’m all in.”

“I love you.” He crushed me against his chest.

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