Page 8 of Pleading Innocence

“Ohhh, so that’s why you’re here,” he said, looking a bit uncomfortable as he got up from the couch next to me and went to sit around his desk.

“Dude, you could’ve taken it a little easier on her when you saw she couldn’t take it anymore,” I said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, she walked off the job because you guys couldn’t get along, right?” I stated.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, right.”

“Is there any way you could apologize and give her the job back?” I asked, knowing that I’d just fired a cannon ball straight at him at the mention of an apology.

He looked at me for a while but surprisingly he didn’t look taken aback by what I said. He just shrugged. “Listen, it’s true. We didn’t really see eye to eye for a while, but after a few weeks, I didn’t mind her being here. She could’ve stayed. It wouldn’t have mattered either way, but she was the one who chose to go. She was adamant she wanted to leave. But if you speak to her and she decides she wants to come back, I’d be open to it. The choice is hers,” he said.

I was more than a little surprised by his response, and now I was confused about why Tiffany claimed they couldn’t get along. He didn’t seem that bothered by her presence anymore.

“I’ll try to talk to her,” I said.

He nodded. We continued to chat for a little while longer before I scooped up the shirts and pulled him in for a hug. “Congrats on that son again, my man,” he said in the hug. “And if you ever need a guys night, I got you.”

“Since when do you do guys nights?” I asked.

“Since Anthony helped me realize that I needed to loosen up a bit,” he said.

“Well, it’s about fucking time.” I laughed, giving him a pat on the back. “But I don’t think I’m ready for a night out again because you know I get drunk as fuck and I need to be alert as hell right now.”

“Whenever you’re ready, brother,” he said before I left his office and made my way downstairs. My next stop would be Tiffany’s.

Chapter 5

Jared

Itookamomentto deeply exhale when Chris left the office. That had been awkward as hell when he’d brought up Tiffany. I tried not to give anything away and hoped that I didn’t. But that was nerve-racking as fuck. My palms were still sweaty as I dried them on my pants. I had some emails to answer but I couldn’t feel my fingers or make out anything on the screen.

Yet I still found myself hoping that, after their talk, he could convince her to come back. Then I reprimanded myself for how sick that was.

I almost broke out into a full-on sweat as I wondered what Chris would’ve done if I said something or showed something in my reaction that made him think twice. Even as he left my office, I found myself terrified of someone stopping him on his way out to let him know about the misunderstood claim involving his sister that almost got me fired.

Somehow, my silly desire for her still attempted to outweigh my fears as I found myself wondering if Chris could talk her into coming back for my benefit. Damn it to hell, I must have been out of my mind. I needed a swim.

My head was a mess and I needed to find a way to bring some sort of serenity to my mind and thoughts because I shouldn’t want Tiffany to come back here. It was a good thing she left. She was far away from me, and I was far away from her. That was the way it should be. Fuck.

I’d learned to bring extra speedos ever since the last time thoughts of her had me freaking out and I ended up swimming in the pool in my boxers. It was an uncomfortable rest of the day walking around commando under work pants.

Reaching for a pair, I made my way down to the gym, got changed, and dove off the diving board into the water. As the water enveloped me, it felt like a comforting hug. The water made everything make sense—most of the time, anyway. I hoped this was one of those times, because why should I have cared what Tiffany Levine did with her life? It didn’t affect me.

I held my breath for a bit and just let myself sit at the bottom of the pool deafening everything around me before I floated up to the top again to catch my breath. I wasn’t alone in the gym today and it helped to ground me.

Sure, I’d miss her, but I was taking my earlier hopes back. I hoped Chris didn’t manage to convince her to come back after all and I wished her the best wherever she went. And as I looked toward the edge of the pool and remembered how I got to this point, I found myself sighing in relief that I didn’t have to worry about her waltzing in here and making it hard for me to think.

I remembered her standing there in that yellow dress and her smooth legs above my head, dizzying me, and how I couldn’t get her out of my head afterward in the shower. I remembered that her presence bred a desire in me that led me to that day in the file room—the very same day I’d fired her. In that one day, everything between us had changed, and just like that, I’d almost ruined a friendship and lost everything that I’d built.

It was too dangerous to have her around because no amount of self-control had made resisting the temptation of her any easier since that day. Coming into the office every day was torture. I’d had to prepare myself in the morning before I got here to ignore her. It had been hard as hell to pretend she wasn’t there and she wasn’t driving me nuts.

At least with her now gone, I didn’t have to worry about that distraction anymore. The office could go back to the way it had been, without heightened constant arousal and stifling sexual tension. All it took was one day and one taste of her to keep her stuck into my head for weeks after. Having her around wasn’t helping my addiction to the high I could never get with her again. Maybe with her gone, it wouldn’t take me that long to get over a single moment in time, passed and never to be revisited again.

I made peace with her absence in that pool. After fifteen laps, laying on my back on the poolside, panting from exhaustion, I came to the conclusion that it would probably be in both our best interests to never see each other again. It would certainly be in the best interest of my friendship with Chris to never cross paths with her again. And I had been able to get through many obstacles in my life, I was sure I could get over the one day of lust I’d shared with Tiffany Levine.

Chapter 6