Chapter 4

chapter

four

JD

A few weeks later…

I'm watching Chelsea.

Like a fucking creeper.

This is not the first time. Hell, it's not the first time today that I've been looking.

It's really pretty amazing that I've gotten any work done in the time that she's been working here. Especially now that Hayes has moved back home and works remotely. I can't go hide in his office just to clear my head.

He's right, I never should have moved her desk into my office. Yes, the room is large enough for both of us and probably three other desks. But there's no amount of space I could be in with her and not be aware of her every move.

Like right now, she's standing by her desk, one arm bent behind her back. She's clearly struggling with something as her arm moves slightly and her features tighten with frustration.

"What's going on over there?" I ask.

She glances over at me. "I'm stuck."

I chuckle and rise from my desk to walk towards her. "Stuck?"

"Yes." She blows out a breath. "My bracelet is tangled in my hair or the other way around. All I know is that my arm lives here now." She wiggles it and the movement looks like a one-armed chicken dance.

I laugh hard at that.

"I swear to everything holy, JD, if you video this or take a picture I will sneak into your room at night and shave off your eyebrows and chin hairs."

She's not helping me to not be amused. "My chin hairs?"

"Beard. Whatever. Help me." Another waggle of her elbow.

I step up behind her and sure enough, her delicate gold bracelet is entwined with some strands of hair at the nape of her neck. She's wearing her long brown locks in a sleek ponytail today. A standard for her on casual Fridays. The hair, the H & J Funds shirt that somehow looks unbelievable sexy on her, and those fuck-me jeans that mold to her thick thighs and plump ass.

Do not look at her ass right now.

But I don't listen, and then I have to suppress a groan at how perfect it looks. Bitable.

The number of times I've envisioned bending her over my desk or her desk and sinking into her hot, wet silk… Can't think about that now or she'll wonder why I got an erection from touching her hair.

"I'll try not to pull too hard on your hair," I say.

She sucks in a breath so quietly that I nearly miss it. But I didn't, I caught that slight inhale at my unintentional double entendre. I step closer and move in so I can see what I'm doing. She's not a short woman, but I am a fucking giant, so I need to be near enough to see the tangle. I don't want to break her jewelry or her hair.

My fingers brush against the warmth of her neck. Goose bumps scatter over her skin as I gently pull her hairs free. I've nearly gotten the bracelet untangled, but before I step away from her, I lean into her ponytail and inhale.

My eyes close briefly as I pull her scent into my body, trying to bury it there so it's never lost to me.

Rosemary .

I finally discovered what the smell was a while back. I'd been a complete crazy motherfucker and had been sniffing shampoo bottles at my local H-E-B grocery store. I knew she smelled minty but there had been something else there with it.

Rosemary mint. That's what she smells like. And it's mouthwatering.

"So, I finally got around to watch some of that copy show you talked about," I say.

"What?" she asks, her voice sounding breathless.

"The one with the detective that reminds you of me."

"Oh, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit ."

I release the final hair, then help her lower her arm. I step around to her front.

"Thank you," she says.

I nod. "Do you think he has a medical reason he squints all the time?"

She barks out a laugh. "Stabler?"

"Yeah. I mean, do I do that? Or is it just the bald head that we have in common?" I rub a hand over my scalp.

"You don't necessarily squint, but you have intense facial expressions like he does." She looks up at my face, a smile playing at her lips.

Then I watch as the black of her pupils nearly swallows the brown of her irises.

She's not immune to me, either. I know it in my gut that she feels this connection between us. Every time I see a verifiable physical reaction from her, it sends a shot of adrenaline straight to my heart. Or to my dick. Six of one and half a dozen of the other.

It's this crazy thing that keeps me hanging on. Keeps me in the game.

But it always makes me wonder. If she feels this too, why the fuck is she still with Mike?

What does he have that I don't? Besides her.

Fucking Mike.