"You can take a day off," Nayel says.
"No, I'll land by 7 am so I can make it by 11 max," I say checking in my luggage.
"You must be exhausted, you should take the day off." Nayel insists.
"It was a spa weekend, I'm well rested. Honestly, a little bored. I want to come back to work as soon as I can and I miss my boss a ton" I say and look up to see the desk people at the airport eyeing me speculatively making color rise to my cheeks.
"On second thought, get your ass in here as soon as you can." Nayel says.
"Alright, Mr. Nayel" I purr softly.
"I can't stand to be near this, tell me when you get off the phone so we can discuss the case" I hear Preston huff.
"Please tell me you didn't put me on speaker with Preston in the room." I scold Nayel.
"What? He knows about us" Nayel says rather casually.
"Doesn't mean he should be around when we're having private conversations." I roll my eyes.
"Relax. It's not like we were having phone sex" Nayel chuckles.
"And now we never will"
My friend Willow is getting married in a few months so she treated her bridesmaids to a spa weekend in Vegas. It was Sunday night and I was just about to get on my flight to go back home.
.....
"How much was it?" My colleague, Donna asks referring to my dress.
"Oh, I don't remember. I got it years ago" I tell her honestly.
"C'mon, give me a ballpark. Was it really expensive? What's the store's name?" Donna asks question after question.
"I really don't recall Donna, I'm sorry" I smile at her apologetically.
"Such a shame" Donna sighs, "I have this party to go to next week and this dress would look just lovely. Do you think this would fit me?" She gestures to my dress and my eyes widen waiting for her to laugh but it never comes.
This is probably the second time I've ever spoken to Donna in the past almost three years of working at Jefferson. Not to mention she's always had some issues with me, when I first started working here she went to HR about how she doesn't think I'm an "appropriate fit" at the firm. Whatever the hell that means and now she's asking to borrow my dress?
"Um I'm not sure" I say hesitantly.
"Let's go to the ladies' room and let me try it on," Donna says without missing a beat.
"What?" I ask in disbelief.
"Be a doll won't you?" She smiles at me grabbing my arm lightly.
"Maria, I told you to come into my office the minute you arrived." I hear Nayel scold me from a few feet away.
"I'm sorry I just was" I fumble getting out of Donna's grip.
"My office now!" Nayel barks tilting his head towards his office.
I mumble a quick I'm sorry to Donna before squaring away from her.
I closed Nayel's office door behind me who was leaning against his desk, "You're telling me I've been counting the minutes till I get to see you for you to be out there chatting with Donna?" He gestures to the door.
I giggle wrapping my arms around his neck, his hands waste no time holding onto my hips, "I'm sorry she was literally about to lead me to the bathroom and take off my dress."
"What?" Nayel stares at me in disbelief.
"Yeah, she liked my dress but I don't remember where I got it from so she suggested I let her borrow mine and then she was about to take me to the bathroom to see if it fit. Thank you for saving me." I sigh.
"Why do I keep hiring these bozos?" Nayel rolls his eyes pulling me closer, "I missed you." He kisses my cheek making me smile.
"You better" I raise my eyebrows, leaning in and pressing our lips together. Nayel and I really are too co-dependent or too lovesick idiots whatever you want to call it because it's been a little over 48 hours since we last saw each other and we both missed each other as if it's been years.
Our tongues dangle together and Nayel's hand cups my ass making me moan into his mouth. I tug on his hair, ruining his perfectly gelled hair with my fingers.
"Seriously? Anyone could've walked in here." Nayel and I break away to see Preston standing by the door shaking his head disapprovingly, "How am I the only person who's figured out this?" He folds his arms across his chest.
"Hi Preston" I smile and wave at him.
A smile appears on his lips, "If you two are done, Mrs. Gilbert is waiting in the conference room. Jerry is out to court so I'll sit along with you Nayel" Preston offers.
"Great." Nayel fixes his tie, "Could you run down and get the contracts from Bill?" Nayel asks me.
"Sure, I'll be right with you"
I knock on the conference room door before entering, "The contracts" I say looking at Nayel.
"Thank you" Nayel gets up taking them from me, "This is my assistant Maria Reynolds. Maria, this is" Nayel gestures to the people sitting in front, I turn my head, smiling to look at them and suddenly I feel like I am in a very bad dream, "Penelope Gilbert" I hear Nayel say.
My eyes meet a pair of brown eyes that used to make me feel safe and loved. Brown eyes that are identical to the ones I have. Brown eyes that I've grown to loathe now because of her.
I couldn't describe what emotion I was feeling at the moment but my whole body felt like it was on fire and I was raging on before I could control myself, "What the hell are you doing here?" I snap.
I could see Nayel and Preston's eyes on me wondering why I was being so rude to the potential clients but I couldn't care less.
"Hi sweetie" Penelope smiles getting up from her seat.
"I just, no! I can't" I storm out of the conference room before she can utter another word. I had the sudden urge to throw something at someone, I couldn't stop pacing, and I didn't even know where I was going.
"Ria" Nayel grabs my arm, "What's going on?"
I move away from him running my hands through my hair, "Sorry, it's hard to stay calm when the mother who abandoned me when I was 6 just randomly shows up to my work." I laugh to myself.
"That's your-?" Nayel's eyes are laced with concern as he follows me around.
My eyes fall behind him to see Penelope and Preston walking out of the conference room, their eyes scanning for me.
"Maria, sweetheart," Penelope says walking towards me, I noticed her eyes were glossy, "The pictures Jared showed me of you don't do you any justice, you're so beautiful" She steps closer to me.
"You've gotten your dad's hair" Penelope smiles reaching out to caress my hair but I move away from her.
"Don't touch me," I snap.
"I think it's best if you leave," Nayel says sternly.
"I'm sorry for ambushing you Maria but I just want to talk to you. Please" Penelope pleads.
I throw my hands in the air walking away from everyone. I grab my coat and rush down the stairs.