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If you can’t? You’re screwed, Janie. Worse – Mama J is screwed. After everything she’s done for you, you’ll let her wither away in some third-rate nursing home?
She blinked back the tears as she straightened and shivered in the cold. God, she was so tired. Over the last three days, she’d gotten maybe seven hours of sleep, and the exhaustion had set in. It made her weepy and slow, and she wondered grimly if she would even make it to the weekend without passing out or falling asleep at her desk. She’d had to redo a letter three times today – thank God, she had caught the mistakes before giving it to her boss. With his mood the last few days, he probably would have fired her on the spot.
The bus pulled up, and with a sigh of relief, she climbed the steps and found a seat at the back. Ignoring the smell of the man sitting in front of her, she closed her eyes and tried to doze.
* * *
Luke stared out his office window. It faced the street, and he watched Jane approach the bus stop. His hands clenched into fists when she suddenly grabbed the metal pole of the bus stop and bent over. It was too dark, and he was too high up to see if she was shaking, but he had no doubt she was. In the last day and a half, she’d had a visible tremor to her entire body. When she brought him coffee earlier today, her hand shook so badly that she’d spilled it on his desk. She profusely apologized and quickly cleaned it up while he watched her furtively.
Her face seemed even thinner than usual. Her pale skin was stretched over her cheekbones, and she had dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she was on the verge of collapsing, and he wondered if she had some type of illness. Maybe she was at doctor's appointments all this week. Despite the heavy workload, he was about to tell her to go home and get some rest when she had finished mopping up the spilled coffee and hurried out of his office. She looked utterly exhausted, and he was oddly worried about her.
Are you? You’ve been a total dick to her for the last three days.
I’ve been busy, and she hasn’t made it easier for me with her inability to stay late. Besides, I haven’t been a dick.
You have, and we both know you’re being a dick to her because of your dream.
He abruptly walked away from the window and sat down at his desk. He was not going to start thinking about that stupid dream again.
Why not? It was a good dream.
No, it wasn’t. It was utterly ridiculous and came completely out of left field. He was not attracted to Jane. Okay, maybe he did find her pretty despite her exhaustion, but she was too much of a scared little mouse for him. Just because he’d had a lengthy and detailed dream about her didn’t mean anything. It was a random piece of oddness seeping out of his brain. Lots of men had sex dreams about women they didn’t find attractive.
Oh yeah? Do lots of men wake up from these sex dreams with their dick so hard and painful that they have to rub one out? Do you think they come all over their own damn stomach like a horny teenage boy?
He stared at his computer screen. Just thinking about the dream made his cock stiffen, and he adjusted it roughly. Jesus, what was wrong with him? His workload, his fight with Mark, and that stupid dream about his fragile little bird of an assistant had him acting like a total lunatic.
He needed to talk to Mark and apologize. It would help bring normalcy back to his life. Other than some terse work-related emails, they hadn’t spoken since Friday night, and it was getting to him.
“Luke?”
He looked up in surprise at Mark standing in his doorway.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” Mark hesitated before entering his office and sitting in one of the chairs. “Listen, I’m sorry about Friday night.”
“No,” Luke said immediately, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be butting in on your personal shit. I’m just worried about you and Amy.”
“You don’t need to worry,” Mark said. “Everything’s fine. I’ve had the day from hell – you wanna grab a drink with me?”
Despite his mountain of work, Luke nodded. “Yeah. I could use a drink.”
He stood and casually walked to the window. He peered at the bus stop. Jane was gone, and he jumped when Mark spoke next to him.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing. Let’s go,” Luke said.
CHAPTER 5
Jane placed the files on Luke’s desk and checked her watch. It was just after six, but the office didn’t technically open until eight, and she was sure she was the only employee in the building. She studied the couch in Luke’s office before sitting on it with a weary sigh. Her head ached miserably, and she felt sick to her stomach. As punishment for being late last night, Jeremy had docked her pay the half hour and made her give all her tips to the bartender. Probably illegal, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it. She really needed her tip money and fought back her urge to burst into tears. Crying wouldn’t help.
She rested her head against the back of the couch. She didn’t know how long it would take to finish the work Mr. Dawson had left her, so she came in at five-thirty. She was terrified he’d fire her if it weren’t finished when he came in at eight. Unfortunately, the work hadn’t taken long, and she regretted losing even that extra hour of sleep she could have gotten.
She rubbed at her aching temples before lying on her side on the couch. She would rest her eyes for a few minutes and see if that helped her headache. If it didn’t, she would eat another orange and grab Advil from the staff room.
* * *
