Author: Elsa Duke

Love is a difficult thing. There’s nothing else in life where something could be so beautiful and hurt at the same time. There’s nothing in life that brings you such butterflies and fear at the same time. I didn’t know love until I met Isabella. It was one look at her, and I knew what love was exactly. I knew that I would never feel anything that was remotely similar to what I felt while laying my eyes on her beautiful body. And then when I reached her personality, Somehow, things even got better. For someone like me who always wanted to figure out why something worked, love drove me mad because I couldn’t understand how I could fall for someone so hard, so fast. How could someone like Isabella take control of my heart when I had guarded my heart for my entire life, not letting anyone in and not letting anyone get close? None of it made sense, yet I was in the middle, like standing in the center of a hurricane. It was a hurricane that I never wanted to end.

Just because love was amazing didn’t mean that the rest of life didn’t continue. Some parts of life needed to be handled and figured out. One of those things was my brother Leo. He sat in my office after telling me the news that I had brushed off like an asshole.

“I’m never going to forgive myself for that, Leo. You were coming to me in confidence, and I brushed you off. For that, I am terribly sorry.”

Leo had his eyes fixed on the piece of skin that he was picking on his thumb that he was picking with his index finger. “I’m not upset about that, Jack. I know the circumstances. I know what you were going through. It was a trying time, and anyone in your position would have emotions all over the place. I’m more concerned about what you’re thinking about the news of me wanting to transition.”

It was almost an absurd question to me. “You know that you don’t need to ask that. You’re my brother. And whether you’re my brother or my sister, I’ll always love you because you’re family. If I can still love all of her as my stepson, then come on. You know me. You know what I’m. I don’t care what’s in your pants or how you identify; you’re blood. And I would die for you.”

When Leo looked up, his eyes were filled with tears. He did his best to eliminate them before I could see them, but the damage had been done. We both got up from our seats, hugged each other, and then I said, “You let me know when the process begins, and I’ll be here for you, bro. Or sis. Whatever you want me to call you.”

Leo laughed. On his way out, he turned to look at me. “I’m happy for you and Isabella. It’s great to see you in such good spirits and thriving. You spend so much time looking after me and the brothers that you never took time for yourself, and I’m glad you finally are.”

I nodded. “Likewise.”

Leo had taken on more of a role in the human resources department. He took up for Oliver Slack as I scaled back all of his duties so that he could focus on himself a little bit more. The kid needed to grow. He needed to find his maturity and find his way in life so he could treat people a little bit better. Something told me that his story was going to be incredible with some time. Hopefully, that time will be sooner than later because I didn’t want to see my stepson making bad choices in his life.

All those facets secured my life; there was just one thing left. And that was my life with Isabella.

Since we had officially gotten together and dropped all the drama. The little bit of media coverage that we had dissipated because they had nothing to work with. The company had long moved on from my father after his scandal, and he was gone. The fact that Isabella and I had come out and announced that we were together, no one could use anything against us. When the news broke that Oliver had been the one who recorded it all, it just made him look bad. For us, we just look like a couple of people who are in love. And was the truth.

“So this all started because you admired me, huh? You admired your stepson’s girlfriend. All while you had a wife. You know I walk with a little bit of swag, right?” Isabella said as we walked through a park.

“As much as I’d love to credit you for breaking apart a dead marriage, my marriage had already been dead. All you did was essentially take a stick and beat it with it.”

Isabella, Jokes aside, I’m glad that Piper and I get along. Outside of you, she’s the only other one I really care about. I guess I say that because I get along with all of you other brothers.”

I nodded and thought about how well our family meshed. “I love that about you. I love that you’re able to get along with everyone. It speaks volumes about your type of character and how special you are. I know you don’t want to hear this, and I know you’re probably sick of me admiring you, but you’re a special woman. And I am lucky to have you.”

Isabella stopped us from walking for a moment and got in front of me. She went on her tippy toes and gave me a kiss. As the sun set behind us, I became aware of just how perfect my life had become. I had the most beautiful woman that’s my girlfriend. I was to see all of a thriving company. I had an entire future ahead that seemed like a totally different life than the one I had before I got together with Isabella.

Love may have been a complicated and scary thing at one point. But I was excited to love Isabella for the rest of my life.

**THE END**

I had to play a little hard to get dinner. After all, he did break up with me in haste. He broke up with me out of emotion. Although I understood why he did that, he deserved a little pushback to get back to me. I needed to know that he wasn’t going to do that to me again. I was still a person at the end of the day. I still had a heart that needed protection, especially after being broken up.

The plan was for him to pick me up at my house. We were going to get dinner. Even though I was trying my best to keep my guard up, I still had butterflies in anticipation of seeing him. How could I not? After all the turmoil, we might have actually gotten back together. The thought excited me. But I still needed to keep a little bit of hesitation. I wanted him to really fight for me. That may have sounded selfish, but whatever. I needed to know that he loved me and it wasn’t just a fluke.

So, I put on my best evening dress. It has spaghetti straps and fits the body to show off my curves. I knew how much you loved my curves. Then again, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to look my prettiest because that would only make him biased. I was probably overthinking the entire thing. All I knew was that I wanted him back in my life.

In the mirror, I made sure my lipstick was perfect. My eyeliner looked great. My hair looked like it was professionally done, although I didn’t like how the 1950s it kind of looked. But he would probably like it. I topped it off by adjusting my boobs, so they sat just right. I definitely didn’t hate the way I looked. I never loved it either, though.

In any case, I was ready to see him.

A half hour had passed since I was done getting ready, and my doorbell rang. I took a deep breath before opening it, and when I did, there stood Jack with an open-collared white shirt and crisp dress pants; his sleeves were rolled up just enough to show those masculine arms of his; he was also holding flowers.

My pussy started to speak to me. And also prompted me to say, “Hi. Why don’t you come in for a bit.”

He stood there for a second, taken aback by the fact that I had asked him in. Even I was a little taken aback by that. He came in, though. I took the flowers from him.

“These are nice,” I said, already betraying the fact that I was going to try and be strong.

“Yeah, I remember you once told me you liked roses. Well, I guess who doesn’t like roses but…”

“You seem nervous.”

I shut the door; we looked at each other.

“Well, it’s not every day that I’m coming into your house trying to win your heart back.”.

I laughed. “I like how you are not afraid to break the fourth wall. Is that what you’re here for? Is that what we’re going out on a date? So that you can wear my heart back? Because I must say, that’s pretty damn romantic.”

Jack laughed. “Well, I’m glad I’m doing something right. I should have done what I did. I should have trusted you. We had something special. I still want to have something special.”

My eyes darted to the floor. “You know that I have a problem with trust. That’s all of our faults.”

Jack took a few steps forward. You were about a foot apart. Maybe half a foot. He lifted my head by my chin, and we had a moment of eye contact. “I’m not Oliver. And I think you know that.”

I did know that. There was proof that I knew he was there because I kissed him. He didn’t move back; he only moved forward. Seconds later, our tongues were in each other’s mouths. That kiss solidified the notion that perhaps he would be in my life for much longer than I had anticipated. I had no qualms with that as I ran my hand through his close-cropped dark hair. He pulled me in by the waist, and I was his.

But he was also mine. “Take your shirt off,” I said in a commanding voice.

He smiled bashfully. I wondered if he still had his little dominance kink inside of him. My answer came when he started to undo his buttons. One by one, I saw a little bit more chest hair. Then came the abs. We hadn’t even touched, and I felt you for you causing through my body much in the same way that adrenaline would.

The shirt came off. I was doing my best to hold back my smile. “Open your pants. Now.”

He wasn’t holding his smile back. I couldn’t blame him. Unbuckling his belt, the pants opened, and I could see his boxers.

I took it upon myself to yank the pants down. I could see an imprint of its cock on his boxers. I couldn’t wait to see it, even though I wanted to tease myself a little bit. Pulling his boxers down, his hard dick sprung out. I took it in my hand and then put it in my mouth. I could barely get the thing in. It was touching the back of my throat, and I was trying my best not to go. It was crazy to me how a little bit of discomfort could feel so good. I felt the veins on my lips. I felt his skin going up and down with each suck I gave him. The second that he ran his fingers through my hair, I started to get soaked in my panties. I even began to touch myself a little bit. I hiked my dress up just to get a better angle. My panties were drenched.

He was pulling my hair a little bit, and I liked it. I put both my hands on his ass cheeks. That was actually the first time I had ever done that with a man. Its cheeks were firm and tight. It was a little bit of peach fuzz on there as well. While I sucked, I squeezed his ass.

I guess he was about to come because he pushed my head off his dick. Since he liked being dominated, I wanted to tease him a little bit. “You were going to come?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to come too quick.”

“Put your hands behind your back.”

“I don’t want to come too quick. I want to have sex with you.”

“I said do it.”

He followed my orders, and I started to stroke his dick. “Fuck.” He yelled out.

I stroked a little harder.

Seconds later, it looked like he wanted to move his hands and push me off. “Babe, I’m going to come.”

I let go and stood up. “Take my clothes off.”

His eyes widened. It was like he had walked into a candy store. It amazed me how I could dominate him all while having him turn me on. He pulled down my spaghetti straps. Revealing my bra underneath, I felt my nipples getting harder.

“You’re beautiful. I hope you know that. You have zero flaws in my eyes.”

My cheeks went red. My pussy got wetter, and my nipples could cut glass. I wanted him to take me. Oh, how I wanted him to take me. I hid it, though. “Thank you, Jack. That means a lot to me.”

Down came my dress completely. Then came my underwear, followed by the unhooking up of my strapless bra. We were both naked. He lifted me up and took me to the couch. That was where he spread my legs open, and his tongue touched them down almost violently. I love it.

His tongue played with my clitoris as if they were best friends. While he flicked away at my clit, he stuck two fingers inside me. My mouth opened without asking me. My eyes shut closed. I was stuffed in the best way. In and out, his fingers went while his tongue worked wonders on me. Pure euphoria. That was the only way I could describe it. His other hand was playing with one of my nipples. I was getting controlled on all fronts. And by God was it great.

I had never done anything sexual while in that position. And I would most certainly never forget it. I felt myself getting close to climaxing. That made me feel a little pathetic even though Jack had been himself. I wanted to hold out longer than he did. Whatever he was doing down there, though, it was a difficult thing to pull off.

I tried my best and failed, so I stopped his hand and pushed his head off. “I want you to fuck me.”

He started to chuckle. Rightfully so. He had me right where he wanted me. Pulling his fingers out, I could see all my juices on them. He licked them. That was one of those things that I hadn’t realized I found sexy until it happened before me.

The next thing I knew, his dick was inside of me. He must have been more hard because it felt even bigger that time. Every time he went in and out, I felt like my pussy was ripping but in the best of ways. I watched his muscles flex with each movement he made above me. He was fucking me missionary style. The veins in his shoulders were bulging out. His chest hair looked like it was plastered on two rocks. Jack let out these little grunts with each thrust. Damn, it was about to happen.

“I’m going to come, Jack.”

He smiled, but that smile didn’t last because he was so intent on what he was doing.

I felt my orgasm in my feet. It was so powerful. It lasted for what felt like twenty minutes. It was a good twenty minutes, though. Maybe one of the best.

He lasted a lot longer than I had thought. When he stopped thrusting, I knew what was about to happen. He yanked his dick out of me and froze time. His face scrunched up with pleasure. I made sure to watch his semen come squirting out of his cock. It landed right all over my belly; some even hit my tit. His dick looked like it was convulsing. Up and down, it jolted. In hindsight, I should have grabbed it, and it made it even stronger.

We lay next to one another and cuddled after that. There was no other place in the world that I would have instead been.

“I can see myself doing this forever, Isabella. It’s no one else I would rather be with than you. I know you may find that hard to believe, but it’s God’s honest truth. You’re an exceptional woman who has made me happy. And I hope that I can do the same for you.”

“I fully trust you now, Jack. I know I shouldn’t just be based on sex, but I’m not. For whatever reason, for the short time that we’ve been together, I feel like I know you better than most people in my life. I trust you more than most people in my life, that’s for sure.” I wrapped my arm around him just a little bit tighter. “I may not be anywhere near your age, but in my short life, I’ve learned a lot of lessons. And if they taught me anything, it’s that I need to hold on to someone like you.”

He smiled and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “And who is someone like me?”

“Someone who cares about me who is willing to devote their time and energy while also being forthright and not holding back his feelings. Other people in my life would never tell me how they truly felt about me. And if they did, and never quite felt genuine.”

I knew that he knew I was talking about Oliver. He could remain nameless, though. We had spoken about him far enough.

“Well, I’m glad you see it that way. I love you, Isabella. I mean that with all my heart.”

Damn it. I started to tear up. “I love you more, Jack.” We kissed one another, letting our tongues stand with one another; I had no doubt about my future because Jack Barron was in the center of it.

Despite everything that was happening with Isabella, I missed her a lot. Even though we had worked together, it wasn’t the same. I forgot what we had. I miss things being normal. However, every time I thought about that, I was reminded of what had happened and began to fume. For days we sat in silence. And as I sat at my desk one morning, listening to the clock tick right before Isabella’s shift began, I dreaded the day. There was nothing that I wanted less than to sit there in silence except for telling Isabella what I needed workwise. I was over it. All I wanted to do was fire her. With the PR department trying their best to diffuse our public image from catching fire, I still needed to be a good boy and keep her hired for the time being. Maybe she would eventually quit. That’s what I was hoping for most. I was hoping she would come to her senses and realize it wouldn’t work. No matter what area you looked at it from.

When her shift started, there was a knock on my door, and the stoic-faced Leo walked in. Behind him was Isabella.

“I think you need to hear this,” Leo said. He had been reticent with me since I brushed him off the other day.

“What do I need to hear?”

Isabella took out her phone, laid it on my desk, and pressed play to whatever was on the screen.

The audio started to play. It was Oliver’s voice. He has been the fricking Mr. whistle down; truth had come out. And I wasn’t any less mad than I was moments before. The only difference was that I wasn’t mad at Isabella any longer. I was mad at Oliver. Fuming.

When the recording had ended, I stood up from my desk, and Isabella held me back from leaving the office. “Go do anything crazy, please. I just wanted you to hear that so that you wouldn’t be mad at me anymore. The business is already in the news; you don’t need to make it worse.

“Get out of my way Isabella.” I kissed her. Even though Leo didn’t make a noise, I could hear his shock. “She’s, my girlfriend. Let the news say whatever the hell they want. I love this girl. I admire the fuck out of her.”

“Jack!” Isabella said with red cheeks.

I went down to Olive’s office, and no one followed me as I had hoped. When I entered the thing, it was almost as if Oliver had been expecting me. “Would you come to yell at me? Or did you come to steal something else that belonged to me?”

“Maybe if you weren’t such a dick, you wouldn’t have lost your girlfriend to me.”

Oliver stood up with a face of rage. “So that’s how you’re going to play this card? Just blame it on me and act like you didn’t do anything wrong?”

“I know I did something wrong. And I’m sorry for stealing a girlfriend after you broke up with her. But I love Isabella. And she loves me.”

Oliver sat down, knowing that everything had come out into the open and there was nothing he could do. What was done was done. “You know what, I’m sorry. I was jealous. I’ve been jealous of your position in the company. I’m jealous of many things, and when you took Isabella, that was the final straw for me. I shouldn’t have done what I did. But I can make a statement, and I can make everything right. I need to take some time after this away from the job to get my head together. If that’s all right with you.”

“Yeah, I think that would be best. You need not be jealous of me, man. Please find me a stepdad. We’re in two different worlds, and Isabella loved you. That’s the truth. It’s nothing to be jealous of me for. You had her heart, and you got rid of it. That’s on you.”

“I know.”

I took my leave from Oliver’s office, knowing I had business to take care of. That business was my girlfriend, Isabella. Just as my immature stepson could make things right, I had to do the same, and it involved more than me just kissing her and calling her my girlfriend. I had a lot to fix. And I intended to do just that.

Marissa and I sat on my couch eating ice cream. I knew I had watched Dear John with Jack and probably should have put on a different movie that didn’t remind me of him. I couldn’t help it, though. That was my safe space movie. It calmed me down when nothing else could calm me down. Even with Marissa there, things were hard to get my head straight. All I wanted to do was escape. I just didn’t want to think of Jack. Of course, with a movie like that, it was impossible. To sum things up, I was a mess

“It’s crazy that no matter how many times I watch this movie with you, it still makes me emotional,” Marissa said while spooning some rocky road into her mouth.

“Yeah. It’s just one of those movies you can keep watching over and over and over. Don’t they say how you can tell when you have anxiety or something? That we watch the same things over and over and over because we know what’s going to happen, and it’s like our safe space?”

Marissa looked at me, dropping her spoon into her carton of ice cream. “You’re really not doing okay. And I wish I could help you.”

“I know. I just miss Jack. I know that I should hate him or resent him. It’s the fact that I know him, though. I know his reasoning for how he behaves sometimes. I know a little bit of his backstory. So I understand why he’d be pushing me away in a moment like this. If only I could prove that it wasn’t me that I would be in good standing with him.”

“Oliver. Prove that it’s Oliver.”

“What?”

“He’s the only one that would leak something like that. Everything happened in his office, right?”

Bingo. Marissa had pointed to something that I hadn’t realized. “You’re right; it did happen in his office. That makes a lot more sense.” I sat up on the couch, and my ice cream fell over. “This could change everything. We need to confront that fool. Or I need to confront that fool.”

Marissa picked my ice cream up for me and put hers on the coffee table. “As good of an idea as this sounds, I don’t want you doing something that will get you in more trouble. I mean that emotionally. Do you know what I’m saying? You’re already at this heightened state of emotion; confronting Oliver could be quite the task for you.”

I thought about Marissa’s words. And she was right. Confronting him could cause a lot of emotional distress for me. But I also didn’t care. I had nothing to lose at that point. I only had everything to gain. “Thank you for looking out for me. But Oliver is going to get what’s coming to him. It’s clear in my head that no one else was responsible for what happened. I don’t know how he planned that. But I’m going to find out. And then I’m going to get my man back.”

“Just be careful, Isabella.”

---

It was a bold move. But I went to Oliver’s office and closed the door with him behind his desk. It was probably his third day back. And I was going to make it a living hell for him.

“What the hell are you doing locking my door?” He asked with wide eyes.

“We need to talk.”

“Nothing to say to you. I broke up with you. We may work in the same building, but that’s it.”

“Why are you so mean?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your stepsister Piper, she can’t stand you. And I never understood that. She always used to pretend with me that you were this good guy. But I always got the hint that she didn’t like you. And I couldn’t understand that. Because when we dated, you were great. And then your true colors came out of nowhere. You dumped me for no reason.”

“I had my reasons.”

“Okay, well, I think I deserve to know.”

“Why do you even care.” He looked at his computer in an attempt to dismiss me.

I let out a sigh. “Because our relationship wasn’t necessarily bad. So what the hell happened? Just be honest with me. I won’t hold anything against you.”

There was frustration on his face. He finally looked at me. “You want to know why I broke up with you? Because I saw the way that you looked at Jack one day. And I’ve seen the way that he looks at you. One day I even saw your Facebook open on this computer. You think I forgot that you called me Jack one time?”

I swallowed. I thought that he hadn’t heard me say that. “I had a crush on him. But I was in a relationship with you.”

“That didn’t matter. I knew what was going to happen. Because my sister Piper threw it in my face, she told me that it would all blow up and that her dad would steal my girlfriend and what happened?”

“She said all that?”

“Yes, she did. She’s like a prophet. I never asked for a stepsister, but I got one who ruined my life.”

“And so, you recorded Jack and me in your office, right Mr. Whistledown?”

“You were my secretary, and I put a microphone here just in case things ever happened, and look what happened.” It looks like he regretted saying that the second that he said it.

This was when I held my phone up. “I appreciate the honesty, Oliver Whistledown. But you’ve been recorded.”

He stood up with a red face. “Great. Show your stupid boyfriend. I hope you’re recording that too. He’s a jackass that stole my love. I don’t care if he’s my stepdad or not. He crossed the line. And so did you. You wanted this to happen all along.”

I shook my head almost vigorously. “No, Oliver. I actually loved you. I loved you with all my heart until you broke up with me and made me cry. You made me cry as I had never cried before. Sure, I had a crush on your stepdad. But I would have never acted on such a thing. I have crushes on people like Leonardo DiCaprio and Channing Tatum. But the crush is far different than love. And I loved you. You took my heart, and you stepped all over it. So you can live with that. And I’ll live with this. Maybe you should listen to people like your stepsister. She’s family. You can learn a thing or two from her and maybe how other people perceive you.”

“I don’t need to take lessons from anyone Isabella. I’ve learned everything and needed to learn about people through you. I loved you as well. You were my life at one point. But when you have eyes for my stepdad, that all changes. Now get out of my office Bella. Enjoy your stupid recording.

How would I enjoy the conversation I had just had with him? But I would enjoy the recording because it could get Jack back. And that was all that mattered. It was time to stop looking at the past and finally start looking and believing in the future.

Would it work, though? Could I actually get Jack back on my side? Or once he was completely done with me and wouldn’t want to hear anything I had to say? That was yet to be found out. But for once, I was going to try to stay positive.

I had that feeling again in my gut. But that time, it was because of me. I was causing that feeling.

I sat in my office, waiting for Isabella to arrive. Things were not going to be a smooth day. It was the first day that she and I were going to be working together after the whole scandal broke. The tricky thing was the fact that I couldn’t fire her because it would look just like what my father had done. You can’t have a romantic relationship with your assistant and then call her loose when things hit the fan. But that didn’t mean that I wasn’t debating it or trying to figure out a way how to get her out of my office because I didn’t want to look at her anymore.

Tick, tick, tick. The clock made that noise extra loud for me that morning. She was to arrive in fifteen minutes. It was going to be the longest fifteen minutes I had ever experienced.

Trust was a tricky thing. I spent my entire life playing myself on a pedestal and trying to protect everyone that I loved, but I never truly learned how to deal with trust. I never practiced letting people in. That part of my brain didn’t know how to act. So when I did get betrayed, it hurt extra bad. It’s solidified the walls even more so. It made me build moats and every other mechanism in my mental arsenal to keep the thread away. I knew that deep down, my father also had a role in my anger towards Isabella. Because he was dead, I couldn’t remove anything I felt about him. The situation that he had caused me made me angry beyond belief. But he was in a coffin. And there was no way for me to vent or tell him how I felt. So that went out the window. Maybe a little bit of that was put towards being angry with Isabella. It was all coming out at once.

The absolute truth of the matter is that I loved her. I hadn’t said that to her yet, and I was getting close. But I loved her. And if she had really recorded me and got me at my most vulnerable, how was I supposed to navigate that? Was I supposed to open my heart to her and let her into a world I never let anyone else into?

The door opened. It opened slowly, so I had a few seconds of wondering who the hell was coming into my office. Then I saw Isabella. The second that we locked eyes, I took mine back. She didn’t deserve my eye contact. I should have probably found a different role for her within the company, but there was something inside me that couldn’t do that just yet. Maybe I needed to get mad at her a little bit. Perhaps I needed to get things off my chest. I couldn’t really tell.

“If we’re just going to stay here in silence the whole day, then I don’t want to work today,” Isabella said before sitting down. It had occurred to me that she probably noticed my lack of eye contact and stern posture.

“We have to work together. I can’t fire you because everyone will just say I’m firing you because of what happened. So we have to sit here and work together.”

She pursed her lips. When she put her perfect ass in her seat, I could feel the tension rise in my chest. It wasn’t going to be a leisurely eight hours. Coexisting with someone who betrayed you was never an easy thing.

I clicked my keyboard a little bit louder that day. Whenever I took a phone call, I hung up the office phone a little bit harder than usual. Every now and then, I would look at her, but she wasn’t looking at me. It’s all going to have to come to a head at some point. She was my assistant. There was going to need to be communication. She was going to have to take orders for me at some point. And that was going to have to happen without me thinking about her in bed telling me what to do. In hindsight, I wish I had never told her about my dominance kink. When it came to that stuff, I couldn’t take any of it back. But I could do something to change the future and make the end a little bit easier on myself.

It was time to flip the switch.

“You know we have to work together, but I think that when it comes to everything else, we should break up.”

Isabella had been in the middle of typing something when I said that. She completely stopped and gave me her eyes. It was almost instantly that they watered up. I did feel wrong about that. But at the same time, it needed to be done. There was nothing I could do to undo how I felt. Could I possibly be in a relationship with her when she betrayed me? That was just common sense.

“So that’s it?” She asked. “You’re not even going to give me any chances; you’re just going to listen to what everyone is telling you and believe their word over mine. After everything that we’ve been through? Do you think that I would really just record you and then continue to have a relationship with you after that? And then why would I leak it after all the time we spent together? None of it makes any sense; you’re thinking with emotion.

Did she have a point? Maybe. But I don’t know. There was still something preventing me from opening up my heart. Those walls were too thick to break down. “I have nothing left to say to Isabella. Not about that, at least. From this moment on, it’s all about work.”

She stared at me for far longer than I had anticipated. Then, she shut her laptop and left the office. I presumed that she was going to cry somewhere. And it wasn’t me being cold; I was just trying to do the right thing.

I was livid, though. And when my brother Leo entered the office, I just had no patience. “Hey, bro, I hope this is a bad time, but I really have to talk to you about something important.”

“Leo, I don’t have time for this. I’m having a rough day already. It’s going to have to wait right now.”

I only looked at Leo for a second and noticed his face was pure shock. I had no idea what he was going to talk to me about. I was in the right mind to deal with anything serious after what had just happened with Bella.

When my brother left, I got to work debating whether I should fire Isabella altogether.

It all came crashing down. That was the first time that I hyperventilated in my life. One minute Jack and I were in love. Everything was going great. And then, just like with Oliver, it all turned in an instant. A sick joke. That’s what it felt like.

In many ways, I had given Jack my everything. And a vulnerable time in my life, I opened up and allowed him to get close to me. Did I regret it? A little bit. Because it just hurts so much.

I stopped my car at a red light. The tears were still falling. I wished I could go back an hour earlier when everything was good, and I didn’t have to worry about my future anymore. Jack had been my future. I was betting on it. Suddenly my future was foggy.

When the light turned green, I pressed down on the gas without regard for the speed limit. My heart wants pounding, my cheeks were drenched in tears, and my adrenaline was pumping. It was such a strange sense of anger. That was because I couldn’t tell if I was angry with myself, Jack’s situation, or a combination of all of them. All I knew was that I needed to get it out somehow. Driving fast was my outlet for the moment.

The street was empty anyway. And if I got pulled over, I really didn’t care. Behind that steering wheel, I felt like I had nothing to lose. There was no way that I would be welcome back at work. Jack thought that I was his enemy. So with no job, no relationship, my entire life was up in the air. What was a minor speeding going to do?

The engine roared. The buildings zoomed past my car. I rolled down my windows to feel the air go through my hair. Not only did it make my hair look crazy, but it dried the tears from my cheeks.

Thud.

Up and down my body went.

My head almost hit the car’s roof: clunk, clunk.

I had heard the sound before and knew it was a flat tire.

A primal rage filled my chest. I rolled up my windows so that I could scream. Once the glass was all the way up, I let out the most prolonged scream possible.

I leaned my head back on the seat and took a deep breath. Was it rock bottom? I wasn’t too sure. All I knew was that I didn’t want to move. My body felt frozen like a statue. All my sadness and anger had evaporated, and I was just left feeling numb. They say in those moments that there’s nowhere to go but up. Envisioning that was impossible.

Knock knock.

I jumped out of my skin when my ears picked up the noise. The knock had only been a light rap. But when you’re not expecting it, the sound is thunderous.

When I looked to my left, there was a man in a suit. For a half second, I thought maybe it was Jack. That was foolish, though. He had no business following me in my car.

I rolled my window down and asked the man, “Can I help you?”

“I noticed you had a flat. Do you need help changing it?”

“I do, actually. The last time I changed the tire was a half-decade ago, and I don’t remember how.”

The man chuckled. “Let me get my tools.”

Sitting in the car while he did that, I took yet another deep breath and then left my car, knowing he would need to jack it up.

When he came back over, he said, “No offense, but you look like a mess. Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Just one of those days.”

He nodded and took off his suit jacket. “I hear that. I don’t think I had a day that was close to yours but working in an office all day for corporate people can be rough. It’s just mentally taxing.”

“Where do you work?”

“Top-Tier-Luxury, it’s a–”

“I’ve heard of them. I was actually supposed to work for you guys.”

“Oh wow. Small World. The company is always looking to hire people. I know it’s not my place to put this out there but, given the day it looks like you’ve had at your job or wherever you’re coming from, we’re not a bad place to work. It can be stressful. I’ve always been happy there.”

“It’s something I’m still thinking about. Actually, before today I was not even considering it. But now I don’t know.”

“May I ask if your problems today are business or personal?”

I laughed. It was a cynical laugh. “A little bit of both.”

He set everything up by the wheel that had the flat, looked at me, and said, “Maybe you can tell me all about it over dinner?”

I smiled a broken smile. After my long antagonizing day, I didn’t hate the flattery. It felt good to be admired. It hadn’t been long since I had been admired by the man that I actually liked. But whatever, there was no way that I would go out on a date with a man who was changing my flat tire, whom I also met on a whim. “Thank you, but I don’t think I’m at the point in my life where I can go out on a date. But again, I appreciate that.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.” He started to get to work on the wheel.

It was a possibility that I was going to go work for his company. As for Jack, I knew in the depths of my heart he was never going to forgive me.

I was going to need to find a way to move forward with that knowledge.

My gut was doing it again—that feeling of something terrible happening. There was no reason for that feeling. Isabella was sitting across from me at her desk, and the day was going well. She and I were going great. We had hit a point in our relationship where it felt like there was no outside interference. There were no factors that made it seem like what we were doing what’s wrong other than us working together. But in the grand scheme of things, that seems like small information. That didn’t seem like anything I needed to worry about because she and I were on the same page.

I sat at my desk, wondering why I felt like impending Doom was hovering over me.

“You’re right? You look a little sidetracked.” Isabella asked me. But before I could say anything, in came Leo. I hadn’t seen Leo for a good while. It was almost like he was avoiding me. And there was the second where he stopped in his tracks, the second that he barged into my office. Talk about sidetracked; he looked a little sidetracked.

“Sorry to disturb you, Jack.” He looked at Isabella. “Can I have a moment of your time Jack? Alone?”

It was I who looked at Isabella next. “Yeah, of course. Do you mind stepping out for a second, Isabella?”

“I don’t mind.” She said with a bit of hesitation.

The curiosity that I had over what Leo was about to tell me was crazy. Never had I anticipated something so much. “What’s the matter, Leo? Why does everything seem so we’re doing right now?”

He looked at me with a long face, shut the door, and sat at my desk. “Are you in a relationship with Isabella? I mean, I already know the answer to that. I just don’t know how to approach this to you. There’s an audio, Lee, where you made a dirty comment in this office with Isabella. It’s been leaked.”

I ran it through my head. I had to work all my moments with Isabella as there were two that stuck out to me in the office. “You’re going to have to be more specifically off. It’s really okay; you’re my brother. What audio?”

My adrenaline was pumping, waiting for his answer. “I don’t know if it’s something about you telling her to suck your cock.”

I swallowed. I instantly regretted hearing him say those words. But it was all about the first time. That first time, she punched me in the face. Somehow I knew that it would come back to haunt me. But how?

“This, unfortunately, did happen, Leo. And I’m sorry you had to hear this. I would never want something like that to reach the ears of those I care about. You know?”

“I know. But that’s beside the fact right now. I don’t care what your sex Life entails. It’s the public image, though. That’s what I’m concerned about. Even though I know this is the furthest from the truth, people are associating this with the other scandal.”

One question popped into my head. It was burning there. Because I wanted to trust Isabella, I didn’t want to ask it or put it into the universe. But it needed to be asked. “Do you know who leaked it? Or how the audio was recorded?”

Leo shrugged. “The internet is saying that Isabella did it. Newspapers aren’t speculating. And if they’ve not done that, then it means that they don’t have a source. It could honestly be anyone with a recording device. That means anyone. But at the same time, the chances of Isabella saying something are pretty high. She was the second one in the situation, after all.”

Fuming. That was how I felt after contemplating it all. Of course, I didn’t want to get mad at her. I didn’t want to put the blame on her at all, but all signs pointed to the fact that she was the one that leaked the information. There was no one else in the room. I just couldn’t figure out how she could have anticipated that I would have done something like that.

“Are you all right?” Leo asked me.

“I’ve seen better days, Leo. This is a serious situation. And I don’t take any of it lightly.”

Leo let out of sigh and leaned back in his chair. “I know you’re going to start blaming yourself, but we’re all only human. We’re filled with flaws, and sometimes they come out. I know if I did something like this, you would never look at me like that.”

“I mean, this is something that could have been avoidable. I put myself into this situation. And now people are going to talk. People are going to make me out to be the bad guy. Just like dad.”

“You’re nothing like dad in that respect. Dad was a great man, but whatever was in his closet, I don’t think you come close. But can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can, bro. You might not have the best answer given today’s circumstances, but I’ll try my best.”

“If I ever did have something come out that was weird or something you didn’t expect, would you judge me for it?”

His sentence made me wonder if I hadn’t had enough on my mind circling like a racetrack for NASCAR. “It all depends on how strange or weird it would be. I have to admit you have me thinking now.”

I couldn’t tell if Leo liked my answer or not. He did seem a little uncomfortable. And then he changed the subject. “Don’t worry about it. Back to the other problem, I know it doesn’t look good for the company. And things could get terrible. But we’ll go through it all right. We have enough minds in this company to turn things around.”

I nodded. “Send Isabella back in here.”

It looked as if Leo wanted to say something. If he was thinking about defending her, he definitely had second thoughts, given that she would be someone who did everything in my mind, at least.

It was half a minute of alone time in my office before Isabella had come in. I had used that time to simmer myself down and not flip out at her when she walked through the door. But it was definitely hard to do that. I felt a grave sense of betrayal.

She walked in with her beautiful blue eyes and looked at me. I had to ignore her beauty. If I didn’t, I would be swayed. “What the hell did you do?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Close the door.” She listened to me and did just that.

“There’s leaked audio of me telling you to suck my dick. The first time, remember? It’s out there. And now I look terrible. I don’t know what I’m going to do. How could you have leaked that? What was the purpose of everything? Were you just trying to–”

“Jack, whoa, slow down. I didn’t do anything of the sort. I would never leak anything like that. Why would I record that? How would I know the record that?”

“You were the only one in the room at the time.”

You looked at me with amazement. But it wasn’t the type of amazement similar to someone looking at an animal juggling. It was the type of amazement where she was offended by me. You made me question whether or not she did have something to do with all of it. But I held my ground. “I can’t believe you’re accusing me of this after everything we’ve been through.”

“Well, who the hell else am I supposed to accuse? You were the only one in the room with me.”

She stormed out after that. She had not said a word to me, but her face was covered in tears.

Again, I stood my ground. Because I knew it was her who had betrayed me.

For the first time since dating Jack, I was able to make him a little bit shy. This was because he and I were in my home and talking about sex. Who knew that talking about sex could be almost as equally stimulating as having it?

“Why are you getting so coy?”

He shrugged. “Because I’ve never actually verbalized what I like. I kind of just take it. You know what I mean?”

“Lola was never interested in that type of stuff? You know, like asking you? I don’t mean to get too personal here.”

“No, it’s okay. Lola and I are over. She’s going to be moving out next week. I bought her a house. Even though we grew apart, I still have to look out for her, you know. She’s still close with Piper.”

I smiled. It was nice to see him take care of someone who was technically now estranged. “That makes sense. Maybe we should stick to the topic; I feel like you’re trying to squirm me away from talking about it.”

“I’m not that shy, okay? But yeah, I have a dominance kink. I like to be in control and feel like I’m dominating the woman I’m with. Lola never did that with me. So, I kind of had a long time of frustration built up. Sexual frustration.”

The man had already licked my most sensitive area. And yet my cheeks were going red at his words. “Would you be too shy to try it on me?”

He laughed. Jack had a very masculine yet composed laugh. It was like he controlled every single sound that came out as if it were a song. “I don’t know if you can handle it. You’re a sweet little woman. Why would I ever put you through something like that.”

I couldn’t hold back my smile as I got on top of his lap and gave him a nice kiss. I’d be that hits lower lip a little bit, just a hint at him that I could take whatever he threw my way.

“Call me crazy, but I think you’re trying to rile me up?”

“You’re crazy, Jack Barron.”

And I won because he started to kiss me aggressively. I hope that his dominance kink will come out. I wanted to see him, and I wanted to see all of him. Nothing held back.

Before I knew it, he lifted me off his lap and carried me to my bedroom. I felt tiny in his arms, but I loved it. Sure, I loved being independent and not needing to rely on a man, but there was also nothing like being carried by someone with bulging veins in their arms and biceps that needed my hands running over them.

He placed me on my bed and held me down by my wrists. I saw this animalistic look in his eyes. It was everything. I wanted him to be pleased. I wanted him to have his way with me. And that looks like it was going to happen.

“Take me, big daddy,” I said.

“I want you to take me to. That’s part of it.”

“Do you want me to be dominant?”

“Yeah. I want to see what you are made of. I want you to make me feel small.”

I had never done that before. But curiosity took me. “Lay down on your back,” I said to him.

Watching him do it gave me a sense of power. A sense of control that I didn’t even know I liked.

I started to unbutton his dress shirt. One by one, the buttons came undone, and I popped his chest covered in hair and abs.

“Who’s your master?” I asked him.

“You’re my master.”

I enjoyed the role-playing. I liked that we could dip in and out of who was under some control. But I also loved the feeling of telling him what to do. He was twice my age, and yet, I had total control.

I started to undo his pants. I opened the button, held down the zipper, and clutched his waistband until I had a firm grasp of it and his boxers. When I pulled them both down, I’ll sprung his giant cock.

“Do whatever you want to it.” He said.

My imagination started to roam. I had never been so free with a cock in my hands. So, I gave the thing a little slap. “You’re mine now,” I said to Jack.

He smiled and said, “Do that again.”

I smacked the thing again and watched it bounce back and forth. It was such a long dick; it was thick too. And yet I was the one mastering it. It was my dick to control. I gave it a little squeeze and a little pull. I had never pulled at a dick before.

When both are closed were off, I got on top of him and started to ride. I held him down by his chest and said, “Tell me who’s the most beautiful woman in your life.”

“You’re the most beautiful woman in my life. You’re the most special woman in my life. You’re my queen.”

Oh my god, that was hot. It was so strange; he was such a hulking man, yet he could be so vulnerable.

I continued to ride him, watching his mask of pleasure. He put his hands on my hips to guide me in writing. He started to bite his lower lip, and that was when I felt myself beginning to climax. I wasn’t going to be able to stop it. The second I did, he grabbed my titties, which made me come harder.

“Get off. I’m going to come.”

When I was finished climaxing, I got off, and he concluded, squirting all over the bed. There was nothing like making him finish. Seeing his body move away as it did when he finished was like nothing else; it was like nothing else.

The next day, I had sex on my mind still. That was a habit after having sex with him. It lasted with me for a good while. Even the first time we had sex, I would replay it over and over in my head like it was a movie. Because, in many ways, it was. Jack was an individual like no one I had ever dated, especially Oliver. I shouldn’t have been comparing, but it was hard not to.

While in my home, having a moment to think about everything, it finally hit me. It felt like me, and Jack could actually be a thing. He no longer felt like some rebound guy I was with based on insecurity and loneliness. He was a viable person in my life with whom I could see a future. And that was pretty stunning, given the circumstances.

My cell phone rings. It’s a number that I can’t recognize. I picked up.

“Hi, Isabella?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“This is Albert from Top Tier Resorts.”

Quickly my mind put two and two together. Top Tier Resorts. I had applied to them in haste after everything that had happened with Oliver. Even after this stuff with Jack the first day where he had hired me as his assistant, I remembered going on indeed and applying to like ten different jobs. This was one of them. I remember that It was the job I actually wanted back at that moment.

“Hi, yes, right now, I don’t think I’m interested any longer.” I blurted out because I didn’t want to second-guess my decision. Quicker I said it, the quicker it would be final.

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that it’s Bella. We have to hire multiple candidates for this role so the offer will be here for a couple of weeks. You know if you’re still interested at any point.”

“Thank you.”

I hung up the call after exchanging a little bit of information, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not I should have taken the job. Was it wise for me to continue working with the man I was having sex with? Then again, Jack seemed like more than just a man I was having sex with. But it was never wise to crap where you eat.

Maybe I had some decisions to make…

Maybe it was her who I needed to turn to. Maybe Isabella is the key to all my problems at work, given that she was also the key to many of my issues outside work. I wasn’t a man who had much of social life. I really didn’t get close to people. Even when it came to my family always more of a guardian than a friend or loving person; that was just my thing. Suddenly I had this beautiful woman who felt more like a sidekick and an addition to my life than anything else. For once, I felt like I could lean on her. Or better yet, I could depend on someone. Usually, I just take things in stride and try to handle them myself. But with Isabella, she encouraged me to be open in allowing myself to be vulnerable. So that’s exactly what I was going to do.

We were in my mansion. We both sat on the couch. And I looked over all the files, paper it’s, things on the internet, and everything in between that had to do with my father’s scandal. The stress was clearly visible to me. But I was going to try to see what Isabella thought about everything.

“You’re letting that consume you. It’s all just noise.” Isabella said to me while she ran to my back with one hand.

“they’re saying I’m a co-conspirator. That I willingly hid everything from the public to protect my father means I have no idea about it. The company’s stocks are dropping. That mob mentality is showing up in full force. I’m trying to handle it all, but it’s so many jobs at stake. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling the pressure. I feel like I really have to protect everyone.”

“It feels like you’ve always been a protector. When are you allowed to be the one getting protected? This isn’t your fault. And you’re making it seem like it is. You’re taking up the slack for something that your father did. How is that fair to you?”

“If I take that perspective, Isabella, I’m only going to be angry. I’m only going to be resentful.”

“Is that how you used to do it growing up? You would just put everything on yourself so that you wouldn’t get angry or point fingers word should have actually been pointed?”

In an instant, my mind replayed a lot of my life. A lot of my childhood, to be specific. It was something about Isabella that made her hit everything on the head. She just knew things about me without me having to explain them. I liked that about her.

“You always know how to make me feel better. This is why I wanted to look the stuff over with you next to me. Because it feels like my entire company is crumbling around me, and I’m supposed to be holding it back up. In many ways, you hold me up.”

Isabella smiled at me. She did this while she continued to rub my back. “That’s what I’m here for. You deserve to have someone that can keep you grounded when everyone else wants you to fly away and do what they want you to do. Screw the public for now. You’re going to handle this. I know it.

Later that night, when my wife came home, she finally brought up Isabella. “Are you seeing her?”

There was a long pause while Piper went up to her room.

“Yes, Lola. You and I have been putting up the charade for too long. And I think it might be time that we face the facts here.”

“Our marriage is over.”

“Yes, Lola.”

There was more of a relief mask on her face than anything else. Inside my chest, I was relieved as well. But I saw Piper upstairs. She had heard everything. And I could tell that there wasn’t relief on her face. It was sadness.

“You knew that we were destined for doom,” I told Piper a few moments later. We were in her room, and she was lying on her bed facing the wall.

“I thought you guys were going to work things out. I just want you to be happy. I’m tired of you jumping from woman to woman.”

I chuckled. “That was a year ago, Piper. There is someone else actually.”

She turned over to look at me. “Who?”

“Will you judge me if I tell you?”

“My stepmom already knows, right.”

“Yes, but she wouldn’t tell a soul. She knows what it would do to Oliver.”

A curious look covered her face. “What the hell does Oliver have to do with this?”

I didn’t say anything right away, and I didn’t need to because she guessed.

“Isabella. You’re dating Isabella?”

“Keep that between you and me, please. I don’t need Oliver knowing at this moment.”

She extended her pinky because she and I had this little pinky swear thing that we always did. But I was going to have to speak with all of them eventually—but first, it had to do with business.

---

Oliver sat slumped in my chair. It was like he was in the principal’s office. “What’d you call me here for to fire me officially? I’ve had it already. Just do it.”

Taking back his remarks, I had to take a moment to gather what I was going to say. “You really cocky for someone who did something so terrible. You know how much you hurt Isabella?”

Oliver raised an eyebrow at me. “The bigger question is, how do you know how much it hurt Bella?”

An ocean of discomfort washed over me. Did he know that I was dating Isabella? How would he know? I didn’t have time to ruminate at that moment. There was some mental sparring going on between him and me. And that required my full attention. “I don’t think I can have you back. At least not for right now. You are still suspended indefinitely. I wouldn’t say I like your attitude, frankly. I don’t like how you come in here and–”

“Honestly, I don’t care right now. Do whatever you want.”

Oliver caught up and left at that point. I couldn’t believe his attitude. And it led me to believe he knew more than I thought he did. Maybe it was paranoia. At the same time, I probably should have been nervous for my stepson to find out that I was dating his ex-girlfriend. I was a grown man in this situation. I had nothing to fear. I guess my conscience returned to remind me that I still cared what everyone thought about me. He was my stepson, after all. No matter how much he acted out, I still didn’t want to hurt him. If he had known, though, that ship had sailed.

One thing was that inevitable drama like the one I was embroiled in that didn’t just disappear overnight. It got worse.

For the first time since everything with Oliver, I had confidence again. It was this indestructible feeling inside my chest where you could throw anything my way, and I felt like I could handle it. It was like I had been filled up with self-esteem. Of course, I owed a lot of that to Jack. His admiration for me made me feel special. It made me feel like I wasn’t just someone who had been kicked to the curb by my ex-boyfriend. I hate to say that he was the only cause of that, but it was kind of true. I felt important, whether it was the great sex or how he looked at me on dates when we were together. I felt like the center of his world.

On the one hand, indulging in such a feeling felt wrong. It was gluttonous in many ways. Something so good could feel so bad. This was all because I was supposed to be an independent person. After everything with all of her, how can I allow myself to fall into the arms move her bravado-filled, charismatic, chiseled, silver fox like Jack? It was a romance straight out of a soap opera. And those were never the healthy kind. At least, that’s how I saw it in my mind.

“Where’s Jack? Leo, Jack’s brother, asked me as I sat at my desk in the office. It was funny because every time I sat at the desk, I thought about our bodies exploring the one next to it.

“Jack had a business meeting across town. He’ll probably be in later today. How are you doing?”

Leo entered the room and shut the door. He and I always had an open relationship. I could talk to him about all of her. And I could talk to him about work. It never felt strange. He was a tall and lanky man who could either be super outgoing or super shy. There was never much of an in-between. I always enjoyed his energy. “Oh, okay. I know you’re aware of everything that’s going on in the news, and I don’t need to hide it from you, but I just wanted to talk to Jack about what people are saying and, you know, do some damage control.”

Leo worked in the company’s branch of Human Resources and some other departments. So, he had his hand in a little bit of everything.

“Got it. I’m sure he’ll return early. He always gets his meetings done sooner than they’re scheduled for. He’s an in-and-out type of guy.”

Leo lingered for a bit. It looked like something was troubling him. “Sounds good to me.”

On his way out, I asked, “Is something the matter?”

He stopped. “Actually, yeah. It’s weird, though. I don’t know if I should be talking to you about it. I wanted to tell my brother first. But that’s also the problem because I don’t know how he’s going to react.”

My heart started to race at what it could be. There was not a single ounce of hesitation on me, though. “Feel free to say whatever you need to. This is at my office, but my door is always open.” I couldn’t help but think about how my legs had been open in the office.

Leo sat in Jack’s chair and ran his hands over his face for a moment. “It’s not easy to be in my body. It has never been. And I want to be a woman. Telling him as my brother is the most frightening thing I have ever thought of.”

My heart was still racing. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. “I’m so flattered that you would tell me that. Your secret is safe with me. But I hope you know that you don’t need to worry about what your brother would think of you. You know how Jack is. He’s a very open-minded individual. He would never judge you for such a thing.”

Leo wore a contemplative face. “Yeah, you’re right. You know, when our dad was around, he wasn’t really around. He was always at work. We kind of had to imagine what it was like to have a dad. We had little glimpses here and there when he could spend a few days at home. But for the most part, he was always traveling. Jack being the big brother, also took on a father-figure feel. He knew how to keep us together when everything was falling apart. And I know that he wouldn’t judge me for something like this. I guess I just don’t want to let him down.”

I nodded at that. “If I Knew Jack, he would just want you to be happy. It’s crazy because I don’t know him well, yet I feel like I do.”

“He has that ability to bring you in on short notice and really make you feel like a special person. They were holidays where we didn’t feel like a family, but at the same time, we did it all because of Jack. One Christmas, we all realized that Jack had actually bought us the gifts. And not even our dad. He went with our mom to pick them out. That meant he got the crappier gift out of all of us, not that it matters. He always put himself last. And I guess I just look at my big bro and don’t want him to think of me any less. You know, knowing everything he put himself through to make me happy in the past, I don’t know. Side note, ever since you’ve become his assistant, he has seemed a little bit happier. And I noticed you too at work together, and you guys mesh really well.”

I was so happy that he didn’t bring up Oliver. ” Thank you for that. You’ve really opened my eyes to what Jack is like outside of work.”

Of course, I had already known. But he showed me a whole different level of Jack. It only proved to me that he wasn’t only a great man. But he was also a great family man. I essentially stroke a gold mine with my little secret relationship with Jack. I didn’t know where it was going to take me. And I have been tremendously invested tremendously fast. That was somewhat worrying. Because again, I was just getting out of a terrible break-up-riddled relationship. And I didn’t know if my heart was ready for any of it. As a matter of fact, at times, it really didn’t feel like I was ready. But only time will tell. Would we continue to work? Or when I let him down in the way that Leo was afraid, he was going to as well.