Back to Square One (Brandon Bay Babes) (2 page)

“Bad day?” he enquired with a smile.

Wow.
 
He could see her.
 
Her cloak of invisibility had vanished.
 
Was that even possible?
 
And she could see him too; all too clearly.

Well, well, well.
 
If it wasn’t Mr. Jeffrey Jones, heir apparent and junior partner at McIntyre and Jones; the lovely people who had just told her to hit the road.
 

“Yep.” Kit replied shortly.
 
“You could say I’ve had one dandy, rooting-tooting, doozy of a day, Mr. Jones.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” he said, obviously thinking he’d hit the jackpot in elevator companions.
 
Kit was sure he was about to turn around and face the doors again, lest he get a ticket from the elevator police, when he hesitated and narrowed his eyes at her.
 
“You know who I am?”

“Of course I do.” Kit rolled her eyes at him sarcastically. “Believe me, Mr. Jones, when you work in an office of mainly women, even a whiff of testosterone in the air is enough to set their tongues wagging, and I might add, their mouths drooling.”

Jeff Jones looked taken aback, and Kit couldn’t be happier.
 
What the hell did she have to lose?
 
He certainly couldn’t fire her, so she continued unabated.
 
“Yes, I must say you’ve brightened many a lonely fact checker and secretary’s day with your presence, walking down the hallway.
 
Tell me, how does it feel to be the office water-cooler pin-up boy?”

“You
work
for me? Or rather, McIntyre and Jones?” he asked, shifting ever further away from her.
 
Not easy in an four by six box.

“Not anymore.” Kit said with a wry grin.
 

“O-kay” he said slowly.

Kit bit her lip.
 
It really wasn’t his fault that she’d been canned.
 
The look on his face told her she’d gone from invisible to a little scary in the space of three floors.
 
So she decided to reign in the scary and go for pitiful instead.
 
Maybe playing the pity card could get her job back.

“I’m sorry Mr. Jones.” she stated contritely.
 
“I was let go today, and I guess I’m not handling it all that well.
 
In fact, it just tops off an exceptionally bad week or month, or … year.”

He visibly relaxed at little.
 
“I see” he responded sympathetically.
 
“Well, I apologize we had to let you go.
 
I know we had to make some major labour cuts this quarter.
 
I wish we didn’t have to, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles, I’m afraid.
 
I don’t want to pass the buck, but unfortunately the economy isn’t what it used to be.”

Was he channelling her mother?
 
Kit giggled.
 
I guess my mother doesn’t have the monopoly on idioms, Kit thought.
 
She’d never have thought that someone as tall, dark and scrumptious as Jeffrey Jones would use them so blatantly too.
 
Coming out of his mouth, they almost sounded cool.

“Something funny?” he asked, glaring at her with undisguised crazy-lady fear.

“No.
 
Not really.”
 
Kit started laughing uncontrollably now.
 
“I guess I’m just tired and really, really stressed.
 
I always laugh when I’m stressed and especially when I’m nervous.”
 
Swallowing hard, she tried really hard to stop.

“I hope
I
don’t make you nervous?”

That made her start up all over again. “
You?
Oh no, not at all.”
 
Jeffrey Jones’ reputation was well known around the office.
 
She wasn’t even mildly attracted to his type.
 
Rich.
 
Successful.
 
Good looking. Heartbreaker. No way, not for her.
 

Not that he could possibly be interested in a mousy-haired, neurotic little cubicle dwelling nobody like her.
 
She knew her place; she’d learnt it long ago.
 
The best she could do was big-eared Bob from accounting.
 
No, wait, even he’d found someone more … what did he call it?
 
Ah yes, more
engaged
in life.
 
There was nothing quite like having an anal-retentive, socially repressed Accountant inform you that you were less engaged in life than he was.

Kit turned her attention back to the man standing in front of her.
 
He was looking at her with a mixture of interest, panic and a good dose of concern for her mental health.

“I know it might sound strange, but I was thinking about my mother. You reminded me of her for a minute.” she answered, raising one eyebrow in mock horror.

Jeff countered by raising
both
his eyebrows at her. “I remind you of your mother.
 
Nooo
.
 
That doesn’t sound strange at all.”

“What you
said
reminded me of her. You see, I have to tell her that I lost my job.
 
No easy task, I assure you, when it comes to my mother.
 
Like I said, stress; nerves; make me giggle.
 
Hence, my mother makes me act like a hyena.” Kit explained candidly.
 
“You must think I’m crazy!” she added, trying to fight the urge to giggle again.

“The thought never crossed my mind.” he replied starting to grin at her.

“Yeah right.” she shot back him.
 

They both laughed out loud.
 
Kit could feel her stress level go down a notch.
 
Whoever said “laughter is the best medicine” (probably her mother), was right.
 
She always felt much better after the fact.
  
Maybe things weren’t quite as grim as they seemed.
 
Perhaps her luck was turning around.
 
Could she dare to hope that someone like Jeffrey Jones would fall madly in love with her during a ten floor elevator ride?
 
Who knew?
 
Instead of being the worst day in her life, today could actually be the one where providence smiled on her.
 
I mean really, she told herself, how much worse could it get?

A split second later, the lights went out in the elevator and it ground to an abrupt and screeching halt. With thoughts of hurling to the basement and self-fulfilling prophecies swirling around in her head, Kit grabbed hold of the nearest large, steady object she could latch on to and hung on for dear life.

When the emergency lights came on, she found herself in the arms of Jeffrey Jones, terrified, but oh so snug and content.
 
His strong arms gripped her like a vise, and she could tell he had no intention of letting her go any time soon.
 
That was fine by her.
 

Man, he smelled good.
 
Felt good too.
 
He may not be her type or a believable prospect in the boyfriend department, but she wasn’t averse to making the best of things, under the circumstances.
 
As he held her in his arms, she couldn’t help but deem that her luck was definitely changing for the better.
 
In fact, Kit had the sneaking suspicion she was about to get real lucky … in an elevator no less.

Jeff groaned in her ear.
 
Oh yeah, lucky indeed. “Oh God.
 
I think I’m going to be sick” he ground out, before falling to his knees.

Or not
, Kit thought as he brought her down with him.

“Are you all right?” she asked in a concerned voice, disentangling herself from his grasp.
 
“Is there anything I can do?”
 
With that, Jeff just moaned and put his head between his legs.

“No.” he stammered, breathing heavily in and out.
 
“I’m a little claustrophobic, that’s all.
 
I can usually handle elevators for the few moments it takes to go up and down”,
 
he swallowed hard, “but not
this
”

“That’s too bad.” Kit said with a grimace, all her dreams of romance ending with one look at Jeffrey Jones’ green face.
 

Leaving him sprawled on the floor; she dug out the emergency phone and told the disembodied voice on the other end what had happened.
 
Of course, they knew that the elevators weren’t working, as about two thousand building employees were now about to make their way down the fire stairs to head home.
 

Sitting back down next to him, but not too close in case he actually did hurl, Kit perused Mr. Jeffrey Jones more thoroughly.
 
He seemed like a nice enough guy; dark, wavy brown hair, mesmerizing brown eyes and a body that felt great when holding a girl in his arms.
 
It was amusing to know that the Gods had at least given him some sort of affliction, along with the mind-numbing good looks.
 
Claustrophobia?
 
Who would have thunk it?
 
Sure it wasn’t a hunchback or cross-eyes, but it showed that even the most perfect looking male specimens had flaws.

Jeff started breathing a little more easily, but was shaking from head to toe.
 
“This is so … so embarrassing.”
 
he confided.
 

“Nah.” Kit responded playfully.

Raising his chocolaty velvet eyes to hers, he narrowed his gaze at her.
 
“You’re an
odd girl
” he said simply.

Instead of being insulted, Kit mulled that over.
 
“Yeah, I guess I
am
” she grinned.
 
“But, believe me, as embarrassment goes, I’m afraid this just doesn’t cut it, Mr. Jones.”

“And you’re an expert on this because …”

“Because,” Kit replied with an air of misplaced superiority, “I just happen to be the poster-child for the embarrassed masses.”

“
Really?
” he said dubiously, sitting up a little and noticeably glad for the distraction.
 
“Just what makes you such an expert?”

Kit turned introspective and a little less glib.
 
“Have you ever been invisible, Mr. Jones?”

“I can’t say that I have” he replied kindly.
 
“And, call me J.J.”

“Well then J.J., have you ever felt that you were just some insignificant little spec on this giant orb, that’s presence would never even be missed or noticed if it were to disappear?”

J.J. didn’t respond so she guessed not.
 
“I’ve felt like that all my life.
 
But when I’ve least expected it, without rhyme or reason, something always seems to happen at the most inopportune moment and all eyes turn on me like a viral video on
YouTube
.
 
And, mind you, not in a good way.
 
It’s not like I’m saving the whales or helping the elderly or anything.” Kit waved her hands around for dramatic effect.
 
“It feels like the only time my existence is even substantiated is when I’m caught out doing something really embarrassing.
 
I’m the girl whose skirt blows up walking over a subway grate, or goes to a job interview with the price tag still attached to her clothes, or …”
 
Kit looked away.
 
Baring her soul to anyone, especially someone as clueless to mere mortal frailty as Jeffrey Jones, was redundant.