Breaking the Silence (24 page)

“Really?” His face was so vulnerable that it made Jenny want to cry and then he smiled his happy, open, crazily beautiful smile and she
did
start to cry—again. The smile dropped away and his panicked expression returned as he started patting her awkwardly.

“It’s okay,” she laughed while still crying. “Happy tears.”

Will nodded uncertainly, his eyes still wary.

“You’re going to need to get used to these,” Jenny warned him. “Just wait until I’m PMS-ing.”

At that, he looked even more alarmed.

Way to scare a guy off
, Jenny scolded herself.
He’ll be retracting that proposal pretty soon.

Instead of running from the room though, he leaned in to kiss her softly. “I love you,” he said, brushing her hair off her cheek with big, gentle fingers.

“Yeah, I figured.” Jenny grinned then squealed as Will rolled on top of her, kissing her hard. She half expected panic to swamp her as his heavy weight pressed her into the mattress but she just felt safe and loved—and horny. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him back.

“You made it—great!” A baby-faced man with floppy brown hair hopped up from his chair and slapped Will on the shoulder.

“Hey, Charlie. This is Jenny,” Will introduced as he pulled a chair out for her. The three other guys at the table chorused their hellos.

“Jenny!” Charlie shook her hand enthusiastically. “It’s great to meet you. Who knew Zeus here actually had a life?”

Jenny laughed, glancing around the ring of male faces. “I hope I’m not intruding on guys’ night out.”

“Nope,” one of the men answered with a cheery grin creasing his round cheeks. “The wives are welcome to come—they just usually would rather not. We can be obnoxious. I’m Tim, by the way.”

“Sam,” another one introduced himself. He was strikingly good-looking, with caramel-colored skin and dark doe eyes. “I don’t have a wife.”

“Sammy here likes dudes,” Charlie explained. “Well, usually—he’s going through a rough patch right now.”

“Charlie!” Sam protested.

Charlie slapped a hand over his mouth. “Sorry,” he mumbled through his fingers. “I’m an over-sharer.”

Jenny had to laugh again, she couldn’t help it. “I see that,” she told him, mock-seriously.

“I’m Marcus,” the final man at the table said. “I’d tell you all my dark, deep secrets but I’m sure Charlie will beat me to it.”

“Drink?” Will asked Jenny, leaning in close.

“A beer would be great…
Zeus
.”

He rolled his eyes and she giggled. After giving her a light, teasing tug on her hair, he walked away from the table and wound his way through the room toward the crowded bar. She watched the mouthwatering view of his tight ass for a few seconds before turning back to the guys, who were all looking at her expectantly.

“What?” she asked.

“What did you
do
to him?” Marcus asked in awe, his eyes huge behind his glasses.

“Do to him?” Jenny repeated, confused.

“Seriously,” Charlie chimed in. “It’s like an alien took over his body.”

Jenny blinked. “An alien?”

“A much nicer alien,” Charlie amended. “We’ve worked with him for months and he’s never come out with us before. You’re like Wonder Woman.”

“Nah, more like Lois Lane. You know, bringing out the softer side—”

Marcus interrupted Tim, shaking his head. “You guys are nuts. She’s definitely a Pepper Potts.”

“Um, is that as dirty as it sounds?” Jenny asked tentatively.

The men burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sam reassured her. “These guys are just dorks. They’re talking comic books.”

“Ah,” she nodded. “Well, I didn’t do anything to him. He’s just shy.”

“Not too shy to tell off the boss,” Tim said. “You should’ve seen him. It was such a smack-down.”

Charlie nodded. “Told me he had to get home to meet you on your first day back to work. Hey, he mentioned you had an accident—you okay now? What was it—car? Bike? Street hockey?”

“I’m fine now,” Jenny non-answered, her stomach clenching at the question.

Sam reached across the table and slapped Charlie across the side of his head.

“Ow! What was that for?” Charlie rubbed the spot.

“I’m trying to smack some tact into you,” Sam growled. “She doesn’t want to talk about it, so quit pushing.”

“Fine! I’ll be quiet. You could have just said something, you know. There’s no call for violence.”

Jenny looked at Sam, her head cocked to one side.

“What?” he asked. “Don’t worry—his head is hard. I only killed a few brain cells.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I was just thinking about setting you up with someone but you’re way too nice for him.”

“Christian?” Will asked, setting two beers on the table and sitting down in the chair next to her. “He’s nice.”

“Of course
I
love him,” Jenny explained. “But he’s a real asshole to the guys he dates.”

“That’s just because he’s scared.” When she raised an amused eyebrow at him, Will flushed but continued in a mumble, “Tom hurt him.”

Everyone at the table stared at him.

“No really,” Charlie asked Jenny earnestly, “what did you
do
to him?”

She raised her hands and shrugged. “I take no credit. He’s just a really sweet guy.” She leaned over to kiss his cheek.

As the other men hooted, Will flushed even darker and choked a little on his beer.

“You get a call from Grimmitt yet?” Tim asked, changing the subject.

Will nodded. “Meeting with him tomorrow.” Grimacing, he traced an absent circle with his glass. Jenny knew he was dreading it. He had mentioned leaving the meeting and, when the call came from Josh’s boss, Will had told her he figured it was either a reprimand or that he’d be fired.

“Hey, don’t look so worried,” Marcus said. “I have a feeling it’s not going to be as bad as you expect.”

The other guys looked at each other, pressing back grins.

Eyeing his coworkers suspiciously, Will asked, “Why? What do you know?”

Charlie grinned. “I can’t keep a secret. We all went into Grimmitt’s office on Monday after you left. You were the only one with the balls to say what we were all thinking, so we didn’t want Josh in there telling Grimmitt to fire you. Told him that Josh was an idiot who didn’t know his own ass from a hole in the ground and that he was destroying any synergy left in our team with his constant meetings. Grimmitt loves that word, ‘synergy’. We must’ve used it a dozen times in fifteen minutes. He listened to what we had to say and said he had to think about things but that he’d take what we told him into consideration.”

“So on Tuesday,” Tim continued, looking gleeful, “I was talking with Susan, Grimmitt’s assistant, and she told me that Josh is out of there. Guess who’s lined up to take his place?”

Jenny was bouncing in her chair. “Is it Will? It’s Will, isn’t it?”

“None other,” Tim confirmed with a happy nod.

With an excited squeal, she gave Will’s arm a hug. “Congratulations! That’s fantastic. Will, I’m so happy for you!”

He stared at Tim, looking completely flabbergasted. “Josh’s job? Me?”

Sam raised his glass. “Here’s to our soon-to-be supervisor—who is
not
an idiot and will hopefully only have a meeting when there’s actually something to talk about.”

Everyone except Will clanked their glasses together so enthusiastically that beer spilled onto the table.

“Wait,” Will protested. “Are you sure?
Me
?”

“Positive,” Tim beamed. “You’ll have to give up that cushy work-at-home bullshit but I’m sure Grimmitt will make it worth your while.” He rubbed his fingers together and winked.

“I’d suck as a boss,” Will said, shaking his head. “You guys don’t want me in charge.”

“Are you kidding?” Sam rolled his eyes. “You know what you’re doing. That’s a huge step up from Josh right there.”

“You’re the one I always call when I have a question,” Charlie added. “You might as well get paid for it.”

“Josh set the bar so low, there’s nowhere to go but up!” Marcus lifted his glass in a salute.

“You’ll be a great boss, sweetie,” Jenny told him, watching as his expression slowly changed from disbelief to wary pleasure. So much happy excitement bubbled inside her that she had to squeeze his arm again in a hard hug.

“Yeah?” he asked, smiling down at her.

She nodded, swallowing hard at the sight of his gorgeous smile. “The best.”

Saturday night, Will asked Christian to help him pick out a ring. He had to yell the request, even though Christian was standing right next to him, since the club music was pounding around them. They had been sent to fetch drinks for Jenny and Carrie, who was finally getting her night out.

“A what?” Christian yelled back.

“A ring!”

Christian stared at Will, his mouth hanging open. “An
engagement
ring?”

Will nodded, grinning and blushing a little.

“An honest-to-God, we’re-getting-married-and-I’m-not-shitting-my-good-friend-Christian engagement ring?”

Laughing, Will nodded again.

“Well, ho-ly balls! Congratulations!” Christian grinned and grabbed Will in a hard hug, pounding him on the back. “Don’t waste any time, do you?”

Will shrugged. “Jenny wants a long engagement—just to be sure. So it’ll probably be a couple months before the actual wedding.”

Christian laughed at that and tossed an arm over Will’s shoulders. “We need some drinks!” he called to the bartender. “This guy is getting married!”

Several of the men gathered around the bar gave Christian envious looks. “No, not to me—not that
that
wouldn’t have been fabulous,” he gave a mock-wistful sigh and gazed at Will with puppy-dog eyes. Will just laughed and, in an overflow of happiness, grabbed Christian in another hard hug.

“Okay, big guy, need to breathe here,” Christian choked. He turned back to the bartender. “Lemon Drops all around—we’ve got some celebrating to do!”

Back at the table, drinks in hand, Will was almost knocked down by Carrie’s whirlwind hug. He held the glasses safely above her head and looked at Jenny, startled.

Grinning at him, she mouthed, “I told her.”

Will nodded and inclined his head to Christian, who carefully set the drinks on the table before pulling Jenny up. He hugged her and swung her around in a circle as Jenny laughed, flushed and happy.

The dance floor lights glinted off the necklace Will had given her the day before, Valentine’s Day, to a very enthusiastic reception. His cock thickened as he thought about Jenny’s way of saying thank you. She had told him that he had broken the Valentine’s Day curse, which he didn’t really understand, but he happily accepted her gratitude for said curse breaking.

“This calls for a dance,” Carrie announced, blotting at her eyes with a cocktail napkin, careful of her mascara. Will looked at Jenny in panic but she just tugged him by his arm to the dance floor. He shook his head.

“I can’t dance,” he yelled above the music.

Jenny waved off his protest. “If you can have sex, you can dance to this. Watch.” She pressed against him and started undulating to the beat. Jenny kept her hands on Will’s hips, moving him with her until he began to relax and follow her body with his own.

Jenny was right—it was a lot like sex, only more sideways. Will smiled, pleased with himself. Jenny saw his self-satisfied grin and laughed, turning her back and tucking against him.

Yeah
, Will thought, as Jenny’s ass ground against his hardening cock.
I definitely like dancing.
Glancing around, he saw Christian and Carrie moving in the crowd. He watched Christian and even copied a few of his moves, making Jenny grin in approval.

A feeling of unreality struck him. He, Will, was dancing. With his soon-to-be wife, no less, while out with their friends. His life before he met Jenny, so solitary and silent, was gone, banished by her laughter, her chatter, her friends—even her dog.

Overcome with gratitude and love, Will wrapped an arm around Jenny’s waist. She turned a merry face up to him and Will kissed her, the taste of her laugh filling him with joy.

Katie Allen grew up in the Midwest with a horde of sisters (five) and one beleaguered brother. After an enjoyable four years working on her creative writing/art degree, and two not-so-pleasant years struggling toward her MBA, Katie somehow ended up as a mechanical engineer in Denver, Colorado.

When she’s not writing or working to pay for her unfortunate equine addiction, Katie rides horses, reads (of course), paints and is learning to knit (having completed one slightly deformed sock so far). She also enjoys exploring Denver with her Lab mix, especially when their walks pass the neighborhood fire station…the firemen are always an excellent source of inspiration for her stories.

The author welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.