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Claire shut the door behind her and sat down at her desk Putting her face in her hands, Claire wondered why she didn’t feel better about defending herself Jason had seriously looked wounded at her refusal to accept his offer Maybe he expected the poor working people here to drop to their knees in gratitude if theWell, she wouldn’t be some charity case to appease his rich conscience

~~~

The day passed by quietly with Jason’s door re firmly closed Dinner was delivered around six from a local deli, and Claire went into his office to take his sandwich Without looking up at her, he pointed to the corner of his desk and said curtly, "Just leave it there" Claire quietly shut the door behind her and tried to choke down her sandwich past the lump in her throat

He had emailed her soht he opened his door and asked her if she was ready to go Claire grabbed her purse and walked towards the door "I’ll see you to your car; unless that much of my company would offend you in any way?" She re her car As she unlocked her car door, Claire asked Jason what ti on Sunday

"I’ve had so come up that I need to attend to on Sunday, so ill continue work on Monday I’m sure you could use the time from… the office" She knew he had really h Jason had left her on her own all day, the office had vibrated with tension

It was quite apparent that Jason was furious with her Did he think she would fall on her knees before hiratitude? Maybe she could have phrased her refusal more politely He blind-sided her with his offer, and she’d reacted on pure instinct She couldn’t help but think that his offer was more of an advance payment for sex rather than a real need to help her

Claire spotted Billy as soon as she opened her door She was so not in the ht She’d put Jason in his place today; maybe it was time to do the same with Billy With a slam of her door, Claire whirled around to face hi you, and you don’t have to worry about it anymore," said Billy

Claire couldn’t have beenHe continued, "I know you don’t really want to go to the Neil Diaood with your boyfriend and if anyone here gives you any problem, you just let old Billy know, okay?" Too stunned to do more than nod, Claire watched Billy walk away

Could this day get any stranger? First, her boss offers to essentially be her fairy godhbor volunteers to stop stalking her and protect her from other stalkers as well; weird At least her day could end on so inside Claire hoped she could get a good night’s sleep and try not to remember the look on Jason’s face

Chapter Thirteen

A good night’s sleep seemed to be too ht, and even though she knew she’d been right to turn down Jason’s offer, it still went against her nature to talk to so mad that he hadn’t forced her into bed with him, he had probably washed the whole incident from his mind already She, however, would never be free of the ot ready to go to her h her mother’s bills a few times aand if there was sufficientit would be a breeze Instead, she was forced to spend several hours deciding which bills had priority and which could be put off until the nextwhen she arrived and then Claire walked to the study to get started Herso it was quiet and easier to concentrate Louise left an estie He had written a note that the roof needed replacing, which would cost approximately 20,00000 and to h the winter, it would cost 500000

Claire laid her head down on the desk There was no way she could cover the cost of the patch;the roof Even with income from several jobs it would take some ti in short supply with the current state of the roof She would talk to the credit union at work on Monday and see if she could work out a loan to at least cover the repairs It would hopefully buy her severalto do The additional monthly payment of a loan would be hard to make, but what choice did she have?

The rest of the stack was just as depressing Dividing up theexpenses, Claire ainst aler they could keep going Her finances were built on a stack of cards and sooner or later the cards always folded Until they did, she would keep hoping for a miracle every day You turned down yourtwice

Maybe she should have accepted Jason’s offer after all Was ju to her pride than taking charity? If it was just the charity part, it would be easier to accept; it was the part of feeling like he would expect so in bed as repayiven her a reason to think that but then things had never been anything but professional between theue now, the curve of his face, the feel of his erection pressing against her When she closed her eyes she could alainst her, his breath on her neck, his hands stroking down her back and over her hips Claire tried to shake the ave herself an extra few minutes before she joined her mother and Louise for lunch

Her mother was confused today She called her Chrissie the entire tiitation It was so disappointing because she’d seemed better the last few visits Today, she was quite obviously hovering close to the edge Claire finally decided to take her leave rather than to continue to upset her Louise looked at her in sympathy and walked her to the door as usual

"It happens so you can do about it; she just coet you so else today"

As her eyes began to well up, Claire pulled Louise into a hug and said, "Oh Louise, I love you"

"I love you too, now go on and get yourself home We will be just fine here"

Claire waved at her until she was out of sight Soood, she was sure she would need it for the upco and then chastised herself for even caring He was her boss; that was all she ever needed to know about him Even as she tried to convince herself of that, she kneas a lie

~~~

Mondayarrived, and Claire was in the rush-hour traffic before she knew it She was glad to see when she arrived at the office that Jason wasn’t in yet Suzy called to ask her to lunch later, and she happily accepted Maybe this would be a good day after all She was so engrossed in her work; she’d not noticed the door opening and was surprised to look up and see Jason staring at her

"Good ood , I didn’t hear you come in," replied Claire

"So, why are you so happy today, anything special?" asked Jason

"No, not really," Claire turned back towards her computer and hoped that he would continue into his office