The Wright One

DAVID

It has been three weeks since we kissed in my office. She treats me like I am some monster that will demand her first born child if she speaks to me for more than five sentences. I know she didn’t say anything about me kissing her to Jasmine because I never would have heard the end of it. Jasmine would have demanded my head on a plate if she had said anything.

I still know it is a bad idea, but the more I talk to her the more I like her. The more I want to be with her. Not only is she beautiful, but she is smart and sassy. Her skills in the boardroom are exceptional. At this point, not one person doubts she can do the job. I had her file brought up from HR. Her academic career is exceptional. She could have graduated way sooner than she did, but she double majored. She started college when she was sixteen, at least if what she told me her age was, is correct, which I am assuming it is. Her second major is in English literature, which happens to be my passion as well. If I had the choice I would have majored in it myself. But that was never in the cards for me. Plus I am nowhere near as smart as her to double major.

I make a point of checking in on her every day, just so I get the chance to talk to her. I am still not sure what I did to make her pull away from me that day, but I am sure I did something. Because she was into it, before I opened my mouth. I am sure it has to do with my sister. I think reminding her that I was her best friend’s brother was probably not the best choice. I might have dug my own grave with that comment.

I’m making my way to her desk when I see Justin leaning over her. I pulled him back. “What are you doing?”

He glares at me. “Trying to convince her to go home. She is sick.” Justin and I really haven’t made up after I made that scene about hiring Megan. I should probably talk to him about it, but Megan is all I can think about these days.

I look over at her and instantly my anger for Justin fades and concern fills its place. Her nose is red and her cheeks look puffy. Her eyes are glazed over, clearly with a fever. She waves us both off. “I’m fine.”

I sigh. “No you aren’t.” I turn to Justin. “Have Jasmine text me her address. I’m taking her home.”

He looks at me shocked. “You are doing what?”

I point to her. “It’s not a good idea to have her at work like that. She obviously can’t be here. She has a fever, I don’t even have to feel her head, I can see it on her face. She is going to be contagious. We need to get her home.”

He folds his arms over his chest. “Yes, I get that, but why exactly do you need to be the one to bring her home?”

“Because Jasmine would ask me to anyway.” At least that sounds like a reasonable excuse.

It must to him too, because he nods his head. “I’ll have it to you as soon as Jasmine sends it to me.”

I push forward and bend to pick her up, but Megan looks horrified. “You can’t carry me. I’m too heavy.”

I laugh. “No you aren’t. I can carry you just fine.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t need you to carry me. I can walk just fine.”

Yet as she shook her head I saw her sway in her seat. She is dizzy, there is no way she is going to make it down to my car. Ignoring her, I pick her up around the waist and then adjust her so that she is bridal style across my arms. “David put me down.” I don’t even know what she is complaining about, she feels perfect in my arms.

“I’ll put you down when we get to my car. Jasmine would never let me hear the end of it if I let you fall over because you are dizzy.”

She leans her head against my chest. “I’m not dizzy.” Her voice is softer now, like she is trying not to disturb her own rest.

“Agree to disagree.” Justin takes her purse and sets it in Megan’s lap. My assistant started following us. Clearly he knows I am leaving. He is a good assistant and he knows how to read me. “Cancel my appointments for today.” My assistant runs ahead of us to push the button on the elevator. I am sure we are getting quite a few gawkers. This isn’t exactly something they see every day and also it’s not exactly something that I would ever do. I am sure they are going to jump to conclusions. But fuck it at this point.

“Do you need anything else sir?” Kyle, my assistant, holds the door for me. He’s one of those skinny guys that is mousy, but he is the best assistant I have ever had.

“Yes, have gatorade and tylenol sent to Megan’s house. Plus any cold medicine for a stuffy nose. Get the address from Justin. Soup too.”

“How do you want me to pay for it?” He is making a mental note, I can tell.

“Put it on my card, I’ll have her pay me back later. Just take care of it.” Kyle nods and lets go of the door.

Megan was actually quiet through that exchange. I am surprised. So when I look down at her and see that she has passed out, I feel like I am dodging a big bullet here. She is going to be pissed that I demanded all that stuff to be sent to her house. I’m not going to ask her to pay me back either. I don’t know why but I want to take care of her. I want to protect her. I want her to be mine and this is my job.

By the time I have her put in the car and buckled in, I get the text from Justin and another from Jasmine.

Justin: 436 West Mines road. Apartment 4 B.

Jasmine: I’ll be there as soon as I get done with our parents. They dragged me to another meeting.

I text back Jasmine. Don’t worry about it. I’ll look after her. You finish your meeting.

Jasmine: Thank you, you are the best big brother.

I have to quickly set the record straight. I am not her big brother. I want that clear with Jasmine, because I am done pretending that I don’t have feelings for this woman. I will tell everyone, including Jasmine. I may not hear the end of it from her, but I will take what I can get. As long as I have Megan by my side in the end.

She just sends me a happy face emoji. I don’t even know what that means. Does that mean she is joking or does that mean she thinks I am joking. Or does that mean she is a devious person and she planned all this. I wouldn’t have put it past her to introduce me to the most perfect woman I have ever met and I can’t have. Sometimes Jasmine liked to come up with the most tortuous things to get to me. That is what I get for having a sister that is ten years younger than me.

When I get to her apartment, I have to dig in her purse for her keys. Thankfully Justin tossed it onto Megan’s lap when we were leaving or else I would have had to bring her to my place and that would have changed everything. I carry her straight to the bedroom and she doesn’t even wake the whole time. I take off her shoes and I know she would kill me if I changed her so I just cover her up and tuck her in.

By the time that the delivery arrives I have put a cold cloth on her head and cleaned up the kitchen so that I can make her soup to go with the medicine that I am going to demand that she take. Her temperature was 101 degrees. I am on the verge of taking her to the hospital.

I get everything ready after the delivery and bring her the medicine, soup and water on a tray that I found in the kitchen. She is still asleep, if she wasn’t sick it would be a beautiful picture. I set the tray on the bedside table and gently shake her awake. “Megan honey, you need to wake up. I need to give you some medicine.”

Very groggily she wakes up and looks over at me. “David, what are you doing in my apartment? I have to get to work.”

I laugh. “That isn’t happening. You are sick. You passed out before I even got you out of the building. Now, you are going to take some medicine and let me try to get some soup in you. Can you do that for me honey?”

She glares up at me. “Why are you being so nice to me?” I admit that is a good question. Considering where we have been for weeks. But I know that I am done.

I lean closer to her, resting a fist on each side of her. “Because regardless of what you think, I have feelings for you and I will be damned if I am going to let someone else take care of you right now.”

She looks at me like I just told her that I was a blue alien and I was planning on sucking out her soul. “What are you talking about? How bad is my fever?” It is possible that she thinks she is hallucinating right now. I wouldn’t doubt it. But she’s not.

“Will you just let me take care of you?”

I hand her the medicine and the water. “Drink as much of this water as you can, but not too fast. I don’t know if you have thrown up or not.”

“I have not.” She states matter of factly. She tosses back the pills that I gave her and makes an ugly face. “I hate taking pills.”

“Well, don’t get sick and you won’t have to take them.” I smile at her.

She glares at me. “You find this funny don’t you?”

“Actually I have to joke because it is very upsetting to me that you are sick and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it. So I am going to do anything I can to get you better, then we are going to sit down and talk about this thing that is going on between us.” I start spoon feeding her the soup, while she continues to glare at me. I actually find it very cute. Her little nose scrunches up like she is thinking.

“What thing? I am not going to be some secret office fling. That isn’t me.” So that is what she thought.

I am shocked. “Is that why you pulled away from me?” I shake my head, “Honey that isn’t what I meant. I just didn’t want Jasmine jumping in the middle of it right now. We would have told her. I just wanted us to be us for now. You know how Jasmine is.”

I hear something fall to the floor behind me. When I turn my head I see Jasmine with her hand on her hip and a grumpy look on her face. “And how exactly am I?” Great, I have managed to piss off my testy sister. How did she even get in here? I swear I locked the door behind us.

“Jass, you know you would have wanted to know every aspect of our relationship and wouldn’t have given us a chance to get to know each other. I wanted time with her.” I know that they say honesty is the best policy, but that isn’t always the case with my sister. This might have been one of those times I should have lied, just a little bit.

She glares at me too. “I wanted you to meet Megan because I knew you would have hit it off. She is just like you, only a girl and way prettier.” She sounds so damn smug.

I sigh. “I figured. You were pretty insistent about us meeting.”

When I turn back to Megan to give her another spoonful I see that she passed out again. I can’t help but smile. “Jass, can you change her?”

She laughs. “It’s not like you haven’t seen her naked.”

I look at her in horror. “I haven’t.” I put the bowl back on the tray. “And for your information when I do see her naked, I won’t be telling you about it.”

She gives me a fake pout. “Oh, but you don’t have to. Megan will.”

“I doubt it.”

“You’re right, but I figured I could get you to budge that way. Alright, I’ll put her in light clothes. She looks like her fever is pretty high.” Jasmine does care about her friend a lot. Although she is the type of woman that would do the same for her enemy. She should have been a nurse, but our parents wouldn’t let her.

“Yeah, I’ll wait in the kitchen until you are done.”

As I am walking past her, she puts her hand on my arm. “If you hurt her, I will never forgive you.” The convention in her voice is clear. She loves Megan like a sister and she won’t let anyone hurt her.

“I promise that is never my intention.” I want to have Megan, not that Jasmine doesn’t seem to mind then I am not going to stop until she is mine completely. Megan will see that really soon.

She looks up at me. “I mean it.” I will give it to Jasmine, she has a big heart but she can dish out rage at the drop of a hat. She has no desire whatsoever to see Megan be hurt by anyone. Especially me.

I smile. “I know.” I don’t plan to ever hurt Megan.

I leave her to change Megan, as much as I would love to do it myself, I can’t let Megan think that of me. Soon she will see that every word I told her is true.