“Hey good looking, long time no see,” began Billy.

“Er… yeah, long time, I’m in a bit of a hurry though.”

Completely ignoring that last line, he continued, “I’ve been trying to catch you at home; I got two tickets to a Neil Diamond show. This tribute band is so good you’d never know the difference.”

“That sounds um… lovely, but I’ll be going out of town for awhile on business and have no idea when I’ll be back.”

“That’s ok; it’s not until next month, and you should be back by then, right?”

“It could be a really long trip,” Claire stressed, “I’ll have to get back to you.”

Claire cringed as he leaned in closer, “just give us a chance Claire, old Billy will rock your world.” Another annoying problem, Billy liked to talk about himself in the third person as well.

Thanks to either good timing or what Claire liked to think of as divine intervention, the neighbor two doors down came out of his apartment and yelled, “Hey Billy, I need a lift to the store man.” Claire took this as her cue to run like hell and took off towards her apartment. She quickly unlocked her door and almost fell inside in her haste.

Claire went straight to the couch and laid down intending to take a short rest before packing for the trip. She shuddered one more time at being cornered by ‘William but Billy,’ and hoped she never got that desperate. It had been well over three years now since she’d actually had sex, three long years and to say that she was so horny she literally followed the hunky mailman around like a stalker was an understatement, but please lord, never let me get that desperate. Maybe it is time for one of those vibrating rabbits like Suzy had been suggesting.

When Claire opened her eyes again, the dawn was just starting to break. She jumped up from the couch with her heart pounding; she’d slept through the night, and it was now 7:00 am. She ran into her bedroom and grabbed a suitcase out of the closet dropping it onto the bed. She began pulling slacks and shirts out and within an hour she was fully packed and ready to leave for Columbia. Claire said a quick prayer to herself that she actually had some clothes that would match as she locked her door and packed the suitcase in her car.

Within an hour she was on I-20 heading towards Columbia. She vowed to stop at the next rest area to look over her directions from Jason. Claire finally allowed herself to take a deep breath and relax. She would probably be a bit later than Jason intended but hopefully there would be no news of the contracts yet and she would have a moment to get settled in. She turned on her radio and heard Jon Bon Jovi proudly belting out "Livin' on a Prayer".

When she saw the sign for a rest area, she pulled in and went over her directions. After quick restroom visit, Claire was back on the road, and traffic was picking up as she drew closer to the City of Columbia. She spotted her exit up ahead and turned on the adjoining road. Thanks to Jason’s very precise directions Claire was soon turning into the driveway of Jason’s friend, Harold.

Jason had told her that Harold’s family ran a large ranch that bred and sold very expensive race horses to people from all over the world. The buildings and stables close to the house seemed to be a hub of activity. Claire felt like she was looking back at an episode of her mother’s old favorite night soap opera, Dallas. You almost expected to see Bobby or J.R. Ewing walking out the door. Maybe she could be Pam for the weekend, and Jason could be Bobby. She chuckled to herself at that thought as she pulled her car into an available parking space. Claire spared a glance at her reflection in the rearview mirror and opened the door to exit the car.

She lifted out her small suitcase from the boot of the car just as an enormous dog bounded up to her. Reflexes kicking in, Claire quickly jumped back as the dog skidded to a stop in front of her and proceeded to lick her hand.

“Wolf you crazy dog, stop!” Claire looked up as a pretty girl with a rather harassed air approached the car. “I’m sorry about the impromptu bath, but Wolf has never met a stranger he didn’t lick. I’m Elizabeth, Harold’s fiancée, and you have already met Harold’s mutt, Wolf?”

Claire gave Wolf a quick pat and scratch behind the ears. She offered her other hand to Elizabeth, “Hi; I’m Claire, Jason’s assistant.”

“Good to meet you Claire, Harold asked me to keep an eye out for you since he and Jason have gone riding and have not returned yet.”

“This is a beautiful place; I’d no idea that this was such a large ranch,” said Claire.

“Harold’s family has been in the business for generations. His parents retired to Florida a few years ago and now Harold is running the business; or actually, it seems to be running us most days, but we love it. Come on inside Claire, I made up a guest room upstairs for you near Jason’s room. How long have you worked with Jason?”

Claire followed Elizabeth into a surprisingly homey entryway and replied, “For almost three years.” Suddenly, something under Claire’s foot made a loud squeaking sound. Automatically jumping back with an apology forming on her lips, Claire looked down to see a plastic bone that she’d overlooked on her way across the foyer. She looked over at Elizabeth and they both burst out laughing.

“As you can see Claire, we’ve a pretty informal home, and Wolf is generally the boss of it.” Claire was pleasantly surprised at how friendly Elizabeth was and how comfortable she felt with her. “Jason, Harold and I all went to college together,” continued Elizabeth “and I just think the world of Jason. The other groomsmen are staying at a hotel closer to downtown and they’re all going out tonight for what I highly suspect is a bachelor party for Harold,” laughed Elizabeth. “Harold is on the shy side, and the guys love to embarrass him. I think Jason and Harold were always close because with Harold being the quiet one and Jason being the serious one, they seemed to blend well together. That’s the reason Jason is staying here with us and the others are staying at a hotel; Harold was afraid they’d do something to embarrass him in front of the neighbors.”

Claire followed Elizabeth up the stairs to the end of the hall. Elizabeth opened a door saying, “This is your room,” and, pointing to a door, she indicated an adjoining bathroom. “The door on the left side opens into a connecting bedroom, and Jason will be there. Jason has an office set up in the sitting area of his room, and I thought it would be easier for you to work together if you are close.”

“Thanks so much Elizabeth, I really appreciate everything.”

“Oh call me Liz, everyone else does. I’ll leave you to settle in; if you need anything I’ll be at the other end of the hall in the office on the right working so feel free to drop in. I expect the guys to be back around lunchtime, and we can all have a bite on the patio outside.”

“Thanks again Liz.” Claire heard the door open down the hall as Liz went into her office. The room held a queen-sized bed in the center with a lovely pale yellow comforter which matched the soothing color of the walls. An antique chest sat at the foot of the bed with a dresser of similar design directly in front of it against the wall. Claire opened a door beside the bathroom and found the closet to be empty. She quickly unpacked and hung her clothing up to avoid further wrinkling. A quick check of her watch showed it was close to noon, and she wondered what time the men would return for lunch. Claire took her vanity bag into the bathroom to freshen up and gave an appreciative sigh.

The bathroom had obviously been upgraded recently and contained a huge, separate, glass enclosed shower and a lovely Jacuzzi bathtub. The floors were white marble, and the walls continued the yellow color of the bedroom. Claire used one of the cloths that had been laid out on the vanity to wash her face and reapplied a light tinted moisturizer along with pale pink lipstick. She released her hair from its clip and attempted to tame it into something tolerable before she put it back up.

Claire accidentally knocked over her vanity bag, the contents of it scattering all over the floor. She smothered a curse under her breath as she leaned over to pick up the mess on the floor and promptly hit her head on the corner of the vanity. Ouch! Claire stood with her hand over the injured area and saw in the mirror that she’d somehow managed to make a small cut. Damn, why must I always be such a klutz? ‘Mishaps’, as she termed them, had plagued her for most of her life. Claire went back in the bedroom to retrieve her purse for the emergency box of band-aids she never left home without. Suddenly, the door at the opposite end of the room opened, and Jason stepped through.

“Claire, I heard a crash. I knocked a couple of times but there was no answer.” She froze as Jason walked into the room. Looking incredible in a pair of well-worn jeans that hugged him in all the right places and a black polo shirt, he was staring at her with a look of impatience on his handsome face. The room that had seemed very large at first now seemed to shrink to almost a suffocating size with Jason in it.

Taken by surprise at his sudden appearance Claire stuttered, “I hit my head and was looking for a Band-Aid.”

“Good lord you have blood on your hand, let me see your head.”

“No, that’s ok Jason, give me a minute and I’ll take care of it.”

“For God's sake Claire, give me the damn thing.” Too startled by his outburst to do anything else, Claire didn’t resist as Jason removed the band-aid from her hand and motioned at her to go ahead of him into the bathroom. Despite the impatience in his words, his hands were gentle as he pushed her hand aside and surveyed the cut. “How in the world did you manage this Claire?”

“I dropped my bag on the floor and was leaning down to pick it up and accidentally hit the vanity corner.”

“It’s already starting to swell and will probably cause a bruise,” replied Jason. He wet another cloth and gently dabbed at the corner of the cut and then removed the band-aid from the package, expertly applying it. “That probably needs antibiotic cream; I’ll ask Liz for some at lunch. Do you feel ok? We can also ask Liz for some painkillers if it’s hurting at all.”

“No, really it’s fine Jason; you didn’t need to bother; I’m used to patching myself up from my mishaps.”

“You have this kind of thing happen a lot?”

“I seem to be quite a magnet for random household accidents, after a while you learn to patch yourself up quickly,” laughed Claire.

Jason suddenly paused and his startling blue eyes stared at her, as though he had never really seen her before. In his mind, Claire was his trusty assistant. Neither pretty nor ugly, she was just always there to take care of anything he needed. To see this different side of her now, to realize that she was actually a beautiful woman was shocking as hell, and he didn’t know how to process it. Trying to gather his thoughts, Jason said, “I don’t think I’ve ever noticed how uh… pretty your hair is. Why do you always wear it up?”

Self-consciously patting her hair down in an effort to tame it, Claire said, “It’s rather hard to control so it’s easier to keep it up.”

“That’s a real shame,” Jason said so quietly she wasn’t even sure if she’d heard him correctly.

Jason bent over and started to pick up the contents of Claire’s make-up bag from the floor. She couldn’t help but admire his long, lean form; and those jeans did things for his butt that should be against the law. She had to fight the urge to slide her hand right down that hot set of buns and give them a squeeze. Suzy would be hyperventilating if she were here to witness this. Claire looked away before she was caught ogling the boss’s butt. She had to stifle a giggle as she imagined the horrified expression on his face if his assistant suddenly gave in to the urge to feel him up.

Jason put the bag on the counter and then put the wash cloth he used in the hamper. He walked back out to the bedroom and towards the adjoining door and looked over his shoulder and said, “Meet me in the hall in five minutes. We will go down for lunch and then work for a few hours this afternoon.”

As the door shut behind Jason, Claire took a deep breath and slowly released it. She quickly returned to the bathroom and put her hair in its usual boring ponytail and sighed. Maybe Suzy is right; it is time for a makeover. How many times could someone wear brown, beige or tan and not turn into a sofa cover eventually?

Claire headed to the door and found Jason waiting in the hall for her. She noticed him looking at her hair and she hoped a stray piece wasn’t sticking up. He said, “You should always wear your hair down; you look like a different person.”

Startled because Jason never made comments of the personal nature, Claire could feel her cheeks starting to burn. Another misfortune as far as Claire was concerned was not only that she was prone to a lot of ‘mishaps’, but she also still blushed like a teenager.

Claire quickly looked away from his intense gaze feeling like she’d somehow let him down by putting her hair up. “I’m not sure where the patio is located so lead the way.” Thankfully taking the hint Jason turned and headed down the hall and to the stairway.