In-Between Work and Play (The Jocelyn Frost Series Book 1) (5 page)

Jocelyn

Gwen Gale
fidgeted with a loose string on her skirt.  Her eyes were focused on the coffee
table.

“Gwen?”  I
softened the tone of my voice.  “Please look at me.”

She lifted her
china-blue eyes for a moment before casting them back down.

I slid out of my
seat to kneel on the floor in front of her.  Placing my hand on her wrist, I
sent a tiny amount of tranquility into her.

“Thank you, I
needed that.”  A small smile crossed her lips.

“You know, I was
very proud of you during the last group therapy session.”

Her brows
furrowed as she looked into my eyes.  “You were?”

“Yes!  Of
course, I was. You spoke up and contributed to the discussion.”

“I didn’t sound
stupid?”

“Gwen, you were
brilliant.  I mean it.”

“Me? Brilliant?”

“Yes, you.”  I
picked up the mirror and handed it to her.  “Tell yourself that you were
brilliant.”

Closing her eyes
before refocusing on her image, Gwen whispered, “I was brilliant.”

“Louder.”

“I was brilliant! 
Jocelyn’s proud of me!  I got a new boyfriend!”  She slapped her hand across
her mouth and giggled.

“You got a new
boyfriend?  Tell me how he makes you feel.”

Her head tilted
to the side.  “Oh, Jocelyn, he doesn’t care that I’m a demigoddess.  He told me
that when I’m around, all he can see are rainbows.”  She gave herself a hug. 
Her white-blonde hair suddenly streaked into bright, multiple colors. 

“That’s great,
Gwen, but how does he make you feel?”

“Beautiful. 
Special.  Like I really matter to him.  Oh, Jocelyn, he took me out to dinner
and then we went dancing.  I’ve never had so much fun with a guy.”  She picked
up her phone.  “He even text messages me to ask me how I’m doing!” 

“That’s great,
Gwen!”

Her googly eyes
and rainbow-bright hair faded as her brows pinched together.  “But what if I’m
not good enough?  What if he liked his other girlfriends even more than me?  Or
what if the whole ‘no sex’ thing sends him packing?”

I pointed to the
mirror.  “Remember what to do.”

She sighed with frustration. 
Looking into the mirror, she stated, “I am good enough.  I won’t compare myself
to his previous girlfriends.”

“Besides, if he
wanted what his previous girlfriends had to offer, he would still be with
them.”

Her rainbow hair
brightened.  “You’re right.  Thank you, Jocelyn.”

We practiced a
few more confidence-building techniques before our hour was up.  My heart felt
lighter knowing that Gwen was happy. 

Once I typed out
the notes from Gwen’s session and filed them in her folder, I was done for the
day.  Everything else could be left to work on tomorrow. 

It felt like
Tuesday and Wednesday flew by faster than a hummingbird high on sugar water.  
It kind of felt like I was moving in triple fast forward with little or no time
to breathe.  If only I could find something useful to do, it wouldn’t feel like
I was wasting my time. 

My pocket
vibrated, indicating that it was time to meet Dex.  Tension built up in my
lower abdomen.  Each time his hand brushed against my arm or rested on the
small of my back, I swear I could feel my nipples harden while my girly bits
did a cheer.

As I locked up
for the evening, I heard Inez’s soprano tones drifting down the hall from one
of the psychologists’ offices.  It sounded like she was about to leave.  Not
wanting to speak with her, I practically ran down the hall, and narrowly
avoided being seen. With one last glance, I spied one of her crimson wings
fluttering as I was halfway out the door. 

After a quick
stop at the sandwich kiosk, I clenched the takeout bag to my chest and trekked
the quarter mile over to the Archive. 

Bill and Ted
stood vigilant only about a hundred yards away.  Taking two steps at a time, I
launched myself up the Archive’s steps.

“Hi Bill!  Hi
Ted!” I gasped for air, making a mental note to slow down.  Of course, the
baboon statues remained quiet. 

I stopped in the
empty foyer to check out my appearance in one of the mirrors hanging on the
wall.  After fixing my hair and putting on a fresh coat of lip gloss, I entered
the main room.

Dex leaned
against a large table. He was pointing to something in a book.  Three of the
teenage girls from two nights ago giggled and blushed at something he said. 
When he turned away from them to speak to one of the boys at the computers, the
girls exchanged suggestive hand signals with each other. Fair Freya!  They did
not just do that!

My hands shook. 
I wanted to seriously bitch-slap some sense into those girls.  But then I
remembered that this was the In-between and their morals were not the same as
mine.  

I dumped our
dinner on Dex’s desk before taking my place in front of the computer.

Twilight
darkened the windows before Dex was free of the teens.  I used his desk phone
to contact several more people, but once again, no one could help. 

With my computer
sources deflated, I met Dex’s apologetic eyes with a weak smile.

“Any luck?”

“No.  I feel
like I’m chasing the end of a rainbow.”

He placed a hand
on my bare shoulder, sending a wave of pleasant tingles down to my toes. 
“We’ll find something.  I pulled quite a few ancient texts from the stacks. 
Technically, I’m not allowed to bring most of them up here, so we’ll have to
head downstairs to read them.”

I pinched the
bridge of my nose. Tomorrow was Thursday, and my meeting with Inez was
scheduled for ten-thirty in the morning.  If I didn’t have something solid to
present to her, I could kiss my job goodbye.  “It’s worth a shot.  I just don’t
think we have enough time to go through them.”

Dex leaned onto
his desk as he gave a wave to the exiting teenagers.  

“Normally, I
would have to tell you to come back another time, but my boss is at another
meeting.”  His brows wiggled.

“Let me guess…
at the Sex Magic Department?”

“Yeah, and from
the way he described it to me, it’s going to be a very long and rigorous meeting.”

“I’m sure he’ll
survive.”

“I don’t know…
There’s a crimson-winged fairy that seems to have taken a shine to him.”

I rolled my eyes
toward the stars. “Yes, I bet it’s the one that will dry hump anything with a y
chromosome.”

“Ms. Frost! 
Such language!  And here I thought we were trying to be professionals.” A sexy
smile crossed his lips.

“Yeah, well
that’s actually being quite professional as far as she’s concerned.  If I
wanted to be unprofessional, I would have said, that one will fuck anything
with a cock.  Or…”

He pressed a
finger to my lips.

Teasing him, I
gave it a little nibble.

His pupils
dilated. “I, umm… I just need to lock up the main floor before we head
downstairs.”

My cheeks
burned. Maybe I pushed it a little too far? “Sounds like a good plan, as long
as you’re sure you won’t get into trouble.”

“Nah, I stay
late all the time.” He motioned toward his chair. “Take a seat. I’ll be back in
a few minutes.”

Understanding
filtered through the fog clouding my mind.  “Great, thank you so much.”  I slid
around his desk, never taking my eyes off of Dex. I hadn’t done this much
research since college.  My limbs felt tight from stress, while my lady bits
demanded some quality time with either a vibrator or, Helheim forbid the real
thing.   Damn, the stress was making me horny. 

Fair Freya!  I
hadn’t liked a guy this much in years, so it was no wonder my eyes were glued
to his squeezable ass.  Disappointment filled my chest when he disappeared into
one of the alcoves. 

Needing a
distraction, I leaned back into his chair. 

“Jocelyn?” 
Dex’s voice jarred me out of a light doze. 

I blinked
several times.  Angry red numbers on his desk clock alerted me that it was
already a quarter past the hour.  The only other source of illumination came
from a tiny desk lamp to my right. “I’m sorry. It’s been one of those days.” 

A lot can be
said about a person based upon what he keeps in his desk. Everything seemed to
have its own place, but at the same time, semi-orderly piles of notes and to-do
lists were taped to the side of his computer.  The only personal item was a
photograph of a shorter version of himself, standing next to an older woman. 
Smile lines highlighted her lips, and wire-rimmed eyeglasses framed her translucent,
green eyes. 

“Is that someone
in your family?” 

Dex picked up
the photo and his expression saddened.  “This was taken about twenty years
ago.”

I reached up and
touched his hand.  “I’m sorry… If you want to talk about it, you know, I’m more
than willing to listen.”

He gently
caressed my cheek.  “Thanks Joce, but I’d rather not talk about it.”  Dex
glanced at the photo one more time before putting it back in its place. 

 His hand
extended, palm up, toward me.  I stood and leaned in to give him a hug.  Dex’s
muscles tensed before he embraced me.  When he leaned away, I lifted my head
and gazed up into his eyes. 

Our lips
tentatively met before melding together.  What started out as a gentle lip
caress deepened as our tongues coalesced.   

A loud bang
echoed off the walls, causing me to jump.  The noise came from somewhere on the
opposite side of the main floor. 

 “Joce, stay
right here. I’ll be right back.” 

“No, Dex, I
think we should stay…” I ended mid-sentence. My heart pounded hard, as if I just
finished running a mile, and my body chilled when we broke apart.  The desk
lamp’s light was so dim that I could hardly make out his silhouette as he
headed toward the direction of the sound. For the love of Odin, I prayed that
Dex would be all right.

After what felt
like an hour, but was most likely only a few minutes, a dark figure marched
toward me.  “The emergency exit was pushed open.” Shadows crossed Dex’s face as
he stepped in front of me.  “I checked the security cameras.  They didn’t pick
up anything unusual. It was just two kids trying to find a way out.  They
probably thought they would get into trouble if they asked me to unlock the
front door.”  He took my hand once more.

My nerves still
felt a little on edge.  “Regardless, I’m glad that they were about to find a
way out.”

 “Don’t worry,
Joce.  I’ll lock the door that leads down into the stacks.  No one will sneak
up on us down there.” 

I grabbed the
sandwiches with my free hand before clicking off the desk light.  We were
instantly cast into darkness.  The click-clack of my pumps was a bit unnerving,
given how absolutely quiet the Archive turned out to be.  If not for the
emergency exit signs, it would have been too dark for me to see where I was
going. 

I reached out
for Dex’s shoulder just to make sure I didn’t fall flat on my face, or run into
him.  “It’s kind of dark in here.  Can you see where you’re going?”

“Yes, don’t
worry.  I turned the lights on downstairs.  If I left the lights on up here,
people would think we were still open.” He gave my hand a slight squeeze.
“Years ago, this place would have stayed open past midnight to accommodate our
nocturnal clientele.  But after a few seedy events, the governing board decided
it wasn’t safe enough to stay open that late. I know it seems unfair,
especially for the people who obey the rules, but statistical data indicates
more crimes occur at night than during the day.”

Dex stopped at
the top of the stairs leading down into the basement.  He guided my hand toward
the handrail. With the flip of a switch, an emergency light lit up the
stairwell. 

Cool, dry air
kissed my skin as we descended deeper into the Archive.  Once we passed through
a set of double doors at the bottom of the stairs, my heart sank at seeing the
endless rows of stacks.