A/N: A quick shout out to Deletedbrothernero for your review. Thank you for taking the time to review, really appreciate it! Here's Chapter 14! Happy reading!

• CHAPTER 14 •

Matt turned to Jeff with a questionable look.

"Must we do this now Jeff?"

"Matt, I think you should know this before we go any further into this partnership."

"It's little late to say anything Jeff, they're already signing papers."

"I know. I wanted to tell you earlier but I just couldn't. It wasn't the right time."

"And now is?" Matt said realizing he had raised his voice a little. He glanced over at Adam who was busy talking things through with Jay. "What is it Jeff?"

"Matt, Jay Reso is Jason"

"Yes, I know his name is Jason, but you heard him, he prefers to be called Jay."

"No Matt, listen…Jay is Jason…Jason from the restaurant…the same guy that said those things to Trish the other day. The same guy I put my hands on…remember?" Jeff said keeping his voice low trying to contain his frustration.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Matt said taking a moment to look at Jay who was nodding his head as Adam spoke, but his attention was on Trish who was busy writing down on her notebook.

"Now it all makes sense." Matt replied softly coming to a realization. "No wonder Trish was acting the way she was at the beginning. No wonder you….are being the way you are. I'm surprised you've managed to keep it together to be honest" he continued turning to his brother.

"Trust me Matt, it hasn't been easy. I couldn't imagine what Trish is going through" Jeff said glancing over at Trish. He smiled slightly to himself as he watched her scribble away, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She paused for a moment and quickly glanced up, catching Jeff staring at her. She smiled and gave him a wink before continuing to scribble in her notebook. Jeff slightly chuckled to himself.

"My dear brother, you have got it bad" Matt said as he caught Jeff smiling at Trish. It was very rare that a woman made his brother genuinely smile. Since losing their mother at such a young age, Jeff found it really hard to let any woman into his life. In saying that, out of the both of them, Jeff was definitely the more popular one with the ladies and he had had girlfriends in the past –but he could never really settle. He could never find the one that could fill that void that his mother did. The way Trish made Jeff feel and act was something new for Matt to witness from his brother and moreover, it was all new for Jeff too.

"Matt please, not the time and place right now". Jeff said snapping the older Hardy from his thought process. "I honestly think that we should reconsider this partnership Matt."

"Jeff we can't. This is such a great opportunity for us and for the company. We could see great success with this partnership and – "

"But Matt, I can't work with this guy!" Jeff said raising his voice a little with some frustration.

"Shhh…lower your voice" Matt said hushing Jeff. "Jeff look if I had known earlier I may have reconsidered finalizing this deal today, but the deal is done. It's too late". Jeff ran his fingers through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh.

"I can't believe this shit" he said with anger.

"Look, I will do my best to keep Trish away from him as much as I can. But we need this Jeff." Matt said glancing over at Jay and Adam who were looking at him and Jeff curiously. Matt shot them a smile and held up his index finger to let them know they needed another minute. Jeff didn't want to discuss this anymore, He knew he was fighting a losing battle and his brother was more invested into this company than he was so there was no hope in getting Matt to turn down a perfect business opportunity. Jeff ran his hands through his hair again and gave Matt a pissed off look. Before Matt could say anything else, Jeff walked off; making his way to Trish and crouched down next to the chair she sat in and rested his arm on the back of her chair. Trish turned her attention from her notebook to face Jeff.

"Hey stranger" she said with a big smile as Jeff forced a smile in return.

"Pretty exciting meeting isn't it" Jeff sarcastically said. Trish giggled before placing her pen down on the table and closing her notebook.

"You know – not as exciting as I thought it would be, but glad to be a part of it nonetheless." Trish said in return. Her attention was all on Jeff and she could tell that something was troubling him.

"Okay, spill Hardy boy. What's going on?" she asked. Jeff was caught a little off guard. He thought he was a pretty hard person to read but somehow she knew that something was bothering him.

"Why do you ask?" he questioned.

"Because you furrow your brows when you're frustrated or troubled" she said, unknowingly blushing. Clearly she spends a lot of her time studying her boss. "Stupid!" she thought to herself. Jeff looked at her and smiled, this time it was genuine. He couldn't believe that this woman paid such attention to – what Jeff thought – were minor details about himself.

"You are full of surprises Miss. Stratus" was all he could say.

"Hopefully they're all good surprises" she said leaning in much closer to Jeff, close enough that she could smell his intoxicating cologne. The smell brought her back to the moment in her office where she first smelt his cologne after Jeff had offered to take her out to lunch. She knew she would be entering forbidden territory – office romances never usually had happy endings. But Trish couldn't ignore the feeling she experienced everytime Jeff was around. Her heart always beat ten times faster when she was around him, when he looked at her with those eyes, it sent shivers through her entire body and gave her butterflies in her stomach. His presence always made her smile and the fact that he was forbidden fruit only made her want him more. It was not the time, it was not the place but she finally came to the realization that she wanted to kiss him. She needed to kiss him. She needed to feel his tender lips on hers in hopes that the sparks between them would only grow. "Just do it Trish" her inner courageous Goddess was telling her. She glanced at his lips for a moment and parted her plush lips slightly as she slowly closed the distance between herself and Jeff.

Jeff could feel the same urge that Trish was feeling, although he was oblivious to the fact that she felt the same way. The tidal wave feeling he felt outside the restaurant with her was flooding back and raging through his body, it began to overpower him that he gripped on to the back of Trish's chair to steady himself. He had noticed that she had closed the distance between the two of them and questioned whether she was feeling the same thing he was. Everything in his being was telling him to kiss her – then she parted her lips.

"Trish…" he whispered slowly as he gave in to his urges and brought his hand towards her, slowly tucking a loose strand of golden blonde hair behind her ear. He stared at her luscious lips that were parted and were inviting him to enter – he parted his own, his breathing becoming heavier.

Jeff and Trish were merely inches away from their very first kiss…

A/N:Read and review! Let me know what you think and whether you prefer the longer chapters or chapters this length.