"So how long is Diana going to be out of the country?" André asked, messing with the items on Beck's desk.

"Three weeks."

"That long?"

"Yeah."

"Man, I get homesick too easily. I don't think I could be gone that long. How do you and Diana do it?"

Beck shrugged, "After three years, I guess I'm just used to it. You and Tori are still in that honeymoon phase."

"But after a while, don't you miss your wife?"

Before Beck could reply, he stopped himself. Did he really "miss" Diana when she was gone? He certainly didn't miss her talking about irrelevant gossip, or the fussing, or the nagging. The only thing he missed was the outrageous amounts of money gone from his bank account.

"Sure, I do, but Diana isn't a homebody. She likes traveling."

"That's true."

There was a knock at the door. "Come in!"

The door opened and Jade walked in. She spotted André sitting down and smiled, "André! What are you doing here?"

André stood and pulled Jade into a hug, "I came to visit Beck. I forgot you worked here."

"How could forget? I'm in the most interesting thing in this building."

Beck cleared his throat, "Ahem."

"Sorry."

"Jade, did you have something you wanted to say?"

"Oh yeah. Your dad canceled the one-thirty meeting."

"Good. I didn't want to go to that anyway."

Jade turned and hopped up on Beck's desk, "So André, how was Atlanta?"

"I had a nice time. It was mostly work, though."

Jade scrunched up her face, "Ugh, work. At your job is more interesting than mine."

"Jade, sometimes you say stuff that makes me wonder if you want your job or not." Beck said, tapping Jade's shoulder. "Off my desk. It cost more than what you make in a month."

"I think that's ridiculous." Jade hopped off the desk, "Well maybe you should pay me more."

"Get back to work."

Jade groaned, "Fine. See you later, André. Tell Tori I'll call her later."

"I will. Bye, Jade."

Jade left the office, leaving the two friends alone again.

André chuckled, "How is it working with my girl?"

"Your friend is nothing short of a handful."

"That's true.

"A big handful."

"On the bright side, you'll never have a dull moment working with her. She's a firecracker."

"Trust me when I say, I know all too well."

"Do you know how late it is?" Jade asked, putting her head down on Beck's desk.

"Yes, I know how late it is, Jade."

"It is," Jade looked at her watch, "nine thirty-seven. At night. On a Friday."

"Why don't you go?" Beck suggested, not even bothering to look up at Jade.

"I did that on Tuesday. You called me to pick you up a burger. I left and got back home, you called me again to get you some coffee."

"And you got the order right!" Beck said, his voice laced with mock enthusiasm. "Go Jade."

"It was my first day."

"Still no excuse."

Jade pushed her hair out of face and sighed, "What are you doing anyway?"

"Nothing."

"If you were doing nothing, I wouldn't be here."

"Going over a script. We haven't decided if we want to buy it and produce it."

"Well, how is it?"

"Awful, so far." Beck answered truthfully. "But I'm all about giving things a fair chance, so I have to read it through."

"When do you leave this office?"

"I have four suits in this office on standby just in case I don't leave."

Jade stood up, "This has to be the most depressing thing ever. Stop what you're doing."

Beck looked up this time, "Excuse me?"

"We're going out." Jade said.

"Out where?"

"Out, out. To have fun. Are you too old for fun?"

Beck chuckled, "How old do you think I am?"

"You act like a fifty year old. Actually, my dad is fifty and I think he has more fun than you."

"I have fun." Beck argued.

"When was the last time you had fun?"

Beck though for a moment. When was the last time he had fun? "Oh my brother's birthday party!"

"You have a brother?"

"Yes, I have a brother. He's currently in law school. But anyway, on his birthday, we had fun."

"When was his birthday?"

"A few months ago." Jade shook her head, disapprovingly. "When was the last time you had fun?"

"Last night. Technically, this morning."

"What?"

"Why do you think I come in a majority of the mornings with sunglasses on?"

"I don't notice."

"It's because I don't get home until the sun comes up."

"Should you be telling your boss this? That you come to work hungover?"

"You like me too much to get rid of me."

"Don't be so sure."

"I still have a job, right?"

"Right."

"You like me. Anyway, I will be at your house in one hour to pick you up."

"Jade-"

Jade walked out of the door, "See you there. And change out of that suit!"

"Where are we at?" Beck asked, trying to speak over the loud music over the loud music.

"Euphoria." Jade yelled, grabbing Beck's hand. She pulled him towards the bar. "My friend, Danielle's dad owns this place."

"It's really loud!"

"I know! Isn't it great?"

"That's not really the adjective I had in mind, but we can go with that."

Jade didn't reply. Maybe because she couldn't hear, or she might have checked out of the conversation. She just continued walking to the bar.

The bartender spotted Jade and she waved her arms excitedly. "Yo! Wild, Wild West is here!"

"Ugh, I hate that name. Stop calling me that."

"You shouldn't have ridden that bull in the bar all those years ago."

"That was in college. Get over it."

"Who's your friend?"

Jade pointed to Beck, "This is Beck. Beck, this is my old college roommate, Danielle."

Danielle looked Beck up and down, "What brings you by, Beck? I've never seen you here before."

"Jade thinks I should have more fun, so here I am."

"Well you came to the right place, hot stuff."

"Down, girl." Jade teased, settling herself on a barstool. "What will John say?

"I may be in a relationship, hon, but I ain't blind." Danielle turned to Beck. "What would you like?"

"Scotch."

Jade shook her head, "Nope."

"A beer?" Jade shook her head again. "What?"

"He's gonna have a shot." Jade said, deciding to take charge of the situation. "Of Devil Springs."

Danielle eyed Beck, looking him up and down. "Are you sure he can handle it? That's some strong stuff."

"You're right.

"I can handle it." Beck interjected, turning to face Jade.

"It's ninety five percent alcohol." Jade warned.

"I've been drinking since you were in elementary school."

"You're making yourself sound older than you really are." Jade pointed out.

"I've been drinking for fifteen years."

"Not helping." Jade added.

Danielle grabbed two shot glasses from behind the bar. She poured the vodka and slid the glasses across the bar. "Here you go. Enjoy."

Jade picked up one of the glasses and handed it to Beck. "You ready?"

"I'm ready."

"You sure?"

Beck nodded, "Yes."

"Okay." Jade clinked glasses with Beck. "Cheers."

"Cheers."

Beck lifted the glass to his lips and tried to down it in one gulp. It worked, but as soon as he drank it, his face contorted. His throat was burning. He coughed. "Wow. That is...that is very strong."

Jade shrugged, "You were given a fair warning, Mr. I-Can-Handle-It."

"Did I just swallow battery acid? My throat is on fire."

Danielle handed Beck a bottle of water, "Drink this."

Beck looked at Jade's glass, which was still full. He frowned, "Why didn't you drink this?"

"Because I'm not crazy. I just wanted to see if you'd do it."

"Call me crazy, then." Beck untwisted the cap on his bottle of water. He downed big gulps at a time, trying to relieve the pain in his throat. This was why he wasn't a huge vodka drinker.

"Are you okay?" Jade asked, touching Beck's hand. "Seriously?"

"I'm okay."

"I didn't put a damper on the entire night, did I?"

"I'm a big boy."

Jade sighed, "Good. It would suck if I completely ruined the night by making you drink alcohol that made you sick."

"I think I'll regain feeling in the throat soon."

"Because of that mess," Danielle said, "your drinks are going to be on the house."

"Free alcohol?" Beck's eyebrows shot up. "Aren't you going to lose money? What will your boss say?"

Danielle shrugged, "The boss is my dad, and he won't care."

"Great!" Jade exclaimed. "I'll have a cherry vodka sour."

"Random fact about me," Jade started, picking up her fork, "I always crave Chinese takeout if I'm up late at night."

"When I was in college, my roommates and I used to inhale boxes of cheese pizza. I gained about twenty pounds during my senior year."

The duo had long since left the club. They were now sitting on the floor in the living room of Jade's apartment, eating Chinese food. Her car was still parked across the street from the club—Danielle practically forced them to get a taxi, no ifs, ands, or buts about if. They were both too inebriated to get behind the wheel of a car.

Beck looked around Jade's condo. It wasn't quite what he expected. He expected Jade to live in an apartment with nothing but black. Black living room furniture, black kitchen, black everything.

First off, it was pretty organized for who Tori described as a "party girl". A majority of the furniture in the living room was tan. Her couch, and the two chairs were, with a few other pieces. There were also blue and green pillows and other decorative pieces strewn all over the place. It looked like a family actually lived there.

"You have a really nice place here."

"Tell that to my mother. She loves getting complimented. It was her and my dad's gift to me for graduating college. Once Tori, Cat, and I got back from celebrating in Cancún, it was fully done."

"I like it."

"My mother added little things in here that are supposed to remind me of my old house." Jade twisted her body around and grabbed a blue candle. "Like these candles. My mom has an obsession with candles."

"Thinking back, I should have let my mother decorate my first apartment when I lived in Philadelphia. I had a black leather couch, a huge television, a pool table, and a bed. I'm pretty sure that was all I had."

"That sounds just like a bachelor pad."

"It was."

"Why'd you live in Philadelphia?"

"I went to Wharton."

"Ooh, fancy. Prestigious."

"Yeah. Can't run a company with anything less than the best, right?"

"Right. My dad always said, "Jade, you have to have the best to be the best."."

"Sounds like our fathers are the same."

Jade put her now empty carton on the coffee table in front of her. She rose and scoffed, "I've met your dad. He's nice and relaxed and fun. My dad is intense on a good day."

"And on a bad one?" Beck dared to ask.

"You don't want to know. I'm shocked my mother stayed married to him for eighteen years and didn't shoot him in his sleep one night. I'm shocked I'm not crazy and haven't picked up a drug habits." Jade shook her head. "What am I talking about. I am crazy."

"Oh."

Jade's eyes widened as if she just realized what she just did, "I'm sorry, that was so not appropriate. I need to sober up." She walked into her kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. "Vodka makes me such a Chatty Cathy."

"It's fine. And I never pegged you for the type of person who did "appropriate" things."

Jade smirked, "That's right. You know me so well. But I shouldn't be laying my daddy issues burden on my boss."

Beck sat in silence. It was obvious that Richard West, power attorney, was a sore subject for Jade. But he marveled at the fact that even though Jade had to be one of the most emotional and passionate people he knew, but she was able to keep a tenacious grip on her emotions and reel them back in before she talked too much

Beck shrugged, "It's fine."

"Good."

Jade made her way back into the living room and sat down on the couch next to Beck. He looked at her. She was such an enigma. She was open and mysterious at the same time. It was...alluring. She was alluring. He wanted to know more but he was smart enough to know that wasn't about to happen. Jade was in shut down mode for the night.

It must have just hit Beck like a ton of bricks to the face. He was attracted to Jade West.

Jade turned to Beck, "Are you okay? You're looking at me strangely."

Beck said nothing. He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the time. It was a little bit after one in the morning. "It's getting late and I need to go. I'm gonna call a taxi." He stood abruptly and walked towards the door. "Have a nice weekend."

"Wait, you don't want to stay in here until the taxi comes?"

"Nope, some fresh air will do me good." He opened the front door and walked out. "Bye!"

Beck didn't sleep at all that weekend. He was too wired and his brain didn't shut off. He was a wreck.

There was no way in hell he could be attracted to Jade. She was Jade. She was impulsive and irritating and she drove him up a wall. And he was Beck. He was also a married man. Married men weren't supposed to be attracted to their assistants!

"Beck?" Jill knocked on the door and opened it.

"Hey!"

"Hi. How are you?"

"I'm fine." Beck replied. "How are you? How was your weekend?"

"My weekend was pretty uneventful but nice." Jill said. "Thanks for asking."

"That's good to hear. I'm glad to hear that."

Jill crossed her arms over her chest, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Why are you asking?"

"Because I know you. I know you well enough to know that something is occupying your thoughts."

"I'm just tired. I didn't get much rest this weekend."

"Is someone having trouble sleeping without his wife?"

Beck opened his mouth to say no, but he just nodded instead. "Yeah. I miss Diana. I can't wait until she's home."

"Aww." Jill cooed. "That's so sweet."

"It is. Can you shut the door behind you, please?"

"Okay. Call me if you need anything."

"I will."

Once he was alone, Beck put his head on his desk. This was all Tori's fault. He should have never let Tori convince him to hire Jade. He wouldn't be in this position.

His door opened again and he lifted his head up, "Leave me al-"

It was Jade. She standing in the doorway, a bag and a cup of coffee in her hands.

"God, you look like crap." Jade remarked. "What did you do this weekend?"

"Nothing."

"Oh. Did you sleep last night?"

"No."

"Well, hopefully your coffee will perk you up. Dark roast, half and half, and three packets of Sugar In The Raw." Jade smiled, "I finally got it right! My mother would be so proud."

"Jade-"

"And I also got you a bagel, already toasted with cream cheese."

"Jade-"

"I have you say I-"

"Jade!" Beck exclaimed.

Jade stopped talking. "What?"

"You need to quit."