Lunch Break

Getting up on Tuesday was painful.  I still felt emotionally raw and exhausted from the weekend.  It must have been obvious, because the first thing Brody said to me when I trudged out of the bathroom post-shower was, "Maybe you shouldn't go to work today."

"I have to," I muttered, rubbing my forehead.  I had an awful headache.  "I just need some caffeine."

Brody regarded me skeptically.  "And some water.  You probably dehydrated yourself with all your crying."  I glared at him as he smiled teasingly at me.

"You're lucky I love you," I grumbled. 

"I am," he replied, grinning.  "Now get dressed before I get any more distracted by you standing there in a towel and neither of us make it to work on time." 

I was dressed by the time he got out of the shower, but it wasn't a speedy process.  My head was throbbing and bending and moving just made it worse.  "Seriously, Liv, I think you should take a sick day," Brody said when I went into the bathroom to dry my hair.  He brushed his fingers lightly across my forehead and I winced, even though his touch didn't hurt.

"I'd love to," I replied, "but I really can't."  Brody shrugged and walked into my bedroom to get dressed.  I went through the motions of getting ready, doing my best to try to wake up.  As soon as I could choke down a piece of toast, I swallowed two ibuprofen.

I stopped for coffee on the way to the office and by the time I'd consumed that and a bottle of water, I started to feel a bit better.  Which was good, because I had a ton of work to do after being out Friday and Monday.  I scrambled to get my clients rescheduled.  I managed to get most of them rescheduled for this coming Friday, and I got one each in at the end of Wednesday and Thursday.

I looked down when my phone vibrated.  "Wanna grab lunch?" Brody texted.

I texted back, "Can't, only have a break from 12:45-1."

"That's too bad.  How's your head?"

"Better.  Still hurts a little but nothing like this morning."

"Good.  Don't work too hard and make it worse again."

I shook my head.  So worried about me.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it a little, though.  Smiling, I got back to work.


My desk phone rang at 12:45 as I was finishing up with my 12:00 client.  I silenced it as I stood to walk my client out.  As my client disappeared through the door to the waiting room, the person at the front desk said tentatively, "Um, Olivia?"  I turned.  Leigh was out sick today and Gina, one of our newest hires, was covering the front desk.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I called your desk?"  She looked so nervous.  Poor thing probably wouldn't last long here.

I flashed her a friendly smile.  "Sorry, I was with a client, what's up?"

She motioned to the waiting room with her head.  "Someone's here for you?"  Every sentence she spoke sounded like a question. 

I stuck my head out in the waiting room, assuming it was probably my next client here early.  I was surprised to see Brody leaning against the wall.  He smiled when I saw him.  I cocked my head at him curiously and motioned him back.

"Hey," he said, kissing me chastely once I was leading him back to my office.  I eyed the bag in his hand suspiciously.  "I brought you lunch.  I know you don't have long so I won't stay, but I wanted to make sure you had something to eat, because I was pretty sure you weren't thinking about lunch this morning."

I smiled at him and showed him into my office.  "Thank you," I said, shutting the door and taking the bag he offered me.  It contained a sandwich, a cup of soup, and a cookie from the coffee shop across the street.  "You can stay until my next client gets here, if you have time."  He started to sit in the comfortable arm chair in the corner but I shook my head.  "Too weird, you're not my client.  Here."  I kicked my desk chair towards him and sat on my desk.

"How about you sit in this chair, and I'll sit on your desk," he suggested.

"Nope, I'm already here.  Sit."   He shook his head but recognized a losing battle and sat.  I ate my lunch and waited for the phone to ring to alert me to my client coming.  I frowned at my watch at 1:07 when she still wasn't there.  I kicked Brody out briefly to call her, but she didn't answer, so I left a message.  I opened my door again and let Brody back in, shrugging.  "I think I'm being no-showed."

"That's terrible," he said with a smirk, as I settled back onto my desk to finish my lunch.  He sat in my desk chair and rolled it up to me.  He rested his forearms on my thighs as I sat, his fingers stroking my hips.

"Careful," I warned him.  "We are at my job.  And even though I'm done in a week, I don't have any desire to give anyone a show before I leave."

"You're no fun," he pouted.  He took one of my feet, dangling next to his leg, and slid my heel off of it.  His fingers massaged along the ball of my foot, to the arch, and back to my heel.  I sighed happily and he grinned at me.  "If you won't let me do you on your desk, maybe I can see you tonight?"

"Keep doing that, and I'll agree to just about anything," I replied, as he started on my other foot.  "This is probably the best lunch break ever."

"It could be even better, but you're just no fun," he teased.  We made plans for me to meet Brody at his house tonight after work.  He was going to pick up something for dinner on his way home.  "I should get going," he replied after our plans were made.  "I've spent way too long away from the office already."  He picked my shoes up off the floor and slipped them back onto my feet, then stood and kissed me.

I looked at the small clock on the windowsill and saw that it was already almost 1:45.  "Thanks for lunch," I said, smiling.  "And the foot rub.  That was the best part."  I walked him back to the door and flashed a grin at Gina's curious look.  She turned bright red and quickly looked away.  Brody grinned mischievously and kissed me a little more intensely than was appropriate for work.  I swatted his arm as I pulled away and spotted the tips of Gina's ears turning red. 

"See you later," he said softly, his eyes sparkling and intense on mine.  I almost melted.  I couldn't believe what he could do to me with just a look, even now.

I felt refreshed after my break and had a great afternoon.  After work I ran home to shower and change.  I pulled on leggings, a tank top, and a fitted hooded sweatshirt.  I grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out to Brody's house.

I knocked and walked in, finding Brody in the kitchen pulling out plates and silverware.  He was wearing a pair of dark gray sweatpants that did amazing things for his ass, and I was disappointed when he turned around to greet me.  Even though we had spent the past several nights together, sex had been the furthest thing from my mind...at least until Brody's surprise lunch visit.

"Hi," he said, taking the bottle of wine out of my hand and setting it on the counter.  He pulled me close and kissed me as if he hadn't spent the last 4 days with me.

"Hi," I replied breathlessly when he pulled away.  I smiled as he leaned his forehead against mine.  His fingers gripped my hips, keeping me tight against him.  After several seconds he released me with a kiss on a forehead.

"Hungry?" he asked.  I nodded, and we got settled on the couch with our food. "You look much better than you did this morning," he commented.  "Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I was right, I just needed some caffeine.  ...And some water."

"So I was right too," he teased.

"Yeah, yeah, you were right too," I agreed.  "A lunch break foot massage from my amazing boyfriend didn't hurt either." 

"Always happy to help," he said, grinning.  His phone rang from his pocket and he pulled it out.  He frowned at the screen and answered it.  He talked for a couple minutes before getting up and disappearing in the direction of his office.  I continued to eat, not even irritated.  It was amazing what having a concrete plan and an end in sight will do to improve a less-than-ideal situation.

When he returned nearly 15 minutes later, he smiled sheepishly.  "Sorry," he apologized.  "That was something I should have wrapped up before I left the office, but I was in a hurry and forgot." 

"Don't be," I replied.  "I'm being flexible now, remember?"  He laughed.  "I'm just glad I get to spend the evening with you," I finished. 

After we finished eating, Brody took our plates into the kitchen.  When he came back, he pulled my feet into his lap.  "I think I can do better than I did at lunchtime," he said, tugging my socks off and dropping them onto the floor.

"Did everything get straightened out in Dallas?" I asked curiously, relaxing against the arm of the couch as Brody's thumb slid firmly up the arch of my foot.

He looked up at me in surprise before answering carefully, "Yeah, it got taken care of.  It was quick one. But I don't want to talk about work."

His face was guarded, and I was confused.  "Okay...is everything alright?" I asked tentatively, not sure what accounted for his sudden avoidance of the subject.

He sighed, and his hands stilled as he set my foot back down in his lap.  He looked like he was considering something for several seconds before he spoke.  "Honestly, I probably didn't need to go down there at all," he admitted.  "My client's attorney made the situation sound a lot worse than it actually was.  I was actually pretty pissed when I got down there and found out that it was something I could have dealt with from home.  This client has been such a pain that I just went without getting enough information.  I wasn't going to say anything about it because I didn't think I needed to add any fuel to the fire."

"Oh," I replied lamely.  He raised his eyebrows at me, waiting for more.  I shook my head.  "I wouldn't have told me either," I agreed.  "Not after the way I acted on Thursday.  But it wasn't your fault, so now that I'm in a much more reasonable state of mind, I'm not mad about it.  You handled the situation in the way you thought you had to with the information you had."

Brody looked relieved and picked my foot up and got back to work on it.  "I did," he said.  "But now I'm working on some procedures to help determine when travel is really necessary.  It'll keep our costs down, and in turn keep our clients' costs down.  And it will help keep angry significant others to a minimum."  He smirked at me when he said that, and I was glad that he had told me and we could joke about it now.  "These are all the things that other people handled when I was working with my dad, that I didn't think a ton about until they came up.  Or thought about, but didn't have the time or manpower to solve until they became more of a priority." 

His fingers moved from my foot up my calf, and I groaned as he pressed on the tight muscle.  He tugged gently on my leg, sliding me a little closer to him.  He went as far as my knee before moving to the other foot and calf.  This time he didn't stop at my knee, but slid closer to me and continued up my leg, ended when his fingers were at the very top of my inner thigh, so close to where I was hoping they were going.  When he pulled them away and moved back to my other leg, I glared at him.  He laughed and continued his slow progress up my leg. This time when he got to the top, he slid his hands up to the waistband of my leggings and peeled them down.

He pulled me upright and kissed me while he unzipped my sweatshirt and pushed it off my arms.  As soon as my arms were free, I went for his shirt and we broke apart long enough for me to tug his shirt and mine off.  He pushed his sweatpants off and kicked them away, then pulled me onto his lap.  His lips found mine as he unhooked my bra and pulled that off.  His hands went straight for my breasts as I moved my hips against his.  He groaned and I repositioned myself so I could slide down onto him.  I moved slowly at first, and he slid his hand in between us and moved his thumb in small circles against me.

I pressed my face into his neck as I came, and he flipped me over onto my back and thrust hard into me until he finished, collapsing on top of me.  I wriggled out from under him and he shifted so we were side by side.  I felt relaxed for the first time since our fight on Thursday evening.  I settled back against him and yawned.  After a few minutes, Brody said, "Should we go to bed?"  I nodded and sat up.  I pulled my leggings and tank top on, because it's so weird to walk around other people's houses naked.

As I was brushing my teeth and washing my face, I couldn't help but think about the way that Brody didn't want to tell me about Dallas.  I knew that my behavior on Thursday was the reason why, and I didn't blame him for being hesitant to tell me.  I was mad at myself all over again for the way I acted and that it had carried over into affecting other things like that.  I tried to push it out of my head because we were moving forward from it, but my brain betrayed me and I couldn't rationalize it away.

When we got back into bed, I rolled over to face him and buried my face against his chest.  He wrapped his arms around me and I said, "I hate fighting with you."

"We're fighting?" he asked, sounding confused.

"We were on Thursday.  And it made you not want to tell me about Dallas.  And I hate it." 

"Your ability to beat yourself up is incredible," he replied.  "I don't think I'll have to ever be mad at you for anything because you'll always be mad enough at yourself for both of us."

"I'm just really good at worrying," I said, shifting so I was even closer to him.

"I know you are.  Stop it," he instructed me. 

I snorted.  "Don't tell me what to do!" I replied indignantly.

"Then go to sleep," he said.

"Still bossing me."

"Then don't go to sleep."

"What should I do instead?" I asked, leaning away from him and cocking an eyebrow, even though it was dark and he couldn't see it.

He laughed.  "I don't know, I'm not supposed to tell you what to do, remember?"

"Good thing I have some ideas," I responded, sitting up and straddling him.  And just like that, I forgot all about my worries about our fight.