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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 19, 2015 3:34:43 GMT
Brandon looked at Amber for a second, knowing that Gwen had been part of the reason why they had recently had problems in their relationship. He wanted to ask how their conversation had gone and if anything was said that he should know about or be concerned about. "Thank you," he said in reference to the lunch that she had provided. Hesitating for a moment, he tried to determine if there was an appropriate way to ask her about what her conversation with Gwen had been like. Instead, he opted to wait and see if she had anything to say about their exchange. He stepped up beside her, running his hand up and down her back in what he thought was a comforting gesture. "How is your day going?" he asked. "Everything going well at work?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 19, 2015 3:48:12 GMT
Amber chewed on her lip and looked over her shoulder at Brandon. "Things at work are fine. Cassidy has a measuring cup for my morning cup of coffee, so that I don't have more than 8 oz. I'm going to transfer her back to California," she joked. "Other than that, things are good." She turned around and looked up at him, remembering that she had promised not to keep anything from him. "So, I just want to say that I think I've been pretty good about this whole thing," she started. "I want to start with that. Because I really didn't want to do this whole jealous woman thing and have it effect the way you run things here, because I know how hard you've been working and frankly I think if you fire someone just because your girlfriend is uncomfortable with her, it doesn't look good and I don't want that for you."
"And I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, and say that she was probably just a girl who got her signal crossed and that who could blame her for being attracted to you?" she offered him a weak smile with that compliment. "And I say all of that, because I don't think that's the case with her." She pursed her lips and looked down. "I think she's going to try something again at some point and I don't want you to fire her, I just wanted to make you aware of that concern. I know that you're not interested, I just thought - I told you I'd tell you everything from now on, so," she shrugged and cleared her throat, not looking up at him.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 19, 2015 13:42:19 GMT
Brandon smiled at her, at least thankful that Cassidy had removed her restriction of caffeine from Amber. He felt ridiculous to admit that he had been taking the baby books to heart and trying to do what was best for Amber and the baby in all of this, but he had started to feel better knowing that he was doing something to prepare too. Everything had gotten sort of jumbled in the midst of everything that had been going on and this was one way that he felt like he was finally taking charge and bringing everything back to some sort of order. However, his smile quickly turned into a frown when she started to explain her feelings over the entire Gwen situation. "You're right," he agreed. "It wouldn't necessarily go over very well if I fired her because you were uncomfortable with her, but nobody knows about that but you and I."
The truth was that he had been expecting Gwen's termination as part of his reconciliation with Amber. He had been prepared to tell his secretary that she just hadn't been a culture fit for the company at this time and leave it at that. He had even considered what he would look for in his next secretary and had considered hiring someone much older or potentially a male to fill that role. So he didn't blame Amber for being uncomfortable, he just wasn't sure that he agreed that Gwen would try anything again. "What gave you that impression? Did something happen while you were waiting?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 19, 2015 16:53:38 GMT
Amber shrugged her shoulder up at him. "We were talking out there," she explained. "She just said some things about me, at first, and then about working with you and I felt like she was trying to get under my skin. And when I flat out asked her what she was up to, she said that she could tell that things were susceptible to change and that she wouldn't get used to the way things are if she were me." She chewed on her lip and looked down. "I didn't want to stay anything to you if I didn't have to, but I thought it was better than not telling you, have her try something again, and have you come home to tell me just so I can be like 'Oh, yeah, you know - she hinted that might happen.'" She shook her head and rubbed her temples gently. "Maybe I'm just being stupid."
As understanding as she'd been trying to be about the whole thing, it still stung a bit that Brandon had kissed someone else, especially so shortly after finding out she was pregnant. And now that Amber had met her (and she was not nearly the way Cassidy had described her), she couldn't help but still feel uncomfortable that the woman was working so close to Brandon and obviously so interested. It made her feel petty and insecure, which were two of her least favorite feelings. "I'm sorry."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 19, 2015 19:01:00 GMT
There was something to be said about the phrase "between a rock and a hard place". On one hand, Brandon also wanted to give Gwen the benefit of the doubt, considering the fact that he had hired her to do a job and she was doing it quite well. But on the other hand, he couldn't forget about what had happened between them at a particularly bad time for him. He just wasn't sure that he entirely blamed her for it. Though said jokingly, the narcissistic side of him knew that it wasn't completely unheard of for a woman to be attracted to him, and he wasn't sure if he had really brought it on himself when Gwen had kissed him in this very office. He had been flirting, as he often seemed to do, and then it had happened. It was probably, he decided, much more his fault than hers that it had happened. At least that's what he had tried to convey to Amber. But if attitudes had changed now, and if Gwen was indicating that there might have been more than there was, or that there would be a second kiss, then he did feel as though he needed to stop it. "Nothing like that will ever happen again," he tried to reassure her.
"You don't have anything to apologize. I can talk to her about all of this and make sure that I'm very clear about the nature of my working relationship with her. I'm sorry that I allowed things to get this far." He thought that by discussing it with Gwen that they might be able to clear up anything where he may have accidentally led her on.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 19, 2015 21:38:39 GMT
Amber nodded at Brandon. The more she thought about it the more that she considered coming by for lunch a mistake. There was no meaningful competition, Amber believed that she had Brandon's heart wholly and surely. But she was out of her element and in Gwen's. There was no sort of home field advantage when it came to getting under the woman's skin. So now she was standing there, in his office, which she realized was the place that Gwen had kissed Brandon. And he was promising to talk to her, but didn't that just seem like the perfect opportunity for Gwen to make another move. "Yeah, that sounds good."
Part of her, now feeling wholly uncomfortable just wanted to leave. She fidgeted a bit. "I should probably get back soon."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 19, 2015 22:56:30 GMT
He wasn't entirely certain what he was going to say to Gwen, what he could possibly say to make Amber feel any better about the entire situation. The truth was, by letting her kiss him he had established some sort relationship with Gwen, whether he wanted to or not. The problem was going to be coming up with some way to draw a line between his personal life and his professional life, but with how much he had seen that the two sides of his father's life had blurred together, he wasn't sure if there was an easy way to separate it. If he was being completely honest, the best way that he knew how to separate the two sides of his life in this circumstance was to get rid of Gwen. At least, it would help. The thing that he didn't think that Amber realized was that she was the most important thing in his life, and she was the one exception that he was more than willing to make in terms of letting his personal life and his work life combine. Particularly where it concerned these mid-day lunch meetings.
"You don't have to go," he told her. "I was looking forward to you being here."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 19, 2015 23:19:11 GMT
Amber bit her lip and looked up at Brandon. "Were you?" she asked softly, stepping a bit closer to him and wrapping her arms around him with a soft smile. "I was looking forward to seeing you," she admitted. "And I haven't been here since you started taking over for your father." She leaned up and pressed her lips against his. "I'm still very proud of you, Brandon," she told him. "And it's all really very impressive and kind of sexy that you're in charge," she teased with a light laugh. Sure, the two of them had promised to be more honest with each other, but Amber was also a firm believer that sometimes, when things got heavy - distractions were welcome. And she'd much rather think about the two of them alone together in his office as a distraction from the idea that it was the office where Gwen had kissed him.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 20, 2015 0:08:49 GMT
He grinned at her and wrapped his arms around her in return. He had meant when he said that he had been looking forward to having her here, especially because he had been looking for a distraction ever since taking over. "You know, if you're not feeling lunch..." he trailed off, smirking at her and pressing a kiss to her lips. "There are plenty of other things that we can do to occupy our lunch hour."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 20, 2015 0:43:34 GMT
Amber laughed, peering up at him coyly as she played with his tie. "I thought you'd never ask," she quipped with a bright smile, tugging him down again to kiss him. "I love you," she muttered gently against his lips.
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