our little secret [Mr. Martins]

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Dr. Bowen was on her way to give Mr. Martins the horses’ files to look at. All was well with regards to the horses. She had just updated their shots and given them a general check up. She had been so busy she hadn’t seen Mr. Martin in a few days and thus thought she should update him.

Adrianna walked up to the office doors wearing a deep purple a-line shirt that was cut off just above the knees, and a black t-shirt blouse. Her red hair hung loose today perfectly straight. She looked a little more done up today than usual, but after work today she had a dinner to go to with her family...what was left of them at least.

Adrianna’s parents had died in a car accident when she was only 21 years old; all she had left were her three older brothers. She had only remained close to one, the youngest of the brothers and she was meeting his new wife for the first time. She couldn’t remember if this was his 4th or 5th wife. Shrugging to herself mentally she figured it didn’t matter because this one probably wouldn’t last long, she was only 25 or something and he was turning 43 this year. She loved her brother, but since their parents had died his love like had derailed...at least hers pretty much never existed.

Although one would say she has a love life now, since she currently was having an ongoing affair with Mr. Martin, not that anyone really knew. Maybe the secretary did, but she never seemed too interested. Although Adrianna though it’s not really an affair since he’s no longer married...Either way she didn’t care what it was considered. It was a safe relationship because it wasn’t committed; Adrianna had what you would call commitment phobia.

Gathering her files she headed out of her office and towards Mr. Martins office, it would be nice to see him after having not seen him for a few days. Reaching his door she let a light knock ring out, waiting for him to answer...

[Jared Martins]

The stack of papers that littered Jared’s desk only seemed to grow each day and no matter how long he spent on them each day the papers only came right back. Some days it was bills, others updates on students, on other days it was horse check-ups. Sighing under his breath, his pen scribbled across a sticky note and placed it on the outside of another folder for a reference in a later date. He was trying to sort through as many as the bills as possible without going out of his mind from having to check that they had it all covered under the budget. Some days he really questioned what he’d been thinking when it came to Willow Brooke but always stopped and shook that thought from his mind. His son. Markus. This whole place had been build with the idea of reaching back out to a son who’d lost his mother and nearly all joy in life.

Pushing away from his desk, Jared leaned back and glanced out the window of his office trying to fight the urge to take a nap. The jeans that covered his legs seemed to hug his body while he stretched out his legs under the desk. With his plain black shirt and flannel might have made Jared seem very casual, he was, but it was more for comfort in riding then any fashion statement. It was growing late-ish in the day and everything was starting to take a toll on his body. Glancing down at his hands that were gripping the arms of the chair, his breathing rose for a moment as he winced at a pain in his wrist. From so much writing or something else, he couldn’t tell. It might have been from breaking in one of the new horses the other day. It hadn’t been easy; the poor thing was scared to death and had fought against everyone. Shaking his hand in the air, he brushed off the pain for nothing. There was too much to deal with at Willow Brooke then minor pain in his hand. That was what Aspirin was for.

Standing out of his chair, he walked across the room and reached above the small book case into the cabinet. It took a second to unlock the doors and pull out two white pills before Jared was able to swallow them with a little water from the bottle back at his desk. The pain in his hand was already easing up on its own, but he wanted it gone. Locking the cabinet once more, he leaned against the bookcase and stared out the window at the beautiful day it had turned out to be. It reminded him of Dr. Bowen. They hadn’t seen each other in a few days now. Jared had been busy with getting new students settled in and the horses comfortable with the new ones that some of the staff had brought along.

Their relationship wasn’t the average one and Jared was a little sorry for doing that to her. She deserved better than having a man that wouldn’t allow it to be known they were dating. But he didn’t want people to get the wrong idea about how professional and serious he was about Willow Brooke. There were enough rumors floating about town of his personal life without dragging someone in to those nasty thoughts people could come up with when they had too much time.

The knocking on his door pulled Jared from his own thoughts and back to the present. Clearing his throat, he glanced over at the door for a moment. There weren’t too many people that knocked at his door, students a lot of time just walked in if they were in a seriously bad mood. He placed his money on it being a staff member for them to have such manners. “Come in.” He called out while walking back to take a seat at his desk. It was starting to feel like another part of his legs. There was no denying that he was going to have to go for a long ride around the camp to get that feeling off his body.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

It felt like she had been waiting out there for ages, even though it was only a matter of seconds. She didn’t know how he could do that to her, make her feel like a little school girl all the time. Hearing his voice she smiled to herself slightly, she loved the way it sounded for some reason or another. Opening the door and sliding in, she smiled at him. She felt almost awkward in her fancier attire, it wasn’t usual for her to walk in wearing a black t-shirt blouse and deep purple skirt. She had missed him oddly; it was rare they would go more than a day without passing by one another.

Closing the door behind her she could tell from the look on his face he wasn’t having the best of days. “Something wrong?” She looked at him curiously. He looked tired, that man never took a break. It worried her more often lately that he was pushing himself to hard. But his dedication to this place was what made him so attractive; she had never found a man who had such passion for something.

She always knew at times he felt bad for keeping their relationship a secret. Adrianna always tried to remind him she didn’t mind, because she wasn’t sure she wanted the world to know either. It would make it more...more official. Some part of her wanted that though, wanted it to be that real. But she knew herself to well she was a wimp when it came to relationship. Most of that fear likely stemmed from the fact that she lost her parents and she was afraid to truly let herself love again. Little did she know she was falling madly for Jared.

She hadn’t let her spot at the door, for some reason she hadn’t been able to move forward. He always left her feeling star struck when she first saw him. He was no doubt a very attractive man, especially for his age. She watched him, waiting for him to tell her what was wrong.

[Jared Martins]

The door opened to show Jared a very rare sight around the school. A pair of very slender creamy legs peeked into his office followed by the rest of Dr. Bowen. She wasn’t dressed in her normal jeans and polo. The sight of the skirt and blouse made his mouth dry up in a matter of second, completely leaving his mind to flop and turn right over. The awe on his face only stayed there just long enough for maybe her to have seen it before it vanished to be replaced by his normal static and calm expression. Adrianna was very dangerous in a skirt, dangerous in the sense of driving Jared out his mind like he was a young boy once more. The smile on her face eased his mind that she was up to no good and he only smiled right back. There was an edge to it, lack of smiling to anyone besides his son. “Feel free to close the door.” Nodding at the object in question, his hand picked up the pen he’d dropped right before the vet came to see him to get back to work. The click of the door shutting allowed his shoulders to relax slightly knowing that they had a moment to themselves.

Glancing back up from the papers, he debated on telling Adrianna the truth and almost came close to it before kicking himself in the head. “Just going over the bills for the past month. I really need to find a way to get the state to see how well the school is doing and send in more money.” Waving a paper in the air slightly, he placed it back down before running a hand over his face and blowing out a stream of hot air. The idea of a vacation was tempting, but with Markus not fully knowing every detail of Willow Brooke just yet, Jared wouldn’t be forced away from the camp for anything. Anyways, even if his son could handle the place on his own, Jared was still going to stick around and take a little more time with just the horses and maybe giving private lessons. He wasn’t going to turn his back on a large project that he had started on his own from the very ground he’d grown up on.

There was something about Adrianna that Jared was never able to get. She didn’t mind that their relationship was kept so hushed up and just between them. It helped him have one less thing to stress over, but any other woman would have been furious by the lack of being able to show affection for someone they were with in public. Maybe that was why it had worked so well between Jared and Adrianna. Maybe she was able to understand how much hell loosing Willow had put him through and didn’t want to push it. But he always got the feeling that wasn’t it.

“Adrianna…you’re more than free to sit.” A smirk pulled at the corner of his lips, not even looking up from his paper he just knew that she hadn’t moved to take a seat just yet. She always acted like he was going to jump around the desk and do something to her, but that was the very same way some students thought before they really got to know Jared. Lifting his head up, his eyes stared right at her beckoning her to sit in one of the seats right in front of his desk. “If I had known you’d be dressed like that I would have asked for you to bring me those reports sooner.”

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Adrianna just got the end of his glance, but never really though much of it. She hadn’t remembered what she was wearing. As he spoke once more telling her about the State she felt like she wasn’t getting the total truth out of him, but didn’t feel the need to push it. She was never the type to push things out of someone, if they wanted to tell you they would, if they didn’t they obviously had some reason to not tell you. “My brother has friends in office; I’ll mention something to him and see if he can help with that”.

When he invited her to sit, she locked the door, then began to walk towards him. She didn’t necessarily lock the door because she was implying anything in particular; she just knew full well students barged right in. It’s unfair to expect many of the kids around here for have manners and thus it never really bothered her.

Her walk was smooth and steady. Her pale legs were well muscled from all her years of riding. Rather than go sit in a chair, she moved her away around the desk. Setting the papers down, her hand following around the edge of the desk until she was standing right in front of him. Sitting down she smiled gently as her creamy leg lifted and crossed over the other.

When he mentioned her outfit she realized what she was wearing she almost felt slightly self conscious again, not because she felt ugly, more because Jared hadn’t seen her like this much, if at all. At light laugh escaped her lips in reaction to his statement. “Don’t flatter yourself I have to meet my brothers newest wife tonight, figured I better make a good impression”. She rolled her eyes a little bit at the thought of his brother. Women were like toys to her brother, she actually felt bad for the women. She never understood who women through themselves at men.

Adrianna had found much better luck being less...forward. Anyways that didn’t matter, what she cared about was the man sitting in front of her. Reaching up and tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ears. “I think you work a bit too hard Mr. Martins”. She reached forward with her hand and placed it on the side of his cheek, then leaning over she kissed the other side of his cheek. Not his lips though...he could wait a little longer for that.

Sitting back up she placed her hands around the edge of the desk by her side, swinging her free leg softly her eyes watched his. Sometimes she wondered what life out in the open would be like with him, but then she would remind herself it likely wouldn’t be as good as it is. Although it’s not like their relationship was all physical, they had many serious conversations and many light conversations. The only thing that made them different from any other relationship was the fact that they were hiding the truth about their relationship.

[Jared Martins]

“Would be much appreciated.” A small smile appeared on Jared’s face only adding to how many wrinkles he’d gotten over the years. More than the average 45 year old but somehow they didn’t distract from the appeal he held when it came to woman. Whether that came from his mother’s or father’s side of the family he didn’t know. But his mind was on more important things then how he looked. Which might have been reason as to why he was always in jeans and a t-shirt. There was no one to impress and the mind set of that one special someone he truly cared about didn’t really mind how he dressed. The major worry on his mind that day was money. The school was always low on it, no camp full of students, horses, and teachers could get anywhere without the green paper that lined the world. There was always something falling apart or someone to be paid for their services. For that reason, Jared had to keep his mind focused on the school and not about the odd pains he’d been getting in the past couple of weeks. They would simply blow over just like the time months before.

The click of the door being locked didn’t faze Jared anymore. Adrianna always did that, not to leave a bad impression on him but to keep the students out while they were having a discussion. That didn’t stop his mind from wondering where it had no business in the work hours. There was too much to sort through in the hours at the office without turning into a lust filled teenager once again. Those days were long behind him as he held more responsibilities with Willow Brooke then years before when it was simple a small rescue horse ranch.

What finally forced Jared to stop the paper work and glance up was not hearing the soft sinking of fabric when Adrianna should have taken a seat. Spotting her moving closer to him, he leaned back in his chair, watching her with his baby blue eyes trying to pick out the emotions falling across her face. Licking his lips, his eyes wondered up and down the doctor suddenly losing his concentration on what he was suppose to have been doing right before she had entered the office.

The shifting of Adrianna’s skirt with ever step around his desk held Jared’s full attention. It was a rare sight to see her in a skirt, showing that much skin and legs. He couldn’t say the sight was terrible, it was the complete opposite. It was mouth watering. Even more so once she took a seat down, right on top of his desk where she crossed her legs sending the skirt just a little higher up. What was she getting at now? It was clear she had his undivided attention right then to ask or say whatever the woman wished without a single complaint.

Wiping his mind clean of any stray thoughts of Adrianna and what else she could be doing on the desk, Jared stared right up into her eyes and nodded hearing about her brother. “What wife number is he on now?” He knew the rough details of her brother and his many wives just as Adrianna knew the rough details of his life. For some reason, that worked for them. They weren’t complete strangers to each other, but there were still many surprises behind the both of their past.

Laughing, Jared shook his head. That might have been one of the first true laughs Adrianna had heard around him. It wasn’t that she wasn’t funny or smart or anything, just he had a tough time being more than a tough looking guy with a single ounce of feeling on his face, but his eyes made up for that. They always gave him away if someone knew what to look for in the large blue eyes of his. “I think you and my son have been talking too much. You’re starting to sound like Markus.” Feeling the hand on his cheek, Jared leaned slightly towards her and smirked at the kiss on his cheek. It wasn’t what he’d been hoping for, but it was still a very nice and loving gesture in his eyes.

Every second Jared was with Adrianna forced a little of Willow out of his mind for that time, but his dead wife would always take center stage in his heart. It was sad to hold on to someone dead for that long, but he wasn’t that type of guy to move past someone he’d spent so many loving years with in a short period of time. However, Adrianna brought back the happier moments in his life. She helped pull him past his depression that still hung over his head at times and force him to smile, much like his son was able to.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Adrianna had made a mental note to talk to her brother about the money, if not she would have to find a way to sneakily pretend to get the money sent to him from her own bank account. Adrianna had inherited a large sum of money, enough money to never have to work a day in her life. She wasn’t the type of person to not work though, she got bored. Adrianna watched him intently, whether he knew it or not he was an attractive man, extremely attractive for 45. But that wasn’t what grabbed at Adrianna’s heart strings; it was the man he was. His passion, his tough exterior but soft heart. That is what made him so good at running this place, and Adrianna wasn’t going to let a lack of money ever close this place down. She knew how much kids needed this place, how much she needed something like this, but it wasn’t there for her.

Adrianna loved being able to captivate his attention, and she also loved he was willing to focus on her like that. Not that she wanted the attention, but who can deny how nice it is to have a man marvel at you. She was now sitting on the desk in front of him, she thought for a moment at his question about his brother, “Number 4, maybe 5, who knows” She laughed. Most women ended up hating his brother, but she understood, losing a parent is tough. He probably had many of the same fears as her, just went about being afraid of them differently. At least Adrianna had gotten the perfect prenup drawn up for him so he didn’t lose his fortunate.

Watching Jared laugh warmed her heart. She knew he rarely laughed, and she also knew laughing was one of the best ways to live a long healthy life. He deserved to be happy, she wasn’t sure if she made him happy, she liked to think so because she never really knew. That was one of the only issues with their relationship, they didn’t discuss it because it was so secretive, it just kind of existed. But she never complained because she preferred it that way.

“Markus is a smart boy, you should listen to him.” Her eyes danced over his face, she knew he had a rough childhood, obviously. Losing parents when she was already an adult was hard enough, a child just wouldn’t understand. But now, now Markus was a grown man, a fine young man who would make any parent proud.

She uncrossed her legs and stepped down from the desk. Standing there for a moment before moving closed to Jared and allowing herself to gently fall into his lap. Once more her hand raised to his cheek and she place a soft kiss on his lip. Pulling back after a moment she spoke once more, “Well if you feel like taking a break from working, it’d be nice to see you tonight.” She smiled softly, everyday she found herself falling a little bit more for Jared. She didn’t know what it was about him, but she found him absolutely fascinating. Each day he broke another one of her walls down, but she still had many more to break.

[Jared Martins]

Jared ran a hand across his face while taking a deep breath in. When his parents had passed away a few years after Willow, there hadn’t been much money left to him. But money was never a problem with him, he knew how to work hard and earn every cent. The camp didn’t rake in a lot of cash, but it served enough for what he needed and to keep food and clothes on his son’s back. Anyways, he wasn’t concerned a whole lot with money outside of the camp’s need for it. He was a simple guy and was content with his life, not having a single need for a larger house or to live in some exotic location. His only worry was that Adrianna would want for something like that, something he couldn’t provide her with. In his younger years he had stayed away from Annabelle, who owned the Waterin’ Hole now, for that very reason. That woman loved money and a mess load of attention which Jared couldn’t give to her.

If there was any other person sitting on his desk in such a fashion as Adrianna was, Jared would have simple ignored them and spoken while still working on the papers. But there was something about her that grabbed his gaze and held it there. It had to be how she was so attentive to the horses whenever she was working on them. That had been the first thing to catch his notice when she started working at Willow Brooke. “You’d think, he’d learn to stick with one gal after so many divorces or just give up.” Shaking his head, his eyes stared straight into the doctors with a small grin on his lips. Trying to ignore how great she was looking right then, Jared sat back up and took the pen he’d put down to start filling out some forums for upcoming events.

Deep down inside of himself, Jared would never admit it, but he hated himself. He hated using Willow Brooke as his excuse to help children and his son when in fact it was to keep himself from drowning in his own sorrows. After 17 years it was hard to get past his wife and her sudden death. It had taken nearly all that time to convince himself that it wasn’t worth it to just end everything. Too many people depended on him around the area. His son was the first person to pop into his mind that always stopped him from taking the shotgun he kept in the house to his head.

A large factor in keeping Jared from trying anything stupid was Adrianna. It would take the world to end for him to come out and say that to her, but there it was. His pride and stubbornness got in the way of him ever fully expression how grateful he was for her being in his life. Maybe one day he’d get around to opening up a little more to her. He only hoped that when that time came it wouldn’t be too late to speak up.

Chuckling under his breath, Jared nodding hearing the compliment Adrianna gave Markus. “I know he is. I feel confident this place will be well taken care of when I’m long gone from this planet.” The two of them had already talked about it and Markus had expressed his desire to keep the place up and running. “But as for my health, I think the both of you need to calm down and realize I’ve been doing this long enough now to know how much I can handle.” Glancing up from the papers, he gave Adrianna a quick wink to tease her. She always worried about him, just as much as Markus did and they needed to see that he wasn’t going anywhere. He’d been kicked by horses, snapped at by students, and was still walking around. There wasn’t much that was going to keep him down for long.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Jared saw Adrianna get off his desk making him wonder what she was up to all of a sudden. His eyebrows scrunched together seeing her stare down at him for awhile causing him to lean back in the chair once more. As she started to descend into his lap, his arms opened up, dropping the pen on the desk once more to snatch her close to his body with a smirk. His lips pressed back against hers giving her a soft and loving caress. Arching an eyebrow, Jared scratched behind his head, a move he’d picked up from his son. “I’d like to see you as well, but…” Shaking his head, he brushed any excuse from his mind. “Yes, I’d like that very much.” It felt as if he’d been ignoring Adrianna too much lately for work and the horses. It seemed as if even his son had been getting a little of that cold shoulder from Jared. He’d have to fix that problem soon.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Listening to him speak about her brother she smiled a bit, “I don’t know...” she thought for a moment, “Our parents dying really messed him up, I think it’s his way of coping or something.” She very rarely mentioned her parents, and when she did you could see it all over her face that she was still messed up. But then you would quickly see her collect herself and put a smile back on her face, Little did he know, her way of dealing it was ending relationships when they got serious, and she knew the only reason this one lasted so long was because they had kept it hidden.

What she really didn’t know, is the reason she was still with him was because she needed him. Ever since she came here her life starting looking up, she had a purpose for once. Whether it is him or the horse or just the town, she needed it all. Yes she had a large house, and drove a more expensive car, but she would throw it all away if it meant she could live here, in this town, with these horses, and most of all having Jared’s arms wrapped around her like they currently were.

She laughed, “The day I stop worrying so much, is the day you stop working so hard.” She smiled at him. Her hand ran from his shoulder down to his elbow unconsciously listening to him speak once more. A smirk appeared on his face after his but, she wouldn’t let him have an excuse even if the thought of one. “No excuse this time?” She looked at him with a playful edge. Normally he thought of something, and she was able to talk him out of it.

She bit her lower lip and looked at him innocently and continued to speak, “Because normally it’s fun to talk you out of it.” Her eyes watch him for a moment before she began to move to get up, “But I guess since you don’t have one I’ll see you to later tonight.” It was clear that she didn’t want to leave just yet, and she hoped he wouldn’t let her. Although either way she too had work she could be doing, but she also knew it could wait a little while longer.

As she began to stand up, she let her hand softly use his chest to help give her balance, and let her thigh lightly brush through his hand. All the while making it subtle, it appeared that she was just trying to stand up. However, Jared probably knew her well enough to know that generally her movements were deliberate and had she wanted she could have stood up on her on, without anything brushing against his body.

Her eyes watched him for a bit until she was standing and beginning to turn and face the door, she allowed her gaze to shift to the door in which in a few moments time she would begin walking towards. She made sure to go slow enough that if he wanted he could stop her, and that is what she hoped he would do. She especially liked it when he came out with his more demanding side that he showed to many of the students. It was nice to have a man take the control once and awhile and demand things done his way. It was when men took the game to far and made it a regular thing is when it became and issue. But Jared never did that, he was far to kind to ever even try to control her.

[Jared Martins]

“Everyone handles death in their own way.” Jared spoke up while the conversation was still on Adrianna’s brother. There were some very strange ways for people to deal with the loss of someone. Some people lashed out, acted up, or spiraled down into a deep hole of depression. All of that he knew how to handle and had done so, but someone that married constantly to help with the pain was a new one. The smile on Adrianna’s fell but only for so short of a period that he wondered if he had imagined it behind gone in the first place. Was she keeping something from him? Their relationship was build on a multitude of things and he knew that neither of them fully knew the other person without secretive their relationship was.

Jared’s arms tightened around Adrianna’s waist as he thought over how much he really cared for the woman in his arms. There would never be another Willow in his life, but Adrianna was just a little different and there was much need of that in his life. Where his dead wife had calmed him down and got him to think before he took action Adrianna was exciting and only seemed to nudge him onward with whatever he had his mind set on, but she did worry about him just as much as his son and Willow. She balanced him out and made him wonder what life would be life if they weren’t always sneaking around on dates or alone time.

“Oh girl, you might be waiting until the day I die.” Jared smiled while laughing under his breath. He knew how much he overworked himself for the camp but there was just a desire inside his heart and soul to keep trying to reach out to as many people as he could. God, fate, destiny, whatever it was that had put him on the path to Willow Brooke didn’t seem to want him to rest until it’s work as completely. His heart sped up feeling her light caress of his skin from his shoulder down to his elbow. Suddenly he was right back to feeling like a horny teenager and daydreaming about Adrianna on his desk. Those thoughts were going to land him in molting lava one day very soon if he kept them up. “Are you kidding me? I could think of a dozen easy excuses, Dr. Bowen.” The playfulness in her eyes gave away what she was truly feeling right then to Jared. She wanted to play then he’d give her something to think about for awhile.

“Doctor, feel free to talk me out of anything.” Jared licked his lips while giving her another once over. He honestly had no idea what he was doing feeling so out of his depth being at his age and trying to flirt with a woman he was involved with. Years ago, this would have been so much easier and natural to him, but years of slacking and the love for only one woman blocked off that part of his brain. Sighing under his breath, he wanted to curse as she spoke of leaving him right there. That was hardly playing fair when she should have known how much he wanted to see her after days of not. Besides, wasn’t she suppose to have been updating him on the horses? Or had she just come to drop off the files and be done with him?

A shock ran up Jared’s spine feeling her tiny hand press on his chest lightly to push up off his lap and her thigh brush against his hand. The lack of any sexual contact never bothered him until Adrianna began to taunt him with her small movements. All of them deliberate and they both knew it.

“Adrianna.” Jared called out in a very strict tone while sitting up straight in his chair. “Get back here.” His voice seemed to crack slightly trying to shake off the need he was feeling for her right then. He knew the feeling of growing so attached to someone and losing them, but it had been years and as much as he hated to admit it…he was lonely under his tough exterior. He hated using that tone with her but couldn’t help it when she was about to leave him feeling so needy. Besides, he only used it when she was messing around with his mind. But somehow, he suspected under her own shell, Adrianna loved ever second that she was getting scolded by him. Beckoning her to come back to him, he turned his chair so she could just slid back into his lap.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

If only he knew how I dealt and am dealing with it Were her only thoughts. They never spoke much of the earlier times in their lives because it was a hard time for both of them and why dwell. Part of Adrianna was scared to ever let him know about how she really acted, she felt, felt like he would begin to treat her just like one of the messed up kids that come in and try to heal her. Adrianna was far past healing, she had tried dealing with it and that hadn’t worked, so now she had just decide to push it away and hide it and it worked well for her.

If only he knew about the multiple suicide attempts, the drugs, the alcohol, the sex...she wondered what he would think of her then. Those were 5 years of her life she knew now she wasted. Her brothers hated her, even the one she was close to now she felt only kept in contact with her out of guilt. She’d lost everything, glancing at Jared she felt herself get scared, what if she lost him?

She brushed those thoughts out of her head as she heard him laughing a little bit. Every time she heard it for some reason it made her smile. Replaying the words he had just said she looked at him, “Guess I’ll be worrying for a long time then.” She looked at him. She couldn’t believe she had said that. It wasn’t like she had said she loved him, but those words definitely implied similar ideas.

Adrianna liked when he got a little playful, it was exciting to see that side of him, that side he rarely showed. It was in Adrianna’s nature to be playful and she enjoyed having fun, of course she could be serious, but not taking life so seriously is what kept her afloat from all her problems. She never responded to that remark, but she clearly had heard it. Normally she could talk him out of most of his excuses, although a few times he had won. Even though she didn’t like not winning, she also knew it was good to not always win, gave her more motivation to win next time.

As she was just about to step off towards the door she heard exactly what she had been looking for. Spinning around with a smile playing at the edge of her lips, “Or what?” she looked at him curiously. But she complied with his orders. Moving back over to him, she gently sat down into his lap once more. Moving her way into his arms, arms she never wanted to leave. Her eyes watched him, “You could ground me.” She looked up a little bit as if thinking... “or fire me I guess.” She scrunched her face a little that thought. She knew it would likely never happen, or at least hoped he wouldn’t. As long as she could be with him he could fire her for all she cared. Her eyes watched him, waiting to see his next move, after all he had the control now.

[Jared Martins]

Jared knew there was a large section of Adrianna’s heart that was closed off to him. Parts of her that were connected to incidents in her past. But then so were parts of his own heart and mind that were closed off to her. But that was how they seemed to work out perfectly. They didn’t feel the need to completely reveal everything about their past right then. Jared felt like that they had plenty of time for that later on. As far as he knew, he figured that this relationship was working perfectly well on the base it was already at. With no one but them knowing. If and when it finally got out, he wasn’t sure what would happen.

His own past wasn’t that terrible, just had it’s darker moments. There were many moments he wasn’t proud of and even his son didn’t know about them. One reason he was so against drinking unless it was in understandable proportions was his own problems with it. Many times while Markus had been at school he’d wondered around the house in a drunken daze before passing out in his bed. Those moments Jared didn’t even think he wanted anyone to ever know about them. Willow Brooke wasn’t just to help students, but the staff members and Jared was the biggest one.

Adrianna might never know how much her words really affected Jared’s heart. They were spoken in a carefree tone, but underneath it was a more sincere and honest heart stricken voice that caressed his heart. “Glad to know you’ll be sticking around that long.” Giving her a wink, he licked his lips while trying to remain calm and think with a clear heard. This was coming increasingly harder to do with Adrianna looking and acting the way she was. Nothing new, she always managed to mess with his mind and cloud his thoughts in such a way.

The playful side of the doctor had been very hard to resist when she first started working at Willow Brooke. Jared never stood a chance whenever she wanted something and started to tease him just a little. He wanted to blame it on how lonely he was and say he was just being a guy, but he’d have been lying to himself.

His eyes watched her spin back around, her skirt twirling with her, brushing against her thighs. “Or I’ll have to get out of my comfy chair and drag you back over here.” A low growl rose from Jared’s lips, not in a threatening way but more of a playful banter to get Adrianna to move closer. Reopening his arms, he took to woman back into his lap with a smile on his lips. “There we go. Right where you belong.” Winking, his arms tightened around her waist before he rested his chin on her shoulder. His eyes shut as he took in a deep breath of Adrianna’s perfume or whatever it was that made her smell so good. It was addicting like a good piece of chocolate cake.

“Ground you? I don’t believe I’m your father. That would make this whole situation awkward.” A smile sat on his lips at her next words, but he kept his eyes shut. Sleep had been eluding him lately and with someone in his arms to hold on to temptation to sleep was very strong. “Can’t fire you.” He grunted slightly while nuzzling her neck gently. It wasn’t a large or fancy declaration of love, but the idea behind it was there. Jared didn’t want to give her up. There were times in his life the owner of Willow Brooke was a selfish bastard and this was one of them.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Listening to the first of Jared’s words made her heart skip a bit of a beat. She smiled at the thought, for the first time in ... well first time in forever she didn’t feel the need to run she wondered if it was because their relationship was a secret or if there was something stronger holding her there. She was finally starting to find the peace in her life that she had been searching for years. Part of the reason she didn’t mind the relationship being secret. This relationship was helping her get over her past, she needed this, and didn’t want anything to jeopardize it.

Adrianna very well knew that her manner sometimes toyed with him, but it always generated the reaction she wanted. She also knew better than to abuse it, she didn’t pull that card everyday or even every week. She had quickly learned it worked the best when she surprised him with it. She waited till he almost forgets she could play games and then pulled another one out. She also knew better than to carry the game on, games were only fun for so long, but then you had to end them.

A laughed escaped her lips as her spoke about making the situation awkward, but the laugh faded off a bit as it sent her thoughts to her actual father. Knowing Jared hadn’t meant it that way she make sure to collect herself quickly as she didn’t want him feeling bad, listening to him simply state he couldn’t fire her made her smile. “Good, because I think I like my job here”.

She loved the feeling of Jared snuggling close to her, it warmed her heart. She allowed her arms to wrap around his neck and pull him a little closer. Having him this close allowed her to take in his scent as well, a smell she loved, and it was almost calming. That was another thing she loved about Jared, his demeanour was calm, tough yet soft. Adrianna was naturally a little higher strung and his attitude simmered a lot of that down in a good way.

Turning her head slightly as not to break their embrace she gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. A true sign of affection. Their relationship had grown faster in the past few months then it had before, not faster in the physical sense, but emotionally. Maybe it was because they were growing past that honey moon stage where you couldn’t get enough of one another. Although Adrianna still couldn’t get enough of him...but still, she just enjoyed being by him. His arms felt so secure, security she hadn’t felt since her own fathers embrace. She was falling in love with this man...and that terrified her.