Delilah K. Stephans

The door to his office slammed shut behind Jason Boyle and for once he didn’t give a shit. Two days before Christmas and the judge had just declared his little sister dead; that his twin Carson had pushed for it only ratcheted up his anger.
Damn it, he even agreed with Carson’s reasoning. His parents couldn’t spend every dime of their retirement searching for Sarah Elizabeth when she was nowhere to be found. No, his sister was somewhen not just somewhere and the worst part was no one knew when she was.
Jason sank into his chair as his anger bled away into frustration. Maybe Carson was right, they’d tried for eight years to find any scrap of evidence of what time period Sarah had been sent to, but there was nothing.
The explosion that had destroyed the prototype, most of the records and killed the technicians and third traveler had made it almost impossible to recreate their work. If it hadn’t been for an obscure reference in Sarah’s diary, he and Carson would never have known what happened to her.
A soft knock on his door scattered his dark thoughts. “Come.” The door opened and D.J. Morgan walked in. One of their best researchers, he’d put her on tracking any reference to his sister she could find, that had been three years ago. She’d yet to find anything and had been assigned several other research projects, yet she always returned to finding Sarah.
Her dogged determination impressed him as he’d never expected it from the exotic beauty. Her full lips were tilted up in a smile and those dark brown eyes he could easily fall into sparkled.
“I think I found a clue to your sister’s when-abouts.”
He chuckled at the term, pure D.J. humor. He would be willing to bet all the time jokes bantering about the Time Displacement Corps offices had originally spilled out of those luscious lips. “Oh?”
“Yeah.” She crossed to his desk and held out a photocopy of an ancient journal. “In 1859 a Sarah something ordered four pair of pants and silk shirts from a dressmaker.”
Jason snorted. “Could have been for her husband.”
“Not with these bust and hip measurements.” She pointed them out. “These were definitely for a woman. The records were in a cache that we picked up in Baltimore about six months ago. This Marlene kept impeccable records including swatches of the cloth for each dress. Great stuff, for those of us in research but apparently she didn’t keep records of where she was. I just thought you should know.”
He studied the page again. The measurements definitely indicated that the clothes were for a woman, even the swatches pinned to the invoice, though faded with time, were something no man of anytime would have been caught dead wearing. “Keep looking. I need to know if this Sarah is indeed my sister.”
She nodded, the black mane of her hair falling forward, she quickly tucked it back behind her ears. “Sure thing boss. Carson has me working on a project, but as soon as I finish that I’ll be back at work on finding her for you.”
Jason wanted to hug her. D.J. was the only one left that still believed there was any chance of finding Sarah. Carson had given up years ago and thanks to his urging so had their parents. But, not D.J. Morgan. She was as determined as he was to bring his baby sister home. “Thanks, Deej.”
“You’re welcome. So, what had you slamming your door?” She sank gracefully into the chair opposite him and pulled one leg up to rest one foot on the edge of the chair and wrapped her arms around it then hugged it to her chest.
Damn the woman was perceptive. She might often give the impression she was oblivious to everything around her, but that was rarely the case.
>He wasn’t going to answer but the concern shining from her eyes had him speaking before he realized he’d decided to tell her. Everything poured out of him; his frustration about not finding Sarah and his anger at Carson for just giving up.
Eventually, Jason ran out of words and looked up from the folder on his desk, and at her. She looked at him for a long moment then stood without speaking.
Damn, he hadn’t meant to do that. Unload on her everything that was going on in his life. D.J. had never been anything but professional and he’d spilled his guts. He was about to apologize when she moved around the desk and motioned for him to stand.
Unsure what she wanted, he did, then she wrapped her arms around him, tucked her head under his chin and hugged him. His breath caught in his throat at the simple gesture. Only D.J. would do something like this offer him comfort without expecting anything. He tilted his head and rested his cheek against the top of her head, loving the soft silk of her hair and the citrus scent of her shampoo as her hands ran up and down his back. His body flared to life with desire for the woman in his arms.
She stepped back, her hands resting on his hips and smiled up at him. “Better?”
He nodded but the truth was it wasn’t better. Now he wanted to taste her full lips. Find out if she tasted as sweet as he dreamed, but he couldn’t. No, he wouldn’t. He was her boss and no matter what his body wanted and it wanted her. He leaned forward, watching her closely for any sign of refusal. Jason tilted his head and brushed those tempting lips with his own. By sheer determination he kept the kiss light. He was about to pull back when she stepped into him, wrapped her arms around his waist and took control of the kiss. His senses reeled at the taste of her spicy, sweet and addicting. She was the one to break the kiss and step back, a satisfied grin on the lips he wanted to taste again.
“Come on,” her voice rose over the sound of his own harsh breathing. “I’ll buy you a cup of really bad punch at the Christmas party.”
Jason nodded then began to follow her out of the office. “Deej?”
She paused at the door and looked back at him one eyebrow raising.
“What does D.J. stand for?”
“Destiny Jade.” She held out her hand waiting.
Jason took her hand in his marveling at the strength of the petite woman beside him. Boss or not, he needed to get to know Ms. Destiny Jade Morgan more. He knew she was going to become an important part of his life.