[Updated for content and errors: 10/03/2022]

~~~Jax~~~

Seeing Lance so readily get down to business, fingers poised over the laptop, Jasmine breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t forgotten their agreement to meet in his office this morning after all. She had no desire to play the sex-crazed seductress again. It had taken so much out of her to put on that show in the bar last night. Portraying the desire hadn’t been the hard part. He was still an incredibly attractive, warm-voiced, hard bodied man. It was the control over that desire that had been the surprising struggle. The desire was real, and strong. The control was not. After the morning she’d had, she wasn’t too sure she would be up for doing it all over again.

Letting out all of that darkness and vitriol during her cleanse the night before had been freeing. It was a little surprising to her, in fact, how much of it was in there. Sam knew her well, and Jax was glad she’d suggested it. Consequently, she slept wonderfully last night. So wonderfully, in fact, that she’d slept through her first few alarms. Thankfully Spriggan couldn’t abide the sound of an alarm and meowed in her ear until she turned the last one off. The next two hours were a whirlwind. A short morning full of coffee and indecision.

 Going into this as a “former” cop, she was starting off on a bad foot with anyone she came into contact with in his office. It wasn’t going to be some big secret, she was sure. They’d be suspicious and resentful. So everything, everything, about her appearance and manner had to be perfect. Throw them off the scent. Distract. Subvert. Something she was definitely used to. Most of her life had been some form of fabricated distraction or another. 

“It’s just a conversation,” she said sternly to her reflection after the third outfit change. “Get in, establish yourself, get out. You don’t care about him. You’re just there to do a job.” She took off the red silk shirt and pencil skirt to change back into the more modest gray dress she’d been wearing moments before. The dress was off the shoulder on one side, and gathered at the hip. It was high-necked, and knee length, but also form fitting. Nothing overtly sexy yet, she decided. Subtlety, respectability. These things would be less likely to get her noticed. Simple flats and small silver hoops completed the ensemble. Looking at her hair, she decided that trying to tame it would take far too long. She slapped it in as close to a French twist as she could get, and put it out of her mind. No time for anything special. Besides, if she remembered correctly, that subtle neck exposure would keep Lance just distracted enough to not ask any of the hard questions. 

A little smudgy eyeliner, a lip stain, some cream blush, a longing look at the coffee maker, and she was out the door. Belatedly, she was grateful for the shortened time. It forced her not to be too perfectly polished. In her experience in any workplace, wearing no make-up would create whispers. Wearing too much makeup would make them talk.

Cop Jasmine knew exactly where his office was in the building. But fired cop Jax had no idea. The building directory told her he was on the top two floors. She decided to go to the lower floor and see if that would give her some kind of access to someone who could tell her where to go. The elevator opened onto a cozy lobby with a front desk. Stumbling from the elevator, she dropped her keys, and fought constantly with a lock of hair that wouldn’t stay out of her left eye. This was only partially an act. That curl was going to get chopped off if it wasn’t careful.

The receptionist was a no-nonsense woman from the deep South. However, she took pity on Jasmine. “Rough morning?” She’d asked. Her own bun was equally unkempt, but the rest of her seemed polished to perfection.

Surprised at the lack of venom in her voice, Jasmine responded as best as she could, “Yeah. I just couldn't get out of bed. You know how it is.” Finally getting her belongings squared away, she faced the woman.

The receptionist smiled. “I’m Elvia. Are you Darius’s 9am?”

“No, sorry. I actually was supposed to have a meeting with Mr. Koslov this morning to discuss options for my employment? We didn’t set an exact time, but I assumed 8am. My name is Jasmine McKisson.”

“Well let's see here.” Typing at record speeds, Elvia seemed to be accessing every database in the country. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t have an individual appointment for him this morning.” She dropped her voice to a conspiratory whisper, “But sometimes he forgets to tell me. Let me see what he says.” She reached for the phone, but stopped herself. “Would you like some coffee? My day always gets better after some caffeine.”

Before Jax could answer, Elvia started walking into a hallway just off of the lobby. “Now we don’t have much in the way of creamer or sugar, or anything. I keep milk in the fridge though. You know, for the fancier stuff. We have this wonderful cappuccino, latte, espresso machine-thing that the boss got for the floor. It makes great stuff. Latte okay?”

Smiling at the kindness, “That sounds lovely, thank you Elvia.”

Coming out of the break room alongside Elvia in a comfortable quiet, Jasmine saw the man she’d handed the note to last week. She didn’t know him well enough to know if the look on his face was normal or not. But he definitely didn’t look thrilled. When he saw her standing there with coffee and Elvia, the scowl on his face grew infinitesimally more pronounced. Oh yeah, he definitely knew who she was. She had a bit of patchwork to do there. Expanding her lungs in an inhale, she forced herself to relax. Less than 24 hours into this operation, and she could already tell it was going to be a slow burner. Couldn’t stress over everything all at once. She’d start making mistakes. That’s how cops got caught. Just relax, live the lie, and keep going.

“Nice to see you again. I didn’t catch your name before. I’m Jax.” She put a small smile on her face, and offered her hand.

Sneering at her hand, he pushed past her. With a nod to Elvia he went into the office on the opposite side of her desk and slammed his door.

“Oh don’t mind him, hon. Boss probably said no to his lunch plans or something.” Elvia sat down in her chair and buzzed Lance’s office. "Young lady here to see you, Mr. Kozlov. Wild red hair?” A wink at Jax. “Name's Jasmine? I fixed her up with an espresso. She’s seated in the lobby. Should I send her in now that Darius has left?"

Warm mug in hand, Jasmine relaxed into the plush sofa in the lobby, waiting. Every inch of this place was warm and inviting. Elvia especially seemed wonderful. Even though this was an undercover assignment, she had a feeling she was going to like working here. If the others accepted her after whatever Darius was sure to tell them, that is.