Jessica B. Hayes, the lobbyist for the North Carolina Home Builders Association who was in an intimate relationship with the chief of staff for the speaker of the state House, has resigned her position.

“I asked for and she voluntarily submitted her resignation,” Mike Carpenter, the association’s executive vice president and general counsel, said Friday.

Charles Thomas, chief of staff for House Speaker Thom Tillis, resigned a day earlier after being questioned about the relationship by The News & Observer.

Carpenter said that the association’s lobbyist, Jessica B. Hayes, told him the relationship turned romantic in January.

He said it was not appropriate for a lobbyist to be involved with the chief of staff. He said he had no knowledge of it until after the newspaper began asking questions Thursday afternoon.