I always thought that expensive cars were supposed to be comfortable. I guess it wasn’t really the car that was making me uncomfortable, it was the icicle of a person beside me. I felt like melting into the seat, disappearing into refined leather, and upholstery. I was terrified that my shoes would scuff the glove compartment or nick the edge of the seatbelt, fraying it. “What is the matter, Miss Laurence?” he finally broke the silence. He didn’t listen to the radio or music, it was absolute silence, and on top of the car being expensive, it was a hybrid which meant I couldn’t even distract myself with the purr of the engine. This was probably the only time I cursed someone’s environmental awareness.“Nothing,” I tried to keep my voice light, but my fists were curling beneath the seat, tension rippling through them.“I do not appreciate liars, Miss Laurence, you would do well to remember that,”“Why does everything you say sound like a threat?” I quizzed him. The best way to distr
“You don’t have to walk me to my door, you know that right?” My voice was back to its peppy tone, a little like I was tipsy but I was just tired. Drunk on work, I wasn’t much of a drinker, I hated the idea of not being able to control myself, or remember what had happened. That was one of my greatest fears.“I feel obliged to,” he spoke carefully in a much softer tone as though he didn’t want to scare me. I hated that I had cried, it was pathetic totally and utterly.“So I’m an obligation now, you really do know how to make a girl feel special,”He gave me a look that couldn’t be more disapproving if he tired. A permanently etched-on, half smile that wasn’t a smile. If that made any sense.So he walked me to my door, and not just that, he didn’t just stop and the gate that led to my flat, he continued following me up to my floor.I mean I couldn’t just tell him to get lost, that would be rude. “Do you live alone Miss Laurence?”“You sure that information isn’t in that file you defini
“YOU’RE ALIVE!” I don’t think there has ever been a day gone by since Tobias and I met that he hasn’t shouted something absurd. But I loved that about him.“No thanks to you,” I teased, it was the early morning, and there weren’t many customers at the restaurant it was more of a lunch and dinner venue anyways so I thought I’d pop by to make sure that Tobias hadn’t burnt the place down.He grinned at me, leaning against the counter, “You want to know something awesome?”“When have I ever been anyone to say no to awesomeness,” I chided and his smile just widened.“I passed the LNAT, I’m officially going to go to law school, get that degree and kick some ass like you.”“That’s amazing!” I gushed genuinely proud of him, this had been his dream forever, “But what do you mean like me, I’m not a lawyer.”“Yeah, but your really great at breaking boundaries, you know women in business, must be hard.”“Then what are you worried about?” the concern was fragrant in my voice, as his face fell dipp
I was so grateful I wasn’t in my stalker's shoes at the moment. If looks could kill, scratch that if looks could obliterate into nothingness, the man in the leather jacket would have been pulverised by now.I tried to focus on that more than the insults about me not putting effort into the way I look and lacking confidence. I mean it was kinda true but right now I wanted to see just how angry Mr Emerson the walking stone could be.“I mean no harm mate,” the man spoke almost hurriedly, his voice a sort of gravelly tone like he had chain-smoked a hundred cigarettes before trying to grab me off the street and do God knows what with me.“Mate? I am far from your mate, and I would advise you to leave before Security has to get involved.”“Security isn’t going to scare me man,” he sort of puffed his chest out, trying to be all masculine but the little machoness he had summoned was destroyed by a single scalding look from my boss, and his blistering declaration, “Oh the security would have t
It was needless to say I was the pettiest person out there. After my revelation and psychoanalysis of Mr Emerson how it was his own guilt pushing him to do absolutely absurd things. I had marched myself into my office, and half slammed the door.I couldn’t commit to a full slam because you know it’s glass, and I don’t want to shatter something. Especially when that something, is the only thing separating our two offices.I was playing the silent game, I wasn't going to talk to him until he got his shit together and realised what an awful idea it was to test me like that. I’m a corporate assistant not part of MI-5, for goodness sake. I shouldn’t be worrying about being tailed. I was shuffling through the papers left on my desk, some needed me to enter data into the unified cloud server that was fortified and held most of the clients’ information. Though, Mr Emerson was extra safe with more sensitive pieces of data. Paper always was safer than anything electrical. It would be terribly
This was it, I was convinced this was how I was going to die, holding a thousand things and chasing after Mr Emerson. It was almost comical like I was straight out of one of those movies where the comedic relief was merely some poor assistant who was trying to juggle the world, whilst the savvy no-nonsense boss was spouting a bunch of stuff they somehow needed to remember when all their brain power was focused on not tripping over their own two feet and spilling all the clutter in their arms straight onto the floor.“Miss Laurence,” his voice cut through my thoughts as he sternly asked, “Are you even listening to me.”“Yeah of course I am listening to you, why wouldn’t I-”“Then tell me what I just said.”I grinned, “Easy, you just said, Tell me what I just said,”He was not amused.But I was and isn’t that what matters the most?There was a low chuckle sounded from behind me, “You’ve got a funny one this time,”I spun on my heel to be met with one of the most breathtaking men I had e
“Where have you been?” he had his serious voice on. Who am I kidding? His voice was always stern, that low drawl that demanded to be respected.“I was having lunch, you know that meal you have in the middle of the day so you can not die. You might not have heard of it because you are a robot. Don’t really need food, just oil.”“You are not as amusing as you think Miss Laurence,” he spoke without a hint of a smile.“And I don’t trust you to be the connoisseur of humour,” I quipped, sitting myself in the chair opposite him because I was so tired of standing. His eyes followed my every movement in that analysing and scrutinising way that I had become all too familiar with.“No, but I am the connoisseur of punctuality something that you lack, entirely,” “What? It was lunch break, you’ve worked me to the bone you can at least let me eat, surely?”“Your lunch break is an allocated 45 minutes, you took 51 minutes, that’s 6 minutes I should dock off of your pay,”I stared at him dumbfounded,
“I’m keeping this dress you know,” I announced as I pulled my skirts from beneath me, ready to exit the car, “As compensation, for you dragging me to this event,”“Like I would have much use for a dress,” he drawled, the sound smooth and dipped in honey.“Who knows you might have a secret girlfriend, lurking around here somewhere, you sure they won’t mind that your taking me to this fancy ball?” I joked.“I have no secret girlfriend, Miss Laurence, I do not know where you get these absurd ideas from,”“You sure are lonely aren’t you? Having to take someone you're paying to be your date…”I trailed off at his pointed look, just a hint of amusement and my statement unravelled itself, “Oh my god, I sound like an escort,”“Don’t think too much about is Miss Laurence, we have a plan to enact,” I grumbled as he held out a hand, taking my palm in his and elegantly pulling me out of the sleek black car. He straightened his shirt with his free hand, making sure the buttons on his blazer were f