"Apology for what?" Chase repeated.For impregnating me, you asshole! She thought to herself.If looks could kill, he'd be dead. Sighing, Amaya responded, "For lying to me. She raised her voice, on the verge of stomping her foot. Yes, she had nothing in mind, so she voiced this childish thing in her brain without thinking how pathetic she had been. "For faking an American accent and telling me you were just an ordinary businessman. For—""Not that it’s any of your business, Miss Patterson." Chase lifted one hand, cutting into her stream of words. "And not that I will ever provide you with any more personal information, seeing as you’re officially an employee, and my secretary one at that," he reminded me coolly. "Your two weeks are up, and guess what? I intend to keep you at my beck and call."Fuck you! I wished I could club him over the head with a stapler, remove the grin from his face, and still keep my job. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure HR would frown on that.He tugged at his c
The next day at six-fifty in the evening...And where, Amaya thought, am I? Still in the office. She was the last man standing. Or sitting, in actual fact. At her desk, with the computer flickering in front of her and profit and loss columns demanding attention. Not immediate attention—nothing that couldn’t wait until the following morning—but..."Jesus, what the hell am I doing here?" She sighed and sat back, stretching out the knots in her shoulders, and for a few minutes allowed herself to get lost in thought. She already called Tommy and the babysitter about doing overtime, and she swore her baby was disappointed.She knew where she should be right now—and it wasn’t in the office. Even if it was a very nice office in a more-than-very-nice building in the prestigious heart of Rome,In fact, she should be anywhere but here. To her son, watching Paw Patrol and eating cookies.Then she should be out enjoying herself when Tommy goes to sleep; she should be lazing around in the park with
Still perched on her desk, invading her space, Chase picked up a glass paperweight in the shape of a goldfish and twirled it thoughtfully between his fingers. "I'm not the devil, you know.""His cousin maybe?" but far too often, all things considered. He is the devil’s twin; there are no doubts about that. She thought to herself."Good, that mouth of yours, Miss Patterson, never seems to amaze me."She lowered her eyes in order not to murder the asshole, suddenly a little angry at some kind of unspoken, amused criticism behind his words.Chase pointed it out, dumping the goldfish back on the desk where he had found it. "What's with the boring outfit? I remember those nights when you were nothing but small red satin—"Her eyes widened. "Chase! We agreed; we both agreed to never ever mention what happened back then, remember? And my choice of clothing is none of your fucking business!""Mouth of an angel, I see." He smirked and stood up and slapped a sheaf of papers on her desk, then pl
"I'm not comfortable with you asking me some personal questions, Mr. Johnson," Amaya said as she looked around her at her neat space, in which she felt so safely cocooned. These four small walls of her cubicle were tangible proof of how far she’d come and how quickly—tangible proof of the solid income that marked her steps along that road called financial security.Her son had begged if he could visit her place of work, but Amaya had tactfully, and a little shamefully, killed the suggestion before it could take shape. She feared what might happen if Chase saw her son—what if he recognised him?"Why? I'm merely asking so I can drop you off; the bus at this hour is—""I can handle myself; the bus is always busy, but I managed for the past two weeks. Thanks for the offer." She shoved her work laptop into a leather briefcase and reached for the grey jacket she had slung over the back of her chair.Grey jacket, grey calf-length skirt, flat, sensible patent pumps, and, yes, definitely tight
One week later.It had taken a lot for Amaya not to get in touch with Gary the next day. Was he guilty of fraud? It was hard to believe. He was funny, very gay, friendly, courteous, and kind, and he had taken her under his wing and trained her. That said, he had not been his usual self over the past few days. Was there an explanation there somewhere?She had looked through the files. Thankfully, no dummy companies had been set up, which she hoped ruled out fraud on a systematic, large-scale basis. But the odd entries were definitely there, and... She sighed and looked at her watch. She had managed to put off Chase the previous week, but he would be expecting her in his office now. At nearly seven p.m., the offices were again practically empty—aside from a few hard-core, nose-to-the-grindstone employees who barely glanced in her direction as she briskly walked out of the office with her files towards the bank of lifts.It had been two hours since she had been in Chase’s office. Not sin
"Nothing… I just remember something," he sighed and looked at her like he was so bored and that her existence doesn't matter, "Miss Patterson, this is Gary's future we’re talking about; surely, he is your friend, and you care about him?" Chase’s keen eyes had noted all her little defence mechanisms: the way her lips had pursed, the tension in her shoulders, the buttoning of the jacket. "You wouldn’t want to write it off in a five-minute summary just because you happen to have a hot date for the evening, would you?""Oh God, I don’t have a hot date. I merely promised my son to rewatch his favourite movie!"The words left her mouth before she could drag them back, and it was no big deal, but she still felt suddenly vulnerable and exposed. Her cheeks were burning as curious eyes lingered on her face. "I mean…" she gamely went on, even though she knew she should just shut up because now he was staring at her with even more curiosity. "I often take work home with me. There’s a lot to get t
"Chase, I'm just doing my job; I’m ambitious," she told him heatedly, "and there’s nothing wrong with that. I work hard because I hope that my hard work will pay off and that I’ll be promoted. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and I’ve had to fight for every single thing I’ve got." She muttered and thought that no matter how sexy Chase was, he still gave her the vibe of someone who’d been around the block, and this was Rome, so there were plenty of dubious blocks to choose from.It was more than she should have said, although not a word of it was untrue. It just felt weird—wrong—to be confiding in him. And why was she there anyway? She wasn’t there for an interview, and he hadn’t demanded that she explain herself. What was she doing?Surely, he had her nerves.Usually so reticent, she had been propelled into speaking her mind.Amaya licked her lips nervously, realised that she was sitting forward, fists clenched on the table, and deliberately made herself relax and smile.
"We already agreed to never talk about it, remember?""Yeah, so how about we talk about your overtime?" Chase groaned as he watched her lick her lips."Of course I know that there’s no need for me to work long hours to get on—although, in fairness, I probably work fewer hours in the winter than my colleagues.""Ah, yes. Because you’re a creature of the night?"And just like that, Amaya thought of her dancing years, of those jobs, of dancing and showing herself off in whatever nonsense she was told to put on. A creature of the night doing nighttime jobs. Nothing like her."Don’t you ever say that to me!" Amaya blurted out before she could stop herself. She was shaking with anger and stuck her hands under the table on her lap so that he couldn’t see that they were shaking."Say what?" Chase asked slowly, his sharp eyes narrowing on her flushed face. "Did I say something wrong?" He frowned and saw her make a visible effort to gather herself. "Tell me what the problem is.""There isn’t a