Page 99 of When The Night Falls

He turned his attention to his screen. ‘I usually leave at eight or nine, unless Chelsea’s playing. But the season’s over, so work has got my full attention now.’

I laughed. ‘You are such a nerd about football.’

‘I’m a nerd full stop.’

I giggled. ‘And you should be proud of that.’

‘I am.’ He smiled crookedly, still looking at his screen.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow, then.’

‘Yes. Tell Jason you did wonderful on your first day, or else I will.’

‘All right.’ I grinned, and I was still wearing it when I exited the building and walked out on the street. Maybe shadowing him wouldn’t be as bad as I had feared. Thus far, we had managed to maintain a professional relationship impeccably, I thought.

16 | curiosity killed the cat

William and Ellie weren’t here yet, which I was glad to see. To make a good impression, I had meant to arrive before them. It was Wednesday now, and my first two days at Day & Night had gone rather well. In particular, I had William to thank for that. I had been worried he would have difficulty treating me as a colleague, but his behaviour had exceeded my expectations. He hadn’t sexualised me so much as once, much less forced me to remember our one-night stand. Instead, he had been perfectly professional and had taken me under his wing precisely the way he had promised he would when I signed my contract some months ago.

Finding my seat, I booted up my laptop and opened William’s virtual calendar to get an idea of his day. I knew I had to visit Clifford Paints this afternoon to collect some documents on William’s behalf, so I was trying to figure out when to complete the task. Shortly after lunch, he had a meeting with Violet, so I gathered I should do it then.

At five to eight, I heard the gates to the lift slide apart. A smile caught my lips when I turned my head. Wearing a navy suit, William was approaching me with two coffees in his hands. It amused me that he continued to bring me coffee every morning. He had done it yesterday as well. While I appreciated it, I wondered if it was special treatment because I was new and he wanted me to feel welcome, or whether he had been in the habit of doing it for Charlotte as well – the paralegal who had taken maternity leave.

‘Morning, love,’ he greeted. ‘You’re here early – again.’ He surprised me when he proceeded past my desk. ‘I thought you could work in my office today,’ he said with a grin when he noticed my confusion.

‘Your office?’

‘Yeah. We’ve got plenty of things to go over today, so I thought it might be more efficient. Bring your stuff.’

Heeding his command, I charged up from my seat and gathered my things. Then I headed toward his office, where he stood waiting by the door.

The closer I drew, the more intense his gaze seemed, so a faint blush had smeared my cheeks by the time I reached him. Too shy to look up at him, I walked in while mumbling, ‘Thanks.’ My own shyness surprised me somewhat. I couldn’t remember having felt this way around a man – ever. Too shy to look him in the eye? What on earth was going on with me?

As I put my things on one side of his desk, my eyes investigated the surrounding chaos. Myriad files covered nearly the entire surface of it, and it made me gulp. So this was what I had in store? How did he keep track of all this? Then again, he did seem like an organised man.

I thought of his flat. I remembered how tidy it had been. I hadn’t noticed a speck of dust anywhere, but perhaps he had someone to do his cleaning for him. A maid, for example. With his schedule, I couldn’t imagine he had time to spare for chores like dusting.

He shut the door and approached. ‘I’ll get this out of the way,’ he said as he rounded his desk. ‘Here.’ He extended a cup of coffee to me.

Shyness still dominated my feelings, but I was able to meet his gaze and offer a smile of gratitude as I took it.

‘You don’t need to do this every day, Will. I appreciate it, but you know I’d be happy to do it instead, right?’

He chuckled as he dumped his brown leather bag in his office chair. ‘I don’t expect you to bring me coffee, Cara. The shop’s in the same building as my flat. It’s part of my routine to stop by every morning.’

‘Expensive habit.’

He raised a brow. ‘I can afford it,’ he said, and from his tone, I was reminded that he didn’t enjoy drawing attention to his wealth.

‘Time-wise too?’

His lips twitched with amusement. ‘It hardly takes a minute. Besides, by doing it, I’m helping the economy overall. I’m creating jobs.’

That was an excellent point. I hadn’t thought of it like that before.

‘If you insist.’

‘I do.’

---