Page 114 of When The Night Falls

‘I can do it,’ I said, because his closeness was clouding my thoughts.

His beautiful hands reached out to organise a stack of paper. ‘I know you can, but four hands will get the job done quicker.’

I grew quiet.

‘That’s a lovely perfume you’re wearing,’ he said after a while, and it made me blush again. Could he stop being so goddamned charming? I had to move on, but he was making it impossible. ‘What’s it called?’

‘It’s called none of your business,’ I said impassively.

He chuckled. ‘Christ. It was only a compliment. What’s got your knickers in such a twist?’

You.

‘Sorry, time of the month,’ I lied.

‘Ah. I’ll tread gently.’

‘Do you ever?’ I said under my breath, but when his hands froze, it was apparent that he had heard me.

After a brief pause, he leaned forward to lock eyes with me, and his glowed with a strictness that I found oddly arousing. ‘I don’t appreciate your passive-aggressive behaviour right now. If there’s something you’d like to say, be direct about it.’

Ripping my gaze from his, I glared away and wondered if I should tell him that I hadn’t remotely appreciated his conduct last week with regards to Francesca’s visit. At the same time, I was reluctant to enlighten him.

‘You’re right, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.’

‘Apology accepted.’

A period of silence elapsed, and I spent it dreading the rest of my day here. I hoped Francesca or another lover wouldn’t make an appearance, but if it happened, I hoped William would retain the decency not to ask me to work in his office straight afterwards.

We spent another five minutes on the task before we got started on actual work, and we hardly exchanged a word until lunch, but I caught him stealing glances at me so often that my irritation with him continued to increase. I hated being scrutinised by him, so I didn’t want to work in here. I wanted to work next to Ellie.

His presence was bothering me immensely – his whole existence was.He was my boss, and I was madly attracted to him. Watching him sit there in his light-grey suit with that olive green tie around his neck – a neck which I had lavished with kisses some months ago – was beyond frustrating. Though I had never been religious, I could relate to Eve’s time in Eden. However, in my case, Eden was my job – my personal paradise. The serpent was my never-ending lust for William, always whispering at the back of my mind, trying to tempt me into tasting the forbidden fruit that was my boss – William fucking Night. Truly, the more we interacted, the harder it was to resist acting on my infatuation with him, and it pissed me off.

I would have to think of something to rectify this situation. Being in his audience was far too distracting. It was difficult to maintain a strict focus on work. So easily, my thoughts ventured into erotic fantasies about him. I could barely look into his eyes without seeing the sizzling gaze he had once trapped me with, when I had been spread flat across his dining table.

Groaning, I decided I would hit the gym after work. Maybe blowing off some steam would quell my lust for him, at least for a while. Indeed, to tackle this, I would make the gym my go-to place for therapy to cure my anger and frustration with myself. I would exhaust myself completely, to the point where I wouldn’t have energy left to spare for anything other than breathing.

§ § §

Over lunch, I hardly shared a word with anyone. Violet tried to strike up a conversation with me, but I was dismissive in my replies because I was preoccupied with my thoughts. She didn’t seem offended, though, for which I was grateful, but then she didn’t come across as a sensitive person either. Besides, as she was talking to me, I couldn’t help but think that she might be trying to play me for a fool. I knew full well that she had been, and perhaps still was, William’s regular bed partner, so I was suspicious of her intentions. It was possible that her interest was innocent, but part of me wondered if it was based solely on the fact that we had once shared a man. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, though, because there was something about her character that I found rather agreeable. Perhaps it was her assertiveness, or perhaps it was her intellect. Regardless, she had acquired my respect, so while I was dismissive, I was still polite about it.

When Andy tried to get a word out of me, asking if my pasta salad was any good, I had enough.

‘It is,’ I said and stood up. ‘Anyway, I think I’ll get back to work.’

Without looking at me, William nodded and put his fork down. ‘Me too,’ he said and pushed his chair out.

I cursed inwardly. I had hoped to get some space from him, and now he was robbing me of the opportunity.

§ § §

At half three, I attended the meeting that William had with our client Clifford Paints to go over the draft version of the NDA. Ellie joined us for it to write the report, so I looked over her shoulder a lot while William discussed the specifics of the NDA. Fortunately, I managed to resist admiring him this time and instead remained focused on what was being said.

It was nearly five o’clock when the meeting concluded, and I caught myself hoping that William wouldn’t ask me to stay longer to complete the report or polish the NDA. If he did, I considered whether to ask him if I could do it from home instead, as I was all too eager to depart from his presence and hit the gym.

‘I’ll walk you down in just a moment,’ William said as Gerard, Tom and Bo left the meeting room. Closing the door, he turned around and answered my prayers by ordering Ellie to stay longer instead. But then he looked at me and said, ‘You can go and wait in my office.’

I blinked. ‘Er, because you need me to stay longer as well?’

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