Page 46 of Alice Carver Manifests Her Perfect Life
I turned back momentarily and leant on her desk. ‘Actually, I’ve got a messed-up stomach.’ I stared at her. ‘Probably caught it from my nephews.’ I saw her gaze flick to my hand on her desk and then back to me.
‘So quite contagious?’ she said.
I picked up a pen from her pot and bit it pensively. ‘Super contagious.’
She definitely flinched. Then I put the pen back in her pot with the others and stirred it around. At least if she’s busy wiping her pens, she can back off keeping tabs on me.
But things did improve: someone had left a load of doughnuts in the kitchenette, which I helped myself to, and whilst I was texting Drunk Stephen to tell him about the doughnuts, Charlotte came in. Obviously, I’ve been desperate to find outwhat’s been going on between her and Guy Carmichael, but it’s not like we’re friends, so I couldn’t text just to ask her directly. This, however, was the perfect opportunity.
‘Hey, Charlotte,’ I said, as she strode in and started filling her water bottle at the water station. ‘You look amazing.’
She did. She was wearing that crocheted body con dress like she was about to hit Ibiza’s clubs: there was a lot of skin on display. It reminded me a bit of the Balmain dress Ebba was wearing on New Year’s Eve. I fleetingly imagined Matthew’s hands on Ebba’s skin and then immediately shoved the thought aside. Charlotte may not be a Swedish model but was still totally pulling off that dress; she’s absolutely ripped because of all those hours she spends at GlowCycle. Not an obvious choice of outfit for a cold January day in the workplace but I suppose she is shagging the boss.
‘Yeah, thanks.’ She flipped her hair to the side. ‘Just threw the first thing on really.’
Like hell she did.
‘Well, I imagine Guy won’t be able to keep his hands off you when he sees you!’ I said, casually.
‘Yeah, probably.’ She turned to face away from me.
‘So how’s it going with you two?’ I persisted.
‘Oh yeah. It’s not.’
She screwed her bottle lid on firmly.
‘Really?’ I tried not to look too excited. ‘I thought you liked him?’
‘It was just a bit of fun. But, like I told Guy, I’m not looking for anything serious at my age.’
Well, that’s a change of heart. She told me at the summer author do that she’s been on the hunt since twenty-five.According to her mother, once Charlotte hit thirty, she’d be seeing a steep decline in her cachet as no man wants to trade in one old crone of a wife for another.
‘I’mstill in my prime,’ continued Charlotte. ‘No offence, Alice.’
‘None taken,’ I lied, standing aside to let Charlotte sashay out of the kitchenette.
Drunk Stephen arrived for doughnuts just as she left – ‘Dressing to kill, Charlotte,’ he said, whistling in admiration as she passed him. Perfect timing. As soon as she’d gone, I told him what she said. Drunk Stephen’s eyes opened wide. He checked carefully that no one else was near. ‘Yeah, so he totally dumped her.’
I gasped in delight.
‘But she’s his type! Young, pretty, hot body… ? I thought she had it in the bag?’
‘Clearly so did she. Big mistake. It’s one thing having a type; it’s another admitting publicly that you have a type.’ He leant closer. ‘Word on the street is that she posted a picture of them together a couple of days in, and that was it.’
‘What?’ I said. ‘I wonder what his problem was?’
‘Er, he’s married?’ Drunk Stephen looked at me like I was being stupid. ‘And her boss?’
‘Everyone knows he and his wife are separated though.’
‘If you’re still married, then it’s still an affair.’Drunk Stephen looked around furtively before adding, ‘And Anika in PR said that apparently Charlotte asked him, like literally mid-blow-job, if she could make their relationship official on her account.’
‘Oh god, I hope that’s true!’
‘Damn, I’ve eaten two of these doughnuts now,’ said Drunk Stephen, ‘but I’m burning calories with the anticipation – I’ve never been so excited for a divisional in my life! I can’t wait to see her and GC in the same room.’
Up until the last ten minutes of it, divisional was, in reality, bloody boring: Amelia from HR opened the meeting by reading a statement, saying, ‘We are not currently in a position to share information about the merger, but as soon as we are, you will be the first to know. For now, please operate as normal, and no questions for the time being, thank you’; then a load of department heads just talked and talked and talked – as usual. Still, it was less of a chore because I got a great seat where I could stare at Guy Carmichael listening to his droning colleagues – without anyone noticing. He’s got a really sexy nod. Sort of grave, serious and powerful. I’d love him to nod at me like that. Like,Yes, Alice– small nod –you can sit on my cock. Can’t believe his wife let him go. Although he’s clearly slept with a number of employees over the years, which may have been an issue for her. Only attractive ones though. And very discreetly: we all pretend we know nothing about it. Can’t help thinking it really should be my turn soon. Remarkably, even though Charlotte was doing a lot of hair flicking and occasional coughing (plus obviously wearing next to nothing), Guy Carmichael didn’t glance her way once. Well, until the last ten minutes. Which was when things got interesting.
