Page 91 of The Accidental Wife

Shayla

I groanwhen I hear the annoying and incessant buzzing of my alarm—not bothering to lift my head from where it’s buried under my pillow. I lift my arm and feel around my nightstand for it. I hit the snooze button and sigh when silence falls upon the room again. I lift my head and roll onto my back, staring up at the plain white ceiling. I honestly don’t have the energy to move a muscle.

I’ve not been sleeping very well the last couple of months; this new job is wearing me to the bone. That and I’m still trying to pick up the pieces of my broken heart. It’s been months— three to be exact. When is it going to stop hurting? I thought I would have gotten over him by now, but no, I just miss him, and I’m sick of it. I’m sick of thinking about him when I wake up. I’m even sicker of thinking about him when I go to bed, when I shower, try to eat. I have emotional surges at work. One second, I’ll be fine and the next, I get all emotional, and I lock myself away in the bathroom and cry.

Cole Hoult has well and truly turned my life upside down. Why do I feel like I’m going through a breakup when he was never mine to begin with? Ah, crap, here come the tears.

For fucksake Shayla, pull yourself together. He’s probably balls deep in his girlfriend right now. You’re nothing but a distant memory to him while you’re here torturing yourself.

With a shake of my head, I force myself out of bed and have a shower before I have to get to the office. I promised myself that I wouldn’t allow myself to think about Cole in any way. Today was going to be a Cole-free day. Yes, I was determined.

* * *

It was just beforenine when I stroll into the office drinking my second latte in an attempt to wake myself up for this meeting that we have in forty-five minutes. “Morning Shayla.” Bella greets me, chirpy as always, when I walk past her desk and set my coffee on my own desk opposite hers.

“Morning freckles,” I grumble, taking my jacket off and draping it over the back of my chair. Bella is also a junior architect, just like me. She’s a sweet girl with fiery red hair, amber eyes, and adorable freckles over her nose. I call her freckles because I’m obsessed with them. I think they’re super cute. She hates it, though, and playfully flips me off when I do. Hence why she’s currently holding up her middle finger at me. I smirk at her.

“You look exhausted, Shayla. Tough time sleeping again?” She questions, pulling her hair up in a bun and using a pencil to secure it. I taught her that. It’s a habit of mine when I need to focus.

I sigh and sit in my chair. “Sadly, but it’s fine though; sleep is overrated. I’ll just sleep when I’m dead.” I utter bitterly and sip my coffee before I fire up my computer. “Do you have any idea what this meeting is about first thing in the morning?” I ask with a yawn, and Bella smiles at me, shaking her head.

“Not a clue. It must be a big deal, though, because the big boss is in.” She gestures over to where the CEO of the company is currently having a meeting with the managers and H.R. I yawn again and lose interest, turning my attention to my work.

“Shayla?” I jump when a pencil hits my chest and falls on the floor. I take my AirPods out and look at Bella with a scowl.

“What?” I hiss annoyed. I was finally concentrating on my work, and she just distracted me again.

“Meeting?” She reminds me, and I curse and look at the time. Shit. I grab my notepad and pen and walk to the conference room with the rest of the employees. I slide into a leather chair on the glass table and doodle absentmindedly on my notepad while we all wait for the meeting to start.

“Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much to all of you for attending this meeting.” Emma, one of the company's head architects and partner, greets us all as she walks to the front of the room. “We have some exciting news to share with you all. Another company has bought us out, and we will work in partnership with them moving forward. This means more budgets, bigger projects for you all.” She says, and I sigh, not bothering to lift my gaze until the light of the projector shines on my face, almost blinding me.

“Our first project with this new company will be a super hotel they are planning to build in the UAE.” I lift my gaze and look at the projector screen and almost swallow my tongue. I drop my pen and sit forward, gawking at the design— my design—on display.

“Excuse me, Emma. Where did you get that?” I ask, interrupting her, and she smiles and looks at the design and back at me again.

“It was sent over by our new owners. Isn’t it fantastic? This is the design they’re thinking about for the hotel.” She replies, and I gape at her and shake my head.

“What owners? That’s my design.” I tell her, and Emma blinks at me bemused and looks around the room before she chuckles.

“Your design? Shayla, come on, you don’t seriously expect me to believe a junior architect designed that, do you?” She jeers, and everyone in the room snickers.

“Actually, Miss Clarke, that is her design.” I freeze when I hear that voice behind me. The same voice that has been haunting me for the past three months. I force the lump forming in my throat down and will my heart to stop thrashing around in my chest.

Please let it be my imagination again, and don’t let him be standing there when I turn around. I suck in a lungful of air and turn my head slowly to look back and see him standing there. Oh damn. I forgot how beautiful he was. Our eyes meet after months, I stare at him, and he stares back. The room falls silent—everyone’s eyes on the infamous Tristan Cole Hoult. Everything and everyone in the room just fizzles away, leaving only the two of us. I don’t know how long we stood there just looking at one another, but it couldn’t have been that long, surely.

“Shayla.” Cole drawls, standing there in a crisp blue suit, hands in his pockets looking sinfully good as he watches me intently. I notice his stubble is gone, and I hate that. I bet Sophie made him shave it off. Witch.

“Cole,” I reply, and he averts his gaze to everyone else in the room.

“Leave us.” He commands, looking at me again. The room clears, and I stand leaning against the glass desk with my arms crossed over my chest. Cole walks over to me, licking his lips. He tilts his head to the side, frowning while he looks me over. “You look thinner. Have you lost weight?”

I stare at my feet, not wanting to look at him and nod. “Yeah, it happens when you’re working all hours and studying too.” I sigh and force myself to look at him. “Your beard is gone.”

Cole smiles a little and nods, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, it happens when you work all hours of the day and don’t have time to maintain one.”

“What are you doing here, Cole?” I inquire, and he takes a step closer.

“Jumping straight to the point huh? What, no hello, how have you been? Or a hug even?” I exhale slowly and glare at him. Cole chuckles, shaking his head.

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