Page 44 of Defying Her Arrogant Boss

By Thursday they were well into a routine—a night at hers, a night at his—and Lissa felt stirrings of panic. She was merely digging a deeper hole to bury herself in at the end of this affair. Anxiety began to gnaw at her, her stomach flipping and churning, and an overwhelming tiredness started to pull her down.

‘You not getting enough sleep, Lissa?’ Gina asked with a coy smile as they munched on their cereal together while waiting for the computers to log on.

Lissa frowned, pushing away her cereal, her appetite lost. She knew the faint blue shadows under her eyes were darkening with each day. Frankly she felt awful, but put it down to the increasing stress she was under. Stress both caused and relieved by Rory. The best parts of her life at the moment were those spent with him. Where, without realising it, he made her forget the impending end, using either his charm and humour, or his physical skills. ‘I think it’s just the flu is taking longer to get over than I thought it would.’

She couldn’t shake the tiredness. During the day she wanted nothing more than to curl up and snooze—she even dreamed of doing so under her desk. But at night things were different. She couldn’t get enough of Rory. From the moment they walked in the door to the moment they left again the next day for work they were together, in every sense of the word.

Rory put some coffee on first thing Friday morning—he liked a hit before walking out the door. Lately he’d been having two. Lissa usually had one too, but not today. The smell was abhorrent. Nauseating. Bile rose. She left for the bathroom in a hurry, only just making it. Wiping her face down with a cold flannel after to try to stop the shaky feeling. She grimaced away the horrible taste and brushed with extra amounts of toothpaste.

‘Lissa, are you okay?’ He knocked on the door. No space, no let-up.

‘I’m fine.’ Her legs trembled. She took some deep breaths to restore calm. She stared at her pale reflection in the mirror and tried to remember what she’d eaten the day before. Could it have been the coronation chicken sandwich at lunch yesterday? That would be it.

She left the bathroom to face his intense scrutiny. He pulled upright from the wall he’d been leaning against and took her chin in his hand, tilting her face, his all-seeing eyes inspecting every aspect of her expression.

‘I’m really okay.’ She laughed it off, blaming the hapless sandwich.

‘You shouldn’t go to work.’

‘I’m fine to go to work. It’s all gone now, believe me!’

After another thoughtful look he relented and drove her there, her hand held in his the entire journey.

Once at work the nausea returned and unable to concentrate, she muddled about all day, barely able to cover it up. Fortunately Rory was in meetings all day. Come home time, however, he took one look at her pallor and the circles under her eyes and drove straight to his flat, abandoning the plan for drinks at the pub with the company.

Once back at his flat he bundled her into his warm, welcoming bed. She fell into it gratefully, pulling at him to join her.

He held back for a moment. ‘You’re still unwell.’

‘I’m tired, that’s all. And never too tired for this.’ She ran her fingers across his jaw, feathered them down his neck and fell asleep in his arms half an hour later.

She had felt exhausted, yet at four a.m. she woke, her mind clearer and sharper than it had been for days. She remembered she’d left her toilet bag at her flat. Not too much of a problem as she now had a spare toothbrush and other items in Rory’s bathroom cupboard.

But that wasn’t what had jolted her awake. It meant she didn’t have her pill with her.

Her stomach started churning again as she lay in the darkness, listening to Rory’s even breathing, feeling the weight of the arm he’d snaked around her to hold her close. It rested on her belly. And a female certainty settled in her as she listened to what her body told her. Trouble of the lifelong kind.

TEN

Saturdaymorning Lissa pleaded exhaustion,which was no lie, having not slept another moment since waking in the wee small hours. Reluctantly Rory agreed to them spending the night apart.

‘You call me if you need me.’

She slipped to the pharmacy and within five minutes of getting in the door again she had her fears confirmed.

The blue lines appeared immediately. Not just the control line, but the line giving visual proof of what she already knew. One of the new tests so sensitive it could give a positive result even before your period was due.

She slumped on her bed. How in the hell was it possible? It wasn’t possible. She hadn’t missed a pill. She checked the packet to be sure—all were missing where they should be. This just couldn’t be right.

His words came back to her—‘one day at a time’. This was a fling with the temp who was leaving the country shortly. No strings, no commitment. Merely a wild fling for the fun of it. A ‘distraction’—for him anyway. There’d probably be another temp to fill her place in a few weeks.

It wasn’t serious. It never had been. It has never been meant to be anything long-term. Lissa knew this. Her mother had spelt it out clearly. Grant had proved it. Why on earth had she set herself up for this again?

Rory had said he wasn’t like those guys—that there was no one else in his life. And while that was true it didn’t mean he was any more serious than they had been.

What would he do? Would he walk away? Would he accuse her of trying to trap him? She told him she was on the pill and she was. It had been no lie.

She did the second test.

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