AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘A girl who knew the names of the ninja turtles?’ he says, and I smile. He’s remembered that moment too. ‘You were funny but smart and I half accepted the job because I fancied you from the interview,’ he admits, blushing. ‘I mean if you’d showed me the office, I may have said otherwise. There was a company in Angel that were going to give me free gym membership.’
I laugh, holding onto my glass at the table, watching as he gazes out of the window to the Thames, the soft light reflecting off his face. I hired you. Please don’t be the one I have to fire, too. I take a sip of my drink to suppress that thought coming to mind. ‘And you never said anything, in all that time?’ I ask him.
‘Bad timing,’ he says, taking a bite of pizza. ‘When we met, you were dating someone. Then I half dated that girl who lived in my building…’
‘The one who didn’t wear socks and who didn’t trust buses?’ I remembered the story he told us over a morning cup of tea.
‘The very one. We were always dating other people. And by then a year had passed, and it never felt like the right time…’ he tells me.
‘You only saw me five days a week, nine-to-five.’
‘I’m a lad who likes to take his time…’
‘Really…?’
‘Really.’
He smiles, and I know that smile because it was the sameone he used on me two nights ago, sitting bare-chested in his bed, almost daring me to compete, to take something else off and reveal more to him. I bite my lip to remember his words when he whispered down the phone about all the things he’d like to do to me.
‘And now, here we are…’ I say softly.
‘Is this a problem with work?’ he asks me. ‘I know some companies don’t like colleagues to date. Not that we’re dating each other,’ he says, putting a hand to the air. ‘Do we need to speak to HR?’
From imagining our phone call, I’m suddenly snapped into the room with his questions. ‘HR?’
‘Maybe see if there’s some sort of relationships policy,’ he states. ‘Frank will know. He’s very au fait with our contracts.’
‘Let me do that,’ I tell him, intervening a little too quickly. ‘Maybe we can take this slowly, one day at a time, see what it is first? Get through Christmas?’ Even bringing up HR makes the air stick in my throat. Please don’t talk to them because I’ve pushed that big decision I have to make into the back of my mind, one that involves you. What am I doing? If I fire you then what we’ve started here will be ruined, if I don’t it will be assumed I didn’t because we’re seeing each other. If there was ever a bad time in these last four years to start something, then maybe this is it.
‘OK,’ he says, laughing, biting into another piece of pizza. ‘We’ll take it slow, no problem, boss.’
‘You might have to stop calling me boss too when we’re out of the office,’ I warn him.
He laughs. ‘We’ll see.’
‘I am not bossy.’
‘You could be in different scenarios.’
‘Really?’
He looks at me and I reach over and put a hand to his. This is so confusing, possibly not what I should be doing at all butthere’s almost a magnetic attraction there, to get to know him more.
‘Um, excuse me,’ a voice suddenly says, interrupting the moment as the diner next to us leans over. ‘I don’t want to be rude, but is that your phone?’ she says.
Oh. Shit. I hear my ringtone, slightly embarrassed it’s going off and ruining all these cosy pizza dates. Also, I’m slightly embarrassed I was so caught in the moment that I didn’t hear it.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I tell the couple next to us. I scramble around in my handbag to find it. ‘I should have had it on mute,’ I say, but Leo doesn’t seem too fazed and continues to dive into the food. I look at the number on the display and see Gemma’s name come up.
‘Can I just take this…? I’ll tell her I’m at dinner,’ I ask him and he nods.
‘Gem, can’t talk. Can I call you back in about an hour?’
I hear a clatter on the other end of the phone. ‘HELLO!’ she squeals on speakerphone and I hold the phone away from my ear; Leo is looking on curiously.
‘Gem, I’m having dinner out, is all OK?’ I say, putting a finger to my ear, conscious that this is bad date protocol.
‘MAGGIE! No, it’s not. Look I know you’re busy and I am sorry and will be sorry forever but I’ve got to get Bella to A&E,’ she moans.
