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Laurie.
Ben smiled as his heart leapt and his body burned. On Friday night he’d been forcibly ejected from Buttley Manor by a man who outmatched him by six inches, an assault rifle and a handgun. He’d been desperate to get back to Laurie but knew he would find her again. He had her full name and more determination than Prince Charming seeking Cinderella. He just didn’t expect to see her first thing Monday morning at his new company.
He relived the panic on her face and the smug smiles of Denise and Shelley. She may have been worried, but he didn’t give a flying fuck he was her boss. She was the most incredible woman he’d ever met, and he never wanted to let her go. As crazy as it felt, he’d happily sell Somerset Snax tomorrow if it would put her mind at rest. And he was glad she’d told him about the state of the company. It meant he could find out in a day what would have taken weeks to uncover. Looking back over the figures, sales reports, and through people’s laptops, it was clear where Laurie had been. There would either be patches of perfect work, or a moment where it was obvious she’d completely taken over. Was Bob Phillips so far removed he’d failed to notice? Or was he simply a misogynistic twat? To Ben, Laurie’s brain was the ultimate turn-on. The fact that it lived in the body of a goddess was just the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. He just had to chew through the rest of the staff, then he could get to her. He smoothed down his hair and opened the door.
‘Shelley Lawler, do you want to come on through?’
Shelley didn’t move. She looked like a poker player who held all the cards and didn’t care who knew it.
‘I’m just about to go on my break,’ she replied casually, leaning further back in her chair. ‘Why don’t you see Laurie next?’
He let Shelley’s attitude slide and turned to Laurie, his heart lightening. ‘Laurie Dover?’
She nodded, stood and strode past him into his office. He shut the door behind her. Finally.
‘Laurie—’
‘I’m resigning. With immediate effect. I’ve got four weeks of holiday to take. That will cover my notice period.’
‘What? Why?’
Her hands were balled into fists by her sides. ‘Why do you think?’
‘Is this because I didn’t come back? Fuck, I tried, but a scary bastard tooled up like the Terminator frogmarched me to my car. I—’
‘No. I’m leaving because I had sex with my boss, told him confidential information about his company, and betrayed the trust of my colleagues. So I can either perform some kind of Jedi mind trick to make you forget everything I said, persuade you Shelley and Denise are the hardest workers here and deserve a pay rise, or walk out the door and never come back.’
‘You can’t do that. You can’t leave.’
‘I don’t have a choice. Everyone’s already pissy with me because I told them this morning I wasn’t going to do their jobs any more. Now you’re finding the skeletons in their closets and they want someone to blame. There’s no way Shelley and Denise will be able to keep their mouths shut. My life here was just about tolerable, but now it’s going to be hell. I can’t live like that.’
‘You can’t be the one to lose out here. Fuck, I’ll sell the company tomorrow if you’ll stay.’
She shook her head, frowning. ‘That’s crazy. You can’t do that, and it won’t stop people from finding out I slept with my boss and dobbed them all in it.’
‘You didn’t sleep with your boss, you slept with me. That was Friday and this is Monday. And you didn’t do anything to anyone. You gave me no details and no names. The only thing you did was help me discover sooner rather than later they’ve been taking the piss.’
‘Ben, you don’t get it. Nothing about this is going to work.’
He froze. ‘What do you mean? What about us?’
She raised her hands, as if trying to show him the truth he was trying to avoid.
‘There is no us! After this there can never be an us!’
He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. ‘Laurie. Meeting you was the most significant thing that has ever happened to me.’ He gestured around him. ‘Bigger than this, bigger than anything.’ He reached for her and she crossed her arms over her body. ‘I meant every word I said on Friday night.’ He held her gaze, willing her to remember. ‘Even when I was pretending to be a bird.’ Her lips parted with a silent ‘oh’, then clamped shut again. ‘Please, Laurie. Give us a chance. I’ll always have your back. We’ll get through this together.’
‘No. We can’t and we won’t.’ Her bottom lip was wobbling. ‘I’ve got to go.’
‘Laurie—’
‘Don’t. Please, Ben.’
She walked out the door and closed it behind her. He stood in silence, watching her through the window. She put a coffee mug bearing her name in her bag, deposited a set of keys on the desk, grabbed her coat and walked out. She was gone.
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