Crossing the Line (21 page)

“Yes, you can fire me if it’s a problem.”

“And what would you do if I did.”

“Find another job with a hotter boss.” Out
of the corner of my eye, I see him glare.

“No, you won’t. You love me.”

“Whatever.”

Will replies straight away, telling me that
he’ll make a reservation and meet me outside my building. As much as I was also
looking forward to spending the hour with Aden I can’t wait to catch up with
Will, and I have a feeling he’s going to love hearing about how everyone found
out about me and Aden.

For the final twenty minutes, I sat beside
Aden, watching him work. He pulls his bottom lip between his teeth when he’s
concentrating hard on something for a while. It’s sexy as hell.

When Aden’s dad knocks on the door, he gets
straight up, stroking my cheek in replace of a goodbye. He wants it over with.
I wait a few minutes and then make my own way down stairs to meet Will. My
phone rings as I reach the lift.

Mum’s name flashes on the screen. She
rarely calls me. What’s wrong? “Hello, Mum.” My voice is filled with that usual
dread as I wait for her to say whatever it is she’s going to. I don’t even
think I do a good job of hiding it, but she probably won’t notice.

“Amelie, hello. Your father and I have been
talking, and we’ve decided that we should sit down with Aden’s parents before
your father’s birthday.” Oh you’ve decided, have you? I’m just about to tell
her to shove it when she speaks up again. “I have to go, the upholsters are
here. I’ll speak to the Ford’s this afternoon. Goodbye.”

As usual I’ve just been run over by a
truck. Actually being run over would probably be more pleasant. Sighing deeply,
I make my way down to the front entrance. Okay then.

“Hey,” Will says, his grin stretching. Not
even his cheerfulness can make me smile. “Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”

“Love. Work. Parents. Rich snobs. Cold
face. Lack of sleep.” I sigh. “It’s been a long day, and it’s only one
o’clock.”

Will laughs and opens his car door. “Could
be worse.”

“How?”

“You could be me right now.”

I raise my eyebrows. What’s going on with
him? I suddenly feel like the shittest friend. I didn’t even know anything was
going on with him. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I was just trying to make you
feel better.

“Oh ha ha. Can you at least make something
up?”

“I’ve been made homeless. I’m sexually
confused again and in love with a badger. I make love to cars and have caught
every sexual transmitted disease known to man.”

I shrug and try to stifle a smile. “I’d
still trade.”

Will drives to the restaurant and my eyes
widen as he parks outside the same place I booked for Aden and Richard. Is
someone up there just having fun with my life? “We can’t go in there.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s where Aden and his dad are
eating.”

His face lights up and he gets out of the
car. “Really? Jackpot! Come on, this should be fun.”

“Lets just go somewhere else,” I say,
planting my feet into the floor as he tries pulling me inside. “I’m pretty sure
this place has questionable hygiene.”

“Nice try,” he replies and pushes me through
the door. I want to scream rape so some hero will come and take Will down, but
I spot Aden and Richard sitting in a booth near the far wall. If they look up,
they’ll see me. I panic, drop to the floor and crawl behind an oversized plant

I look back up at Will. He’s staring at me
with his mouth wide open in shock. “Get down,” I hiss, waving at him to follow
me.

“Can I help you, sir?” a waiter asks.

Will blinks heavily, looking bewildered.
“Um. Table for two please.”

The waiter nods and grabbed two menus. “If
you’ll just follow me, sir, I’ll show you to your seat. Will your guest be
joining you soon?”

“Yes, she will.” His eyes flick to me, and
he gives me a get-the-fuck-off-the-fucking-floor-now look, waving his arm for
me to follow. No way I’m getting up until I know where our table is. I point to
the other side of the restaurant. If we’re in a booth, he shouldn’t be able to
see.

I stand up and turn to follow as I see Will
getting settled across the room to Aden and come face-to-face with another waitress.
She smiles awkwardly, and I’m not sure if she’s amused or scared.

“Good afternoon,” I say politely and walk
past her. Just as I’m about to sit at the table, I glance at Aden. He raises
his eyebrows as we make eye contact. Yeah he saw the whole thing. Great.

“Why were you even hiding?” Will asks,
laughing behind his menu. Oh. Why did I hide? If they notice me, I could have
just said a quick hello. Well isn’t that just bloody perfect?

Chapter Twenty

“Millie, will you stop hiding,” Will hisses,
pulling the menu from in front of my face.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see the
sexy bastard smirk at me. I hope you choke on your steak. I take a deep breath
and decide to keep my head up and not be embarrassed about making a complete
idiot out of myself. I should be used to that by now anyway.

“What are you having?” I ask Will.

“Burritos, I think. What about you?”

“Ricin,” I reply and groan.

Will chuckles. “It’s not that bad, Millie.
No need to poison yourself.”

“Are you kidding me? I just
crawled
across the floor in a restaurant
and then got caught.” Oh God I’m never ever going to live this one down. This
is possibly the most embarrassing thing I have ever done, and there have been
plenty other occasions to choose from.

“I still don’t quite understand why you hid
in the first place.”

“Yes, thank you.” Neither do I. So what if
we were at the same restaurant, they don’t own it. “I’m just going to pretend
there is a very good reason for it. Assassins. I was hiding from assassins.”

He shakes his head. “So this love thing?”

Why did I have to tell him that? “Yes?”

“You’re in love with your boss, huh? How
very cliché.” I narrow my eyes. It’s not like I planned it. “Does he know?”
Nodding my head, I frown. Why can’t we talk about the weather? “Wow Amelie
Cohen in love,” he says. “And in love with someone she said she would never
fall for.”

“I never said I wouldn’t fall for Aden,” I
counter.

Will tilts his head. “You know that’s not
what I meant.”

“Aden isn’t snobby rich.” He never looks
down on anyone. “He moved to get away from all the posh crap.”

“He came back to it, though?”

“Yes to start up his company.”

“With his dad.”

“No,” I say, suddenly feeling defensive.
“It’s a sister company or a some sort of relative company, I don’t really know.
Aden is the one that owns it anyway.” He never covered that, all I know is that
Richard builds stadiums and arenas, and Aden’s artists play in them.

“Some sort of relative company,” Will says
with a grin.

I wave my hand dismissively. “Who cares
about what it’s called.”

“Aden.”

“Well then have this conversation with Aden
then,” I reply. Why does everyone find it hilarious when I don’t have all the
details for something? Newsflash, I’m not fucking Einstein.

Will looks overly proud of himself for
making me mad. Bastard. “Shall we move on?”

“That would be lovely,” I reply, matching
his sarcastic tone. I need new friends. “How are things with your latest
victim?”

“She broke it off yesterday, thank you for
asking.” I wince.
Whoops.
“Don’t
worry, it wasn’t working out. She snored.”

“You’re going to die alone, you know?”

“So are you if you don’t stop acting like a
baby in front of your boyfriend.” Acting like a baby? When do I act like a
baby? Oh crawling on the floor. “I met this guy last night.”

“Ooh mixing it up a little are we?”

“I don’t plan it, Millie. I’m attracted to
whoever I’m attracted to.”

I roll my eyes. “I know that, just been a
long time since a man was in the picture.” He shrugs. He’s only ever had one
boyfriend, and he turned out to be the biggest dickhead on the planet, after
that he’s just dated women and that’s how it’s been for the last four years.
“And,” I prompt.

“And nothing. He’s good looking, something
to stare at while I work and that’s it.”

Yeah right. “Hmm, so why are you telling me
about him if he’s just somebody to look at?”

Will’s mouth presses into a thin line. “I
was just making conversation. Turning the subject away from your cliché of a
love life.” I stick my middle finger up at him and smile sweetly. “Seriously,
though, I don’t want anything to happen with him.”

“Doesn’t mean it won’t.”

Will glares and turns his attention back to
the menu.

I pretend to look at the menu again, even
though I know I’m having the veggie quesadilla. Will is distracted, probably
double and then triple checking if he definitely wants burritos. He’s awful at
deciding when there’s too much choice.

Taking a sneaky peak over my menu I see
Aden has gone back to talking with his dad. They’re deep in conversation, and I
wish I can hear what they’re discussing, Richard having to find out about his
son and the crazy daughter of his friend probably. Aden doesn’t look
uncomfortable, though.

I bet Richard regrets choosing me for the
job now. He was probably rooting for Isabel and Aden too.

Will snaps his fingers in front of me.
“What?” I ask, returning from my daze.

“Welcome back. Do you think you should go
say hi?” I burst out laughing. After ninja rolling and crawling across the
floor, is he serious? “You don’t think ignoring him after he’s seen you is
rude?” I really don’t care; I’ll take rude over being teased any day.

The waitress that turns up to serve us is,
of course, the one that witnessed me throwing myself on the floor. Wendy
– as her badge says – eyes me wearily as she takes our order,
standing close enough to hear us but far back enough that I can’t stab her with
my fork – or whatever she’s imagining I’m about to do. I bet she thinks
I’ve just escaped from an asylum.

“So I bet your mum is happy about you two?”

“It’s so weird, Will. When she agrees with
me – which I think has happened a grand total of no times before –
it makes me feel on edge. It’s like the calm before the storm.”

“Come on, you can see why she likes this.”

“Yes, Aden’s exactly who she wants for me.”

“Honestly now,” he says. “Does that take
the shine off the blue eyed hunk?”

“Hell no, you should see what that man can
do with his tongue,” I reply, and we both burst into laughter.

Wendy returns ten minutes later with our
food. “Let me know if you need anything. Enjoy your meal,” she says and makes a
quick exit. I contemplate complaining about something just to see what her
reaction will be, but I’m too hungry.

“Anything else new in your mum’s world?”

I roll my eyes as he gets straight back
onto the Elizabeth Cohen topic. Will loves hearing about all the crazy, stuck
up things my mother does. At least she amuses someone, I suppose.

“She’s decided we should ‘sit down’ with
Aden’s parents before the big announcement at Dad’s birthday.”

He grins, lapping it up. “The big
announcement does sound fun.”

Oh yeah, just like Christmas day.

“I think I’ll film it,” he says.

“Thank you,” I reply sarcastically. “Anyway
I assume we’ll be having dinner with his parents soon. This is exactly what I
didn’t want. None of it is me.”

“Everyone has to meet the parents and
announce they’re together at some point.”

“Yeah but normally. Nothing about my mother
is normal. I don’t want to stand in a room of my parents’ painfully boring
friends and say ‘hey, I’m doing my boss!’.”

Will laughs, tilting his head back. “I
wouldn’t open with that, you’ll probably be disowned.”

“Is that supposed to put me off?” No doubt
I will make a twat out of myself at some point anyway. I should just pretend to
be sick and let my parents have their moment and boast that their ‘troublesome’
daughter has finally met a ‘decent’ man. Troublesome my arse.

“Thank you for lunch,” I say to Will as we
get up to leave.

“You’re welcome. Hey, do you wanna get down
and crawl for this next bit or are ya gonna walk out?” Oh, ha ha. He chuckles
and places his hand on the small of my back as we walk out. I can feel Aden
watching at me, but I don’t dare look over, no doubt he will just be laughing
at me.

“Well, it’s been… interesting,” I say as he
pulls up outside my building. “I’ll see you soon?”

He nods. “Count on it. See you, babe.” I
get out and wave back over my shoulder.

Hopefully, if I find something time
consuming I can keep myself busy all afternoon and Aden will leave me alone.
Yeah, like I have that kind of luck.

I turn my nose up at the pile of contact
details scribbled on many pages of scrap paper that needs to be put on the
computer. I’ve been putting it off because it’s one of those silly little tasks
that’s non urgent and very boring. Right now it’s the only time consuming task
I have, so I sit down and prepare to be bored to death.

I log back into the computer and open
contacts in Outlook. This is how I’m going to die. The pile is never ending.
How many paper cuts would I need to give myself with these papers before I
bleed to death?

Aden walks into my office five minutes
after I’ve started work. The atmosphere immediately charges but I ignore how my
body reacts to him because – surprise, surprise – he’s smirking.
“So,” he says and sits down. “How was lunch?” I glance up and glare. Bastard.
“You must have worked up quite an appetite while rolling around on the floor.”

“Aden, bugger off.”

“Now, that’s no way to talk to your
boss. I’m going to have to give you a verbal warning.” He’s loving this.

I smile tightly. “Fine, give it and then
pis-”

“You are in a bad mood, huh? Any particular
reason for that?”

“You! Just stop your stupid jokes and that
smug little smirk and leave me alone.” I look back at the computer, ignoring
him in the hope he’ll leave. He doesn’t. “Can I help you with anything, Mr
Ford?”

He stretches his legs out, leaning back in
the chair. “You could take your top off.”

“Hmm, I’ll remember that one for the sexual
harassment tribunal.” Still, he doesn’t leave. “Seriously, I think I’ve topped
the embarrassment today so please can you just leave me to get on?”

“Do you still feel embarrassment? I would
have thought by now you-”

“Shut up.” Why the hell is he still in
here? Does he love torturing me that much? He’s a crap boyfriend! “Aden, go
away.”

He leans forward. “I know you’re not really
working right now, Amelie. Can you just look at me for a minute.” I sigh
heavily and look up, raising my eyebrows. “Thank you. Look, let’s forget about
how interesting lunch was okay? We’ll pretend it never even happened. Can
you come over here? I’d really like to see my girlfriend.”

My heart leaps. Girlfriend. Technically the
idiot can already see me, what he means is he wants to feel his girlfriend up.
I stand up and reply, “Fine, but the first mention of lunch and I’m gone.” He
swings the chair round and holds his arms out for me. The second I’m in his
lap, I curl my arms around his neck, and he kisses me hard. Christ he’s keen.

It takes me a second to recover from his
attack and kiss him back but when I do things bump up a gear. He tangles his
hand in my hair and slips his tongue in my mouth. I move, so I’m straddling him
and arch my hips, grinding against him and creating a delicious friction that
makes us both moan embarrassingly loudly.

“Millie,” he growls against my lips,
sending what feels like bolts of electricity right to my core.

I pull back, and his eyes are glowing. My
heart soars as I see the love in his eyes. How did I get so luck to have him
fall for me? “I locked the door when I came in.” He did? “I need you right
now.” My throat ran dry as I see the raw passion in his face.

The door could be wide open, and I wouldn’t
care. My fingers wrestle with his shirt as I try to unbutton it with overeager
hands. Beneath me,
 
I feel how much
he needs me, and I actually think I’m going to burst into flames. Stupid
buttons! Why are they so difficult? Whatever bastard invented them needs a
punch in the face.

“Need help?” he asks.

No. I rip open the shirt and my number one
problem right now pops from his shirt, scattering across the room.

His mouth is wide open, eyes dark as the
night sky. “Shit that was hot!” His lips are back on mine in an instant, and
his hands dive under the back of my shirt. He moans deep in his throat and the
sound vibrates through my whole body.

Okay I’ve had enough. I jump up, leaving a
very surprised Aden sitting in the chair. I rip my top over my head and slip
off my skirt, all in about three seconds – record for Millie. Aden blinks
hard, awestruck; I think.

“Wasting no time, huh?” I shake my head in
answer and ping my bra open, letting it drop to the floor. He’s still in his
trousers and a ripped open shirt. Let’s change that. Reaching down, I pull at
his belt. Aden slouches in the seat, pushing his hips up to give me better
access. I quickly unzip his trousers and with his help, whip them off along
with his boxers.

I look him up and down, groaning in
appreciation. Naked Aden is perfect. “I love you,” I whisper. Every inch of him
drives me crazy, from his collarbone to that sexy V pointing down to the
goodies.