AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But this time I was ready for him.
I raised my hand, pulled it back, then brought it up to his face and slapped him. Slapped him hard. One moment I was out of breath, pining for him, the next, I had reacted before I could process what I was doing.
Fuck, what did I just do? I’d slapped the Prime Minister of this country. My boss. Jesus, I am in so much trouble.
I brought my hands to my face and stared at him in horror. He took a few steps back from me. He seemed distraught, but there was no coming back from this. I did what I did.
“I … I …” I stammered, unable to utter a coherent word.
“Laura, I’m sorry,” he interrupted. “I don’t know what I’ve been thinking lately. Bloody hell … I can’t control myself when I’m around you. You’re in my thoughts all the time, and I struggle to be around you without touching you. I want you so much. I don’t trust women easily.”
He swallowed hard, and I didn’t have the heart to say anything at that moment. Then he stared at me like a puppy looks at its owner upon his return home from a long day of work, with heartbreaking adoration. “But I want to try with you.”
I shook my head, telling myself not to listen to him. He was putting me in a precarious situation.
“I can,” he insisted.
“I don’t know what you’re saying to me, Spencer. I can’t be Maja’s mother. You said several times you aren't interested in a relationship. You can’t commit to me, and I'll not settle for less. This isn't good for your career either. You’ve invested so much in it. I see how committed you are to the nation …”
I paused and glanced away. He was breaking my heart. “I don’t want to leave Maja, but if you keep acting like a five-year-old who cannot get his way, I'll resign.”
My threat hung in the air. He stared at me. I didn’t want to do this, but it would be for the best if we parted ways now, before it was too late.
“You can’t leave, Laura … I’m sorry, and you’re right. I'll do better,” he assured me.
But I knew these were just empty words. He was losing his mind because of this simple infatuation. I didn’t want to believe he’d fallen for me in such a short space of time. We were from different worlds and could never possibly be together.
I shook my head again. “I mean it, Spencer. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to stay in this job. And I’m sorry, but I've to go home. I can’t do this right now,” I said firmly—way more firmly than I felt—and then moved past him towards the door.
There was nothing else to discuss, and I’d definitely gone too far with that slap. I needed to put the brakes on the steamrolling emotions that were crushing us both. Maybe, if we both slept on it, Spencer Banks, my boss, owner of my most erotic fantasies, and the biggest thorn in my side, would finally wake up and see sense.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Laura
“Now I know why you set me up on that blind date on Friday night,” I said to Veronica when I called her on Monday morning after all the chaos of Friday night.
Apparently, Veronica had an unexpected client that evening, so she wasn’t at home when I’d returned to the apartment. I’d been too worked up to stay home on Friday, so I’d spent the rest of the weekend with my parents, making sure my mother was fine and had everything she needed. Meanwhile, Spencer had kept texting me all weekend, asking if everything was all right.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but tell me what happened. Didn’t you have a great time with that guy? You texted me to say he was very handsome. You know I wouldn’t have set you up with some random man.” She sounded concerned.
She only wanted what was best for me, and maybe I was overreacting.
“No, Veronica, everything was going well until Spencer showed up and told me he needed me because of some sort of emergency with Maja. I was so embarrassed and, of course, Lucian introduced himself to him,” I said, remembering every single detail about that evening.
I wondered if Veronica had known about Spencer and his date, or maybe it was just a huge coincidence. That woman wasn’t an escort, was she? Maybe I was being paranoid.
“Wow,” she said. “So, what was he doing there?”
“He was also on a date,” I said. The man had told me he didn’t date, and suddenly he was out with a woman. I was so stupid, pining over him. “But apparently he cancelled the whole thing when he saw me coming in with Lucian, then he made this shit up about needing me and walked me out of the restaurant. By the way, Lucian was really sweet. He’s obviously interested in me, even though I've no idea what to do about that yet.”
Silence stretched out on the other side of the phone while the flashback of the slap kept playing on my mind. I couldn’t believe what I’d done.
“Listen, we both know that you want each other, so he probably saw you, got a little jealous, and ruined your date. Men can be total children sometimes, and it doesn’t matter how much power they have … So what happened after that?”
I gripped the phone tighter. I didn’t want to think about the slap, but I remembered the kiss all too clearly. The way he’d rubbed his body against mine … Spencer Banks got me all confused and broken again, but I couldn’t let myself go there. Besides, he’d behaved like an absolute prick, bombing my date and making me leave halfway through.
“He took me to his fuck pad because he wanted to talk to me and then he started drilling me on why I was even on a date in the first place. I was so angry with him, and after we made out, I pushed him off me and slapped him,” I hissed into the phone, wanting to disappear at the same time. “I slapped the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Veronica.”
