AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Yeah.’
He didn’t look up, but the silence told him Estelle was putting two and two together.
‘But they don’t sell anything that’s finished. Everything is blank for you to decorate yourself.’
He shrugged. ‘I bribed them.’
She came to the side of his desk. ‘What with? Money or sex?’
His gaze flicked up. One of her eyebrows was arched.
‘Both?’
She pouted. ‘And yet they still turned you down.’
He gave her a look. ‘You don’t believe me?’
Crossing her arms, she slowly shook her head. ‘I don’t think Barnaby or his mum are really your type, and even if you had persuaded them to paint those bowls, it’s not in their style.’
Busted. He stayed silent.
‘Thank you. You’ve done something awesomely thoughtful. Chester and Joy love them.’
Unfamiliar positive emotions were expanding inside James’s chest. He was used to feelings of pride, but they were usually associated with victory at work or in rowing competitions. These felt different because they were associated with doing something for someone else.
He stood. ‘I’ll make you a coffee.’ Going to the door, he left as quickly as he could.
Returning five minutes later, James placed a cappuccino on Estelle’s desk.
She peered at the pattern in the foam. ‘Nice leaf. Your practising has been paying off.’
He didn’t reply. It had been a piece of piss. It was the unicorn that still wasn’t good enough to show her.
‘I’ve made a start on the letters to the councillors. Do you want me to email them over?’ he said, moving to his side of the office.
Still seated and holding her coffee, she rolled her chair out from behind her desk and over to his. ‘No need. I’ll look over your shoulder.’
James moved the laptop to the left and himself to the right. Whilst his body was demanding he be so close to Estelle that nothing was between them, even clothes, his head knew that to make his fantasies real was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea. She barely tolerated him at best, and at least one member of her family actively hated him. They had to make the festival work, but it was already teetering at the edge of the catastrophe cliff because he and Estelle couldn’t rein in their tempers. After his last year of cock-ups, turning their already fragile business relationship into a sexual one would be a total disaster.
She leaned in closer, reading his draft letter.
Shit! She was wearing the perfume again. It was like a drug, amplifying her personality and drawing him in like a magnet.
Her hands reached forward. ‘May I?’
‘Knock yourself out,’ he replied, letting Chester jump onto his lap as a canine cockblocker.
Her fingers moved over the keys confidently. James instantly imagined them on his skin.
Get a grip!
She glanced at him. ‘There’s no need to be so pissy. I’m not changing much.’
‘What?’
‘You huffed, and your face is all frowny.’
He attempted a smile.
