AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nod. “It’s Saturday tomorrow. It’s fine.”
He gives me a firm nod. “All right, then.”
We’re an hour into the report analysis when I hear my uncle’s dismayed voice from the doorway, “Halley, you’re still here?”
Both Jace and I look up.
Jace sighs. “We have to submit all of this tonight so I asked her to stay a little late.”
Uncle Raymond’s gentle eyes look concerned.
My heart swells with love for the darling man. “It’s okay, Uncle; isn’t this what the corporate life is supposed to be like?”
He lets out a whoosh of breath but he doesn’t look very happy about it. “Can I help with something?”
Jace looks apologetic, an expression I only see him wear around my uncle. “Thanks, Raymond, but it’s a two-man job and Halley knows what she’s doing.”
My uncle doesn’t look very convinced. “I’ll bring you guys some food then from the Chinese place and I can stay and—”
“Uncle Raymond, go home!” I say, laughingly. “Jace isn’t going to bite me.”
This is apparently the wrong thing to say because my uncle immediately narrows his eyes at my boss.
Jace groans. “Oh come on, Raymond. You know me!”
“Fine,” he says, curtly. “But you call me when you reach home, young lady.”
“It’s like I’m sixteen again,” I mutter, and his stern gaze makes me nod, obediently. “Of course I’ll call you. Why wouldn’t I call you?”
I wait for him to leave.
Jace growls at me, “That was a stupid thing to say!”
I bristle at this. “Well, it’s true! You wouldn’t bite me.”
There’s that strange look in his eyes again, but he doesn’t say anything. It doesn’t escape my notice that he doesn’t agree to my claim either and I don’t know how I feel about it.
Working after hours is more tiring than I imagined.
Even when we’ve eaten, and my fingers are moving over the keys, I find myself yawning repeatedly. Of course, my yawning sets Jace off as well till he orders me to go stretch my legs and splash som
e cold water on my face.
It doesn’t really help because two hours later, I’m slumped on the couch, sleepy, and struggling to stay awake. And at some point I fall asleep because when I come to, there’s a heavy coat draped on my sleeping form.
My eyes flutter and I glimpse Jace perched on his desk, his usually slicked back hair, all ruffled up, his dark glasses making him look like a nerd. My half-masted eyes take in his rolled-up sleeves and his missing tie.
He really is very handsome.
My eyes slide shut again, tired as the warmth of the coat and the spicy scent of his cologne is oddly reassuring in some way.
I don’t know how I end up running in the woods but suddenly I’m no longer sleeping.
It’s dark and cold. I’m wearing a white nightie, a slip, and I’m running from someone.
Screams from behind me have me crying out in terror and my little legs move faster, obeying the mysterious voice in my head. “Run! Don’t stop running!”
Why is he doing this?
