AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Coffee, flowers. Surprise her. Woo her.
I got ready for the office in record time. Practically sprinted to my favourite coffee shop to get coffee for us both. I greeted the barista with a good morning and a smile, which left her speechless.
As I left, my phone buzzed. My heart sunk, seeing it wasn’t Amanda’s name. It was my boss and our company’s chairman of the board, Lachlan McDougall.
Lachlan:A quick request, and a favour. Can you invite Amanda to Burns Night? I noticed you didn’t indicate bringing a date, so can Amanda be your plus one, so to speak?
I stood in the middle of a crosswalk, grinning at the text. A lorry driver laid on the horn and I ran to the footpath.
Lachlan:Unless you plan to bring someone?
Me:That’s fine. I’ll ask her
I almost considered sending Lachlan a smiling emoji but decided against it at the last minute. I didn’t think it was possible but I grinned broader.
Something caught my eye as I passed the general store, sunflowers in a bouquet, in the middle of a Scottish winter. Some of the blooms were a little weary but fresh flowers in winter are rare and they were perfect. They were sunshine, just like her. She’d worn a scarf with sunflowers the day she’d arrived. I ducked in and bought them all.
When I reached the office, I found I’d forgotten my swipe card. Matt from the accounts team let me in and I made small talk with him. We approached the accounts and marketing teams, who were making plans to go to the beach at lunch and soak up the sun that was still here, unbelievably, during winter. When I said hello to the group, one chap dropped his tea, so I put my coffees and flowers down to help him clean it up.
The team didn’t stop staring as I used a dustpan and brush for the broken cup. I promised him I’d replace his cup with new one, then gave him mine to make another brew.
Could have heard a pin drop.
Caroline wasn’t in yet and, since I relied on her for the location of anything in the office, I asked the team where she kept flower vases. More stunned silence. Eventually, Matt pointed at a cupboard near the stationery store. I thanked him with a smile and continued on with coffee and the sunflower bouquets, leaving them all wide-eyed and wondering.
The Beast grinned ear to ear. I intended to do more of this.
The roses she’d bought at the beginning of the week had drooped and shed their petals over the desk. I could just imagine her smile when Amanda would enter her office and saw the sunflowers. I saved three of the roses, the buds still opening, gave them fresh water and then set them in another vase I’d found, thanks to Matt.
As I swept up the last rose petals, I dripped some water on Amanda’s files.
I swore. Dabbing it dry with some tissues, my name caught my eye. The document was addressed to me. Curiosity overcame me and I quickly scanned it.
Amanda had found an anomaly in our figures from three months ago, worth several tens of thousands of pounds. She was certain it was one staff member at fault. I scanned the figures and rescanned them. Amanda’s work was meticulous. Reading the report for a third time only confirmed what she had stated on the cover sheet: a staff member had doctored our accounts.
My good mood evaporated. A loyal staff member, someone I trusted with so much of my life and personal information, had betrayed me.
And Amanda knew about this last night and had said nothing.
I was ice cold with anger. I’d been deceived by someone who had been close to my work for years, and last night Amanda hadn’t said a thing about this, despite our talk about trust.
I let the rose petals and sodden tissues fall in a heap on her desk and took the report to my office, slamming the door behind me.
All thoughts of sunshine fled from my mind. I was more than the Beast now.
I was the oncoming storm.
Chapter Eight
Amanda
I woke up to sunlight streaming through my window. I was in my bed. I sat bolt upright. The last thing I remembered from last night was listening to Stuart read poems on his couch.
I flung off the duvet and burst through the unlocked door to his room. He must have carried me to bed. I found his bed made, running clothes on the floor of his bathroom and him gone.
I’d had wild dreams, like a badly produced Regency-style romance movie. Stuart starred as the gallant but broody hero who read me poetry before taking my virtue in a variety of places. In a field, against a tree, in my boudoir.
I’d been amped up after the pub fight and so turned on. I can’t believe I’d fallen asleep. I’d never found guys who picked fights attractive. But those who stop them and then read poetry afterwards? Definitely hot.
