chapter 6

"Hey, Jess ... can I ask you something?"

We were the only ones in the office for today. Clarissa had been appointed to another department for the day and Nina had called in to tell us she was sick. Mr. Beaumont was in London for a meeting, for the next few days.

I felt as if I could breathe, knowing he wouldn't be around me.

"Oh dear. Don't tell me you want to quit!"

"What? No, no!", I hadn't thought about that at all. "It's about Mr. Beaumont."

"Oh, the mystery man. Go on, ask me", she smiled at me.

"Anything?"

"Anything. Out with it, Sara."

"Is he ... what's he like towards his female workers?"

"Respectful and composed. He solely talks to them about business."

"No touching, smiling, joking?"

"By gods no! I've never seen him smile at anybody of us. Why are you asking?"

I felt how my face grew hotter.

Jessica held her breath as she realized. "Is he- is he nice towards you?"

"Yes", I lowered my head. "He tried to ..." should I really tell her? "Can you keep a secret?"

"If I couldn't, then this company wouldn't stand. I've seen a lot of things around here", she leaned forward. "Tell me, my beauty. What's on your mind?"

I took a deep breath. "Mr. Beaumont tried to kiss me. Twice. Well, I think he wanted to kiss me because he touched my face every time and was a few centimetres away from my face and he bent down and his eyes were staring directly into mine and he kept on saying these flirty things-", I rambled, feeling embarrassed unlike ever before.

Jessica's brown eyes widened, then she let out a laugh.

She laughed!

"Our Michael doing all that? I can't believe my ears! I wondered why he was so often in our office! And I thought I saw him eyeing you, but now I know for sure he did! I need to tease him about that!"

"Please don't!", I cried out in embarrassment.

Jessica suddenly stopped laughing and placed her hand on my shoulder, smiling at me warmly. "Well, I mean he is a stud-", her eyes fell to my finger. "But you are married."

"I'm- I'm in the midst of a divorce, have you forgotten?"

"To be blunt; yes. You never talk about it."

"Because it hurts to do so", I played with my ring. "Noah wasn't the kindest husband."

"Aha – everything you just said to me was new information", she placed her other hand on my shoulder. "Sara, honey, you can talk to me about anything. Michael, Noah, anybody. I'll be here for you."

My heart got ten times lighter. "Thank you so much, Jess."

"No need to, honey bun", she patted my head. "Now, may I ask you something?"

"Depends", I joked. "Why don't you take off the ring?"

I froze a bit. "I can't ..." I stopped playing with it. "I still love him. Even though he cheated on me ..."

"Now, you know that's bullshit. Once a cheater always a cheater." She scanned me. "He's an idiot for doing that. He lost a jewel that way."

"Oh stop it! I'm nothing special", I lowered my head.

"Nothing special – if you weren't nothing special, then Michael wouldn't be eyeing you."

Jess eyed me. "Give it a shot."

"He's my boss!"

"And who would fire you if they found out?"

"My boss." I looked at her. "Oh."

"Exactly, oh. Why should he fire you if he's crushing on you?"

"I don't want him to keep me in this company just because he likes me – well, if he does like me that is. I want him to see my potential!"

"If he didn't, he wouldn't have asked you to come by for an interview dear. He only hires the best. I mean, look at me."

We shared a laugh.

"But you are good, Jess."

"I know", she ruffled my hair. "Now let's get to these files before Michael comes back and kills us for slacking. Today is Thursday. Michael will get back on Wednesday."

♡

"The shirt is too tight", Janet snarled at me as I made my way to the coffee machine. I tried not to roll my eyes. Monday mornings were even worse with such colleagues around.

"It's a normal shirt!"

"It's too tight around your chest, Mrs Atkins! Go get changed this instant!"

"I have nothing else to wear ..."

Her lips were shaking in anger.

"What seems to be the problem?"

His voice.

Didn't Jess say he would be absent until Wednesday!? My heart was beating rapidly, and I braced myself to face the sexiest man on this planet. I peered over my shoulder and caught a glance of his chest and arm.

"Mrs Atkins is violating the dress code once again!", Janet boomed, almost sounding proud of herself. Mr. Beaumont's eyes darted over me, stopping at my eyes. We looked at each other, until his intense eyes became too much for me and I had to look away.

"What part is she violating, Mrs White?"

"Her shirt is too tight. Her skirt is too thin of a material to be appropriate. Her heels are 3 inches instead of 2!"

"Oh come on now!", I grumbled.

Mr. Beaumont checked me once again. "The shirt is fine, Mrs White, as are the heels. We said a maximum of 3 inches, so that passes too."

My boss asked Mrs White to feel my skirt.

"Silk", Janet said without touching me. "As clear as day."

"I have to inform you silk material is forbidden for work clothing as it is too thin", Mr Beaumont crooked his head. "Please see to it you stay in the office and don't let our customers see you."

Just because my skirt was made out of silk?

"Yes, Sir", I admitted my defeat, causing Janet to smile proudly. She stalked away to get her next prey. We watched after her, and I shook my head as she went past her cubicle to the other offices.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Atkins, but rules are rules", Mr. Beaumont told me, uncrossing his arms behind his back.

"It's alright. I should have known", I tugged at my skirt. "At least I know not to wear this around here anymore."

"You can certainly wear it outside of work", Mr. Beaumont nodded. "A shame, it does suit you very nicely."

I blinked slowly, pressed my eyes close and took a deep breath. Don't blush. Don't blush. Don't blush.

"Thank you, Sir", was all I could say.

"No need to call me sir. It's too formal, Mrs Atkins", he insisted.

"If you say so, Sir – I mean Mr. Beaumont", I threw my head back, so I could look at him properly. "Say, Jessica told me you would be absent until Wednesday."

"So?", he lifted a blond brow. "Does my presence bother you, Mrs Atkins?"

"No, not at all", I raised my hands defensively. "I'm was merely wondering why you were back so early."

"My partners from London are easy-going people. I make quick decisions with them." He left it at that. "Now go get your coffee and get back to work." Stern as always.

"Yes, Mr. Beaumont."

He smiled at me. "Good girl."

Jessica silently looked at me when I entered the office flustered. She left in uncommented – for now.

"These are wrong", the footboy came inside our office with his trolley, full of files, letters and notes. "Mr. Beaumont sent these back."

Jessica and I gasped at the piles. "Aren't those all the files we worked through?", Jessica asked with a pale face.

"Yes ...", I unbelievingly confirmed.

"Didn't you ... Oh god", Jessica took my arm. "You did most of the work for me because I had to go to meetings for Mr. Beaumont."

My heart dropped to my stomach.

"I like this company so much I don't mind staying a few hours extra", I weakly said, dropping into my chair.

"I'll help you!", Jess took one pile, but I told her to put them down.

"You heard how he yelled at Nina for doing Clarissa's work. It's alright, I'll manage. You do your files, I'll do mine."

Just in case Mr. Beaumont would drop by my office again, I joined Jessica as she went to the canteen for lunch. Jess nudged me as I followed her to the elevator.

"Don't fancy a kiss?", she asked, nudging her head into the direction down the hall. I followed it and spotted Mr. Beaumont who was talking to another colleague of ours, all while she seemed scared. His expression grew angrier with each passing second until-

"What do you mean we lost half a million?", he suddenly barked.

Jess and I jumped at his loud voice.

My ears rung from here, I couldn't imagine how she was feeling. "Let's go", Jess took my arm. "Before he yells at us too."

"I feel bad for her", I told Jess as we drove down.

"You shouldn't. If they had done their job properly this wouldn't have happened", Jess said, and I stared at her in shock. "I know her. She's the PA of the financial manager. It's not the first time this has happened."

I understood. "They are going to get fired?"

"Most probably. Michael always gives us several tries, but this was too much. Half a million is not little money."

"That's a lot", I corrected.

"For us, yes. For Michael? A laughable number. But the point is they haven't lost money for the first time."

The canteen was awfully busy, yet we managed to squeeze our way next to some colleagues from another department. Jess pierced her salad with glistening eyes. "Say, have you seen how Janet sent four people to Michael today?"

"I barely noticed anything else but the numbers in front of me", I laughed. "She did that?"

"Yep. They all got a warning from Michael", Jess shook her head. "I think Janet gets off from getting people into trouble. I can't explain it how else she has been doing this for 25 years."

"That long?", I asked surprised.

"Yes. She worked for Michael's mother before then got moved to us."

I leaned forward. "Michael's mother?"

"A she-devil", Jess told me, leaning forward too. "Michael is from a wealthy family. His mother has her own company, as does his father. It was natural he would follow in their footsteps and found a company on his own." A cheeky smile crossed her face. "But – he went a different path. His mother leads a limited partnership company, his father a bank. Michael combined the two to get them riled up."

"Shouldn't they be happy he combined both?", I asked confused.

"His parents got divorced early on. They hate each other."

"Oh."

Why would he do that then?

"And Mrs. Beaumont openly shows how much she hates it. Whenever she comes around, the whole company is left a mess and Mr. Beaumont and she are constantly arguing."

"Oh dear. Wait, he kept his mother's name?"

"He didn't want to be associated with his father", Jess told me with a whisper. "Rumours have it they don't get along at all. But we don't know why."

That sparked my curiosity.

"Do you think-?"

"He would never tell you", Jess shook her head. "He avoids his parents like the plague."

"Bummer."

"Trust me, we all want to know what happened, but we are in no position to ask him."

I let that go through my head while I unwrapped the sandwich.

"Is this spot still free?"

Jess and I jumped up startled. Mr. Beaumont.

Had he heard anything!?

We exchanged a panicked glance.

"Of course it is", Jess beamed at him, then hit my foot with hers.

"Ouch!", I yelled out, then understood what she hinted at. He meant the spot next to me.

I shifted more to the left and Jess grinned behind her hand. She winked at me. 'You are welcome', she seemed to say.

'I'll kill you later', I said through my eyes.

Mr. Beaumont placed down his trey and undid his jacket. "How was your days, ladies?"

"Stressful", Jess admitted before I could say anything. "You've been quite harsh with the correction of the files."

My mouth dropped open at her open comment.

"Haven't you heard what Mr. Prange did? I can't have more losses, nor do I need workers who don't take their work seriously."

"You fired them?", I asked with a quiet voice.

He met my eyes openly and nodded. "I did. Don't look so sad, they had it coming. I warned them a lot before, but they chose to ignore my words."

I looked down at my sandwich. "Did you know they would repeat their mistakes?"

"Yes."

"So you sat back and watched?", I couldn't believe it. "Even though you knew this would go south?"

"I let them decide on their own fate. The more they chose the wrong path, the angrier I got."

Jess and I exchanged another glance. So he had been furious when he had corrected our files. That explained why everything had come back to us.

"Now, don't think about it and enjoy your lunch. Eat. You have nothing to worry about."

"Except for the work that is waiting on us", Jess mumbled.

"Should have done it better", he shrugged.

That asshole.

"As you say, Michael", Jess rolled her eyes. I stared at her again.

"Now, Mrs Brown, I told you to address me at least as Mr. Michael", my boss pointed out while he spread the napkin over his lap. Before the napkin laid down, my eyes crept to his bulge.

Blood shot to my cheeks. The pants were hugging his-

Sara – no!

We silently ate at first, while Mr. Beaumont checked his emails. Then Jessica rolled her eyes when Janet entered the canteen, which got me laughing and got Mr. Beaumont's attention. Jess giggled too.

"What's got you two laughing?", Mr. Beaumont asked with a soft tone. Jess told Mr. Beaumont to look at ten o'clock.

"Now, now, she's a good worker", he shook his head, but I caught the muscle in his jaw moving. "Even though she's more annoying than any employee I had ever accepted in this company."

Jess and I had to laugh. "But you haven't heard that from me", he mumbled, taking a sip from his water.