Our Chance

by Natasha Preston

  No, she didn't understand marriage.

  I held my hands up. "I don't want to argue with you."

  "Neither do I, love. Can't you just try to be happy for us?"

  Nope, no way.

  "I'll pray for the best, that's all I can give you."

  "Nelly, have a little faith. This time we'll make it. Older and wiser and all that." She turned back and continued wiping the table.

  They got older but when it came to each other they'd never been wise.

  I helped Mum clean up and then made a quick exit. The drive home was horrible; I was in one of the worst moods I'd been in in a long time.

  If Damon was on my doorstep now I'd tell him to fuck off. The whole, stupid world could do one. People were idiotic and I'd never wanted to run away to a remote island more.

  Screw work tomorrow, the second I got in I was opening a bottle of white and downing the lot. Thankfully for us both, Damon wasn't waiting for me when I got in, because he'd still be at his parents probably.

  Mum tried calling but I ignored it in favour of pouring wine right to the top of the glass. My phone vibrated two minutes later and it was Dad's name that showed up. Looks like she'd told him about our conversation.

  I gulped the wine, wincing at the same time.

  My phone rang for a third time and I was just about to launch it at the wall when I noticed it was Chloe's name on the screen. I wasn't really in the mood to talk to her either but I knew if I didn't she'd only worry and then might come over.

  "Hey," I said.

  "Hey, how are you?"

  I'm drowning my sorrows. "Fine, you?"

  "Good. Logan's working late tonight so I'm watching chic flicks and eating chocolate. How was dinner with your mum?"

  I snorted. "It turned into dinner with Mum and Dad."

  "They're back together?" She asked.

  "Yep."

  Chloe knew better than anyone else how toxic their relationship was but she didn't know just how bad things had got. I didn't want her to.

  "Wow. Can't say I'm surprised. Are you alright about it?"

  "Nothing I can do. They're adults, apparently."

  "Sorry, hun. Do you want me to come over?"

  "Nah, I'm good. Might have an early night."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yeah, thanks, though. Call you tomorrow."

  We hung up as I dropped onto the sofa. I clenched my jaw and managed to keep my tears at bay for another ten seconds before I broke down.

  Nell

  I was in a shit mood and it was all thanks to my parents. After being split up for a while I'd stupidly got complacent with the feeling of peace. Now they were back together and a pit of worry the size of the Grand Canyon weighed heavily in my stomach.

  Groaning at the shrill ring of the alarm on my phone, I tapped snooze and covered my eyes with my arms. Sleep hadn't come until the early hours, which did not help. I wanted to redo today already and I hadn't even left the bed yet.

  My mattress was too comfortable and I had absolutely no motivation whatsoever, so I lay awake in bed until the alarm went off another three times. Then I had to get up or I could add being late to work to the list of why today was shit.

  I sat up and rubbed my eyes, hating days when I felt like this. They weren't often but when I felt crap all I wanted to do was hide away. Good fuckin' luck to anyone that pissed me off today.

  Grabbing clean underwear and a cream shift dress from my wardrobe, I made my way into the bathroom to get ready.

  I'd laid in too late to shower so dry shampoo was going to have to rescue my hair. I couldn't care less. Holding my long, heavy hair up the best I could I sprayed the shampoo into the roots, massaged it in and brushed it. I pinned the front back with slides because I was in no mood to keep pushing it out of my eyes.

  I managed to get dressed and do my make up in time to grab something quick for breakfast, a bowl of cereal and a much-needed coffee. It was almost eight in the morning and the text message tone went off on my mobile. I knew who it'd be.

  Damon clearly wanted to get an early start on the flirting today. Hopefully it would lift my mood. I waited until I was sitting at the table with breakfast before I opened it so I didn't get distracted.

  Our contact over the weekend was minimal and I was relieved to have it back to normal now. I tried not to think about his lack of communication being due to the whore he was with. Shaking my head, I resisted the urge to be pathetic and hit myself. Here I was, hating a woman for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Nice one, Nell. That didn't make me a crazy person at all...

  'Woke up with massive, painful morning wood. Now going to have a cold shower and think of you', he'd put.

  Shaking my head and smiling I replied with: 'If only you were here then...'

  I could do with cheering up and knew Damon's body would be able to do that. Even just a text made me feel better and took my mind off all the other crap going on.

  He replied seconds later: 'Fuck sake Nell!!!'

  Laughing, I inhaled my food and gulped down the coffee.

  The fact that he could cheer me up pissed me off a little. Shit, I was such a melodramatic little bitch today. I should be happy that someone could make me feel better but no, not me, not completely anyway.

  What had I turned into?

  If Chloe was here I'd ask her to slap me, though she'd probably think it was great and offer a high five. If she did that then she'd be the one getting the slap.

  I need help.

  Leaving my empty mug on the table, I slipped off the stool and rushed out of the door, grabbing my bag as I went past. I was running late and I knew Reg would be pissed but he could do one. I had many, many more things to worry about than my arsehole boss.

  Driving like a fucking maniac and running like an Olympian meant I managed to make it to work just three minutes late.

  Harry cocked his eyebrow as I burst through the door. It took every ounce of willpower to not stick my middle finger up at him.

  "Sorry I'm late," I said, not bothering to offer an explanation.

  "That's not the first time, Nell," he said, blatantly talking to my boobs.

  I stuck my chest out, making him aware that I knew what he was up to and also hoping it would keep him from being a twat about my lateness. Three minute lateness.

  Harry - a guy not that much older than me - cleared his throat and finally looked up. "Just see it doesn't happen again."

  I smiled sweetly. "Of course. I'm so sorry." If the guy didn't pick up on the sarcasm dripping from my words there was no hope for him at all.

  "I'll have a coffee, then you can come to my office." He smirked and walked off. Fuck. Had I just led him on? If I walked into his office and he was naked I would flip out.

  My first stop was my office to wake my computer and put my bag under my desk. My tiny office was depressing and plain. But it could be painted all the colours of the rainbow and I would still think that. This was the actual last place on earth I wanted to spend five days a week but a girl needed shoes and wine so I had little choice.

  I passed the gossiping accounting girls standing along the corridor to the kitchen. I was late but they hadn't started work either. If I could handle falling back ten years I would've pointed it out, but I should probably practice a little more maturity than that. Probably.

  "Morning," I said.

  They replied and turned straight back to their conversation. One on one they were great but in a group it turned a bit clique-y. I was having absolutely nothing to do with that. The only girl I liked was Chloe. Logan's sister Cassie was cool too, but we didn't see a whole lot of each other.

  I struggled through the morning, feeling rubbish because I'd been shouted at and ordered about by my arsehole of a boss. Lunch couldn't have come soon enough and I didn't even care that I was eating alone in a restaurant and looked like a proper saddo. I was out of the office for an hour and that was all that mattered.

  My phone rang just as I finished my sandwich. "Damon," I
said, trying to sound more cheerful than I felt.

  "What colour is your underwear?"

  Rolling my eyes, I took a sip of my coffee. "You have an unhealthy interest in the colour of my underwear."

  "And an even unhealthier one in what's under it."

  "Do you want something, Damon? I don't think I have enough time for a quickie." My voice was much too loud for an unusually quiet coffee shop and no less than four people looked up. The young man in the smart pinstripe suit gave me more attention than necessary. If he thought I was having a quickie with him he was going to be disappointed.

  "Christ, people are watching," I muttered into the phone. Why did I continue to answer his calls in public?

  Damon laughed, as I thought he would. "Let's step this up."

  "Let's not!" I'd like to think that if he was here he would stop but he absolutely wouldn't. Now I didn't care what people thought of me, but Damon didn't care on a whole different level. "Seriously, what do you want?"

  He laughed again and replied, "I just wanted to see if we're still on for tonight."

  "We are. Chloe and Logan are meeting us at the restaurant so we can meet after work and go tomorrow if you want?"

  "Yeah, sure, I'll come by and pick you up."

  "Okay."

  "You are?"

  I frowned, my heart speeding up. "Yeah, why?"

  There was a pause that I didn't like at all. He cleared his throat. "You just seem different, quieter, I don't know."

  "The entire coffee shop doesn't think so."

  "Nell."

  "Yes?"

  Sighing, he said, "Is everything okay? We can talk about that, right?"

  No. We couldn't talk about the really personal stuff, that was for couples and we weren't a couple. "Everything's fine, Damon, it's just my boss and his son. You know what an arse they can be."

  "Those jumped up little pricks will only be sorry when you're gone. When are you thinking about changing jobs?"

  I snorted. "About three months ago. I'm going to look into it soon."

  "Okay, well if you need any help..."

  My eye twitched. I rarely asked anyone for help and I hated it when it was randomly offered. People thinking I needed help made me feel weak.

  "Thanks," I bit out, "but I'm fine."

  "Alright."

  Sighing, I asked, "So how was your weekend?"

  He instantly brightened and it better not because of the girl. "It was good, nice to catch up with the family. What did you do?"

  "Got drunk with Chloe, showed the world my underwear, and then went to dinner at my mum's." And had the worst day I'd had in a long time.

  "Right. How drunk were you?" He asked. I could hear amusement and concern in his voice and knew he was fishing to find out if I'd gone home with anyone.

  "I remember getting to the bar and waking up in the morning so I'm going with considerably drunk. It was a good night though. I think."

  "I've not seen you drunk for too long."

  "We'll rectify that soon. Anyway, I better go and eat. I'll see you after work, okay?"

  "Yeah, see you later, Nell."

  I hung up and picked at a slice of lemon cake for the next half an hour and I pretended it was normal that Damon hadn't sent me a follow on dirty text. I usually got one if we'd spoken during my lunch break, especially if he'd mentioned sex or my underwear. He'd probably realised that he'd made me feel uncomfortable with his offer of help, which was going to make seeing him later awkward.

  I grabbed my handbag and headed out of the door. A relationship wasn't something I wanted because of the drama, responsibility, work and the fact that it would probably all go to hell but I felt like all of that was exactly what I already had with Damon. Our casual relationship was turning into something it shouldn't be and I didn't know how long I could ignore that for.

  Back at my desk, I started with a pile of invoice filing that had somehow become my job. Damon had started texting throughout the rest of afternoon but my mind wasn't in it, no matter how rude the messages were. After a while he'd given up and I couldn't blame him. I was determined not to let him think I was a moody bitch and cancel on me, so as soon as The Ogre and his son left - early as usual - I did, too.

  Damon's work wasn't far from mine so it didn't take long to drive, plus by leaving early I'd missed the rush. His building was much fancier than the run-down one I worked in. But then he didn't work for shits either.

  "Can I help you?" A pair of breasts attached to a human asked. If they were real I was going to kill myself.

  "I'm looking for Damon Masters."

  She smiled. "Down the hall and second on the right."

  "Thank you."

  I walked up the corridor and stopped just before Damon's office. There was a half wall of glass, which gave me a great opportunity to perv on him in his suit. He oozed importance and professionalism. It was a major turn on. Also he was wearing a suit. I fucking loved him in a suit.

  Feeling warm in all the right places, I sighed and walked in.

  Damon

  Something was up with Nell and it bothered me that she wouldn't talk about it. Not that she really talked about anything of depth. The things that affected her were reserved just for her.

  I looked at the time on my monitor. 16:58. Thank fuck for that. Nell was meeting me here so we could go to dinner with Chloe and Logan and then back to her place for the night. The back to her place part of the evening couldn't come soon enough.

  Whatever I was doing at work, no matter how absorbed in a job I was, she was still on my mind. Her big green eyes stared back at me constantly. Every time I scribbled something down with black ink I'd think of her long, dark hair. I was a pathetic moron.

  "Hey." Nell's unexpected voice carried through my office sending a thrill right to my dick.

  I looked over my monitor and couldn't help sucking in a deep breath. She was absolutely stunning. Her hair hung down around her in black waves. She was still dressed from work in a cream dress that showed off those legs. Her lips were bright red and I prayed on all that was holy that she'd have underwear to match it.

  "Hey, you're early."

  She walked in looking around. My office was a decent size, with a large desk, bookshelf, seating area and coffee table for meeting clients and Nespresso machine. It was light and probably much more than I deserved considering my short time with the company and the fact that I was right out of Uni.

  "Yeah, Reg and Harry left so we all did too. Your office is amazing. Mine looks like a shoebox compared to this."

  The people she worked for were pricks. Nell was smart, independent, resourceful, had a shrewd head for business, and great vision, but she was also stubborn. She could get a job with me any time; the company were forward thinking and believed in investing in people. They would create a job for someone that could take the company to new places, Rich had created mine and now he wanted me to go into business with him.

  But when I'd suggested she spoke to the owner and made an appointment with him, she turned me down. I had a lot of respect for her wanting to do it alone but it just seemed crazy to pass up good opportunities because of who recommended them.

  "Rich," I called as he walked past my office. He stopped and came in, scratching his head. "Everything okay?"

  "Yeah, just on my way to a late meeting."

  "Oh, sorry, I won't keep you."

  He looked at Nell and said, "No, it's fine."

  "Rich, this is Nell Presley, Nell this is my manager, Rich."

  They shook hands. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nell."

  "You too," she replied, dropping her hand to point at me with her thumb. "So you're the one that employed him?"

  Rich threw his head back and laughed. "That was me. Best thing I ever did too. Got great vision and creativity that one. He's one of the best."

  I cleared my throat. "One of?"

  He winked and touched Nell's arm. I felt a bolt of possessiveness and jealousy. Fucking hell, he only touched her, he was
n't asking for a shag. "I'm hoping I'll be able to rename to Brown and Masters soon enough."

  "Wow, you two as a team would certainly take the advertising world by storm."

  We were a team now. I just had to work out if I wanted that to become legal and official. Starting up myself was exciting but I'd been here part-time before I left Uni since I was eighteen. This company could be moulded into something that fit both me and Rich. And if Nell eventually came on board there was nothing we couldn't achieve. She'd be able to take the company to new places.

  "I'm not sure if the advertising world is ready for that yet," I said.

  Rich rolled his eyes. "You'll say yes eventually, you know it makes perfect sense. Please excuse me, I don't want to be late. I hope to see you again soon, Nell, it was lovely to meet you."

  She nodded. "Likewise."

  He wasn't gone two seconds before she asked, "You're going to be a partner?"

  I shut down my computer. "Possibly."

  "Why would you not want that?"

  "I've just started out full-time and I need to make sure I'm comfortable with the added responsibility and stress. Now, are you ready to go?"

  "Yep. I'm starving, they'd better not be late."

  I grabbed my phone and wallet from the desk and slid them into my pockets. "Let's do one then." Walking around the desk I put my arm around her waist and led her out of the building.

  She leant against me as we walked towards my car, her breast brushing my chest. My breath caught in my throat as she looked up all doe eyed and pouty lips. She knew what she was doing to me. I felt my trousers tighten in the crotch area and hoped to fucking God the hard on she'd given me just by existing would be gone soon.

  Chloe and Logan beat us to the restaurant. They were at a table with our drinks already. "Hey," Nell said, sitting down opposite Chloe. They launched into gossip at a million miles an hour so I focused on Logan.

  "How's it going, man?" He asked.

  "Not bad. You?"

  "Good."

  Me and Logan had effectively done the whole day's catch up thing in under ten words while the girls were still discussing getting dressed this morning.

  "Ordered you a beer but are you driving?" He asked.

  "I am. One's alright though, thanks." A cold beer, good food and good company was exactly what I needed. "How're the wedding plans going?"

  He shrugged. "I'm not the one to ask. I'll turn up and smile."