Seven Days: The Complete Story

by Dale, Lindy

  At last the meeting is over. Beside me, Nicholas has stacked his papers into a neat pile and pushed back his chair. “Is it okay if I borrow Sadie for a while, Jill? I’ll send her home after we finish.”

  Finish? Finish what? He better not be thinking he can take up where we left off in his office because that will not be happening.

  “Sure. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow, Sadie. Wear your work clothes. We’ll be going down to supervise the final stages of the garden I’ve been doing at Highfield.”

  “Great. See you in the morning.”

  I look over to Nicholas who’s waiting by the door. “Let’s go,” he says.

  I follow Nicholas along the hall. He’s walking so fast I practically have to run to keep up. I don’t know why were hurrying. I’m not in a hurry to hear what ever it is he seems so intent on sharing.

  We get to his office and he flings the door off its hinges before ushering me in. I’m nervous now. I know what happens when we’re alone and it can’t happen here. It can’t. I have to be professional. This is a place of work.

  “Take a seat.” He’s being very formal for someone who’s licked parts of my body that are never seen in public.

  I perch nervously on the edge of a leather sofa, crossing my ankles in the ladylike way my mother taught me.

  Nicholas puts the stack of documents on the desk and turns to face me. He leans back, half sitting on the side of the desk. A smile quirks the corner of his mouth. “I think you owe me an explanation.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  What the?

  An explanation? What have I done?

  “I’m not the one who got the other person here under false pretences,” I say. I thought he had me here to tell me he’d missed me. Instead he’s telling me off for something I didn’t do.

  “It’s not false pretences. You’re here to work. Jill can be a slave driver when she wants to. And a bitch about perfection. It’s part of what makes her good at her job. You’ll learn a lot.” He gives me a sober look.

  I glare back at him. “You know what I mean. You’re changing the subject. You knew I was the intern. I know the Uni gave you my contact details and my student photo. The least you could have done was email me and let me know it was you I was working for, so I didn’t look like a dick in front of everyone.”

  “I could have, but I didn’t see the need. I didn’t think you’d show.”

  I don’t know if being this close to Nicholas is disturbing my train of thought but I don’t understand.

  “Come on, Sadie. You’re a bright kid. You didn’t expect me to believe you were unaware it was me you were coming to work with?”

  “I’m not a kid!”

  His eyes rake approvingly over my body, shown off to the max in Emily’s tight-fitting outfit. He grins. “Bad choice of words.”

  “Can you be serious, please?”

  I. Do. Not. Have. Time. For. This.

  “I am. But the sight of your arse in that skirt keeps distracting me.” He takes a step toward me. He’s looking straight into my eyes; his own are clouded with desire and I’m starting to melt, damn him. This cannot happen. I have a boyfriend. We’re practically married. I stand up, straightening the damn skirt, taking him on.

  “I didn’t know who Hardwick & Lawson were. If I had, I would never have come today. And I have no intention of returning tomorrow; so don’t go getting any ideas. I don’t care if you’re the King of Architecture.”

  I’d rather fail than be put in this situation again.

  His lips press together. “Fighting words, Miss Cooper.”

  “Don’t ‘Miss Cooper’ me. I’m not your freakin’ secretary and you’re not the bloody Prime Minister so get your self-inflated head out of your arse.”

  He seems bemused by my attack. “You didn’t orchestrate this whole thing? Get me to sleep with you for an internship?”

  What does he take me for? I’m not some psychopathic bunny boiler. “I beg your pardon?”

  “You heard.”

  “How on earth would I be able to do that?” My eyes widen. I’m angry now. Angry and confused at the emotions swimming around in the pool of lust that used to be my insides. I’m angry with Nicholas for thinking I would concoct some kind of scheme to get him to take me on as an intern. I’m angry with him for not letting me prepare myself. And I’m angry with myself because I’m so turned on when I clearly shouldn’t be. God, I’m so turned on I want to jump his bones right here on the desk. “You think I slept with you six months ago so I could get a foot in the door? You seriously think that? Seriously? You’re freaking mental.”

  He moves closer. His hands move up to my elbows. Please don’t touch me, I think. I’ll cave if you touch me. I have no willpower when it comes to Nicholas. None.

  “I’m not doing a very good job of this, am I?” he asks.

  “You got that in one, mister.” Finding my resolve, I yank my arms away. I have to keep my distance because if I don’t he’s going to sense how hot I’m getting. He’s going to feel the shallowness of my breath, see the way I’m trying not to tremble with excitement.

  “I’ve upset you.”

  “You reckon?” I could kill him, if I didn’t want to kiss him so much.

  “Sorry.”

  I relent a little. “Did you think I’d do that? That I slept with you to get a prac placement? I didn’t know who you were Nicholas, I swear I didn’t. What we had was more than sex to me. Surely, you know that?”

  “So why’d run? I thought we were having a good time. I liked you.”

  “I didn’t run. I told you I was leaving. I told you why. And they’re the same reasons why I’m going to leave again now.”

  Well, that and the rather tall, redheaded, ‘boyfriend’ reason. I’m not going to cheat on Mason. I will not become one of those girls.

  “Don’t leave, Sadie. Please don’t.” He moves closer and I’m reminded of that morning in the lighthouse when he said those exact words to me and I still left. This time however, I see that look in his eye, the one that tells me I mean more to him than sex, too.

  “I respected what you wanted back then,” he says. “I still do. But you’re all I’ve thought about for six months and I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. It was like someone waved a magic wand when you fell into my lap on Monday. I couldn’t believe it was you. That woman from the Uni must have thought I was some sort of pervert when I asked her what colour your hair was.”

  He missed me that much?

  As if of its own accord, my body moves into the circle of his arms. My brain seems to have forgotten I have a perfectly nice man waiting to hear about my day. I sigh against Nicholas’ chest. It feels way too much like home. “Did you consider maybe I didn’t want to be found?” I whisper.

  Not till I was, anyway.

  “You suck at lying.”

  True.

  “I’m still leaving. I can’t do this again. Not with you and Joel. It’s too hard.”

  “Liar.” His mouth moves to mine and I know, despite that sensible little voice in my head that’s screaming at me to stop him, I’m going to let him kiss me. I want him to. I’ve missed him too. I want his lips on mine.

  Nicholas lowers his head. His lips are less than millimetres away. His eyes are glazed, his breathing has quickened…

  And there’s a knock at the door.

  “Bloody hell,” he grumbles, jumping away, as without pretence the door flies open and Joel storms in.

  “Can I see you in the hall for a minute?” Joel’s lips are a thin line. He doesn’t say hello. He doesn’t acknowledge my presence. It’s as if I am nothing; that the thing we had was nothing. He’s behaving like such a baby.

  “Don’t move,” Nicholas commands.

  Like I’m going anywhere. I literally forgot how to walk the minute he looked at me. Hell, I think I may have forgotten my own name.

  The door closes. I hear muffled voices tinged with fury on the other side and I figure this day is about as cra
zy as it can get, so I may as well add fuel to the fire by eavesdropping. I mean, they are talking about me, why shouldn’t I know what they’re saying? I walk to the door and press my ear to the timber. It’s old and thin. I can hear every word like the guys are standing next to me.

  “What the hell are you playing at?” That’s Joel. He’s saying exactly what I was trying to say before I got so confused by the sight of Nicholas looking at me like I was his one and only. “You can’t have her here. Jesus, Nick! You’ve lost the plot this time.”

  “She’s the top student in the landscape architecture course. We’re the top architecture firm in the city. Seems like good match to me.”

  “You hate students.”

  “So do you.”

  “You tell me all the time how inept and brain-dead they are.”

  “Most of them are.”

  I can hear the incredulousness in Joel’s voice. “But most of them aren’t Sadie, are they?”

  “Exactly. And change is good. It’ll keep us on our toes.”

  “Having Sadie here is going to more than keep me on my toes. I got a damn hard on in the middle of the boardroom. Thank Christ I had a table to hide behind or it would have been awkward. I haven’t been that out of control since I was thirteen.”

  Even though I don’t want it to, a hint of a smile plays at my lips. Joel still wants me. So does Nicholas. I should stop thinking about that. It’s very bad that I am.

  “Get rid of her,” Joel adds.

  Oooh, that’s a bit harsh.

  “I want her to stay.”

  “She’s bad news. You know she is. We can’t have her here. It’s going to cause conflict.”

  I press my ear harder, trying to get a better seal but I can’t hear how Nicholas replies. I hope he’s defending me. I hope he is. Not that it matters because I can defend myself; I am an independent strong woman… with her ear against the door like a teenager.

  I’ve had enough of this. I open the door. Hands on my hips, I confront the two men who are facing off in front of me. “Don’t bother arguing, I’ll ring the placement office in the morning and tell them it didn’t work out. I don’t care if I fail, I’ll make it up somewhere else.”

  “Might be for the best,” Joel says, speaking to me for the first time.

  Is he for real? He’s actually going to let me lose this chance?

  I take a deep breath. “Yes,” I repeat. “God forbid, you might lose control of your penis if I’m around.”

  And with that I stomp down the hall to the staff room, where I retrieve my bag and sprint through the building and out into the street so nobody will see me leave. I never took myself for a quitter but I guess I was wrong.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  By the time Emily gets home from her shift at the supermarket three hours later, I’m drunk. Pissed as a nit, in fact. It’s out of character for me to drink alone and the fact that I’ve changed from my office outfit to my pyjama bottoms with the hole in the bum and a stretched t-shirt speaks volumes for my demeanour. I’m upset and annoyed. I’m confused because I came so close to kissing Nicholas when I have a perfectly lovely boyfriend who should be arriving in, oh, about half an hour. I’m giggling hysterically at something inane on the TV and I don’t even like TV. I want to rant but I can’t. I can’t tell Emily I’ve ditched Hardwick & Lawson unless I tell her why I did it. And either admission will cause her to commit murder… mine. So I’m staring at the TV with the occasional titter for effect. I am officially a loser.

  Emily stands between the TV and me. Her hands are on her hips. “What’s happened this time?”

  I think she’s getting a bit tired of me whining about this prac thing. I sag into the cushions preparing myself for the onslaught I know is sure to come. I’ve concocted a story but she won’t believe me. Emily’s a bullshit detector. She can spot it a mile away.

  “Today was an absolute unmitigated disaster,” I reply, though the words don’t come out like that. One of them sounds more like ‘un-smiti-lated’, which I know is not a word. I stumble on. “I can’t, can’t go back to Hardstick & Lawson.” Then I burst out laughing because I’ve just made Nicholas’ company sound like a porn studio.

  “Why?” She’s looking at me like I’ve declared I’m going to go deep sea diving without an air tank.

  “Because the Lawson in Hardwick & Lawson happens to be Nicho-lash Law-shon.”

  Oh gosh. I’m so smashed.

  Cue Emily’s blank face. Sometimes, I wonder if she’s secretly blonde under that brown hair. “So?”

  I speak very slowly, enunciating the words clearly so she’ll understand my waffle. “As in Nicholas I’ve-seen-you-naked Lawson.”

  She pauses for a second, her face twisting in recognition like someone’s put her on one of those non-surgical facelift machines and her muscles are going mental. “Wow,” she says at last. It’s not said in a way I’d expect, especially not when followed by a slow whistle. “Hashtag shock of the century.”

  “Hashtag understatement.” I release another spluttery giggle.

  “How did you not know this?”

  “Because I’m a nutter idiot. I mean, an utter idiot.”

  “But he’s Nicholas Lawson. He’s, like, literally famous. He must have told you his surname when you met him.”

  Duh. I know he’s famous. I didn’t put the man with the man, if you know what I mean. “As if I cared about his surname when he was inside me! I was a bit preoccupied at the time.”

  Doubly so.

  “But you spent days with him before you did the deed. You can’t have been looking longingly into each other’s eyes the entire time. You must have talked about something. I knew everything about Alex after twenty minutes on the beach.”

  “That’s because you’re nosy.”

  She gives me the look. I am an idiot. I. Am. Such. A. Massive. Idiot.

  Emily comes to sit beside me on the couch. She pats my arm. “It’ll work out.”

  “I don’t think it will. You seem to be forgetting Mason.” I came so close to kissing Nicholas I was almost cheating on my boyfriend. In fact, I was so overcome by desire I didn’t even remember I had one. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “You could dump Mason.”

  Totally what I expected her to say.

  “I meant about the job, Emily.”

  “Hmm.” She pauses. “I don’t see why you can’t continue on as if nothing happened. It’s a month. So you hooked up with Nicholas. So what? Heaps of people sleep with their bosses and live to tell the tale.”

  “I’m not heaps of people. What about Mason? I have to tell him.”

  “There’s no need for that.”

  “But I feel guilty.” Imagine how I’d feel if I’d kissed Nicholas today.

  “Has Mason told you about every girl he’s been with? I bet he hasn’t.”

  “I don’t want to know.”

  “Oh for Pete’s sake. You’re too nice for your own good.” Emily picks up my almost empty glass of wine and finishes it off.

  “Hey!”

  “Shush! You’ve already had enough by the look of you. Your cheeks are flushed. And you’re watching re-runs of Friends. You hate TV.”

  Always a giveaway.

  “Not the point.”

  “No,” she says, as she shakes the last drips from the bottle into my glass and helps herself to it. “Let’s get back to that point, shall we? First, you liked Nicholas. You’ve never slept with anyone after such a short amount of time. Then, all of a sudden you’re back here and he’s forgotten. You tell me it was a holiday romance, that it meant nothing. You start seeing Mason. If the thing with Nicholas meant nothing why are you sitting here worrying that Mason might find out? Why are you stressing over a man who means nothing. Unless of course, he does mean something.” Her look is suspicious now.

  “It wasn’t coincidence, me getting that place at Hardwick & Lawson. Nicholas approved it… after he checked that it was me first.”

  “He must be more into
you than you were him.”

  She wouldn’t be happy if she knew how into him I was. I mean, am.

  “Or he’s a stalker,” I joke.

  “Hardly. I never understood why you dumped him in the first place. He’s so nice.”

  “I told you, it was a holiday thing. We agreed. No strings.” I wish there had been no strings. I can feel the strings pulling me in again, tugging at my heart, winding me up in Nicholas’ game. But it’s not a game.

  Oh, this is hectic. My head is literally exploding.

  “Then go back. Stop complaining about something that was obviously nothing. Don’t be such a girl. Maybe if you go back, the relationship will develop into something. Even if it doesn’t, you can’t put a hook-up before your professional dream. Get a grip, Sadie. Suck it up. Build a bridge. Do all that stuff.”

  I’d love to but there’s no way I can be in the same building with Nicholas and Joel and not want to do what we did before. I felt it today, as soon as I saw them. The yearning was so strong it was compelling me to act. I have no idea what would have happened if Joel hadn’t been so mad.

  I pull the cushion from behind me and hug it to my body, seeking a buffer in its softness. “When did you get to be so mature? That advice was actually worth listening to.”

  “Ha! Must have been hangin’ with my homey for too long.”

  I giggle again and toss the pillow at her. “Nutcase.”

  “Obsessive freak.” She tosses it back.

  “Maneater.”

  “Prude,” she replies, as she bonks me on the head with the cushion.

  After we stop laughing, we trade a few more insults and Emily quizzes me on the rest of my day, the part where I was enjoying learning new stuff and not obsessing over Nicholas and Joel. I tell her about Jill and how excited I was to work with her and what a pity it will be not to get the opportunity to learn from her.

  “Whoa. Back up the truck.” Emily holds up her hands. “I thought we’d settled that?”

  I bite my lip.

  “What the hell is wrong with you, Sadie? You’re all over the shop. Geez, Louise, are you hormonal or something? I’ve never seen you be so indecisive, like, ever.”