Twelve Days - The Beginning (5 page)

Suddenly she became aware of an insistent knocking on the door and immediately realised why Vaughn had pushed her away. As if she had been switched into overdrive, Elise couldn’t move quickly enough; sitting up, straightening her clothes, her hair, rapidly wiping her mouth and shuffling to the other end of the sofa to put as much distance between her and Vaughn as possible.

Vaughn was resting his elbows on his knees; his head bowed, breathing deeply and trying to restore a measure of calm. Briefly his eyes met hers, quickly heated and then shifted, turning towards the door. “Come in.”

In the brief seconds before the door opened fully, Vaughn turned to look at her, his voice no more than a whisper.

“This
did
happen, Elise.” He stood and walked over to the window, the telltale bulge in his trousers belying his outwardly calm exterior. With shaking hands, Elise smoothed her blouse one last time before turning towards the unwelcome intrusion.

The door had now opened fully to reveal Celeste, hopping madly from one foot to the other and regarding the two of them with a slightly odd expression. She looked at Elise in confusion then shook her head as if to clear it and turned her full attention to Elise.

“Elise, thank God, I’ve only just heard, I was out on a client visit. What the hell happened? Are you alright?” She came running over to the sofa and plopped down on the floor in front of Elise, in pretty much the same place as Vaughn had been moments before. “I heard that Cole is in the hospital..., something about a fight with Dale? Jesus, Elise, are you sure you’re OK?”

Across the room she became aware of Vaughn shifting and moving slightly but he had his back to them so she had no way of knowing what he was thinking. She looked back down at Celeste. “I’m fine ‘Leste, really. A bit shaken but not injured at all. I just stood by and watched it happen, really. Dale has a concussion, Cole just superficial cuts but they’ve both been taken for observation. The police arrested them first though – for assault and affray.”

“Shit, Elise, Cole arrested? And Dale? Jesus, what was going on? Annabel saw the whole thing but she’s not talking, God knows why! I just don’t get it. Why would Dale and Cole end up having a brawl in the reception for crying out loud?” Celeste was talking so quickly now that her words were making little sense and Elise was glad that her friend didn’t really seem to want any answers – she didn’t have any to give her. At the moment she was just hoping that Celeste didn’t pick up on any vibes between her and Vaughn, good or bad. The last thing she needed was her personal life out there on the office floor as fodder for the gossips. She had a sinking feeling though that it was more than likely already out there, after Dale’s performance.

“I really don’t know ‘Leste” she said. She hoped that she sounded convincing when she answered.

“Dale was calling Cole ‘pretty-boy’ and I think it just riled him a bit.” It sounded lame, even to her, but it was the best she could do without telling the whole, sordid story.

Celeste looked as if she was about to question her further but then must have thought better of it and chose to squeeze her leg in a comforting gesture instead. “Just as long as you’re alright Elise, that’s the main thing.”

Vaughn had been quiet the whole time, continuing to keep his back to them as he stared out of the window. As if only just remembering he was there, Celeste stood up and addressed his back.

“Nice deception there, Vaughn. No one had any clue that you were anything other than one of us. Especially considering how much advantage you took of the complimentary bar!” Celeste moved closer to him and nudged him on the shoulder in a friendly punch.

Elise thought she saw him stiffen momentarily but then he turned around and, for the first time since he had entered the reception area, he smiled, in Celeste’s direction.

“Is that so?” he said, “Am I not ‘one of you’ anymore, then?”

Celeste grinned “No freaking way! You’re one of them, the upstairs lot. Cole is too but he keeps in with the troops at ground level, if you know what I mean! But you..... rumour is you own more than half the company. That definitely makes you one of them!” Celeste paused a moment as if suddenly realising something.

“Shit! I guess that means you’re unavailable then? There’s probably some company protocol or other, isn’t there? Just bloody typical!”

This time Vaughn actually laughed and it was a beautiful sound resonating around the office -deep but with a hint of sexiness - and Elise felt her womanhood begin to throb again in response. Her reaction to this man was ridiculous. Crossing her legs to try to stem the feeling, she waited somewhat anxiously for his response. What if he said he was available? After all, he had been seen leaving the party with Olivia although that was before anyone knew his true standing. She didn’t know how she would feel if he started flirting with her friend. She knew she had no business caring or even being jealous but after that seriously hot kiss, God help her, she was feeling blatantly possessive.

“I guess you’re right,” he replied, still laughing a little, “It wouldn’t be good for the upstairs and downstairs lots to ‘mingle’, so to speak. Not company protocol at all.”

Elise sighed inwardly with relief and then immediately chastised herself. This man was nothing to her; she was married and having a hard enough time convincing everyone else that that fact was important without having to convince herself!

Celeste rolled her eyes in resignation. “Company protocol sucks! Bloody shame, that’s all I can say. Oh well, my man is out there somewhere and you, my dear Elise, are going to help me find him!”

“W..w...what??” She hadn’t been following the conversation for the last few seconds, having been sidetracked by the play of light from the window across Vaughn’s beautiful face. Celeste looked across at Elise as if she was seriously mentally challenged; truth be told, she essentially was at this precise moment in time.

“My man.” she repeated “You are going to help me find the man of my dreams. But first we need to go shopping!”

“Shopping?! Why?”

“I need a killer dress. You and me are hitting the clubs tomorrow night and
I
need something to wear. What say we go to the precinct tomorrow and have a look round? It is Saturday after all and I reckon you need something to take your mind off today’s events.”

“I don’t know ‘Leste,” Elise looked doubtful “I have to go to check on Dale and see what is happening at the hospital. They may want to keep him in and it wouldn’t feel right going out shopping, if that’s the case.” She didn’t add that Dale wouldn’t let her anyway; that would just cause far too many questions that she was not ready to answer.

“Oh, come on Elise - if they do keep him in, you’ll be all on your own. What better way to cope than with a bit of retail therapy?”

Elise paused for a moment and weighed up her options, wondering if she could get away with keeping it from Dale. Perhaps if they went first thing in the morning, she would be OK. If he had stayed in the hospital then she could just pick him up at lunchtime and he would be none
the wiser. If not then maybe the concussion would mean that he would sleep late and she could whizz round in an hour and be back before he even knew she’d even gone.

She turned back to Celeste. “OK, you’re on. But it has to be first thing in the morning and I may only be able to leave Dale for an hour or so”. She felt rather than saw Vaughn stiffen at the second mention of Dale’s name but she refused to turn to him to acknowledge it.

“Jeez, girl, you drive a hard bargain. OK, what say I give you a call in the morning and we can arrange where to meet?”

Elise was gripped by panic at the thought of Dale possibly hearing her phone call, and she had to inwardly fight with herself to remain calm. “Erm.. no... that’s OK. You don’t need to call me. Why don’t we just arrange a time and place and then I’ll meet you there?”

Celeste looked as if she was about to argue but to Elise’s relief, just shrugged. “Alright, I’ll meet you by the monument at 9.30am.”

“Great!” said Elise, pleased that the awkward moment had passed and actually starting to look forward to spending some time with Celeste. She didn’t get to have nearly enough girly time so this would make a really pleasant change.

Celeste took that as her cue to leave. “OK then..., see you tomorrow and don’t forget to have your shopping head on!” She exited through the door chuckling to herself and closed it softly behind her.

Vaughn had turned back to the window, concentrating on whatever it was that he was looking at and Elise wondered if he was regretting their passionate interlude. She knew she should be too but with the memory of his lips still firmly planted in her brain, regret was not high on her list of emotions at the moment.

As the silence became heavier, Elise searched for something to say...anything.

“Thank you.” she whispered eventually, “I really appreciate you stepping in and breaking those two meatheads up”. Not what she wanted to say at all but she had no idea how to refer to the other ‘thing’ that had just happened between them.

Vaughn turned, startled, almost as if he had forgotten she was there. He ran his eyes up and down her body almost as if checking for injuries and heat coursed through her everywhere that his eyes lingered. Finally he settled on her face.

“It was my pleasure.” he said smoothly, “I just did what any other sane person would have done. I’m not in the habit of condoning fighting on the premises, particularly when one of my most senior employees is involved. It was not the time or the place for whatever was going on with those two.”

Elise doubted that he was right about doing the same as anyone else. She hadn’t come across too many people in her time, who would jump into the middle of a fight.

She was a little concerned that Vaughn had so far made no reference to the comment that Dale had aimed in his direction; the one about wanting to ‘fuck’ her, the one that had sent
him over the edge himself. It was strange how everyone seemed to be brushing this under the carpet. Either no one really knew what had happened or they just didn’t know how to broach the subject. Deciding that ultimately it really didn’t matter either way Elise turned to leave, crossing in front of Vaughn as she headed to the door. There didn’t seem to be any point in staying – there was nothing left to say and if he was now regretting their kiss, then she needed to be as far away from him as she possibly could be.

As she passed him he put a gentle hand out on her arm, momentarily stopping her.

“Elise, why don’t you let anyone have your phone number or allow them to phone you?”

She frowned at the strange question. It was one of the last things she had expected him to say although she had by now come to realise that he was far from predictable. He was also very observant, not missing anything in the exchange between her and Celeste. At least it was a safe question and one to which she had a ready answer.

“Because I’m on a rubbish contract,” she said, “it’s really expensive to use.” The practised lie rolled off her tongue without her even thinking about it. Usually most people accepted the ‘rubbish contract’ line without argument. The truth – the reality - was just far too ugly to own.

“Oh” he seemed to consider for a moment and then continued “but surely you know that if people phone you, it doesn’t actually cost you anything. Unless they’re phoning from another country of course.” Yes, definitely very observant.

Elise knew that. Of course she did! Even her limited grasp on technology recognised that fact. However, she wasn’t able to admit to anyone that Dale monitored her phone and, as such, she never gave the number to anyone. On the one occasion she had given it to a girlfriend, Dale had found out and had been convinced that she was plotting to leave him. He had then proceeded to make her stay. Pay. Forcibly. The only way he knew how.

If Vaughn picked up on her hesitation, he didn’t let on as she stumbled through a response.

“Erm.. well.. I really only use it for emergencies. It’s not even charged most of the time.”

“Not much use in an emergency then.” He stated wryly and arched his brows at her as she began to wither under his gaze. Instantly she knew how he had got to the position in life that he was evidently now in. One carefully arched brow was all it took to make her feel like she had two left feet and a dunce’s cap. She pitied anyone he went up against in business. She decided on a change of tack.

“Look...thank you for what you did today. I understand what a difficult position this puts you in but I would appreciate it if we could keep all of this as quiet as possible – although with Annabel things may not be all that quiet.” She murmured ironically as she continued. “I need to get to the hospital to check on Dale and see what is happening. I would appreciate it if I could take the rest of the day off to... sort things out and then hopefully by Monday, this will have all blown over.”

For a moment Vaughn looked like he wasn’t going to respond but then he released his grip on her arm. Watching as she absently rubbed it where he had been holding her.

“Of course you can take the rest of the day to .... sort things out. I hope that your husband is soon feeling better” he intoned with a complete lack of sincerity.

“Thank you. I’ll see you on Monday.” She turned to leave. It sounded glib but what else could she say?

“Oh, and Elise,” at the sound of his voice, slightly deeper now, she turned back to face him again.

“This,” he gestured to the sofa, clearly referring to their earlier interlude, “this
did
happen and it
will
happen again – and I can promise you that neither of us will be
quiet
then”. He emphasised the word that she had used only moments before, giving it a completely different meaning. “Don’t forget.”

Mortified, she scrambled for the door, feeling the colour rush through her body. Why did he have to mention that kiss again? She had tried really hard to compartmentalise things once Celeste had come in and she had been trying really hard to put it in the “do not disturb ever again” compartment. The fact that she was having serious trouble forgetting about it herself was beside the point. Her arousal begin to stir again at the intention in his sentence, the undoubted emphasis on certain words and realised that she needed to get out of this room fast before she did something that she would regret. Like, jump him. Big time.