Client Confidentiality

(10) Carlie

I bite my lip nervously as Zach pays, the tension palpable in the room. 

"All done, kitten," he winks at me as the waiter walks away with a wad of cash in tip. 

I nod and stand from my chair but he immediately rushes to help me, reaching his hand out for me to take. 

I look down at it, before raising my eyebrow at him. 

"It's just a hand, kitten," he smirks but I shake my head smiling and walk on my own. 

"An independent woman... I like it," I hear him murmur as he follows me out of the restaurant. 

I look along the pavement for a taxi, only for Zach to catch up to me and place his hand on the small of my back. I jump at his touch. 

"I'll take you back to the office," he whispers in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine at his husky voice.

"Okay," I nod my head, willing my voice to sound normal. 

Luckily, the drive back to my office is pretty calm. We sit in silence, both responding to emails for most of the way. 

When the car pulls up outside my building, Zach jumps out and holds the door open, making me laugh as he fake bows. 

"See you later," I wave before walking through the doors. 

"See you soon, Kitten," he responds as he climbs back into the car. 

I smile to myself in the empty elevator, my heart fluttering for some reason. 

As I stroll to Hannah's desk outside my office, I see people turn to look at me, probably shocked I'm smiling for once. 

"Is this Tony making up for a fight again or something?" I point to the large bouquet of flowers on her desk. She emerges from behind them, grinning from ear to ear. 

"Nope," she pops the 'p', making me frown in confusion as her smile increases, "They're for youuuuu," she sing songs before circling the desk. She give me a tight hug, making me only frown more. 

What is going on?

"Who sent them?" I ask as she releases me. 

"Have a look," she hands me the card that arrived with it. 

Opening it, I fight back a gasp when I read it. 

Carlie,

Sorry lunch was cut short. 

We'll make it up to you. 

Z,C & E x

My eyes flicker to Hannah in shock. 

"Why would they send this?" I narrow my eyes. 

"No clue," she picks up the flowers and takes them into my room, placing them on the coffee table, which they take up most of the room on it. 

"Perfect," she nods her head, proud of herself for choosing that location, "right I'll leave you to overthink," she winks and pulls my door shut behind her. 

I walk over to the bouquet of flowers, bending down to sniff them. 

It's the most beautiful arrangement of baby pink hydrangeas and a mix of pastel and mauve roses. They smell incredible, the sweet floral scent invading my nose as soon as I inhale. 

I can't help but smile at them as I stroke one of the flowers in my hand. 

Fuck, am I blushing?

Shaking my head at myself, I return to my desk and sit down. 

I try to immerse myself in work but my mind keeps drifting off to being stood in the lift with them, the tangling of their aftershaves in the air alluring my senses. 

Luckily, a client calls up and commands my attention for an hour as they ramble on about their case. They cover the same information and events they have told me a million times before but I welcome the distraction. 

By the time I put the phone down, it's already 4pm. 

I stifle a yawn, feeling exhausted from today already. 

I text Hannah to ask if she can make me a cup of tea before turning my attention to writing a telephone note on the client call I just had. 

A few minutes later, Hannah walks in with my mug in her hand. She sets it on my desk and I give her a grateful smile, which falls when she widens her eyes in warning to me. 

As she walks out the door, Liam saunters in, a smirk on his face as he tries to look sexy.

Spoiler alert, he doesn't.

"What do you want, Liam?" I sigh, not having the patience to deal with him right now. 

Or ever. 

He sits in one of the chairs in front of my desk and clears his throat, expecting my full attention. I finish writing my sentence before turning to him, raising my eyebrows in expectation as I take a sip of tea. 

"Heard you had lunch with the Ashford brothers, today," he plays with the paperweight glass ball on my desk, throwing it between his hands. 

How did he find that out?

"And," I say impatiently.

"Did you not even mention the thought of inviting me? They are my client, too," he narrows his eyes at me. I fight the urge not to laugh at his patheticness. 

"Sorry," I shrug nonchalantly, "They seemed to just want to have lunch with me. Maybe because I went to their offices like they asked rather than blowing them off to go to the gym."

He places the paperweight back on my desk and leans back, crossing his arms as he glares at me. 

I sip my tea again, completely unbothered by his tantrum.

"I don't have time to go tour some ordinary, boring offices," he scoffs. 

"Sure, sure," I place my tea back down and return my attention to the laptop, "priorities and all that."

He scoffs and stands up, walking over to my door and pulling it open. 

"Oh, by the way, they called for a meeting with us next week," he says before slamming the door behind him.

Could that not have been said in an email?

I roll my eyes and scoff before retuning my attention to my work, not finishing until around 7:30pm.

It's been a long day. 

Guys, I changed Carlie's name from Amelia Willows to Carlie Knight today as it sounds so much better <3

Anyway, hope you enjoyed <3