One Month's Notice: Opposites attract in this funny, heartwarming sweet office romance by Katie Lou

Author:Katie Lou [Lou, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tulip Rose Publishing
Published: 2024-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter sixteen

Monday 16th May, daytime

The steady hum of the office greeted Nat as she pushed through the glass doors. Dark strands of hair fell around her face, shielding her from the outside world. She was back from lunch, the salty flavour of a sushi box still lingering on her palate, but her mind was elsewhere, caught up in the memory of the kiss that had triggered something unexpected. Despite her attempts to brush it off as a drunken mistake, she was struggling to ignore the thought that there may be something more. The potential for something to develop between her and Michael.

“Hey, Nat!” The booming voice of Mark from accounting cut through her daydream.

“Hi!” Nat’s eyes widened with forced brightness as she offered a nod to him and a couple of other colleagues who greeted her in passing. She followed the corridors through the building. The soft flow of her loose trousers and simple t-shirt were a stark contrast to the sleek, efficient lines of the corporate environment.

Michael’s absence all morning left a sense of unease that buzzed irritatingly at the back of her mind. She couldn’t shake the feeling that their last encounter had shifted some invisible axis within her. She wanted to know if the same might be true for him.

She rounded the corner to his office and noticed the door was ajar. A knot twisted in her stomach as she glanced inside and saw the scene playing out. The woman with impossible-to-miss vibrant red hair was perched beside Michael, leaning in close enough for her perfume to mingle with the air he was breathing.

“See, if you adjust the parameters here…” Clara’s tinny, assertive voice filled the room and floated out into the corridor. Nat could see freshly manicured nails—this time a bright red to match her hair—gliding along the screen to trace invisible lines.

Michael, ever the serious figure, was nodding along, his eyes fixated on the data before him and unaware of Nat’s presence. But as she lingered unnoticed in the doorway, Clara’s eyes flicked up, a spark of unpleasantness igniting within them. With calculated informality, her hands found their way to Michael’s broad shoulders, fingers pressing into the fabric of his tailored jacket. Nat’s heart hammered against her ribs, her eye drawn to every nuance of the deliberate display. Clara smirked at Nat as she leaned in closer to Michael. He remained blissfully ignorant, his attention never wavering from the task at hand. A hot anger flared, painting her cheeks with an unwanted flush of crimson. Without a word, without acknowledgment, she rushed away, desperate to avoid giving Clara the satisfaction of getting under her skin.

The click of her shoes against the tiled floor rang in her ears as she fled the scene, the image of Clara’s hands on Michael branding itself into her thoughts. Nat had always struggled with confidence, her mother’s perfectionism casting a long shadow over her aspirations. And now, with jealousy clawing at her throat, she felt the familiar tug of self-doubt.

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