Chapter Three
Haley was nervous as she arrived for work on Monday morning. Lying wasn’t something that came naturally to her and she dreaded someone finding out that she had become more than Nathan Scott’s personal assistant. The last thing she needed was for the gossip mill to start working and for her to be the focus of its attention.
It was still fairly early and she was one of the first to arrive, something she had done deliberately so she would hopefully have a chance to compose herself before her colleagues turned up.
Arriving at her desk, she placed her bag on the floor beside it before slipping out of her jacket and hanging it up on the coat-stand. The office kitchen was her next stop where she started preparing a pot of coffee. As she waited for it to percolate, her mind started to wander back to what had happened on Saturday.
Her body grew warm as she remembered the feel of Nathan’s lips on hers and his large hands caressing her skin as they cuddled together on her couch. Despite them having slept together the night before, she had told him that she didn’t feel ready to repeat what had happened just yet and she hadn’t been able to stop herself from smiling with relief when he had said he understood.
They had spent the afternoon and most of the evening together in her apartment just enjoying getting to know each other outside of a work environment. When he helped her prepare dinner, it had felt so natural and she hoped that it would be the first of many such occasions.
A pair of arms sliding around her waist startled her as she was broken out of her reverie but the sound of his voice quickly relaxed her.
“Hey,” Nathan whispered against her ear as he pressed his front to her back.
“Hey you,” she whispered in return, her head tilting back to rest on his shoulder. “We shouldn’t be doing this here, anyone could walk in on us.”
“No one’s here this early…well, except for you that is,” he teased.
“Very funny.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining, especially if it means that we get to spend some time alone together. Why do you think I’m here at this time?”
A rosy blush appeared on her cheeks at his words. “I just figured you wanted to get a head start or something.”
Turning her in his arms, he again wrapped his arms around her waist and once he saw that he had her attention, he shook his head. “No. I made sure I got up early so I could catch you before everyone else arrived.” Lowering his head, he touched his lips to hers and kissed her softly. “I missed you yesterday.”
Haley’s curled her arms around his neck and her fingers idly stroked back and forth over the skin there, liking the way he seemed to tremble at her touch. “I missed you, too.”
“Really?”
“Uh huh. There was one point where I almost called Lindsey to cancel our plans,” she confessed shyly. The only reason she hadn't gone ahead and done that was because she hadn't seen her friend for several months and it wouldn't have been fair to change their plans at such short notice.
“I wish you had. All I could think about was you and seeing you again.”
His words sparked something within her and she raised up on her tiptoes and captured his mouth, kissing him hotly. Sucking on his tongue, she could taste the minty toothpaste he’d used that morning. She could feel herself getting lost in his kisses but the moment she felt his hand slipping under her blouse, she came to her senses and remembered exactly where they were.
Reluctantly breaking the kiss, Haley pulled back from him and watched as his eyes fluttered open. “We can’t do this here, Nathan.”
Looking around himself, he realized that they were still standing in the kitchen and glancing at the clock on the wall, he knew that in just a matter of moments, a few of their colleagues would be arriving and heading their way to top up their caffeine levels.
“You’re right. Let’s go into my office… I’ve got a lock on the door.” His lips curled up into his trademark smirk.
“Don’t tempt me. If you go on ahead, I’ll bring you a cup of coffee and…”
“Do I get a kiss with it?”
“Maybe. Get your ass into your office and you’ll find out when I bring you a cup.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” He was just about to exit the room when he turned around and planted a kiss on her cheek. Giving her a grin, he said, “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
After he’d left the kitchen, she sighed and mumbled under her breath, “I know the feeling.”
* * * * *
The morning flew by and before Haley knew it, it was lunchtime. Finishing off the report she was typing, she saved it and logged out of her PC before getting up from her chair. After picking up her bag, she was just about to make her way to the elevator bank when Nathan came out of his office and her lips curved up into a shy smile.
“Are you on your way to lunch?” he enquired.
“Uh huh. I’m just going to the deli to grab a sandwich, do you want me to get you anything?”
He shook his head. “No, thanks for asking. I was actually coming to ask you if you wanted to go out and have lunch with me?”
Looking around her to make sure no one was listening, she stepped a little closer to where he was standing and lowered her voice when she spoke again. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Nathan. In all the time we’ve been working together we’ve never gone out to lunch so I think it’ll raise suspicions if we suddenly do that now.”
“I guess you’re right,” he replied dejectedly.
“I’ve got a suggestion though.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, a little half-smirk tugging at her lips. “If I buy us both lunch, we could eat it together in your office and pretend we’re working on something if anyone asks what we’re doing.”
“I’m guessing that we won’t be able to get away with locking the door?” he teased.
“You guessed right. I think that might be a bit hard to explain. So, what do you say?”
He smiled at her. “It sounds good. Let me give you some money,” he said as he moved to take his wallet out of his pants pocket.
“No, this one’s on me. You can pay next time.”
“Deal.”
“Okay then, so what would you like?”
“If you’re going to the deli on the corner, I’ll have their meat feast sub and a packet of barbecue potato chips. Oh, and a cherry cola.”
“I can see you’re very health conscious.”
“Hey, I work out. Anyway, I don’t eat this every day,” he told her.
“I’m only kidding. And I can totally tell you work out,” she whispered just in case anyone was in earshot.
“Is that so?”
“Oh yeah.” Realizing her thoughts were veering into dangerous territory, Haley took a step back and tried to compose herself. “Uh, I shouldn’t be too long. See you in a few.”
“I’ll be counting the minutes,” he told her before laughing.
“You are so cheesy,” she threw over her shoulder as she walked away.
Nathan watched her until she was out of sight. He hadn’t been able to tear his eyes away from her gentle swaying hips or her shapely legs which were nicely displayed in the pencil skirt she was wearing.
“Ah, just the person I was coming to see.”
Dan Roe’s voice made him jump and he quickly turned to see his boss standing behind him.
“Oh, hey, Dan. What can I do for you?”
“I need to discuss the Moran case with you and the only time I’ve got available is now. I thought we could do that over lunch across the street at Sullivan’s.”
“You mean right now? It’s just that as I’ve got back to back meetings tomorrow I need to speak to Haley about something when she gets back from the deli and—”
“I’m sure she won’t mind staying behind tonight to do that,” Dan interrupted. “You know how important the Moran case is and I’ll be out of the office for the next couple of days so we need to deal with it right now.”
“Yes, Sir. Let me just leave a note for Haley so she knows where I’ve disappeared to… I mean, so she knows what to tell my clients when they call,” he quickly amended when he saw a flash of what appeared to be curiosity flash across his boss’ features.
“I’ll meet you in the lobby,” the older man said as he walked away and Nathan cursed under his breath. Picking up Haley’s notepad and one of her pens, he quickly scribbled a note letting her know what had happened and he placed it somewhere she would easily see it.
Going into his office, he quickly grabbed his jacket and made his way down to the lobby.
* * * * *
Getting out of the elevator, Haley walked the short distance to her desk but instead of stopping there, she went straight into Nathan’s office and frowned when she didn’t see him in there. She figured that maybe he was in the bathroom or something so she placed the paper bag containing their lunch on his desk before quickly heading out to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. As she made her way back, she noticed her notepad resting up against her computer monitor and looked at it with a confused expression on her face. She was sure she hadn’t left it like that. Walking closer to it, she saw Nathan’s familiar handwriting and tearing off the sheet of paper, she read the reason why he wasn’t sitting in his office right now.
Sighing quietly, she went back into his office and picked up the bag and brought it back to her own desk, removing her sandwich from it and then taking his to place in the fridge. She doubted he’d want it after eating lunch with Dan.
Arriving back at her desk, she sat down on her chair and unwrapped her chicken salad sandwich and took a bite. Putting it down for a moment, she opened one of her drawers and removed the book she was currently reading and opened it to the page she had bookmarked. As she tried to concentrate on the words in front of her, her thoughts returned to Nathan and how disappointed she was that they couldn’t have lunch together. It was silly, she knew that, but when he had agreed to her suggestion she had really been looking forward to them spending a little more time together, even though they had both agreed to keep their relationship out of the office.
As she finished eating her lunch, she couldn’t help thinking that whatever happened between the two of them, things weren’t going to be easy.