“No, we’ve not met. I’m Anna Kirby.”
I followed her lead and pretended not to know her. I took her hand to shake as she offered it to me. Her skin was as soft as I remembered but I wasn’t used to seeing her in formal work wear. She gave me a tight smile and focused on something over my shoulder, not looking at me. What the fuck? My eyes glided down her body, taking in skin above her shirt, her tight skirt, the bump on her thigh gave away that she was wearing a garter belt. I wondered who else had noticed. Who was she wearing that for?
“Anna is one of our brightest associates and is going to be helping you out while you’re in London.” Al said.
Al clearly hadn’t given Anna the heads up. She looked like she might vomit at the thought.
“Anna, why don’t you put some time in Ethan’s diary?” He paused and looked at me. “Is tomorrow morning soon enough?” I nodded. “Invite Richard as well. The two of you will be assisting Ethan.” Al then turned to me. “Then if you need more resources, we can find more people. Does that work?”
“That’s great, Al. I’m sure I’ll enjoy working with Anna.” I tried to catch her eye but she was looking everywhere except at me. I wanted to ask Al to leave us, leave me to say hello properly, to trail my hands across Anna’s thighs, underneath her skirt, to push into her underwear.Fuck, focus Ethan.
“I have to get back but it was nice to meet you, Anna.” She didn’t respond.
Anna
I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to request I work for him. What a total dick. He’d tried to call me again but I’d not picked up when I recognized the number. What could he possibly have to say to me that I wanted to hear?
My phone rang again and it was him. Again. He needed to stop harassing me. I sent the call to voicemail and logged off. If I wasn’t in the office, he couldn’t find me. Maybe I’d call in sick tomorrow. I was going to have to find an excuse not to work with him.
I picked up a bottle of wine on the way home and collapsed on the sofa with a huge glass. Hangover or no hangover, I needed some kind of sedative. I considered calling Leah but I couldn’t risk her babbling on about fate or the universe or something equally ridiculous, so I switched on the TV and started to open my post. My mobile started vibrating on the coffee table, I didn’t recognize the number but I answered it.
“Anna, it’s Ethan. If you hang up, it will take me about thirty seconds to be at your front door.”
“Are you stalking me? How do you have my home address?”
“The Partner Booklet of associate details.”
“Fucking hell, isn’t that a breach of my human rights or something, that’s outfuckingrageous—”
“Let me in Anna.”
“Where are you?” I peered through the peephole and saw him standing against the wall opposite my door.
“You know where I am. You just checked yourpeephole.” He was very calm, just like I imagined a psychopath would be.
“Why are you even here? You got what you wanted. You made a fool out of me, now just pretend I don’t exist.”
“Let me in.”
“No.”
“Let me in.”
“I said no.”
“Do you really want to continue to have this conversation through the door for all your neighbors to hear? I’ll stay here all night if I need to. It’s not like I’m sleeping anyway.”
What was the matter with this crazy guy? This flat was cursed. I couldn’t wait to move.
“If I let you in, do you promise to leave after ten minutes?” I asked.
“I told you that I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
“You are full of total bullshit.”
“What the fuck Anna? What is it that has made you so angry with me? We agreed I wouldn’t call you, that we wouldn’t stay in touch. I thought that’s what you wanted.” He raised his voice—it was the first time I’d ever known him to be ruffled.
I opened the door and looked at him, unwilling for the neighbors to further witness to my dating disasters.
