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  ​“Maybe he’s losing interest and moving onto his next conquest.” Colin piped up.

  ​“Great…thanks for that Colin.” I snapped over at him.

  ​“Sometimes you need to zip it Colin.” Chris said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.”

  ​“Knob.” I whispered under my breath quietly, but just enough for Chris to overhear and grin over at me.

  ​When I got back from my lunch I was loaded down with doughnuts, sandwiches, drinks and chocolate. I felt like I needed to make amends for causing the backlog of work so I wanted to feed Chris up and treat the rest of the office.

  ​“Doughnut Kim?”

  ​“Thanks Ella. Your man sent you another bouquet, it came when you were out.” Kim pointed through the glass doors and I saw a huge bouquet of peach roses on my desk. I was pleased to know he was thinking about me today. Even though in my heart I knew Colin’s comment wasn’t true, I still felt worried. I always dreaded the prospect of my perfect bubble bursting, again.

  ​I dropped the goodies on Chris’s desk as he went straight for the doughnuts and crammed a lemon meringue flavoured one into his mouth.

  ​“You are allowed to bite and chew you know, it’s not an eating challenge to see how many doughnuts you can cram into your gob!”

  ​“I’m starving!” Chris spluttered spraying bits of lemon icing all over his keyboard.

  ​I plonked down in my chair and moved the roses to the side of my desk and opened the envelope.

  My Beautiful Fiancée,

  I’m so sorry about this morning I shouldn’t have been

  mad at you. Forgive me?

  Peach roses mean I miss you.

  I always miss you when you’re away from me.

  I’ve also been told they symbolise closing a deal.

  I’m ecstatic that I managed to close a deal very important

  to my heart and future happiness in Las Vegas.

  Love you.

  Joe x

  ​Suddenly everything was right in my world again and I gave a contented sigh. I could never stay mad at him, ever. I sent off a text to tell him so and that I couldn’t wait to see him later that evening. Then I knuckled down to plough through the mountain of work we had piling into our little offices right now.

  ​About an hour after I’d returned to the office following my lunch hour I looked up from my desk to see Joe stalk purposefully into the reception area and approach Kim’s desk.

  ​“What the hell is he doing here?” I spluttered.

  ​Colin looked up and jolted out of his chair, making his way to the back kitchen to avoid Joe. He must really hate him if he couldn’t even bear to be in the office when he came in. The glass doors clicked to indicate the lock opening and Joe let himself in and zeroed in on me and my desk.

  ​“What are you doing here?” I whispered with a very puzzled look on my face. He hadn’t mentioned coming in today when we were getting ready for work this morning. Mind you he had been so mad he hadn’t mentioned much at all. “Do you have a meeting with Eric or Frank?”

  ​“I’ve come to take you home.” He stated confidently. “I was just passing and I thought you might be able to leave early?” He was trying to look breezy and relaxed, but his body language was giving off a very different vibe.

  ​“I can’t just up and leave early Joe I’m drowning in my workload here, we all are. I need to stay and get stuff done. I am part of a team you know. I don’t want to be the weak link.” His eyes glared at me with irritation, but he kept the cool façade on his face.

  ​“Sure you can, there’s enough people here to get things done. I really want to take you home now, so come on get your stuff and let’s go.” I shook my head. If I gave in to him now, he would expect me to jump every time he said so. I needed to put my foot down.

  ​“No, I’m not going home with you now Joe. I’ve got work to do. I’ll see you later.”

  ​At that moment both Eric and Frank came out of the boardroom and seeing Joe in the office they came over to shake his hand.

  ​“Nice to see you again Joe, we were so sorry to hear about the fire, how’s the rebuild going?” Eric asked.

  ​“We’re getting there. It put us back a few months but it’s nothing we can’t turn to our advantage.” Joe had slipped into business mode, his hands were in the pockets of his trousers casually as he leaned back on his heels and exerted his power over my two shorter older bosses.

  ​“What brings you in today, did we have a meeting?” Frank looked a bit ruffled at the thought he might have missed a date in his diary and would be unprepared. He rubbed his chubby chin nervously. I knew how he felt in that moment. Joe had a natural habit of disarming people and making them bend to his will, bow to his needs whether it benefitted them or not. Frank felt cornered and so did I.

  ​“No, I wanted to borrow Ella for the rest of the day.” Joe was so cocky he really did think he could bulldoze his way into the office and control us all. Frank looked down at me and was clearly not on board with this idea.

  ​“I’m not sure we can cope with losing our Ella today, she was very much missed the last few days and she has a few deadlines looming which need addressing. Is it something one of us can help you with?” Nice swerve there Frank, trying to keep Joe happy, but it wouldn’t work, and I was sure the use of the words ‘our Ella’ would have riled Joe and his possessive nature over what he saw as ‘his’.

  ​“No I need Ella.” Joe’s mask was starting to fall and I couldn’t let that happen. He was becoming snappy and domineering, using his piercing grey eyes to make his point and assert his influence and control over the conversation.

  ​“I’ll try to get as much done as I can and if I can get on top of things I could pop out of the office a few minutes earlier than usual if that’s any help to anyone?” I was hoping I could please everyone here and avoid what was becoming a Joe style epic meltdown. Why was he being so controlling lately? I know he had a bossy side but this was all getting a bit over bearing.

  ​“Fine.” He snapped and turned on his heels stalking out of the office without a good bye or hand shake for either men at the side of my desk.

  ​“Mr Madden is getting too demanding lately, let me know if he starts putting on you Ella.” Frank said with concern.

  ​“I’ll be okay, I can handle him.” I smiled.

  ​“I’m glad you can,” Eric laughed, “I’d have told him where to go if he’d come to me in that mood.”

  ​I heard a quiet ping noise indicating I had a text message and I knew exactly who it was from. The bosses headed to their separate offices and I tried to ignore the text and get my inbox down but curiosity got the better of me.

  I’m waiting outside for you. Whenever you can grace me with your presence obviously.

  ​No kiss, no emoji just a bossy text. I didn’t reply just shoved my phone back into my handbag as Colin crept back into the office and slinked into his chair. If this was how Joe acted when he put a diamond on my finger, what would happen when the gold band went on? I needed to lay down some ground rules quick smart. I couldn’t live like this.

  ​An hour later another text pinged its way into my inbox so I glanced down at my phone.

  I’m sorry baby, I’m an ass. I promise I’ll tell you why when I see you. Max wants to know if we are free tonight for a get together he’s having at his apartment. Can we go or are you too mad at me? xxx I love you xxx

  ​So I had kisses this time and he realised he was an ass. At least that was some kind of progress. I had to use this lull in his domination of me to drive home the point I needed to make.

  You are an ass, a very, VERY big one. Don’t do that again. I like my job and I don’t want to lose it. Yes we can go to Max’s. I love you too even though you are the bossiest man I’ve ever met. xxxxx (Lots of kisses – not that you deserve them) xxxx

  I don’t deserve them or you. I’ll be here waiting for you when you leave. xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  ​I smiled now and felt the tension from my shoulders ease up a little. Maybe a night with Max would chill him out, make him realise how unreasonable he was being lately. He certainly needed some down time after blowing his top twice today. Since the fire he’d become a different man, so highly strung and flying off the handle at the drop of a hat. It had to stop.

  ​When I left the office just after 5pm Joe was leaning against his car with a guilty look on his face and a gorgeous bunch of red roses in his hand.

  ​“Sorry.” He said thrusting the flowers under my nose and giving me a remorseful pout.

  ​“You’re forgiven I suppose.” I huffed taking my flowers and stroking the velvet petals. I loved all the flowers he gave me, I loved fresh flowers and roses were my favourites.

  ​I let him open the door for me, then when he jumped into the driver’s side he reached over and kissed me on the lips. I pulled back sharply.

  ​“Careful, someone from the office might see.”

  ​“They’ve seen me pick you up before now, I’ve just given you red roses and I’m not about to hold back from kissing you Ella. I’m pretty sure they know already and if they have a problem with me and you then they can go to hell.”

  ​“No they don’t know and I don’t want them to.”

  ​“Are you ashamed of me?” This was all going wrong again, I didn’t want another row, but it looked like it was heading that way again.

  ​“Of course not, I just don’t want them questioning me if I need to do any more ‘research’ with you.” Phew, he seemed satisfied with this answer as he nodded solemnly, but it didn’t stop him snatching up my hand and holding it up to his face before planting an extremely slow kiss on the back of it. Then when he felt he’d made his point he started the engine and roared off.

  13

  ​“So what’s the deal Joe?” I ventured cautiously as we headed into his apartment. “Why the sudden need to control me, boss me about. I don’t like it you know. It has to stop. Like now.”

  ​He opened the door and emptied his pockets on the now sacred console table at the front door. The table we had used on our first night together. He couldn’t look at me, and he huffed impatiently at my question.

  ​“I can’t talk about it yet. We have Max’s party tonight. Can we talk after that?” He said sauntering past me into the living area to grab a drink from his drinks cabinet in the corner.

  ​“Fine, but I want to know what’s up with you. I’m not gonna let you dodge the subject anymore. It’s starting to affect us Joe. I don’t want to keep arguing.” He sipped the amber liquid he’d poured for himself and turned to face me now, his eyes burning into me.

  ​“Me neither, but the make-up sex is good isn’t it?” He winked and gave me a curled up side smile on his beautiful full lips. How could he do that? Have me hopping mad one second and hot for him, desperate to kiss those soft lips of his the next? I was so screwed.

  ​“Not now it isn’t, we need to get ready and out. If I sit down for a second I won’t get back up again and you can kiss any party tonight goodbye, I’m exhausted.” I flipped my hair and stalked away from him towards the bedroom to get ready, using the last pinch of self-control I had to retain some degree of control over myself and my stupid desire.

  ​“If you’d left early like I suggested you’d have plenty of energy right now.” He was really pushing me.

  ​“Let’s not get into that again.” I groaned as I opened the door to the bedroom and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Luckily I had a few of my clothes still here so I could find something to put on for going over to Max’s.

  ​“Will you put your ring on tonight?” He appeared at the door looking sheepishly over at me.

  ​“Yes.” He beamed at me and pulled it out of his pocket.

  ​“I thought you put it in the safe this morning.”

  ​“I was going to but I decided I wanted to keep it with me. It’s yours it doesn’t belong in a safe. If you’re not wearing it I’ll hold onto it for you.”

  He could be such a sentimental guy. He took my hand and put the ring back onto my finger and kissed it. I threw my arms around him and breathed him in, I loved him so much I wanted to take away all the stress he seemed to have taken on just lately. My desire would have to take a back seat though, otherwise we’d never leave this apartment for the rest of the night.

  ​“Let’s just chill out tonight and enjoy the party okay?”

  ​“I’ll try. I can’t promise I won’t get insanely jealous though, if someone looks at you. You are mine after all.”

  ​I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed my black skinny jeans, tube top and high heels.

  ​“Especially if you’re wearing that too.” He shook his head in displeasure.

  ​“But only you get to take me home champ.” I teased blowing him a kiss.

  ​“Damn right.”

  ​Max’s apartment was beautiful, not as grand or fancy as Joe’s but it was equipped with all the mod cons and had a balcony leading to a large rooftop area overlooking the city. Music blared out the speakers on the walls and Max was milling about like a busy little bee checking people’s glasses and chatting nervously. He saw us at the door and he darted over to us straight away a look of pure relief painted on his face.

  ​“Am I glad to see you two, I hate making small talk and I feel so nervous tonight.”

  ​“What’s the occasion is it your birthday?” I asked as I hugged Max and handed him the bottles we had brought with us.

  ​“No, I’ve been here for six weeks now and haven’t got round to a house warming party yet, so I figured tonight was as good a night as any.” I smiled fondly at him, he was such a selfless man. He obviously hated having everyone here but he’d put this party on nonetheless.

  ​One of Charlie’s cronies called out to Joe and he headed over to talk to them, but I stayed by Max’s side. I had no intention of socialising with anyone remotely linked to Charlie the ass tonight.

  ​“Why are you having a party when you obviously hate hosting them?” I asked.

  ​“I thought it might help Joe to get out and see everyone, he’s not been himself lately. Woah! What is that rock on your left hand?” I shushed Max and pulled him away from the crowd.

  ​“Joe wanted to get married when we were in Vegas. I managed to talk him down to an engagement, but we aren’t making it common knowledge yet so keep it to yourself okay?”

  ​“Wow, that’s huge. I won’t say a word, but wow. Congratulations Ella.” Max gave me a big hug, then looked over to where Joe was happily chatting away.

  ​“You did all this for him didn’t you?” I said fondly.

  ​“I couldn’t think what else to do. Has he talked to you about anything that’s been going on? Anything since the fire?”

  ​“No, is there something I should know?”

  ​“It’s not my place to say Ella. He needs to tell you himself.”

  ​“Well now I’m just gonna obsess all night Max. What is it? He’s gone dead bossy and over bearing.”

  ​“He’ll tell you. I’ll speak to him.”

  ​I nodded then I noticed a pair of familiar heads on the balcony that led to the rooftop area.

  ​“You invited Robyn and Chris too?”

  ​“Of course, they are the life and soul of any party. Plus you too Ella.”

  ​I kissed Max on the cheek then excused myself to make my way over to two of my favourite people in the whole world.

  ​As the party progressed I started to let go and enjoy myself. Whether it was due to the alcohol or the fact that Joe seemed his old self and was happy enough to let me have space to be with my friends I didn’t know. Neither Robyn nor Chris had noticed my ring, so I tried to keep my hand at my side and not draw attention to it. That wouldn’t last though I was sure.

  ​“God your ass in those jeans is insane.”

  I spun round to find Charlie stood behind me. My stomach
turned as he looked me up and down and licked his lips. What a creep, he never knew when to stop. He had his dirty blond hair greased back and was wearing jeans and a tight white t shirt trying to show off what little muscles he had, but he looked like a pathetic wimp compared to my Joe. Why was Max still including him in things like this, he was the last person I’d have guessed was a friend of Max’s.

  ​“Fuck off Charlie.” I snapped as I turned my back on him again to talk to Robyn. I couldn’t bear to look at his slimy ugly face for a minute longer than I had to.

  ​“You know I’m always free if you need to be with a real man.” He laughed.

  Urgh, my skin was literally crawling off my bones. I could feel his gross breathe on my neck and my hair moved as he spoke into my ear making me shiver.

  ​“I could do some real damage to you sweetheart, and you’d fucking love it.”

  ​I pushed myself backward to try to move him away from me and turned round to glare daggers at him. Did he honestly think I would give a sleaze like him the time of day?

  ​“Seriously just piss off, I wouldn’t touch you if my life depended on it. You make my skin crawl.”

  ​He leaned into me “I think about you all the time you know. What I could do to you.”

  He was all up in my private space now. Robyn slid in between us and pushed him back. It was a good job she did because I wanted to slap him. Having Robyn between us was saving him. Maybe I should use my ring as a knuckle duster and do him some real damage!

  ​“Back off dick head, she’s not interested. Who would be, look at you! You have as much charm as a swamp monster.”

  ​Chris wandered over to us now “The only way he gets laid is with help from his buddie ‘roofie’” He joked just as Joe came up behind me and held me tightly around my waist, my back to his front.

  ​“What’s going on here?” He asked leaning down to kiss me on the side of my head.

  ​“Your so called friend is trying to come on to Ella.” Chris blurted out. I froze, knowing the effect it would have on Joe right now.

  ​“Is that so?” Joe pulled me tighter into him and rested his chin on my head, standing over me in a protective stance.