Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,65

of the offices at the far end. Are you sure you want to go bursting in though?”

“What do you mean?” she asked “I only want to speak to Cole; Vaughn can think what he likes – it’s not as if it matters to him what I do.”

“Ok, Elise – you tell yourself whatever works.” Stephen laughed and picked up the phone to make another call.

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Elise headed up the stairs to the Directors’ floor. She had only ever been here once before, and as she climbed the stairs she had to fight the urge to run back down again, telling herself she was going to see Cole – that was all.

Taking Stephen’s advice, she headed to the offices at the far end of the floor and was unsurprised to find Vaughn’s nameplate now adorning the room that they had shared their first kiss in on Friday. Figured. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted.

She opted for neither emotion and instead decided to focus on Cole and seeing him again. Hesitantly she knocked on the door as she was unable to see in, the blinds being drawn across all the windows. Momentarily, the command to ‘enter’ was issued and she pushed open the door, frowning at her nervousness and trying to quell the shake in her legs. This was utterly ridiculous!

Vaughn was seated at his desk and looked up as she entered, a guarded smile on his face when he realised it was her. Cole was sitting opposite him and swivelled around, his face lighting up when he set eyes on her. Although he looked a lot better, he still bore some of the scars from Friday and she wanted to go over and touch them and kiss them better for him.

“Miss Grayson – what can we do for you?” the voice was its usual deeply sexy rumble and she struggled to maintain her focus. Cole looked across at Vaughn questioningly as if wondering why he used the formal version of her name.

“I......I....” she stuttered – For God’s sake Elise, pull yourself together! She admonished. Taking a deep breath she tried again. “I wanted to see if Cole, I mean Mr Andrews, was free for lunch but I can see that he is busy – I’m sorry to have troubled you.” She started backing out of the door, mentally cursing herself for even putting herself in this position.

“Hey Elise – wait,” it was Cole, “I’m sure we can take a break for a while?” He looked enquiringly at Vaughn.

Vaughn paused and seemed to consider, his eyes raking over her appearance. Today she was wearing her light beige dress suit made of a warm wool mix which was both comfortable and flattering, especially at this time of year. The dress finished just above her knees and she was wearing her usual sheer tights along with beige heels. In respect of office wear she was more than properly dressed; however by the time Vaughn had finished his perusal of her, she had never felt more naked.

Vaughn finally lifted his eyes as if coming to a decision. “What an excellent idea,” he said, “I could do with a break too. Why don’t we all go down to that pizza place? They do a buffet lunch if I remember?”

Elise groaned inwardly – great. How awkward was this going to be? Her self-professed protector, her ridiculously attractive nemesis and her, all in the same place at the same time. Great. This had the potential to be a very long hour.

On the short walk to the pizza restaurant, Elise found herself a couple of paces behind, walking on her own. The two men continued an in-depth conversation taking no notice of her at all and she began to wonder if this thing with Vaughn had all been a figment of her imagination. Whilst she knew that Cole would always be in her life, she decided to re-think Vaughn’s position as he had made no effort whatsoever to secure time alone with her since Sunday morning and now he was blatantly ignoring her. All good in respect of her marriage but she couldn’t believe how hurt she felt at being brushed aside by him and began to berate herself for believing everything that he had said to her. Perhaps Dale was right after all – why would anyone else find her attractive?

Although it was lunchtime, the restaurant was surprisingly quiet and they were seated immediately at a table set for four. Elise