ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪᴠᴀʟꜱ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴀᴄᴛ

₀₁₈

𝘙𝘏𝘠𝘚 𝘔𝘖𝘖𝘙𝘌

Rhys.

I replay the word in my mind over and over again. Not because it's my name, but because of the way she said it. She's never said it before, and even though it was a little slurred, it was still the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Second to her laugh.

The way it rolled off her tongue had me frozen in place. It had stopped all my rational thoughts and replaced them with her. Only her.

Once I had snapped out of the temporary coma she put me in, I realized by myself what happened. She'd gotten drunk and acted drunk. She'd cut up her hands on the broken bottle that she dropped and laid in it.

Do i know why she got drunk? No.
Is it killing me? Kinda.
And did she remember a thing? No.

I look up from my laptop to see her scribbling notes on her paper. Her head is down and her shoulders are stiff-not slouching. If she's hungover, she's doing a damn good job hiding it.

"Do you know if Hannegins Appliances ever filled out their bank statement?" I break the silence but her head doesn't move from her notebook.

"They didn't. I already checked the records weeks ago. If you'd looked on your planner you'd see I wrote that in the 'checked' column. Move on Mr. Moore." Her tone is hostile, it's hushed and uninvited. Opposite of what it was last night.

"Write it on a notepad and leave it on my desk. I don't check planners." I get up from my chair and make my way to the coffee table. A scoff and the clink of high heels tail me.

"Is there a problem?" She asks, obviously irritated.

"Pardon?" I turn to half look at her, and half pour my coffee.

"I asked if there was a problem." She crosses her arms over her chest.

"Of course not." I grind my teeth behind my cup of coffee, she rolls her eyes. So she's an angry hungover.

"I don't understand the attitude. I simply asked you to be more diligent with checking your planner. I did not ask you to buy me the world." I would buy you the world and so much more if you let me.

That only makes me angrier. Not only does she not remember yesterday night, she's acting like the coffee shop didn't happen. We'd gotten along.

"Fine." I turn away from her but the cuff of my sleeve is caught between dainty fingers.

Wren takes her hand back and avoids my eyes. "Listen. I'm...sorry," She whispers her apology. "I didn't mean to come off bossy and rude. This is equally your project as it is mine."

"Okay. I'll check my planner."

She nods and turns around toward the coffee table.

I walk over to my desk and grab my planner off the surface, and sure enough, there's a note:

𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝙰𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝. 𝙽𝙾 𝙱𝚄𝚂𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂𝚂.

I put the planner down and cover my grimace with my coffee cup. Then I sit down and get back to work. And there's a lot of it.

__________

When eight o'clock, at night, rolls around i'm still at my desk. Wren left about an hour ago. She didn't say she was leaving, she just got up, and left.

I lean back in my chair and throw my head back; rubbing my eyes and massaging my temples. I remove the top two buttons of my shirt and then the third. I scratch my scalp until it feels good, until I scratch that spot that unwinds my muscles. Releases the tension.

As I reach for the buckle of my belt, the door opens and my hand freezes. Heels clink on the marble floors and pause for a second.

They resume and Wren makes her way into my line of sight. She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it as she takes in my appearance. Her hooded eyes drag over my hair, then my collarbones and down, down, down. Her eyes stall on my hand, and my...pants. When they peel away from that area, her heated gaze meets mine.

"I brought donuts." Her voice is raspy.

"Great." I swallow the gravel in my throat.

Wren places the box of donuts on the space that connects our desks. Then she slowly makes her way over to her desk, then even slower, she bends down. My jaw tightens as she loosens her shoe. She slowly takes it off and moves onto the next one. Her fingers work on the small buckle and when that slips off too, she stands to her full height. Then reaches up and unclasps her hair from her clip. She runs her fingers through her hair and my mouth drops open when hers does.

My hand closes the distance between my fingers and my belt. I slowly undo the loop and then the clasp. The sound of metal hitting itself snatches Wren's attention and her eyes meet my hand, then they flick up to my eyes.

God. I swallow thickly as Wren takes a seat. On the desk. Her skirt rides up her stocking covered thighs. I watch as she runs her eyes over me again. I feel my blood run hot as she does. What is she planning?

Yet, i know i'll go with whatever she's plotting.

"Miss James..." I lean further in my chair.

"Mr. Moore..." Fucking hell.

"Whatever we do-"

"Ah! What busy bees you are!" I've never hated Gloria more. "Maxine left the office but she wanted me to-" The old hag reads the room. "O-oh. A-m I interrupting...something?"

Between my open shirt, unbuckled belt and Wren's skirt, no shoe combo, people would put two-and-two together. Plus the teased hair; from both parties.

Gloria looks as red as her glasses. I can feel Wren's annoyance from here. And I hear her eye roll when she speaks. "Did you need something Gloria?"

"Y-yes. Uh. Gosh." She fans herself. "Sorry. Uh yes. Maxine wanted me to let you know that Fernando is going to be sending you both on a trip to a different city to meet in person with the lawyers working on the case for the contract. They handle the legal stuff. Anyways, this is just a heads up. More uh details will be shared later. Goodnight." And then she's finally gone.

Wren hops off the desk and walks over to the door. Her skirt is still hitched up a tad. She opens the door and calls to Gloria. Their conversation is low and mumbled but I pick up just a bit.

"Knock before entering an office. Especially late at night." That's Wren. "Sorry sweetheart. Truly. But um you looked real good." That's Gloria. "Keep it professional Gloria." "O-of course. Goodnight." "Night."

The door slams and Wren walks over to her desk and sits, in the chair, and gets back to work. Just like that. The spell is broken. Just like that.

____________________

🎶got my mind on your body and your body on my mind🎶