A Rainy Day [COMPLETE]

Chapter 8

I'm moving up through the building, waiting for the elevator to reach my floor, with my high heels slipped on my feet and my dress pants hugging my waist. After exiting the machine, I quickly find myself encompassed by several people.

"Miss Sharp, Mr. Blake wanted to ask...Miss Sharp, when is Mr. Blake's...Miss Sharp, does Mr. Blake...Miss Sharp, Mr. Blake needs to know...Miss Sharp...Miss Sharp...." Miss Sharp, Miss Sharp, Miss Sharp! They wouldn't....shut up!

"Just stop!" I yell with my hands flung out in front of me. Everyone immediately snaps their mouths closed and gawk at me with wide eyes.

"I...I'll take care of everything." I push myself out of the crowd of people and hurry over to my office. Just before pushing on the handle of my door, I catch a glimpse of Luke walking in my direction. As I approach my desk, he barges into my room and closes the door to cancel out some of the noise from all the workers outside.

"You're late, Danni." I quickly sit down and start up my laptop as well as my tablet. My hands fly all over my desk to set everything up for today.

"I know," I admitted out of shame.

"I missed meetings because you weren't here," he continues to strain the situation.

"I-I know." My seated body is facing him from across the desk as I stop moving for a moment to catch up with myself and everything going on.

"There are at least five other people doing your job for you right now." He's hunched over my desk now, palms kissing the surface of the table.

"I know!" I shout, pouncing to my feet with my hands slammed on the table and my eyes staring straight into his. Luke gazes at me with the slightest hint of shock in his eyes and his lips barely touching. I let out a huff and quickly whirl around with a hand running through my hair and the other sitting comfortably on my hip.

"Danni, how much sleep did you get last night?" Luke probes my personal life once again, still leaned over on the desk.

"I'm fine," I respond instantly.

"That wasn't my question," he states what should've been obvious to me. I face the wall and try to take a few breaths. I try to calm down. I try to rationalize my thoughts.

"I don't know. Three, four hours." I break while turning around and stepping up to my desk. My eyes flicker to the opaque glass walls and notice that's it's never been so boisterous on this floor before. There's a good chance that no one will hear our conversation anyway.

"You don't look well." His accent clouds me like all the accents of the crowd from earlier.

"I feel fine!" I try my best to convince him but know I'm absolutely failing. I feel like I'm rolling down a hill that never seems to stop. My body hits rocks and sharp edges every now and then, leaving behind an imprint of shattered bones and bruises.

"What is up with you? This is the first time you've ever come late to work." I look everywhere except for his eyes. I don't know what to do. What do I do? I have to do something. "Does this have something to do with your parents? From last night?" Luke is slowly squeezing himself into my life. My mess of a life.

"Yes—no! I-I don't...I have to get back to work." I pace back over to the pile of papers stacked on my desk.

"Danni stop." Luke walks around my desk to enter my workspace. Thoughts are flying inside the walls of my mind and I'm struggling to make everything seem like it's okay.

"No, I-I have to work," I shut him out of my head. I just need to focus.

"You don't give me no for an answer," he states sternly like I've broken some kind of sacred office rule.

Breathe Danni, just breathe.

"Just let me do my job, Luke!" Fingers are wrapped around my wrist before I have the chance to move away. They yank me back with extreme force but lead me to land on something soft.

Before I know it, Luke's arms are around me and his head is resting on mine while the front of my face pressed up against his chest. The smell of his cologne springs into my nose as his arms embrace me in a tight hug. I could almost feel like crying but I resist the urge.

"This isn't like you, Danni," he speaks softly as parts of the office noise sift through the doors.

"How would you know?" I whisper with a heavy load of doubt sitting on top of this entire conversation. Silence washes over as we stand there in each other's arms.

"I have my reasons." I shift my head so that the side of my face presses against his chest. I take another minute of his time to gather myself and bring back the person who landed this job in the first place. My arms drop as I step away back towards my laptop.

"Your lunch break is in fifteen minutes."

"There's my assistant." He places his hand on my shoulder before wandering past me and bending his lips into a smile. The moment he walked out, Jess ran in with her purse slung over her shoulder and embraced me in another hug.

"I had no idea. I'm so sorry," she whispers in my ear bringing more to the subject of last night.

"It's okay. I'm fine," I return as she tightens her arms around me, then unravels them, and talks to me while I work.

Four hours later, I knock on the fogged door, leading to my boss's room. After, he signals that it's all right to step foot inside his office. As I open the door, I peer to the right and noticed the large, built-in windows, that barely miss the ceiling by an inch. How gigantic they make the room feel and how overwhelming the city can be, in his office alone.

I carefully rotated my head to the right and stop whilst watching him sign several documents scattered on his desk.

"I see you're actually working instead of doing other things." I gape at him and gradually saunter closer after shutting the door.

"I've decided to get rid of that habit." Luke picks up all of the scattered papers and taps the bottoms of the sheets against his marble desk. He moves to his feet and ambles over to where I'm standing, handing me the stack of papers. "Would you mind giving these to Mrs. Robins?" I take the papers in my hand and slipped them underneath my tablet.

Luke promenades over to the windowpane, allows his pockets to consume his hands and stares out at the beautiful city of London. Instead of reading his appointments to him from my tablet, I let it hang in my arms.

"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" I remark while gazing into the outside world.

"Yes. I'd always stop to look at the sights when I was little. No matter how late or early in the morning it was." I shake my head back to reality and lift my tablet back to my chest.

"Mr. Shan was wondering if you would be open to the option of increasing—" The tablet is slipped out of my hands along with the papers underneath and placed on the table beside me.

I revolve my head to the person responsible and discovered him staring straight into my eyes. I raised a brow at him in confusion and flicker my gaze away. When I redirect my eyes back at him, he hasn't moved in the slightest.

"Stop it," I order.

"Stop what?" He flinches at my words, not knowing what he did wrong.

"Stop...looking at me...like that." I feel overpowered by the strong hold he has over me. The ability he has to win someone over with one look. The confidence in his stance and how he can walk into someone's life within mere seconds.

"Like what?" He inches closer causing me to fall back on my foot.

"Like...like that!" I exclaim. He proceeds to ease forward as I stray backward and bump into the glass pane. My hands brush along the glass as he maintains his motion. I quickly elude and escape away from Luke, scurrying off behind him.

"Cancel all my meetings," he speaks up, facing the glass I was leaning against just a moment ago.

"What? No," I protest, declining his request.

"Yes. We're going out to eat," he demands, keeping a straight face.