SWNOVELS : Chapter 72
After our tense conversation, Alexander left me alone for a few hours. Some food arrived at the door minutes later, three single-serving dinner courses and an assortment of desserts that I was given to understand he had ordered for me. I begrudgingly admitted to myself that I appreciated the gesture. I had no interest in sharing a meal with Alexander tonight, but I did need to eat.
I had gotten myself comfortable under the covers and was almost at the edge of falling asleep when he returned to our room hours later. He changed his clothes quietly in the dark before creeping into bed, keeping his distance from me, and we went to sleep with a tense, uncomfortable silence between us.
I woke in the dark of early morning, sleepily enjoying a sensation of warmth and comfort. It took me a few seconds to realize that the side of my face was pressed flat against Alexander’s bare chest, which was rising and falling slowly with his sleeping breath. I was curled up next to him, nestled into the crook of his arm, which was draped around my side.
Suddenly I was wide awake and highly motivated to separate myself from him immediately. I didn’t want to wake him, though. I tried to slither away quietly, inch by inch, guiding his heavy arm down to the bed very slowly once it was off my body. A chill shivered its way across my skin as I freed myself from his touch.
Despite my best efforts, Alexander woke up, no doubt feeling my movements. He sat up, cleared his throat, then asked, “How are you feeling?” His voice was deep and gravelly with sleep.
I shrugged one shoulder and turned to sit on the edge of the bed, facing away from him. I was still working on swallowing down all the pain he inflicted upon me yesterday. I sighed. “Not great,” I answered simply. I tugged the gold chain on my bedside lamp to turn it on.
“Is there anything I can… do for you?”
I turned back and saw Alexander rubbing his eyes, squinting against the light. He was offering me sex, like a peace offering or something.
I turned back around before answering, “No thanks.”
“I can do whatever you want,” he continued sheepishly. “And I’ll leave you alone after. If that’s what you want. I just want to take care of you, if you’ll let me.”
I rolled my eyes at the wall. “Not yet,” I said to him for the second time now. I kept my voice calm and quiet, but firm enough to communicate that the conversation was over for now.
My morning meeting was well-attended. Conrad had been assigning more and more team members to my project each week, now that we had broken ground on our first construction site and were planning ahead for the rest of the expansion. We concluded our agenda on time and I was feeling good about our progress on the project as I walked back to my office afterward.
The mail delivery guy surprised me, rolling his cart out of my office as I approached the door. I could not remember another time that he had ever entered my office. I raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “Lots of mail for me today?”
The mail delivery guy surprised me, rolling his cart out of my office as I approached the door. I could not remember another time that he had ever entered my office. I raised an eyebrow at him and asked, “Lots of mail for me today?”
The young man grinned. “No, just a special delivery. I left it on your desk.” He pushed his cart forward, still smiling, and headed back toward the elevator.
The “special delivery” was on my desk, alright. In fact, it took up nearly the whole desk’s surface area. I was irritated immediately, having a quick vision of shoving it to the floor in one swift motion.
It was a big, clear glass vase containing what looked like at least two dozen long-stemmed red roses. The flowery smell overpowered my little office, making me want to hold my nose until I could get them out of there.
A red envelope was propped against the vase. My name was hand-written on the front in swooping, delicate cursive letters. I opened it, frowning.
“I know I can’t undo the pain I’ve caused,” the card inside read, the words scrawled in that same ornate lettering. “But I beg you: Please give me a chance to prove that I can do better. Have dinner with me tonight. Tell me what time and I will be there.
Alexander.”
I put the card back into the envelope and threw it in the trash.
Down the hall, I knocked on the half-open door to Gerald’s office. He glanced away from his computer screen for only a second, fingers still moving on the keyboard, and said, “Oh, Fiona. Come in. Have a seat. Just one second.”
“That’s okay,” I said, waving dismissively at the chair he’d vaguely gestured to, and waited patiently near the door instead while he finished typing. I heard the whoosh sound of an email being sent, then finally Gerald gave me his attention.
“Sorry,” he said. “Just needed to get that done.”
“Not a problem. And I’m afraid I actually just came in here to ask you a personal favor. I’m so sorry to interrupt your work.”
“Oh, no that’s fine. What’s up?”
I frowned, glancing down the hall toward my office. “I need help throwing out something unwieldy.”
“Oh! Of course.” Gerald jumped up, eager to assist the pregnant lady.
“Wow. That’s a lot of flowers. And a powerful smell.”
My helpful coworker approached my desk cautiously, like the roses might bite him or something.
“While I really appreciate the thought behind it,” I lied in a compulsory display of loyalty to my Alpha, “you’re not wrong about the smell. And I just don’t have room for them in here, either.”
“Well, hmm.” Gerald picked up the vase awkwardly, trying to find a way to hold it where the rose thorns wouldn’t keep catching on his nice shirt. “Where do you want me to take it?”
I shook my head, pacing backward out of the room.
Gerald followed me into the hall. “Do you think that your wife would like them?” I asked cautiously. I had
observed that Gerald wore a thin platinum band on the second finger of his left hand, and had propped on his bookcase a framed picture of himself embracing a petite brunette woman.
“Really? You don’t want to keep them?”
I shrugged. “Not particularly. And why not? You don’t need to tell her they’re… re-gifted.” Gerald paused, looking thoughtfully at the gigantic arrangement of pristine, velvety red roses.
“Alright. Be a shame to let them go to waste.” Gerald returned my shrug with one of his own, thanked me needlessly, and went to find somewhere to store his wife’s flowers for the rest of the workday.
The smell in my office abated somewhat after the departure of the roses, but their aggressive perfume did linger. The windows up here on the eighty-ninth
floor didn’t open. I had to try to return to work with the persistent aroma of Alexander’s disappointingly superficial apology still hanging in the air.
The very notion that he believed an expensive gift could win me over, after he’d been so absolutely horrible to me, just made me feel even more disappointed with him.
And more than anything, I wished he would just leave me alone in my workplace. It was bad enough, the scene Alexander had caused in his jealous rage.
Sending apology gifts here just kept putting our drama on display for everyone to see. And it made me feel like he didn’t know me at all.
I texted Nina, asking what she was up to later and if she could meet for dinner.
She responded after a few minutes: I’m all yours
Perfect, I replied.
That gave me time to work late at the office. Then I’d be returning to the palace after dark, avoiding as much time as I could with my fiancé. For my health’s sake, I could not do that forever. But for just tonight, at the very least, I needed space from Alexander more than anything else.
I texted him next to let him know I was meeting Nina for dinner instead of him.
He replied: Okay…
The three dots irritated me. They seemed sassy.
Don’t wait up, I added.