Read Online The Arrangement by Simon Smith-Wilson - Free Book Online

Lucas would see everything without actually
being able to see anything. Two thin shoulder straps kept the whole
piece up. It was the type of dress she reserved for those very
important work receptions. To this date she had only wore the dress
twice, but tonight was very much placed in the important days of her
life. She just hoped that this dress did the trick because she was
running out of ideas on how to seduce her fiancée.
    ***
    Lucas
slipped on his coat and switched off the office light. He had stalled
for long enough. It was time to go home and face the music. He
stepped out the office door and came to an abrupt stop. Emma was bent
over directly in front of him. She was working her way through a box
of files on the floor and hadn’t noticed his arrival. Lucas
looked down at curve of her ass. Something lustful and primal began
to roar within his soul. Emma suddenly looked back over her shoulder
to find her handsome young boss standing directly behind her with his
eyes locked upon her ass.
    A
dangerous smile split her lips.
    ‘Hello,
Lucas.’
    ‘Oh,
yes, Hi.’ Lucas shuffled by her. He started to head down the
corridor towards the elevator when a thought occurred to him and he
stopped. ‘What are you doing here so late?’
    ‘I
wanted to get all the files sorted,’ she admitted.
    Lucas
looked at the pile of paperwork upon her desk. It was at least half
the size it was at the start of the day. She must have really put a
shift in to get so much of that mess sorted.
    ‘This
will take you longer than a day to do,’ he pointed out.
    ‘I
have started to get that feeling,’ she laughed, but he could
see she was tired.
    ‘Why
don’t you go home for the night?’
    ‘I
think I will.’
    He
nodded his head to her and began to march down the corridor. He
nearly made it too the elevator before his body turned, as if with a
mind of its own, and he headed straight back to where he came from.
Emma had just enough time to collect her coat and handbag.
    ‘I
will give you a lift home,’ he told her.
    ‘Oh
no.’ She shook her head from side to side. ‘I couldn’t
impose.’
    ‘Ha,’
Lucas laughed. ‘It is no imposition. I will feel bad if you
don’t let me.’
    Emma
smiled that sweet smile that made his heart flutter. ‘Thank
you, Lucas.’
    ***
    Scarlett
reached for the kitchen counter and flicked off the stereo. “The
Forty Most Romantic Songs of the Last Ten Years” C.D came to an
abrupt stop. A horrible silence swept into the house. There was a
type of silence that was a place devoid of sound, but right now the
house held something even worse. It felt empty and hollow. She looked
at the feast of food upon the kitchen table that she had worked so
hard to make. It had gone cold. All day she had worked on preparing
this meal fit for a king, but Lucas was nowhere in sight. Normally,
when he worked late he would call her to give her a heads up, but
tonight there was nothing.
    She
pushed back her chair and straightened out her long flowing dress.
    Carefully,
she moved around the table and blew out the candles one by one.
    Darkness
fell upon the house.
    Within
her chest she could feel her heart breaking. It was like a crack
splintering down a mirror. Tears began to gather within her eyes, as
she took one final look at the dinner she had put her heart and soul
into. It was like someone had punched her in the stomach she felt so
sick. She stepped out into the hallway and picked up the phone.
    She
dialled Lucas’s office.
    It
rang.
    It
rang some more.
    It
rang beyond the point most people would have waited for. She knew now
that no one was going to answer. It begged the question “where
was he?” a tear rolled down her cheek. She moved slowly up the
stairs towards her bed and began to sob.
    ***
    Laughter
filled the interior of the car. The initial shyness that Emma had
displayed was long since gone. Once she started talking there was no
stopping her. Lucas liked the fact she was so easy to talk to. It was
a natural