Chapter 10 #2
“Yes, really.” His tone was suddenly firmer.
“My role isn’t as cut and dried as simply proving their innocence.
Sometimes, if they are likely to be found guilty it can be more about getting them the best outcome possible.
And for the record, I have turned down cases and will again if I felt it were needed.
One case involved crimes against children.
Even I wasn’t convinced of this guy’s innocence, and the evidence was pretty damning, so I said no.
I have to come home and face my children, Flora, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I allowed someone to go out into the world knowing they were capable of causing real harm to others.
I also have to face myself in the mirror. ”
With my empty cup still in my hand, I decided I should go. We’d talked and had tea together, which had been the plan. “I should go.”
Already on my feet, I placed my cup on the coffee table and made my way to the door that led into the hall. Maurizio followed me. Turning, I came to a standstill.
“Thank you for the tea, and the chat.”
“You’re welcome, anytime. I enjoyed it.”
My pulse hammered in my neck, my palms sweated as my whole body began to radiate heat. Looking up, I stared into his big, dark eyes that were hypnotising me, drawing me in.
Maurizio’s hand raised until he was pushing some loose hair behind my ear and as his touch withdrew, his thumb brushed across my cheek. I leaned into his touch, closing my eyes, savouring and enjoying the contact and sensations it triggered within me.
“Flora,” Maurizio called, prompting me to open my eyes to find his face had moved closer to mine.
Oh God, what should I do? I wanted him to kiss me, could think of nothing I wanted more at that second, but knowing I shouldn’t want it scared me.
“Tell me to stop,” he said.
He knew this was a bad idea, too, and his words confirmed that.
“Tell me,” he implored.
So, I did. “Stop.”
He nodded but made no move or comment.
“I should go—to bed—my bed—alone—to sleep—goodnight.”
All those words had spilled from my mouth with no thought or plan in mind and I didn’t doubt that was clear to my boss who I had turned my back on without so much as a look backwards.
By the time I reached my own home, I was beyond red and embarrassed. “You stupid bloody fool!” I hissed to my reflection. “Shit!” How the hell was I going to face him in the morning, or ever again for that matter!
I was supposed to be catching up with Maddie tonight, but I knew she’d smell a rat before hello left my lips, so I text her and said I was going to bed with a headache and would catch up with her soon, which I would, when the moment was right for me.
I crawled into bed rather than simply climbing in and with the covers pulled over my head, I hoped and prayed that when I woke up this would turn out to have been a dream .
. . well, nightmare, but whichever, so long as it wasn’t real.
Morning came all too soon, as did the realisation that last night had really happened. With a groan, I got out of bed, washed and dressed. It wasn’t like I could avoid facing my boss as I worked and lived in his home.
I nervously headed into the kitchen where I found Bea and the children. I looked around, catching Bea’s attention.
“Looking for something? Someone?” She smirked.
“What? No!” I protested a little too weakly. The last thing I needed was for Bea, or anyone else to get the wrong impression about me and Maurizio, or to spread those impressions off as gossip.
She chuckled. “Okay, whatever you say. Maurice has already left for work by the way. He said he’ll be back no later than five.”
I nodded, unsure what, if anything I should say.
“What are you up to tonight?” Bea asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing.” Well, not unless I somehow ended up in a tryst with our boss. But I kept that thought to myself.
“Then come out with me. Carrie and I are meeting up for dinner. We’re both pregnant and off booze but you don’t have to be.”
I must have looked hesitant.
“Think about it,” she added with a warm smile.
Suddenly it occurred to me that my hesitation may have come across as ungrateful. “Sorry, I’d love to. Thank you.”
“Great.” Bea sounded genuinely excited that I’d agreed to join her and her friend. “I know I’ve said it before, but you’ll love Carrie. She really is great.”
The children interrupted us as they argued about what was the best choice for breakfast that morning.
My day had been good. I’d go as far as to say fun. We had just got home from the park and while I told Bea to sit down and catch her breath, I set about getting some snacks sorted for us all.
“Would you like milk, water or juice?”
Rosie answered first. “Milk, please. Did you know that milk helps to make you bones and teeth grow strong. It has a special ingredient . . .” She seemed to think hard. “Daddy called it calc, erm, calm, erm, what is it?” she asked.
“Calcium,” I suggested.
“Yes!” she squealed. “My daddy is so clever, Flora. He knows really big words.” The pride beaming from her smiling face took my breath away for a second as the adoration she had for him took me back to being a little girl myself.
Emotion stuck in my throat as I replied. “Yes, he is.”
“Uncle Nico calls him a smart bum, but uses a bad word,” Craig told me.
Rosie and I giggled before Craig continued.
“Ass is the bad word.”
I howled while Rosie’s faced morphed into complete horror. “Craig!” she cried, a hand on her hip. “We’re not supposed to say that even if Uncle Nico does.”
Suddenly my mind went to Uncle Nico who seemed something of a rogue. Returning my attention to the children, Craig looked worried. “Maybe don’t say that again, okay?”
He nodded and offered me a small smile.
“Would you like milk too?”
“Yes, please. Flora, can we have biscuits too?”
“Of course.” I leaned down and ruffled his hair before turning back to Rosie. “Why don’t you go and turn the TV on and I’ll bring your snacks through.”
With the bikes they’d taken to the park already away, and the remnants of our picnic discarded, I took their snacks through and found the children huddled together on the sofa, snoring. Clearly, all the excitement of the day had taken its toll and they were exhausted.
Looking down at them I couldn’t get over just how cute they were.
I wondered what it was like for them, to have never known an existence without the other.
Their other half. From the second they were conceived the other had been there.
The first person they’d each seen was the other.
My sister and I were close, really close, but the two children cuddling had a closeness that was unimaginable.
My next thought related to their mother who I believed had walked out on their father and somehow managed to leave her babies behind, too.
I tried not to be judgemental, but I was struggling here.
I knew that she was a lawyer like Maurizio and assumed she worked long hours as he did at times, but surely, even if she hadn’t been able to take them, you’d want to be in regular contact with them.
Perhaps she was and I was unaware of it.
There was no reason why I should know the details but in the time I had lived and worked here, the children’s mother hadn’t visited, not once.
I’d seen a picture of her in the children’s room and there were a couple of photos dotted around the house of them all when Rosie and Craig were babies.
“They look so angelic when they’re sleeping, don’t they?”
I jumped at the sound of Maurice’s voice. Still clutching my chest from the shock of his appearance, I laughed at his observation. “They’re also angelic when awake.”
He smiled as he came to stand at my side. “I wonder if you’ll still say that in a year’s time?”
I turned to look at him in profile and almost wished I hadn’t.
He really was a very attractive man and in that second I was catapulted back to the previous night.
I think we both were if the tension between us was anything to go by.
He turned to face me and smiled. God! Not for the first time, I was questioning my decision to tell him to stop the previous night.
“I should take the milk and biscuits back into the kitchen.” I was flailing, unsure what to say or do to diffuse the tension and remove myself from being under his scrutiny. “Bea might need some help.” Jumping from one random topic to another, confirmed my floundering.
He reached for me and gently gripped my wrist as he said my name, stopping me dead in my tracks.
My skin felt as if it had been burnt. The tingle and singe had me gasping, then breathing deeply and noisily as my chest heaved, my pulse quickened, and my palms grew damp .
. . and other parts of my anatomy, considerably lower down.
Although I didn’t make any attempt to shake free of his hold, I think he thought I was going to. He tightened his grip ever so slightly, never once taking his eyes off me.
“Flora, Bea looked exhausted so has left for the day.”
“Oh.”
I whispered that one word but had no idea what his words meant. Did he mean that I didn’t need to help her as she’d gone, or was it more that he was telling me that my very obvious excuse for leaving was null and void?
“I was going to ask you if you wanted to have dinner, but Bea informs me that you have plans with her and Carrie.”
I nodded.
His grip loosened until he was no longer touching me, a move that left my skin cold and bereft of his touch. “I’ll take it from here, with the kids. Treat yourself to an early finish and have a lovely night with the girls.”
With the glasses of milk and biscuits on the tray I’d carried them in on, I returned them to the kitchen and ran upstairs as fast as my feet could carry me. I really had no idea just how many times I’d be able to resist my boss or continue telling him to stop.