Chapter 1
Bella's hands flew over the keyboard, her nials clicking of each key in rapid succession. Her eyes tightened as she completed the memo to the board. Rob and his little clique had almost cost the company a 3 million euro contract. Luckily the email would be received by her boss in London in only a few hours. Still there was going to be a deluge of fallout, finger pointing and politicing before during and after the actual problem in the contract was solved. And the legal department would be involved.
She clicked the send button, then double checked her sent box to make sure it went through. Pushing back her chair she reached up and began rubbing her temples. She needed to get going soon, it was certainly past 5 o'clock.
"Ahem, Ms. Keyes?" Bella leaped up out of her chair, startled out of her woolgathering.
"Sorry ma'am." It was Larry, one of the interns with company. She watched as his eyes trailed down from her face to her chest, then dart back up.
"It's fine Larry." She said sitting back down behind her desk.
"I'm headed out for sandwiches - would you like anything." Her stomach rumbled at the thought, she had skipped lunch to work on a report. Glancing down at the clock she groaned inwardly. It was almost 6:30.
"Thank you, but I need to get going." She quickly gathered her things and ushered Larry out of her office, closing the door behind.
"Welll, uh, maybe next time then." Larry stumbled, trying to keep his eyes above the neckline. She gave him a noncommittal smile, turned and hurried out. She sighed and smiled inwardly, feeling Larry and a few of the other interns eyes on her as she walked out.
Had her day been any less hectic she may have been able to appreciated the looks. She was plenty proud of her curvy bottom and trim waist. After todays antics and general insanity she was ready to get the hell out of dodge.
Her car was sitting almost alone in the parking lot, the sun beating down on it. Opening the door a wave of heat poured out, she had forgot to leave the sunroof cracked open. The interior of the car was still stifling 10 minutes latter as she was grinding though wall to wall traffic. She gritted her teeth and slammed on the brakes as huge pickup dove into the lane in front of her, trying to fit in a space a mini would have thought twice about. She tapped her horn in frustration and got flipped the bird for her troubles.
Forty five minutes latter she filled pulled off the freeway and began making her way back to the apartment she shared with her boyfriend Karl. She couldn't wait to get home and take her shoes off, and Karl could give her a big hug and listen to her awful day. Suddenly she saw a flash of orange as a basketball skittered out into the street and a pair of kids darted out after it.
Again she slammed on the breaks and stopped the car a few feet short of the kids. Both stopped dead in their tracks, staring at her before grabbing the ball and darting back onto their driveway. Bella sat in the middle of the street for a minute more, shaking too hard to drive. Calming herself she pulled down the street and around the corner, pulling into the spot next to Karl's truck.
She grabbed her purse and laptop bag and headed up the steps letting herself into the house. Cool air blasted out at her as the door opened. Closing the door behind her she stood in the hall for a moment, just trying to leave her day behind her.
Karl was up in the computer room when he heard the door open. Saving his current project he stood up and headed down the stairs. He found Bella standing, shoulders slumped in hall, drenched in perspiration.
Stopping for a moment he had to how lovely she was even when so obviously stressed. The first thing that he ever noticed about her was her hair. Long and a rich auburn color and it felt every bit as smooth as it looked. She had pale skin beaded with perspiration in the cooling air set off dark eyes. A lovely cute nose with a powdering of freckles and nice pouty lips helped draw his eyes down.
He smiled and walked up, taking her hand and lead her into the living room.
"Rotten day?"
She sighed heavily "Yeah." He peeled her jacket off.
"Wanna tell me about it?"
"Thanks, but right now I just don't want to think about it." His ears perked up as he heard the embedded phrase.
"Don't worry love, we have all the time in the world." She looked up at the odd phrase and watched as he withdrew a pocket-watch from his pants pocket. He popped the lid open and she could see the gears and springs inside, the way they ticked, rocked back and forth was somehow fascinating. She felt herself leaning forward to watch. His fingers went to the wind and began to turn the dial, winding the watch.