It Started With A Contract novel Chapter 3

The department was louder than before as male and female staff discussed her husband. She was mortified as Susie broke down into a commentary about his looks.

Bile rose to her throat and she forced herself to take a sip of water from her flask. One of the rules of their firm was this: No inter-staff relationship. It was forbidden and highly frowned upon, so most of what they were saying would only happen in their dreams.

Still, their thoughts nauseated her. She wasn’t breaking the rules by being married to the boss but she felt like a criminal as she listened to them ogle him and try to picture him without a shirt. He was her husband and she hadn’t even seen him shirtless yet.

Susie was the loudest of the gossipers, her comment about Kelvin’s lips bothered her and she scowled at their backs when they laughed at her remark. Her cheeks warmed when she remembered their near kiss from this morning. Kelvin was perfect as he was.

Lily dragged a seat close to her, Sarah’s instructions seemed to have flown out of the window with this new development. “Have you seen the picture?”

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Just yeah?” She nodded. If she spoke too much, she might lose her temper. “That man is freaking hot. I want to do him,” Lily said with a laugh that died down when Leila didn’t join her. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Sorry. Don’t feel so good.”

Lily’s face contorted in concern, she placed a hand on Leila’s back and pressed the back of her palm to her forehead. “Have you taken anything for it?”

“Not yet.” She counted to five before speaking again. How could she take anything when the sickness wasn’t real? “It just started. I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

“If you say so.” She motioned to Leila’s phone, the screen lit up with the picture of her husband. “What do you think? Hot or hot?” She sighed dreamily and Leila bit her tongue to avoid lashing out at Lily as she listed his good features. “Did you see his eyes?” Lily sighed again and Leila counted to twenty to steady her breathing. “I don’t stand a chance with him being the boss and all that but do you think he’s single?”

No!

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lily asked when she bent over. She was more than fine. She just needed some time before she screamed at everyone to shut up.

“What’s going on?”

They both jumped at the sound of the new voice. Lily cursed, Leila froze. Her husband was here. He stared right through her like she was an ordinary staff and she burned with embarrassment when he scoffed before turning to Lily. His fingers drummed on her desk.

“No cursing in the office,” he told Lily. Sparing one look around, he said, “That applies to everyone here.” Leila didn’t remember sitting but her knees couldn’t support her weight any longer. “Who is not okay?”

A lump formed in her throat, Lily passed her a sorry look. They didn’t know if silence would be best in this scenario. “Me,” Leila finally volunteered an answer to save Lily from getting into trouble. “I’m the one.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Kelvin pushed one hand into his pocket, leaned forward so she had no choice but to look up at him. He intimidated her. His voice. His looks. Everything about him.

“Nothing,” she replied. He lifted a brow. “I feel dizzy but it’s nothing I can’t handle, Sir.”

“Do you need to take the day off?”

Leila couldn’t tell if he was asking out of genuine concern or because it was required of him. Her head shook slowly. “No, Sir. I’ll be fine. Thank you, Sir.”

“Whose phone is that?” He pointed to her phone.

Thankfully, the screen had gone black. She tried to remove it from the table but his glare stopped her.

“Mine,” she whispered. Everyone was staring at them. Some, with pity and others with indifference. The way he focused on the screen cracks made her say, “It just happened today. It fell down when I was rushing up.”

Kelvin turned his back to her without another word and she released a breath when he sauntered to Susie’s table to grill her. Her nervousness turned into annoyance at the ease with which Susie answered his questions. He wasn’t flirting with her, was he?

Sarah walked in seconds after to give a general introduction. Leila forced her name out of her lips when it was her turn and she looked away when Kelvin frowned at the use of her former last name. Collins. If he was so comfortable acting like he didn’t know her, why was he pretending to be upset?

“Leila is the staff of the month,” Sarah offered after the introductions were done. She shuffled on her feet and her eyes found the ground at Kelvin’s stare. That was nice of Sarah but she didn’t think her husband cared about her achievement. “Has been for a while.”

It might have been her imagination but she caught Kelvin’s curt nod before he left her office. When the door shut again, she began to breathe normally.

“I think the boss hates you,” Susie said as she walked past Leila’s table. Leila threw a paper napkin at her head and Susie laughed as she ducked the flying object.

“Sorry,” Lily murmured. “It’s my fault.”

A corner of her lips twitched. “Not at all. It’s fine.”

Leila’s eyes darted to the clock on the cream walls, she couldn’t wait for closing hour. She wanted out.