CHAPTER 3
1114 Words
Layla was too stunned to say a word, she stood still and numb with tons of questions but her body was unwilling to let her ask them.
she felt the dance of their lips and tongues together. A sweet symphony of their breath and touch.
His lips were soft, almost silken and pillowy against hers.
Layla could feel the soft tickles of his breath beneath her nose, fingers carding through her hair as they breathed each other in. He smelled like strawberries and vanilla, his sultry lips tasted more like vanilla.
Instead of pushing him away, she passionately responded by deepening the kiss.
She didn't want the moment to end. She wanted him in every definition of the word even though they barely knew each other.
Even though he was her boss and she was his secretary.
She wanted more than just a kiss.
Alicia who was horrified beyond words, had stormed out with tears in her eyes.
Sebastian broke away seconds later, having Layla look at him longingly, reliving the moment and wishing it hadn't ended.
He had the looks of a rich Prince in a modern Bridgerton story and an unbelievably hot character from a romance novel.
His Viking-gold hair complimented his bristly eyebrows and defined cheekbones.
His honey eyes were enough to make a lady horny. His smile was soft and gentle and when he spoke, the vibration of his deep voice was capable of being felt.
Layla stood for almost five minutes carefully taking into consideration all of his features realizing that that was the closest they'd been to each other when they weren't fighting or cursing out at each other.
”uhmm, I was only looking for ways to avoid the drama you witnessed earlier, you can leave now” Sebastian broke the awkward silence.
He adjusted his coat, making way to his chair.
“And close the door behind you.” he said.
Everything went back to normal like the kiss never happened. Layla was mortified.
“So are we going to pretend that what happened, didn't happen?” She asked nervously.
“Why did you do that?” she inquired.
“What other explanations do you need?”
“I literally just explained it to you Kate.”
“Layla” she corrected.
“Whatever the name is, It was a mistake okay now you can leave, and close the door behind you.”
Layla walked out of Sebastian’s office defeated, wondering how and why she had let herself feel so small. Wondering what Sebastian had done to her that made her succumb to his kiss without second-guessing.
She knew she had been used.
Used to escape his crazy fiancee who most likely would come after her thinking she was a threat not knowing she was wearing the same shoes as she was.
She stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind her and making her way to her office.
“Does he do this to everyone” she soliloquized completely oblivious of the fact that Peter was in her office as she stepped in.
“Do what to everyone?” He asked
“Jesus Christ!! Pete, you scared me” She jumped in fear.
“Relax Layla it’s just me.”
“What were you talking about?” he asked
“It's none of your business so can you stop being nosy and leave.” she snapped.
“Wow. Peter responded and took his leave.
She was too embarrassed to open up to Peter about what happened. At the same time, she knew she was being unnecessarily rude to him.
“Get your s**t together Layla Claire,” she muttered to herself.
“It wasn't that deep. He was in a tight spot and had to make a drastic decision.” She continued making excuses for Sebastian.
All through the day, Layla tried to keep herself busy with work even though she kept zoning out and drifting into her thoughts at intervals.
***
“Layla you mean to tell me that he dismissed you after the kiss just like that and even told you to dump the roses you got to apologize to him!!”
“No explanations, no apologies nothing? And you stood there and let him get away with it?” Sophie scoffed in disbelief.
“What was I supposed to do Soph?”
“First of, he's my boss”
“Second, in my defense, it was nothing, he obviously said it was a mistake. ” She retorted.
“You know, for someone as smart as you, sometimes you really could be dumb. Screw what he obviously said.” Sophie snapped.
“But you, you obviously believed him which makes me cringe.” She added, she took a long pause then continued.
“I'm sorry this happened” she paused then continued “Matsutake mushrooms on our next date when I'm back? Bills on me?”
“Yasssssss” she responded excitedly.
Sophie knew ways to cheer Layla up.
She knew that her favorite color was pink,
she knew she had an unhealthy obsession with Rihanna.
She knew that If there was anything Layla was good at doing, it sure was being delusional.
Sophie also knew that her favorite place was the library and her favorite book was pride and Prejudice.
Then there was her favorite food, matsutake mushrooms.
When they were little, both their parents would go to the market, and get a handful of the mushrooms to prepare matsutake for the whole family.
Layla’s late father never understood the reason behind the women's obsession with this delicacy, but that didn't stop him from eating anyway.
Sophie’s father on the other hand had since left when she was six and never returned. She and her mother learned a few years later that he was married to another woman and had children with the woman.
This was probably one of the many reasons Sophie and Layla promised never to leave each other, because they'd been through so much together and were somewhat stronger together.
“gotta go now babe, Love you, mean it,” Sophie said over the phone.
“Hate you, kidding” Layla responded.
As she stood up from her seat, she felt a sudden wave of dizziness wash over her. Her vision blurred and her legs felt weak.
She stumbled reaching out to grab onto the edge of her desk for support.
The room spun around her, and she struggled to maintain her balance. Panicking, she tried to make her way toward the door of her office, but her Steps became unsteady and uncertain.
Eventually, her body gave in to the overwhelming darkness and she collapsed onto the floor.
- Writer
