Broken Truth (33 page)

Charlie laughed nervously and cast her gaze to the other side of the boutique. She admired the internal features along with the modern and clean vibe the place gave off as a whole. She knew looking around that she was going to enjoy working here and learning from everybody.

“Emilio, is he here yet? I wanted to introduce Charlie this morning,” Sophia asked, flicking her eyes behind him towards what Charlie would assume to be the backroom and offices.

“
Si
, he arrived and he is in his office, but be warned, he is still tired from his trip,” Emilio replied, nodding his head towards the direction Sophia’s eyes had earlier travelled. “You will like him,” he smiled knowingly in Charlie’s direction.

“
Faccia
silenzio
,” Sophia snapped, pushing past Emilio with Charlie following quickly in tow. “Stupid men,” she muttered as she rolled her eyes.

She followed Sophia through the shop floor until they paused outside of a large chrome coloured metal door. Instantly, she knew that she was being introduced to the boss of the establishment. A small knot gently formed in the pit of her stomach as she ran her hands down the length of the skater style dress Sophia had forced upon her this morning.

“
Mi Scusi
,” Sophia said, gently rapping on the metal door.

“
Si?
”

Sophia pushed open the door to reveal a small but contemporary looking office space. A black and stainless steel sofa sat across one wall whereas a black coloured desk made from glass sat opposite. She noticed the desk was filled with various papers and a sleek laptop that its owner was hurriedly typing onto.

Nervously flicking her eyes up to the gentleman sat at the desk, Charlie’s stomach plummeted. “Marco,” she spoke quietly.

Sophia looked between both Charlie and her boss in confusion. “Do you both know each other?”

A smile fluttered briefly across Marco’s lips as he registered the girl stood before him. “Charlie,” he murmured, gesturing towards the sofa for the two girls to sit. He waited until they were both comfortable before continuing, “Now I didn’t expect the Charlie I met yesterday at the airport to be the Charlotte who will be working with us for the next six months.” He flicked his gaze up and down the length of her body before settling back at her eyes.

Charlie felt her face begin to flush as an unpleasant heat started circling throughout her body. She placed her hands in the centre of her lap and tried to ignore the growing moisture on her palms.

“Marco...” Sophia interrupted his lingering gaze. “I will have all of the necessary paperwork arranged for Charlie. Would it be acceptable to leave them on your desk to be signed? I assume she will be allowed to work from tomorrow?” Sophia shot him a questioning glare as he continued his visual assault. “Marco,” she pressed with annoyance.

He shook his head slightly and turned towards Sophia. “
Si
, Charlotte will be acceptable to work from tomorrow. We will be open from tomorrow afternoon as there is a board meeting in the morning that you will all be required to attend. I will see you tomorrow,” he replied, waving his hand dismissively towards them.

Charlie shot up immediately, taking that as the perfect cue for her to leave. As she hurried through the metal door, she realised Sophia was not following. “I’ll be a moment,” Sophia called as the door closed in front of Charlie’s face.

She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was glad to be away from Marco’s scrutiny. As much she was looking forward to her new adventure, she feared for the interest and affection she was going to receive.

Within the space of twenty four hours, she had shamelessly been flirted with by two men. It was an uncomfortable feeling knowing how upset Callum would have been had he seen her interactions on both of those occasions.

She knew that she would have to stick to her guns here. She vowed that she wasn’t going to let anyone close enough to hurt her again. Meeting a man whilst in Milan was certainly not on her agenda at the moment.

Thirty One

“Did you want to talk about what happened last night?”

Charlie lifted her finger and traced it around the rim of her cup with a sigh. She really didn’t want to talk about last night’s antics, but decided that Sophia deserved an explanation or at least a warning for future reference. “I really didn’t mean to wake you,” Charlie apologised. “It’s just...” She trailed off at the sight of a young couple entering the small coffee shop. She watched as they made their way past the table she and Sophia had occupied. Their eyes didn’t falter once from each other’s gaze.

Threading her fingers through the handle of her cup, Charlie lifted it to her lips and took a sip of her tea. She was so absorbed in the interactions between the two people that she didn’t hear Sophia’s concerned comments across the table.

Instead, she watched the way the gentleman placed a protective arm around the woman’s shoulders and pulled her close as they queued to order. She watched the way the woman looked up into the eyes of the man she loved. The adoration and love was evident and splashed across both of their faces. Unknowingly, Charlie’s fingers tightened around the cup in her hands as she watched the gentleman place two fingers under the woman’s chin and tenderly place a kiss across her smiling lips.

“Charlie,” Sophia snapped impatiently. “What are you doing? Why are you eyeing up that couple over there?”

Charlie’s eyelids fluttered slightly before she turned towards the concerned face of her roommate. It was an expression she had grown used to over the past few weeks as she had seen it on many occasions from Amelia and Lucy. It was a look of confusion, but also concern.

“It’s nothing, they just caught my attention is all,” she said, fumbling through her response. She was still wary of making a full disclosure of everything to Sophia. After all they had only known each other for a few days, so the last thing she wanted to do was dump all of her problems and worries on the young girl.

“So come on,” Sophia pressed. “You were about to tell me about why you woke me up with your loud moans and orgasmic screams at four in the morning.” She propped her elbows onto the table and rested her fists under her chin. “I’m interested,” she smirked.

“Thanks,” Charlie muttered with a roll of her eyes. “You really know how to make someone feel even more embarrassed than they already do.”

“Spill!”

“Alright, alright,” Charlie said, releasing her iron grip around her cup. “I’ve been having dreams about a part of my life that I’m finding really hard to let go of,” she confessed. “Although the dreams I have been having are good, they still affect me deeply because of who they are about.”

Sensing her obvious discomfort, Sophia stretched her hand across the table. “It sounds like the next ten minutes are going to be angst filled.”

“They are.”

Charlie proceeded to explain the dreams she had been having the past few nights since landing in Milan. She felt good being able to talk it through with someone in the absence of Amelia and Lucy. For that, she found herself growing closer with her new and younger roommate.

“It will be okay,” Sophia reassured after hearing her divulge on the past few weeks of her life at home.

Charlie could tell that Sophia was feeling uncomfortable as her story regarding the heartbreak she endured in London along with the persistence of her lying, heartbroken lover continued. She could see it in the way her eyes held hers. They were caring and full of sympathy for the trauma she had experienced.

“Right, that’s enough about me. When do we have to be in work?” Charlie pulled her mobile phone out of her bag to light up her home screen.

“The board meeting starts in ten minutes, so we have to hurry,” Sophia giggled as she picked up her bag from the floor and slung it over her shoulder.

Trying to tread quietly in the nude court shoes she wore, Charlie followed behind Sophia as they made their way towards the boardroom. She knew that they weren’t late, but the eerie quietness around the boutique had them both trying to minimise their steps.

Sophia paused outside of another metal door similar to the one they entered yesterday for Marco’s office. “Are you ready to meet the whole team,” she asked, bracing her hand on the door’s smooth surface. This time, she didn’t knock before entering. Instead, she pushed the door open wide to reveal a long glass meeting table in black that was surrounded by ten black and chrome coloured seats. At one of the end of the room, a large projection screen and computer dominated, whereas the presence of Marco at the opposite end and a large stainless steel clock hanging above his head dominated the other side.

Charlie noticed that the chatter in the room diminished instantly upon their arrival. Instinctively, she counted the heads around the table and felt the sudden goosebumps cover her arms as seven sets of eyes including Marco’s focused on them.

“
Buongiorno
,” Marco called casually as he indicated two seats at the far side of the meeting table. “You are right on time as usual, Sophia.”

“
Grazie
,” Sophia blushed as she herded them both into the empty chairs.

Once planted firmly in her seat, Charlie cast her eyes around the table at the people who were openly staring her way. She spotted Emilio first, or more importantly, she spotted the way his mahogany coloured hair reflected a shimmer of light into her eyes off of the fluorescent lighting above his head. Catching her stare, he raised his hand and wiggled his fingers in her direction.

“Emilio,” Sophia snapped as she ripped a piece of paper from her notepad, screwed it up and then threw it at his head. “
Ma smettila
! Leave her alone.”

“
Che cosa
?” he smirked cheekily as he stuck out his tongue.

“I really need to learn some Italian,” Charlie mumbled with a sigh.

“Don’t worry,” Sophia assured her. “Marco will conduct the meeting in English for you. Everyone in this room is fluent in both Italian and English, so it won’t bother anyone.”

The loud clock positioned above Marco’s head suddenly began to chime loudly, signalling to the members around the table that it was indeed now nine and the meeting was about to commence.

Charlie tilted her head to the left to look at the empty seat at the head of the table beside her. She wasn’t sure if there was perhaps another senior member of staff who would be joining them to sit opposite Marco.

“I think we are supposed to meet the new director of International Operations today,” Sophia whispered behind her hand at Charlie. “Doesn’t really set a good example with being late does it?”

Charlie lifted her hand to cover her mouth. “Have you heard anything about them? Is it a male or female?”

“
Niente
, we have heard nothing. It has all been kept under wraps the past few weeks while everything was being organised. Although, I believe it is a
man.
”

“Why do you think that?” Charlie turned towards Sophia with interest.

“I’ve noticed Marco has been acting strange lately, which he usually does when he feels threatened. Only a male director could do that to him in my opinion. He doesn’t want to be told what to do.”

Charlie was about to ask Sophia how she knew so much about Marco in such a short space of time, but figured it inappropriate in their current setting. Instead, she made a mental note to get the gossip later tonight when they were alone. She could clearly see that something was going on even if Sophia didn’t want to admit to anything.

Marco cleared his throat bringing silence around the room. Relieved, Charlie was extremely grateful for the change of attention as all eyes left her to focus on the boss at the head of the table. “Well, we might as well start now. It appears that our guest is running a tad late,” Marco spoke confidently.

As Charlie watched him command the room, she couldn’t help but feel captured by the way his Italian accent heavily laced the pronunciation of his English. It rolled off of his lips and tongue with sensual charisma that seemed to affect not only her, but everyone else within the space.