Man Seeks Woman 2, Man Seeks Wife

iPhone

Land Rover

Starbucks

TOWIE (The Only
Way Is Essex)

BMW

Mary
Poppins

Oyster Card
(TFL)

Ford

Mercedes

Jeep

Audi

Acknowledgement of Songs Used:

James Blunt –
Goodbye My Lover

Adele – One and
Only

Missy Elliott –
Get Ur Freak On

Nan Vernon –
Love Hurts

The Beatles –
Can’t Buy Me Love

Man Seeks Woman 2

Man Seeks Wife

Copyright (c) Stephanie
Franklin, 2013.

First E-Book
Publication: November 2013.

Published By: SMF.

Email:
[email protected]

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephanie-Franklin/430153353773449?ref=hl

All rights reserved. Without
limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a
database and retrieval system or transmitted in any form or any
means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the owner
of copyright and the above publisher/s.

Original Cover Illustration: SM
Franklin.

Printed By: MT Franklin.

Franklin, Stephanie.

Chapters
:

Chapter One
–
Ralph.

Chapter Two
–
Remind me again why I hired you?

Chapter
Three –
Go get her, Tiger.

Chapter
Four –
Humph.

Chapter
Five –
I missed you.

Chapter Six
–
Just one more time.

Chapter
Seven –
Realisation was a bitch.

Chapter
Eight –
Where are you clothes?

Chapter
Nine –
I bought a variety of flavours, which one?

Chapter Ten
–
I dare you to let me be...

Chapter
Eleven –
I agree to not waste anymore food.

Chapter
Twelve –
Spit it out, Ralph.

Chapter
Thirteen –
That’s bullshit.

Chapter
Fourteen –
Perceptive little shit, aren’t you?

Chapter
Fifteen –
The Black Box.

Chapter
Sixteen –
VIC 1

Chapter
Seventeen –
Never said I was a lady, Bruce.

Chapter
Eighteen
– Get at it.

Chapter
Nineteen –
Cherry-Cream Pie at it’s best.

Chapter
Twenty –
I need to pee.

Chapter
Twenty-One
– Because it was the right thing to do, that’s
what.

Chapter
Twenty-Two –
Oh the joys.

Chapter
Twenty-Three –
You can’t beat a good beer.

Chapter
Twenty-Four
– What do you want?

Chapter
Twenty-Five –
And the bra.

For my Hubby
who once again, bugged me rotten to get this book finished even
when Sebastian and Victoria seemed to be taking a break from the
action.

Thank you to
all the readers that have taken the time to read one of my
books.

Also thank you
to those of you who have contacted me with regard to Man Seeks
Woman 1 and the anticipation of this book and any more that may
haunt me and torment me until I put my fingers to the keys. I
appreciate every single one of your thoughts, opinions and views. I
will be forever grateful to you all for taking the time to read my
stories and for taking a chance on me.

Hope you
like?

Stephanie.

X

Ralph.

“Are you sure
about this?”

God, how many
times had he asked me that question?

The moment I
stepped foot outside of that cold Blackwell home, he’d asked me
that particular question and by the sounds of it, wanted me to say
something different to what I was feeling.

Now, I looked
over my shoulder at Ralph who was stood at the doorway to my
temporary room. His face was pinched and his eyes sad and pissed
all at once.

“Ralph.” I
sighed heavily. “You know I’ve got to do this. If I don’t, what
does that say about me?”

If I did stay,
it would say that I was a pushover, that I was enabling Sebastian
to get away with the way in which he treated me and that was just
not on. It would make me a bloody fool, wouldn’t it?

Ralph squeezed
the bridge of his nose and lowered his head. “You can work it out
with him. Give him a chance, Victoria.”

I’d thought
about that the entire ride home. Actually, I’d thought about
nothing else but Sebastian. All that kept going round and round in
my head was his words on the recording and the look on his face not
only when it was being played but when I said goodbye.

That look on
his face would haunt me forever whether I closed my eyes or
not.

I bit my
bottom lip and shook my head. “I can’t Ralph. You heard the
recording, yes?”

He nodded
slowly, reluctantly. “But, there are things you don’t understand.
Please don’t leave like this.”

Talk about
guilt trip.

“Please don’t
do this, Ralph.”

“Then don’t
go.”

“I have to.”
Pure exasperation coated my voice. “I...know I entered into this
knowing he was paying me but over the week, it changed somewhere
along the line and can I just say? Who gives him the right to talk
to people let alone Jacob the way he did. It was like he owned me
or something.” I threw my hands up in the air. “Who does that?”

“Please,
Victoria.”

I closed my
eyes and shook my head again. “No, I can’t do it. End of
story.”

Turning back
around, I grabbed my suitcase from the bed and dragged it to the
floor. Ralph walked over still with reluctance and removed the case
from my hands then turned and walked out, leaving me alone.

I stood in the
room that Sebastian had given me and turned in a circle, taking in
all the little bits that I loved about it, from the humongous and
extremely comfortable bed to the dainty paintings on the walls of
various flowers, to the bathroom and even that horrible shower.

My gaze
settled back on the bed remembering the last time me and Sebastian
had been together. It had been the night I had thought about
running. I laughed bitterly. That was only hours ago in reality yet
it seemed like an eternity ago now.

Nodding to
myself and taking a deep breath, I grabbed my bag from the bed and
slung it over my shoulder. Then I picked up the phone that
Sebastian had given me. Even now as I held it in my hands, it
continued to ring.

Looking down
at the screen, I watched as Sebastian’s name flashed across it. My
thumb hovered over the screen, ready to answer it but...I
couldn’t.

I shook my
head as I walked down the hall to the kitchen where I had first
received the phone and placed it on the counter. I debated about
leaving a note but that was a bit too cliché for me.

Dropping the
phone on the counter, I nodded to myself and turned away. I
squeezed my eyes closed to stop the tears that were in my eyes
wanting to fall. I’d managed to hold them all in so far and would
be damned if I let them fall now.

I walked down
the hall, passing all the paintings that I loved and stood at the
front door. I glanced over my shoulder once more and inhaled deeply
through my nose, taking in the clean but yet spicy smell of
Sebastian’s place.

It hit me that
this place, Sebastian’s place gave me almost a week of something
different, something good in my life, something I almost enjoyed
and finally, someone I thought I could have something with but yet
at the same time gave me the worst experience ever and broke
whatever I thought I could and would shield away from the world in
a heartbeat.

Closing the
door after me, I met Ralph at the lift. We stood in silence waiting
for the lift to arrive. The moment it dinged and the doors opened
with a little hiss, I stepped inside and turned to look up at Ralph
who hadn’t moved from his spot.

My eyes
travelled down to his hands, which were tightening on the handle of
my case. “Ralph. Please don’t do this.”

“You know.” He
sighed sadly. “I never thought the arrangement would end like
this.”

“That.” I held
out my hand for him to take. “Is the understatement of the
century?”

Ralph laughed
a little and took my hand as he stepped inside the lift. I leaned
over and pressed the button for the lobby and watched as the doors
closed. As usual, we were quiet in the lift and again as usual, it
didn’t stop at any other floors.

The lobby came
into view as the doors opened. I took a deep breath, what felt like
my thousandth deep breath of the day and walked out still holding
Ralph’s hand. I looked over to the desk and saw Bruce sitting
behind it, his old wise eyes scanning the multiple screens that
covered the building. The old man was frowning at something until
he looked up at me. His old weathered face broke out into a bright
grin.

“Miss.
Victoria,” Bruce said as he pushed up from his seat and walked
around his desk. I met him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He
frowned at me when I did this, his eyes darting back and fourth
between me and Ralph. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I
shook my head and smiled a little. “I’m leaving now Bruce and I
just wanted to say...goodbye.”

His white
brows pulled together as his hand came up and took my hand from his
shoulder, holding it in his sure grip. “Oh that’s a shame. Are you
sure you can’t stay with us?”

“Oh,
Bruce,”

He didn’t know
how much I wished that I hadn’t of heard that recording earlier. If
I hadn’t have heard it, what would be happening now? I mean I was
sure I would have come back here with Sebastian after his Fathers
funeral was over and all the will stuff sorted out and then things
would have gone from there, good things.

“I
understand.” He nodded and cupped my cheek in his old hand, his
thumb tracing an imaginary line over the curve of my cheek. “Don’t
be a stranger.”

I felt all my
emotions stir looking into his cloudy blue eyes.

Swallowing
past the lump forming in my throat, I nodded and smiled a little
then leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his leathery cheek.
“Thank you.” I whispered in his ear before I took yet another deep
breath and pulled away.

My heels
clicked against the marble flooring as I quickly walked out. I
pushed through the doors and stood out in the darkened London
Street. The air smelt and felt different at this time of the day.
The air I needed came quick and thin through my nose.

I waited until
the burn in my eyes wasn’t threatening anymore before I took a
steadying breath and licked at my dry trembling lips.

Never in my
life had I wanted to cry as much as I had today. I never thought I
would have allowed myself to be this vulnerable and yet here I was.
It’s amazing that it had only taken a matter of days to get me in
this state.

“Victoria.”
Ralph said quietly behind me.

I smoothed my
shaking hands down the front of my dress and turned to him,
brushing my hair from my face where it had fallen. “Yeah,”

“Are you
ready?” he asked gesturing to the big black Land Rover waiting at
the curb. I’d been so into my own thoughts and trying to get clean,
needed air into my lungs that I hadn’t even noticed the car in
front of me.

Shaking my
head, I walked over to the car and climbed in, Ralph closing the
door after me. I settled into the rich leather and listened to
Ralph close the boot and walk round to the front. His big build
folded itself into the driver’s seat then seconds later, we were
off.

My eyes
followed the London traffic, the bright lights of different
vehicles moving around either red or white. My eyes found the
London Eye in the distance with its own lights lighting up the
London Skyline. Big Ben winked in the distance too looking all
imposing with its bright white face standing out against the
darkened starless sky.

I hadn’t
really noticed it until now but London seemed different at this
time of the day.

Even though it
was reasonably warm, I shivered and folded my hands tightly in my
lap and leaned back into the seat. I closed my eyes as my head
dropped back against the headrest. The minute sound of the engine
rumbling underneath me felt good. Ralph’s breathing could barely be
heard in the cab.

I don’t know
how long later, it could have been minutes or hours but Ralph
stopped the car and turned the engine off outside my flat. I opened
my eyes and looked sideways at the darkened windows of my
abode.