An American Cinderella

“I’m having some food delivered,” he explained. “It should be there soon. I wish I could be there in person, but things are a little crazy here right now.”

“Tell me about it,” I replied, putting another document on the scanner. I had a file up on my computer that I tried to save to my research folder for Anastasia while the computer processed the image. I was multi-tasking hard core.

“Aria, I am really sorry about last night,” he said. I loved the way his accent wrapped around my name like a caress. “I wish I could have stayed.”

“I get it,” I said, trying to be nonchalant. I wanted to be cool and not needy. I wanted him to think I was a strong, independent woman even if inside I wanted him with me all the time. “Work and duty. I understand.”

He sighed. “Can I see you again? Soon?”

My heart sped up at the thought of seeing him and then I looked around my office. The boxes Jaqui had told me about had arrived. Only, where I thought it might be one or two boxes more, it was a whole room full of boxes. I had paperwork spilling out into the hallway.

“I would like that. It’s just... I’m really behind on my work. I’m not going to be able to leave tonight. Or tomorrow. Actually, I’m thinking about changing my address to my work and just sleeping under my desk.”

He chuckled. “That’s a shame. I rather liked your apartment. Particularly that couch.”

I thought of his kisses and bare chest. The way he had felt underneath me on that couch. I heated right between my legs.

“But I want to see you,” I told him. I could almost taste his kisses if I thought about it.

“I want to see you too,” he said. He paused for a moment. “Let me see what I can come up with.”

“Okay,” I replied. I hoped that maybe we could get dinner in a couple of days. Maybe end up back at my place. Or his place. I wasn’t picky. We didn’t even really need a place. I just wanted to see him. I found that I missed him.

We said goodbye, both of us reluctant to hang up the phone. He was the one good part of my day. I sighed and looked at my flowers. They certainly brought warmth and color to my drab little office. Just like Henry did to my world.

I kept powering through the documents. It was mindless work, simply putting paper in the scanners until it ran out and then refilling it. I had to keep track of which document I was on to save it to the correct file, but other than that, a trained monkey could do this job.

It was a good thing too because I had a lot of work to do for Anastasia. This was the work that enjoyed and it made me miss my old job. I missed digging around and looking things up. I missed being a part of the process. I had loved my job as a senator’s aide because I felt like I was making a difference. Granted, it was small and not very much, but I knew that if I kept at it, I would learn the ropes. Once I had that, I could really start to change things.

It was how I was going to make the world a better place.

I avoided actually reading the documents that I scanned. If I didn’t read them, then I didn’t know what was on them. If I didn’t know what was on them, I couldn’t tell my stepmother about them. I would have no guilt in telling her that none of my documents today pertained to her interests.

It was a round-about lie, but since it was lying for a good reason, I didn’t feel too guilty about it. I knew that since she had come to me I had at least a week before she would pester me again. She couldn’t be seen coming to my work place very often. I was free of her clutches for another week.

Not that it was going to do me much good. I still needed a plan on how I was not going to give her anything and still keep my father’s reputation intact. Just thinking about it felt impossible, so I decided to focus on my research and scanning the documents as quickly as possible. One task at a time.

I worked for what felt like the entire day, but found that it was barely lunch time. It wasn’t even noon, yet I was exhausted. Looking around the small room, I had barely made a dent. I felt like putting my head in my hands and crying. And then taking a nap.

“Knock knock,” came a familiar voice at my door.

I looked up to see Henry standing in my doorway carrying a large brown paper bag. He was truly my white knight today.