I sat there for a while. But after a few minutes, something intruded upon my befuddled brain. A feeling… something about my feet…
Did they feel colder?
Yes, they did. Colder, and colder and colder. And I couldn’t quite figure out why. Glancing down, I saw they looked perfectly normal. Two feet, with five toes each. But wasn’t there something missing?
Shoes! Shoes and socks, you idiot! I had left them in the bathroom.
Of course!
Carefully, I rose. The floor seemed to be peaceable right now. Should I dare dash across the room to the bathroom to get my shoes and socks, or would the evil beast try to buck me off again? Thoughtfully, I regarded the stone tiles. They seemed to be solid and still.
On a sudden impulse, I took a step forward, then another. Yay! The floor was apparently asleep and not intent on making trouble for me! I reached the bathroom door in no time at all, and without falling down once.
Mr Ambrose turned towards me as I passed.
‘Is something the matter, Mr Linton?’
‘My shoes,’ I growled. I wouldn’t be polite to him. Not now. Not after he made me feel so… so strangely alive just by looking at me. That was too damn peculiar! ‘I forgot them in the powder room, and my feet are getting cold.’
He nodded, coolly. ‘Be careful. You didn’t look too steady on your feet, earlier, and it would be a shame if you survived the gunfight only to break your neck in my office.’
‘I was perfectly steady! The floor was attacking me!’
‘Pardon?’
I just shook my head, not wasting my time on an answer. Unbelievable that a man who was supposed to be clever enough to have amassed an immense business empire couldn’t even understand that his own office floor was conspiring against unsuspecting visitors. Though I had to admit, it seemed to be quiet enough right at the moment. I had probably frightened it into submission with my implacable courage and determination.
I found my shoes and socks under the sink and returned to the office carrying both with me. Mr Ambrose was standing at his desk, turned towards me, a strange look on his face. He was probably finally considering the conspiracy of the office floor - as well he should! But at least I was safe. It wouldn’t dare attack me, seeing as I was so courageous and determined.
It was when I had crossed about half the distance to the visitor’s chair that the evil floor struck!
I felt my bare foot slipping on an unusually slippery piece of polished stone. My socks and shoes went flying, and I fell backwards, my arms flailing - until another pair of arms caught me in their strong hold. I gasped as they hauled me up. Not all the way up. Just far enough so I could feel my body pressing against that of the man who held me.
‘What did I tell you?’
Blinking, I tried to dispel the layer of mist that seemed to cloud my vision. Sparkly lights danced in front of my eyes. When they slowly disappeared I looked up into the dark, sea-coloured eyes of Mr Rikkard Ambrose.
‘What,’ he repeated very slowly and clearly, ‘did I tell you, Mr Linton?’
Once again his face was only inches away from mine, and suddenly my shoes and socks didn’t seem quite so important anymore.
I gulped. What was happening? ‘T-to be careful. You told me to be careful.’
‘Yes.’ His eyes darkened further, until they resembled the deepest abyss imaginable. ‘Too bad I don't ever listen to my own good advice.’
Then he plunged down.
For a moment, all my fuzzy mind could manage was the thought: What is he doing? Is he going to butt heads with me?
A second later that question was answered with a resounding negative, as his lips reached mine and enveloped them, soft as velvet and yet unyielding. They started to move, pushing my mouth apart and my conscious self out of my body.
What… wait, this couldn’t be right, could it? If somebody was touching his lips to mine, that would mean that they were… kissing me?
So he was.
Waves of heat raced through me as the realization hit my befuddled brain: Mr Ambrose was kissing me! His lips moving against my mouth, caressing, demanding. How… curious. For a moment, I was just numb.
Then, I remembered the world again, and I felt rage flood through me. How dare he? After treating me so abominably for the last few weeks, after humiliating me in public and insulting me again and again, after trying to rid himself of me a dozen times and wrecking my dreams, how dare he take such liberties with me? First he conspired with his office floor to trip me, and now he was kissing me!