Still Falling Read online

  Still Falling

  By

  Elle M Thomas

  Still Falling Copyright ©2020 by the author writing as Elle M Thomas

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior permission of the author, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, events, incidents, places, businesses and characters are of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover design and editing by Bookfully Yours

  This is an Elle M Thomas mature, contemporary romance. Anyone who has read my work before will know what that means, but if you’re new to me then let me explain.

  This book includes adult situations including, but not limited to adult characters that swear, a lot. A leading man who talks dirty, really, really dirty. Sex, lots and lots of hot, steamy, sheet gripping and toe-curling sex. Due to the dark and explicit nature of this book, it is recommended for mature audiences only.

  If this is not what you want to read about then this might not be the book for you, but if it is then sit back, buckle up and enjoy the ride.

  Other titles by Elle M Thomas:

  Disaster-in-Waiting

  Revealing His Prize

  One Night Or Forever

  Love in Vegas Series (to be read in order)

  Lucky Seven (Book 1)

  Pushing His Luck (Book 2)

  Lucking Out (Book 3)

  Falling Series (to be read in order)

  New Beginnings (Book 1)

  Still Falling (Book 2)

  DEDICATION

  For my small but trusted circle.

  Chapter 1

  Sitting opposite a very chatty Lou proved more of a challenge than usual for Eve as she kept going over the morning’s events, including the cleaner's appearance. Why would he have a cleaner who looked like she did? The answer was rather obvious and made her stomach churn even more than it already was. The message alert on her phone made her jump which in turn made Lou laugh at her.

  “Jumpy, muchly.” Lou laughed.

  Eve was sorely tempted to tell her friend to fuck off, but resisted, just.

  Are you ok? I don’t know what to say to you. Have you left me, really? Just tell me. I can’t think of anything else. I already miss you. X

  Eve let out a loud breath as she looked at his series of rambling thoughts and questions. She’d told him she wasn’t leaving, and she wasn’t, but somehow, they needed to find a way to move forward without having the same pointless discussions and the lack of necessary ones.

  I don’t know if I’m ok. I don’t know what to say either, although, I have said quite a lot already. I haven’t left you, I told you that. I need some time to think about everything. All of these girls, women who fit your type scare me because I keep waiting for you to realise that I am not what you want or need. I miss you too and can’t stop thinking about this morning, but you can be so unreasonable. X

  Eve watched her phone screen as her message was seen and then waited for his reply.

  Maybe we both said a lot, too much. I’m so glad to hear you haven’t left me, I don’t know what I would do if you did. I don’t need time to think. I don’t have a type, except you. You are everything I want and need. I don’t know what else to say or do to make you believe that, baby. I’m not unreasonable…I just love you so much and want to take care of you. X

  “Do you want a biccie, too?” Lou was already holding Eve’s cup up.

  “Please, thanks,” she replied with a smile.

  Looking back down at the message, Eve really did wonder if there was any point in discussing or arguing with Gray when he was such a man mountain in his refusal to be moved. He truly believed he wasn’t unreasonable, and his actions were always justifiable because their intention, if not their outcome, was to protect her.

  Maybe she should ignore him for a while; get on with some work and then try and make him see that his actions often were unreasonable. Her phone sounded again.

  Evie, please speak to me. X

  She considered getting on with her work and not getting drawn into another conversation but if she did he was likely to come charging down from his own office, plus, she wasn’t looking to punish him and make him worry more than he clearly already was.

  I get that you want to take care of me, Skip, but I need to take care of me too and your need to do that can’t be at the expense of my independence, can it? X

  I’ll try. X

  Thank you, that’s all I ask. X

  You and I are doing lunch. Let me know what time & I will come down for you. No debate or refusals will be accepted. Still falling. X

  Smiling at his still falling, the words themselves and the meaning behind them, she felt her mood lift and her terseness soften slightly, although whether his bossy demands were him trying remained to be seen.

  Seems the decisions have all been made! Got Jamie Lewis in @ 10 so lunch about 12.30? I love u 2. X

  See you then. Don't be pissed off with me, I've got enough of that up here already! Will tell you later. X

  The meeting with Jamie was quite pleasant and very straight forward with all parties agreeing strategies for putting a campaign together and as they were leaving Leon's office just before twelve o'clock Jamie turned to Eve and asked, “Would you like to join me for lunch, me and Sally?”

  “No thanks, I have a date of my own,” replied Eve before telling him, “Don't mess Sally about, she's not used to men like you.”

  “Unlike you?” grinned Jamie causing Eve further agitation.

  “What is it with men? You all think you're irresistible and know exactly what and how women think. So, for your information I know precisely what sort of man you are and how you operate and yes, I am far better equipped to take you on than Sally,” she snapped in a raised voice.

  A smirk that made Jamie Lewis look just like Max when he was winding her up shocked Eve into silence as he stepped closer. “You had first dibs sweetheart and if you hadn't chosen your boyfriend, I would be questioning whether you were jealous of your cousin.”

  “Oh, fuck off, you sanctimonious, smug arse!” Eve spat, oblivious to how unprofessional she was currently being or Lou witnessing every detail of their exchange.

  “That's a definite no to lunch then?” asked Jamie, openly laughing at her.

  “You just remember what I said and remember she is very nice and deserves to be treated well.” Eve sighed, thinking that she had made a complete and utter fool of herself now.

  “I'll consider myself warned then.” He grinned as he headed towards the door with Lou gaping at her. Jamie looked back at them both with a huge smirk on his face, “You know, Evie, I thought better of your boyfriend. All this angst of yours reeks of frustration, sexual frustration.” He shook his head. “I thought he would have gladly kept you well serviced.”

  With a growl, Eve threw the item closest to her that happened to be Lou's hat and propelled it towards Jamie's head. He reached out and caught it with another laugh before throwing it back towards Lou and left.

  “You keeping your options open?” she asked with a grin.

  “No, I am bloody not!” snapped Eve before clearing the cups from Leon's office while waiting for Gray to appear which he did at exactly twelve-thirty.

  “Hi Lou,” he called as he approached her desk.

  “Hi and good luck. Your girlfriend is in a foul mood, weird, but still foul. So foul she has told Jamie Lewis to fuck off and that was in
the same sentence that she called him a sanctimonious, smug arse,” Lou revealed to a stunned looking Gray.

  “Did he do something to upset her?” asked Gray almost hoping the other man had, which meant it wasn't him that had upset her to this extent.

  “No, not really. They were sharing a bit of banter and she was warning him about Sally, so he teased her about herself and then you, and she flipped out at him. He was cool about it and just laughed at her which made her worse,” Lou explained in whispers as she kept looking around to ensure Eve didn't walk in on her sharing this information with Gray. “She threw my hat at him!” Lou added and sounded more shocked about that than anything else.

  Leon appeared before Eve did and turning to Gray said, “Whatever you've done will you undo it because Eve is a real asset until she tells my big money clients to fuck off!”

  “Has Jamie Lewis complained?” asked Gray concerned.

  “No, he just called to tell me that Eve seemed under the weather and a little stressed.”

  Before anyone else spoke, Eve appeared with her dark blue suit jacket on over her white blouse and matching blue skirt.

  “You ready?” She reached for her bag as Gray nodded in her direction. “See you in an hour,” she called.

  “Take as long as you need to come back in a better mood,” Leon told her bluntly causing a frown to crease her brow.

  With a hand holding her elbow firmly, Gray led her out of the office before she told Leon to fuck off too, which seemed a strong possibility judging by the glare she gave him. They entered the lift where their journey continued in silence until they finally arrived at Jimmy's for lunch.

  “Jimmy's?” she asked.

  “So it would seem,” he replied as they stepped through the door and were seated in a quiet corner of the restaurant.

  Eve tried to avoid eye contact and conversation with Gray, but he had other ideas until a waiter arrived to take their order. Gray looked across at Eve who blushed when she looked up and saw Emilio standing at their table with pencil and notebook in hand.

  “Just a hot chicken salad for me please and a lemonade,” Eve told him with a small smile from beneath her lashes making Gray look on suspiciously.

  “Half a rack of ribs with fries and nachos with cheese to share please, and a coke,” Gray added for himself.

  “Certainly. Anything else?” asked Emilio grinning in Eve's direction.

  “You could stop flirting with my girlfriend and keep your number off her napkin this time,” Gray replied bluntly and coldly making Emilio and Eve blanch.

  As soon as Emilio had scurried away, Gray turned his attention back to Eve. “Right then, Evie, you and I need to clear the air; so why don't you tell me why you stropped off to work this morning after meeting my cleaner, you knew I had one.”

  Eve stared across at Gray as she absorbed his summary of their morning and found it difficult to disagree with any of it. “I was minding my own business eating my makeshift breakfast when the door opened to reveal a very pretty, petite blonde woman who was very at home in your flat, far more at home than I am and she makes your coffee like nobody else! She does not look like a cleaner. She looks like...”

  “What Eve? What does she look like?” asked Gray, but Eve suspected he knew where this was going.

  “A girlfriend, your girlfriend, your type of girlfriend.”

  “Bloody hell Eve, not this again. I had a taste for pretty, petite blondes and now I don't, I only have a taste for you. I love you and I have never said that to another woman, ever,” he insisted.

  “How can you be so sure that I'm your type when little blondes used to be?”

  “The same way I can be your type when Max was before. If I worked on the same logic as you then I would be more worried about your interest in Jamie Lewis rather than the other way round,” was Gray's answer, and a very well made point it was too. Watching her closely, Gray shook his head and continued, “And you have noticed the resemblance too. I have no problem with you looking at him or anyone else and seeing something in them you saw in an ex as long as it's me you see when you look at me, me that you want to be with, me you share a bed with, me that gets to come inside you,” he said with a grin now. “I really don't think I will ever tire of that thought, Evie.”

  “I know it's irrational, Grayson, and I think you need to come inside me until you do tire of it,” smiled Eve, knowing that the glint in Gray's eyes was one of arousal and his excitement was certainly contagious judging by a sudden quickening of her pulse and dampness between her thighs.

  “Baby, if you keep talking like that and looking at me with that come fuck me expression, I will be coming inside you before we get our lunch.”

  “I'd like to see you come good on that threat, no pun intended, Skipper,” grinned Eve with a wink as their lunch arrived.

  Feeling reassured slightly by Gray's logical argument to her irrational behaviour and thinking, Eve relaxed over lunch sufficiently to raise the subject of Gray's past girlfriends who weren't girlfriends.

  “Were you and Naomi ever...” she started, earning a frown from Gray across the table.

  “I thought we'd done this already, Eve.” He sighed making her frown now.

  “How? When? I ask about them and you deny their existence even when it's obvious like with Lisa and Sienna and Naomi, I think. I said I trusted you to tell me what I needed to know but I have to trust that you know what I need to know too.”

  “I know, Eve, and I will try but I have never done this before so will make mistakes but be patient with me, okay?” he pleaded sadly.

  “Of course, and I did promise never to leave you, didn't I?”

  “Yes, you did, even if I thought you had earlier.” He felt a sadness wash over him, but quickly pushed it away and changed topic. “Now, have you given any more thought to Doug being your dad?” Gray stretched across the table, gently taking her hand, stroking her fingers with his thumb.

  “No, not really, not properly anyway. Can we come back to this later?” Eve considered pushing her lunch away having lost her appetite again.

  “Okay, but you need to eat your lunch and then there's something I want to show you,” said Gray seriously but wearing a cheeky half-grin making him look suddenly young and carefree.

  They were about halfway back to work and Eve's mood had lifted although she was still no closer to answers from Gray about Naomi, or any of the other blondes she'd met so far.

  Coming to a standstill suddenly, Gray turned to Eve. “Can you meet me, in about an hour, in my office?”

  “I don't know, I've got things to do and I have been a bitch all morning,” she replied, making Gray laugh at her honesty.

  “And all because my cleaner isn't fat, fifty and unattractive?”

  “Fuck off, Gray!” Eve snapped making him laugh louder and harder now.

  “That's really not lady like, baby, but I believe you are on a roll with your fuck offs today. Am I a sanctimonious, smug arse too?” he asked, revealing his knowledge of her encounter with Jamie. “You’re not going to throw a hat at me, are you?” He laughed.

  “Lou is a trappy cow,” Eve pouted.

  “Yup, and Leon and possibly Sally by the time she's finished lunch with Jamie Lewis.”

  “Well it was your fault. Right, an hour in your office, I will do my best,” Eve agreed with a frown as Gray turned in the opposite direction. “Where are you going?” she called after him.

  “I've got something I need to do first. One hour,” he shouted back as he dashed across the road between the traffic.

  Shaking her head at the mercurial way her own mood was swinging she decided that she needed cake, as did her co-workers as an apology to them and an indulgence for her.

  Revealing huge, sticky, cream cakes that looked more like works of art, Lou and Leon began to bicker over who was having what, amusing Eve who prepared to ask if she could pop out to see Gray later when Leon got in first, “Eve, when you've made those calls for the Single No More campaign can you
take some stuff up to Sharpstone please?”

  She agreed, thinking how convenient the trip upstairs was. “I'll make coffee first, as an apology for being such a bitch this morning and I will apologise to Jamie Lewis when I see him.”

  ****

  An hour later Eve was heading towards Gray's office where Kirsty greeted her brightly, however, Sam, who was talking to Holly was a little more aloof.

  “Oh, you can manage to fulfil your obligations today, can you?” she asked mysteriously but before Eve could respond Gray appeared behind her.

  “Eve,” he called as if he hadn't seen her for weeks rather than merely an hour ago. “Come through, baby, leave those papers with Kirsty,” he told her, making her suspicious of him with his knowledge of the papers from Leon.

  “What the hell is Sam's problem today?” asked Eve as she closed the office door behind her. “Oh no, has she found out she's not pregnant again this month?” asked Eve empathetically, making Gray smile at her and he thought he loved her a little more, if that was possible.

  “No, it's not that. Last night, the dinner we cried off from? Well, my mother overheard us arrange it, or Sienna told her, and she pitched up with Edward and was pissed off that we weren't there and ruined dinner and the whole night I believe. Tim and Sam have been arses all morning.”

  “Ah, that's what you meant when you asked me not to be pissed off with you.”

  “Exactly, now enough about other people. There's something I want to show you,” grinned Gray with a wiggle of his eyebrows making her laugh.

  “Why do I think you are up to something that will have me flat on my back before I leave here?” asked Eve suspiciously.