What Dreams Are Made Of – Episode 9

Episode_9

Monday morning she reached The Regency Hotel and opened her glittering new shop. The hotel staff greeted her warmly and she saw a young man at the reception eyeing her differently. She was not sure why. But then Linda came to meet her and

complimented on her new look. She was wearing a white skirt suit with a matching white jacket. She could feel the subtle difference in the way people treated her now and she was glad she no longer stood out because her dressing sense.

Slowly things start falling into routine and she got used to the new place and its workings. Business was slow at the start. But she kept working on developing new contacts. Slowly some of the guests at the place learnt about her business and decided to drop in. After the initial meetings they could see that she was sincere, knew her stuff well and was willing to help them find the piece of their choice.

Some of her earlier contacts also helped and very soon she starting gaining popularity among the guests. They liked her efficient way of explaining the history behind each of her antique without making things sound complicated and also her not-too-pushy salesmanship which was quite uncommon in her profession.

Apart from their interest in antiques, in general, ladies liked coming to her to talk to her and men liked coming to her to watch her talk to their ladies. She obviously didn’t notice them checking her out but most of the males in the guests as well as staff found her uncommonly simple yet attractive. Each new sale brought in more customers as her abilities spread through word of mouth among the high class. People were recommending her.

She didn’t meet Nikloi Swaroski since the day in his office when he told her about the new shop. Linda would drop in almost every day and they would spent lunch time together but other than that she had not much of connect with Swaroski House. She was almost given a free hand, like her earlier shop, apart from few seldom phone calls from some guy from his office.

Once or twice she heard from a staff member that Nikloi Swaroski was at the hotel for some meeting but never did he come to meet her. She was not sure if she should be happy about it or sad but it was evident to her he had forgotten all about her. She remembered he had asked what she could do to help his company make more money and considering the rent she was paying him for the shop, she was definitely not worth his time or trouble.

Whether he thought about her or not, she couldn’t help but think about those dark eyes every night. She didn’t want to but her brain would somehow refuse to get

message and she would often dream of those eyes and that face. Never did she think of doing something of these thoughts,

One of a regular business days she had seen a newly married couple off with a wonderful piece bought as a memento by the husband for his young beautiful wife. They had taken their time and she had to miss her lunch but she didn’t want to disturb them while they made their choice. They were obviously so much in love, it was visible in their each word and action.

She was smiling to herself even after the couple had left and decided to update her records in the digital inventory management app. During the day, her hair clip had broken off and she had let her hair dark fall around her back. Now, she was sitting at her desk, checking the entries, with her head tilted and resting on her left hand, holding off her tresses.

A coughing sound had made her look up into a pair of dark eyes staring at her intently. All of sudden she felt her breath leaving her body, failing to return. Nikloi Swaroski was standing in her shop, looking devastatingly attractive in his navy blue suit and matching tie on a white shirt, his hair immaculately styled. She stared back, as if frozen.

More interesting stories for free @ generalloaded.com. He stepped inside saying, “I can see you have gotten busy with your shop”, his eyes going down her body from head to toe. The action sent a chill up her spine and she struggled to breathe properly. Standing up, she pulled down her hands at her sides and her hair spilled lose around her face.

Her lose hair had not troubled her in her work but now she felt extremely unhappy with them for betraying her today of all the days. She was worried he must be looking at her untidy hair, her jacket off and thinking that she was not appropriately presentable but in reality she was looking the opposite.

He noticed she was wearing a smart brown skirt ending just before her knees with a formal white top tucked in. The dress, without being too tight, complimented her well-shaped curves. She was looking quite lively with her cheeks still bright from her recent sale and her hair cupping her face loosely. He had never seen her

wearing her hair down. They were always tied at the back of her head but today she looked happy and had a glow at her face.

Chrissy stood up and turned to look if she can find a spare hair clip in one of the drawers and he saw her hairs reaching up to her waist at her back. He was thinking, she should always wear them down.

Not finding anything to hold them, she decided to leave them and face him again. She tried to remember what he had said while coming in but for the life of her she couldn’t remember his words. She forced her brain to work and to break the uncomfortable silence in the shop.

Realizing she had never got the chance to meet him after seeing the shop, she decided to use the opportunity. “I wanted to thank you for the shop. It’s beautiful and I love working here”, she said with genuine affection glowing her cheeks and saw something change in his eyes. They had turned darker and but she could not understand the expression. His stern look only made her more conscious of being alone with him in the closed shop.

Chrissy struggled for her composure, as this visit was so unexpected. On top of that those eyes were doing crazy things to her heart. She closed her eyes and could feel the tension in the room but didn’t know what to say or do to break the spell. Could he see how he was affecting her , she hoped not.

Praying silently she opened her eyes and saw him right next to her. When had he moved so closed?

She experienced an unusual fear and quickly tried to move back to create distance between them, when she heard Linda walked in the shop with a loud thud at the shop entrance door. Chrissy was highly tensed, as straight as rod and the sudden disturbance jerked her completely off balance. Twisting her foot, she would have fallen behind, had he not immediately shot his hands to pull her into him.

The jolt of touching his body sent an electric current through her body and she cursed herself internally for being the ridiculously clumsy. She would have laughed at herself had she not been so tense with his hands all around her. Now she was sure he would think of her as a brainless dud having no etiquettes whatsoever.

Linda stood there dumbstruck watching Nikloi Swaroski holding Chrissy. Seeing Linda’s eyes fixed on his hands at her waist, Chrissy turned a deep shade of red. Nikloi Swaroski looked at her coloured face and stepped back. He still kept looking at her face without blinking. Chrissy moved away from him, putting as much distance between them as possible and turned to Linda to say something incoherently. Internally, she was having a havoc and could feel Nikloi was closing in on all her senses in spite of the distance between them.

Linda said, “I just came to say sorry dear, I couldn’t come for lunch today and you had to miss it waiting for me but I was stuck with an important meeting. I again need to go back”. She was curious seeing Nikloi Swaroski there and was about to ask if there was a problem, when one of the staff called for her and she had to cut herself saying she would catch up later. She greeted Nikloi gracefully, told Chrissy she would be back soon and left.

Chrissy was again left alone with him and was fidgeting, t

hinking what to do when he surprised her by saying, “You must be hungry. Let us go eat.” With that he turned and went to move out of the shop. Before she could think much, she heard herself say “I am not hungry”, even when in reality she was.

He turned towards her and said in a clipped tone, “What?”

She tried to clear her throat and said, “I am not hungry. I do not want to eat.”

“I was not asking, Ms. Smith. When I say something, people do it”, he said hauntingly.

His arrogant tone seemed to get to her and also the fact she wanted to be as much away from him as possible, atleast that’s what she told herself , she said, “You can’t make me do what you say. I am not one of employee.”

“Precisely, Ms. Smith, you are not my employee. You may do well to remember our relationship “, he said between his teeth.

The way he said the word relationship made Chrissy’s eyes snap up to his. She

didn’t like the sound of it and when she saw his eyes going round the shop, his

meaning registered. He was the owner of this shop! She felt a sickening feeling

inside. Is this why he had actually come? To check if she was proving to be a worthwhile deal?

The questions worried her but the look on his face made her realize he was waiting for her to join. She didn’t have much choice and might as well go and eat. At least she wouldn’t be alone with him in the restaurant and this terrible discomfort of just the two of them in a small room would end, she reassured herself and moved behind him.

She couldn’t have been more wrong

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