My Naughty Little Secret Read Online Free

daunting. I didn’t know if I was on the right track or if I was making an eejit of myself. Obviously I must have said something right.
    “Ok, good, it’s your baby,” James smiled reassuringly, “but don’t be afraid to ask for help, and Myra’ll oversee it to make sure you’re happy.”
    I left the office feeling I’d just passed my Leaving Certificate again; the sense of relief was enormous. Hell, this was a world away from my last job; it was sink or swim and hands on all the way, just what I wanted.
     
    * * *
     
    The weather was really wet and gloomy on Friday and it was the wrong sort of rain for British Rail, so the tubes were running late. I was dressed in the shop uniform of a bottle-green shift dress and short matching jacket. I scaled the steps to the store hurriedly, trying to dodge the rain, when someone ran round the corner and knocked me flat. All I could see coming at me was a pair of trousers under an umbrella. As I went crashing to my behind, I could hear a mild expletive and an apology. My immediate reaction was anger.
    “Christ, I’m so sorry, are you ok?” a voice said. As the umbrella fell to the ground, I could see the shock on Michael’s face as he realised that he had knocked someone over. Then the look of recognition. Then the embarrassment, both his and mine. Within a matter of moments his face had shown several degrees of horror, and in spite of feeling foolish about being on my bum on the wet step, I started to laugh. He bent down and took my arm to help me up. The concern and guilt on his face were totally out of character. He made to brush me down and then obviously thought better of it. For once he was the one embarrassed and blushing as he held the door open for me. It actually felt quite good to see him unsettled for a change.
    “I’m really sorry, Siobhan,” he apologised again as we entered the building. “I was running late, my flight was delayed last night, and I’m all over the place, I should have been paying more attention.”
    “So should I,” I agreed. “Damn tubes couldn’t handle the rain, so I was late and rushing too. You’d think by now they’d have invented tubes that could take the wet tracks; it’s not like it’s rare around here. No harm done except to my pride. I’ll just go to the ladies’ and tidy myself up a bit. I’m on shop floor…” Stop blabbing, Siobhan, I told myself crossly.
    I could see him look at me properly for the first time and I knew he was worried I wouldn’t look fit for shop duty after the fall. As he did, he registered the uniform and, most unexpectedly, he smiled warmly.
    “You know, green really is your colour; you should wear it more often.”
    Crikey, were my ears deceiving me? I was flummoxed. Maybe he got a bump to the head when he crashed into me? Then he must’ve realised how inappropriate his comment was, because he quickly muttered an apology and legged it over to the floor manager.
    It was then I noticed he was in uniform too. Nice ass, I thought as he was moving forward. I hadn’t noticed that before. I followed him and we both got our instructions for the morning; he was for men’s wear, I was for ladies’ wear. I made my apologies to the floor manager and went to tidy up a bit.
    Fridays were always busy in ladies’ wear in Banbury’s. Attending this department were two witty, professional ladies in their late forties. On his daily rounds, James welcomed me to the floor and encouraged me to try to learn as much as I could from Gloria and Kate, his best salespeople.
    I soon got to see just how good they were. They had the knack of being visible but not intrusive, and had the customers eating out of their hands. A couple of minutes later, they would have several suitable outfits picked out. They were quite a double act. One did the talking, the other did the fetching, and they both shared in the “oohs” and “aahs.”
    They went through the brands with me and taught me a little about colour