Free Persona (The 'Professional' series) by Ceri Bladen Page B

herself.  Soon, before that reporter got her claws
too deeply into him.

Chapter
18
    Daniel was
in a foul mood.  He slumped back into the chair, looking solemnly at his
whiskey, as he spun it around the glass. 
    Eric decided
it was time for a heart to heart.  He walked over, switched the television
off, sat back down and put his crossed legs onto the table.  
    Daniel did not notice.  Boy, he’s got it bad thought Eric. “So, come on spill the beans.  You got the job.  Your
partner is Scarlett.  Life is good.  Yet your chin is still dragging
on the floor.  Come on spill.”
    Daniel levelled
a hard look at his friend, his whiskey long ago losing its appeal. “‘It’s
nothing honestly.”
    Eric raised
his eyebrows, returning Daniel’s look for a couple of seconds before speaking
again.  “Come on Daniel.  I have known you long enough.  You
don’t need to play games with me.”  He took a break before delivering the
bulls eye, which he knew would get Daniel’s attention.  “You’re in love
with Ella.” 
    Daniels eyes
shot up from his drink.  He then he wiggled his shoulders, slightly uneasy
with Eric’s observation.  Trust his friend to know him better than
himself.  “To be honest, I have got no idea how I feel about her.” 
    He looked at
his whiskey again and started talking, as though to himself.   “I
fancy her like mad, but who wouldn’t?  I really, really want to get her
into bed, but could that just be lust?  I get a twist in the stomach
whenever she mentions Jeff, as though I am jealous, for goodness sake!  My
heart and stomach take a punch when she walks into the room.  But does
that mean I love her?  I don’t know?”
    Eric sighed,
yes, his friend had it bad, but Daniel hadn’t worked it all out yet.  “You
realise that she is living with someone, don’t you?  They live
together.  You can’t interfere with that.   I’ve known you for a
long time and you have never poached off someone else.”   
    Eric did not
like his friend looking so low.  “Look, you have only got a couple more
weeks of her trailing you.  Perhaps you need to get back out there? 
Do whatever you do with all those women. You can then concentrate on your
film.  Life can go back to before.  Just a couple more weeks.”
  
    Eric was
crossing his fingers, but he could see that his friend was in love with
her.  He just felt so helpless that it couldn’t go anywhere.  Eric
liked Ella and thought she would be good for Daniel, but facts were facts, she
was already taken.
    Daniel
didn’t dare tell his friend that he didn’t feel like doing whatever he does with
anyone other than Ella.  Then he definitely would be admitting that he had
it bad.

Chapter
19
    Ella smiled
at the security guard.  If felt like she was coming home.  She hadn’t
realised how much like home it had become, until she re-entered the
building. 
    She recalled
her couple of days in her real home, which hadn’t gone entirely to
plan.  She was hoping that being in her own environment, with Jeff, would
remind her of what her priorities were.  She was here to do her job and
after it finished, she would be back to her normal life. 
    Unfortunately,
her trip back home had the opposite effect.  She realised that there were
gaping holes in hers and Jeff’s relationship.  She was unsure where it all
went wrong, when had their feelings changed into…into….apathy was the only
thing she could think of.  Jeff was steady and kind, but even when she
dressed in her silk negligée, he had insisted that she went to bed –
alone!  Surely a lover would want to be in bed with you, ripping off the
scrap of material?  No, he continued to watch television.
    During the
times that there was no television to distract them, he seemed to be constantly
on his phone, sending texts to goodness knows who.  The frightening thing
was, Ella didn’t particularly care.
    Yes, she was
glad to be back. She took a lungful of air as she walked up