Allison woke up as she felt the sunlight peer through the blinds on her face. Then she glanced up at the clock.

1:09 p.m.

Oh shit!

Allison got up quickly and got some clothes out of one of her suitcases to get ready for a shower. She looked over to where Tom had slept and saw it was only a pile of pillows and blankets.

Tom must have went down to get something to eat, or something

Allison grabbed her clothes and jogged towards Tom’s bathroom. When she reached the door, her hand hardly even touched the knob when it opened on its own. She yelped and back tracked slightly as Tom walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

“Oh…sorry. I didn’t know you were…in there.” Allison stuttered as she stared at his toned chest.

“Why don’t you take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Tom smirked, as he passed her to grab his clothes.

“I…I…” she couldn’t even think of a sly reply, so she just went into the bathroom to hide from her embarrassment. She swore she heard him chuckle before she slammed the door h leaning against the door as she tried to control her breathing.

After her little embarrassing incident, she got out of the shower, got dressed and left his bedroom to go downstairs. As she turned the corner into the kitchen, she heard Tom talking in the kitchen with his sisters. She found Tom laughing along with his sisters at something funny he said.

“Good morning Allison , or should I say good afternoon!” his mother greeted her. “Good afternoon!” she replied with a smile.

Tom turned around in his seat; still smiling from whatever they were laughing about before. He gestured to Allison to sit beside him. It was nice to actually see him happy for once, cutting up with his family. Then she remembered something Robbie said from the party last night;

‘Where’s the fun-loving Tom I used to know? Has America turned you this cold?’

He used to be ‘fun-loving? Interesting…

“Miss Smith and I would love to meet up with you all later.”

His mom turned back to him, with a questioning glance, “Miss Smith? You mean Allison?”

She looked to Allison, confused and looking as though she needed more explanation.

“Well, Tom and I have worked together so long, once we started, dating, it was hard for him to start calling me by my first name.” She laughed. Everyone else just stared at her, not knowing what to think of it.

“Well, alright.” His mom smiled, “I told Tom that we could all meet you two up around 6:00? For dinner? It’s a bit late for lunch now.”

“Okay that sounds lovely.” Allison grinned.

His mother and sister’s went to go out to the store and run some errands, and that left Allisonand Tom at the house by themselves. It was eerily quiet compared to the laughter she heard earlier. Allison looked over to Tom and saw his demeanor changed from the laughing, happy Tom, to the serious, business-like, jackass Tom she was so accustomed to back home. Tom suddenly got up from his seat at the kitchen table and went back up the stairs, muttering something about having to go and make phone calls for work, leaving her alone. She decided she would just go and watch some TV in the living room until they had to go eat dinner. Trying her best to not let her thoughts drift to the shirtless Tom she ran into this morning, Allisonslumped in one of chairs in the living room.

Sigh, he would be a lot easier to hate if he wasn't so damn cut.

They were now standing in front of the restaurant, waiting to meet some of Tom’s family when his phone started ringing.

“Hello? Oh yes that is fine. Okay we will see you later. Okay bye. Love you too.”

Allison gasped. “You actually said the word love, and you said you loved someone else?! How can this be?”

“It was my mother.” Tom coldly replied, “And she said they will be late. So erm…” he looks back to his phone, reading his new text, before continuing, “Alright Miss Smith, why don’t you go over to the restaurant and get a table, and I will meet you back over there a bit later hmm? I have a few calls to make that are work related, so try not to call unless it’s urgent, thank you.” He turned and started to walk in the opposite direction. Allison didn’t even think before running over to him and grabbed his wrist, pulling him back over to her.

“You know, as much as it pains me to say it, if this is going to work, you are going to have to put more effort into it damn it!”

Tom’s eyes opened a bit wider at her sudden outburst with surprise.

“Well Miss Smith, I…”

“No you listen for once! For starters, you’re going to stop calling me Miss Smith for the love of everything holy! Especially in front of your family! Oh, and it would help if you would actually, oh I don’t know, hold my hand every now and then instead of grabbing my wrist; or touched my arm, or maybe even fucking looked at me for one god damn minute more than you do! And then maybe everyone will actually believe we are in love with each other! ‘Cause you know, most fiancée’s do…love each other.” She slowed down at the end of her rant and just stared at him, breathing heavy.

His mouth was formed in a hard, straight line as he stared at her too, eyebrows knitted together. He was contemplating everything she just threw at him.

After about 20 seconds of this, Allison was about to just walk out on this whole thing when she finally heard him reply.

“I suppose you are correct.”

“Damn right I am.”

He rolled his eyes, “Alright enough cussing.”

You didn’t marry me for my innocent mouth Thomas.”

“You’re right, I didn’t marry you at all, yet, now have I?” He smirked down at her.

Once they got into the restaurant or pub more or less; Allison excused herself to go to the ladies room to cool down.

She stared herself down in the mirror, questioning herself in every way possible. She didn’t know why she had gotten so angry with Tom just a mere 5 minutes prior, it just angered her how one minute he can be so cheerful and full of life, and the next he can turn into the same cold hearted snake.

Would it kill him to act like that all the time?

She splashed some water on her face, cursing herself internally for messing up her eye makeup in the process.

Why did he pick me for this job anyways? There were plenty of other more attractive women in the workplace at the firm. Why me? Sure I know him better than anyone. But still…

She started on reapplying the little makeup she had before, pinching her pale cheeks attempting to bring some color to them. Allison wasn’t that pale. She wasn’t tan by any means either. She blames that on the slight red in her auburn hair. She looked closer at her face and saw the few freckles she had were more prominent then before, and she wished she had brought her cover up to hide them. In her opinion, the only thing she thought she had going for her were her eyes; a deep green, with brown speckles if you looked hard enough. She figured Tom has never noticed anything about her like that though, and never will.

Maybe it’s a test, and if I fail, he can finally have a reason to fire me. He’s probably looking for a reason anyways.

She looked at herself one last time and took a deep breath, before returning to the table.

They mostly sat in silence, admiring the view of downtown London while they waited for Tom’s mom and sisters to arrive.

Then she saw his family walk in and take a seat across the table from them.

“Hello, I don’t think we have been properly introduced, I’m Sarah, Tom’s older sister.” Allison shook her hand and greeted her back. Sarah looked less like Tom and Emma, Allison noticed, perhaps like their father. Her hair was dark yet she still had the blue striking eyes. Allison made a note to ask Tom about his father later. He never spoke of him, and she hasn’t yet to meet him either.

They waited for the waitress to come by and take their orders, then Emma piped up, “So..Tom, you and Allison don’t really seem to, oh how do I put this? You don’t seem to be in love.”

Allison’s breath hitched and she looked to Tom for an answer.

He however looked completely calm at the situation, “Well Emma, of course we love each other, why on Earth would I get married to someone I couldn’t stand?”

Allison saw that he looked as though he was in love for that instant, as he looked down at her, his eyes warmer than she’s ever seen.

“Well it’s still strange to me that you all didn’t kiss at the party, is all.”

“Oh not this again.” Tom muttered

Allison interjected, “Well, the thing is Emma, my Thomas is a ‘wait til his married’ type guy, isn’t that right sweetheart? Not just sex, no kissing too!”

Emma only giggled at the false statement. His mother on the other hand looked to be confused, her mouth agape looking to Allison and back to Tom, “You Thomas..? Well, better safe than sorry right!?” She laughed wholeheartedly as she smiled at her son lovingly. Emma’s giggle turned into a loud laugh, as Tom only rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingertips. “I…yes.”

He then turned to Allison, shooting daggers her way.

“I must run to the loo, anyone like to accompany me?” His mother and Emma decided they needed to go as well, leaving Allison and Tom alone, again.

Allison looked up to him and smiled gloriously, as if she had just won the award for causing the most embarrassment that she possibly could for her boss; when suddenly, she felt his rough hand on her bare thigh. It just sat there for a few seconds, as his thumb rubbed gently circles on her skin. Before she could enjoy what was happening, or cringe for that matter, he raised his hand and slapped down rather hard in that same spot.

Allison yelped slightly, her face beat red.

“How dare you, you could have ruined the whole plan you know? What if they knew that I wasn’t a virgin hm? Then you would have been in a predicament, wouldn’t you have?” he sneered.

“Well, I would hope they...you're mother especially wouldn’t know of your, sexual…past…partners. Erm…” Allison was slightly flustered that they were even having a conversation about Tom’s past sexual partners.

They sat in silence for a few moments when she decided to press the matter further, to rile him up.

“What did you do Tom, did you pester them to their wits end, make them go get your coffee, and be a complete arse to them to get them into your bed? What a charmer.”

Tom only laughed.

Allison smiled at his laugh; she had never before said anything that he thought was funny. She was soaking it in as much as possible.

“No Allison, all I had to do was walk out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel around my waist, and that got them good.”

Her heart stopped. “What…”

“You blush a lot you know?” it wasn’t much of question then a statement, because Allison was pretty sure her face was the same color as his red shirt.

She couldn’t dare to look at him. She looked down to her hands in her lap, trying to get her breathing under control, this conversation was veering into a strange place, when she felt one of his long fingers nudge her chin up to look back at him.

“It’s a good look for you though.” Tom was staring intently at her face, which only caused her to blush more.

Damn

“Oh?” She replied probably a couple octaves higher than her normal voice. He then dropped his hand, and smirked down at her, as if he was admiring his good work.

Right on time. Allison though sarcastically as she saw his mother and sisters come back from the loo. As they sat down, Emma looked over to Allison and noticed her face was still a bright pink. “You okay Allison? You look a bit flustered.”

Tom couldn’t hold in his laugh and she only grimaced.