"You really don't need more than one suit," I insisted to a rather persistent Tyler. "The wedding is literally the only formal thing we're doing.""Fine," he spoke from the other end of the phone. "But I'm packing two shirts just in case.""Oh, and it's winter over there so it'll be like.. fifty degrees most of the time," I attempted to convert my units into Fahrenheit, something which was much more difficult than was necessary. "Make sure you pack some warm clothes.""I think you're forgetting that I live in New York, Al," he chuckled through the line. "You haven't seen winter here yet, but it hardly gets above thirty.""Oh man I'm so not ready for the new year," I groaned at the thought of below-zero weather. Sure, the snow was something I was excited for, but the frosty cold air that came along with it was not my cup of tea. "You'll be right," he l

When morning finally rolled around, the winter sun streamed through the window and onto the bed, waking me up in the most natural way. I yawned softly as I got my bearings, and realised that Tyler was still holding me as he was when we'd fallen asleep. We must have both slept real well given that neither of us had moved about. "Good morning baby," his deep morning voice vibrated through me as he spoke from just behind my ear. "And happy Birthday.""How did you know that it was today?" I turned so that I was now facing him, his arm still draped over my waist and holding me close. I couldn't help but to run my fingers over his perfect features, intoxicated by the way the sun bounced off his bare skin.  "I pay more attention than you think," he chuckled lowly, placing a kiss to my forehead. "Plus Becca told me last night."

"Rise and shine," I woke to Becca pulling open the curtains of the room I was staying in, letting the bright morning sunlight fill the space. "What time is it?" I croaked out, rolling over in an attempt to shield my face from the direct light. "Almost midday," she replied. "I thought I'd wake you while it was still the morning.""Mhmm," I murmured sleepily, yawning as I began to stretch out my muscles. I'd gotten back to the house at around four o'clock in the morning, and hadn't had too much trouble falling asleep after that. I think I'd been entirely too exhausted, both physically and emotionally, to not pass out the second my head hit the pillow. Since it was well and truly too late for breakfast, Becca

I arrived at work half an hour early on Monday morning, hoping that the extra time would allow me to settle my self and my nerves before the inevitable reunion with Mr Gray. Our 'unrelated' holidays had reached their scheduled expiration, forcing both of us back to work to finally face our reality. By the time the clock struck seven, I'd successfully built up the courage to go knock on his door. But there was no reply. When I walked into his office, his chair was empty and his desk was bare. There was no evidence of him in sight, which didn't sit well with me. Nevertheless, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, trying again an hour later, but to no avail. He wasn't in, and something really wasn't right. "Come in," a deep voice called as I knocked on the door of my other superior

Over the next few days, work became a painful distraction from my even more painful reality. Without having Tyler around, the jobs seemed to pile up for everyone else, which was good for getting my mind off everything, but made me all the more irritable and tired by the time I went home each afternoon. Rather inevitably, there were also a countless number of reminders of Mr Gray everywhere around the office. And even though Mr Baird was the official Acting Manager while Tyler was gone, everything still seemed to be about 'Mr Gray wants this' and 'Mr Gray does that'. After almost an entire week of being in these conditions, I was practically going insane. And considering that this was the case when he wasn't even at work, I didn't even want to imagine the struggle my life would be when he