This was originally a one-shot, but seeing as I had a few more ideas along the same track, I decided to continue it. The title has been changed from the Proposal (which is now the title of the first chapter) to Hold Onto Her Forever (the wise words of John Bridger)
Sam

xx

Stella sat at her desk at work, desperately distracted. All day she had been thinking about Charlie, which was very nice considering they had been engaged for a week now, but also rather annoying, as she had quite a lot of work to be doing. She was meant to be filling in an assessment form for a new prototype of safe, but she found herself tapping her pen on the table and staring at the enormous bunch of white lillies that stood beside her on the desk, sent to her a while ago. Her secretary, Alice, came in with some coffee for her an hour into her paperwork, and laughed when she saw her. She was good friends with Stella, and knew all about hers and Charlie's engagement.

"So, you've been sitting here for an hour, and all you can say about the safe is that that glass pane behind the door needs to be thicker." Alice observed, handing Stella the mug of coffee.

"Pretty much." Stella said with a smile.

"You don't have to do it." Alice said. "You have enough money to keep this place going and to take plenty of time away, you know. All you have to do is hire more people."

Alice was under the impression that Stella's sudden fortune had come from inheritance, which, in a way, it had. What was now her share of the gold would have originally been her father's share, so she wasn't lying entirely when she told Alice it was inheritance money from her father. Stella wished she could do what Alice suggested, but she had mixed feelings about employing other people, in case they weren't up the standard that people expected from those already working for her company.

"You know me, Alice, I love work." She said with a smile.

"Yes, I do know you Stella, and I know that that's not the only thing you love." She said, taking a seat opposite her at the desk. "I say its about time for a break." She said, glancing over her shoulder at the clock.

"Me too." Stella agreed, pushing the paperwork to one side and resting her forearms on the desk.

"I still can't believe how lucky you are." Alice said awefully.

Stella laughed, it had been like this ever since her and Charlie had come back from Venice.

"First of all, you buy a house in Venice, on of the most romantic cities in the world. Then, he buys you a ring with the most rare and expensive gems in the world on it, he takes you out to the most expensive resturant in the city and watched the sunrise with you, and on top of all this, he gets down on one knee!" She said in mock jealousy. "If I could get my Chris to take a leaf out his book-"

Alice's boyfriend, Chris, wasn't the most romantic man in the world. His idea of a romantic night out was going for a kebab and for staying in there had to be a football game on.

Alice's last sentance was interrupted by the bell that sounded when someone opened the door to the shop. Alice stood up. "I'll see to that, you stay here." She said when she saw Stella standing up. She disappeared out of Stella's office.

Alice was met with a handsome man with dark hair, wearing a red shirt and leather jacket with dark pants. "Good morning, Charlie." She greeted.

"Hi Alice is -"

"She's in her office." Alice said, going back to her own desk to give the couple privacy. Charlie went through the door into the corridor which led to Stella's office. He saw her looking down at the papers whe was filling in, and smiled when he saw the buch of lillies beside her. Their strong, but lovely, scent had already filled the room and Stella was smiling to herself distractedly as she wrote.

"You know, it's really too nice a day to be stuck in here, don't you think?" He said to announce his arrival.

She looked up at the all to familiar voice, and grinned at him. "Hey." She said, getting up from her chair and walking over to him. She kissed him deeply and he used one hand to push the door behind him shut. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I came to see if you'd had lunch yet." He said honestly, wrapping his arms around her waist so she was pulled close to him.

"Not yet." She told him.

"Good, me neither." He said with a smile. "Want to go grab some food, go for a walk?" He asked.

"Sounds brilliant." She said, kissing him again. "Which reminds me," She started. "I had an embarassingly large display of flowers this morning." She told him, even though she knew full well that she sent him.

Charlie sighed dramatically, and she laughed. "Oh no." He said sarcastically. "Not another secret admirer I have to get rid of." She hit him gently but playfully on the chest. "I couldn't help myself." Charlie said to her. "They were too iressitable." He kissed her, getting into a habit of becoming addicted to her lips. "Speaking of iressitable.."

"Charlie are you trying to secude me?" She asked, faking a suprised tone.

"Is it working?" He asked, a thoughful expression on his face.

"You'll find out after lunch." She teased. Going over to her desk and grabbing her bag, she walked out of the office with Charlie, hand in hand. Giving Alice the rest of the day off, she closed the shop early to go home with Charlie after lunch.