Author's Note: Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews and favourites and alerts! Sorry the update took a bit longer than expected and is a bit shorter than the last chapter, things have been really busy lately with Christmas just around the corner. Hopefully you'll think it was worth the wait :)

As usual, I don't own or have anything to do with Skins.

Chapter 2: Freedom of Thought

I was completely fucking knackered. The past week had really taken its toll on me, and it was obvious through my haggard appearance. My usually glowing, radiant skin was sallow and I had dark circles under my eyes. My bright red hair wasn't as shiny as usual, and my roots were starting to grow in since I had no time to get my hair done. I wasn't just tired from all the work that'd been piled on my desk this week. No. My love life was in shambles and my ex-girlfriend was demanding that we get back together after I slept with somebody else.

Naomi. She was a good lay, that was for sure. I couldn't really get her out of my mind, but at the same time I didn't have enough time to properly think about her. She was always just there, somewhere at the edge of my thoughts. The thought of her perked me up during the horribly long days, and I'd find myself occasionally smiling just at the thought of her. There was just something about that girl...she intrigued me. She was aloof and cool and acted as though she didn't care about anything, but as soon as you got her into bed, she was anything but uncaring, almost completely focused on me the whole time. I hadn't told Mandy about her because we were on a break and whatever I did while we were on a break obviously didn't count...maybe. I don't know. I don't think it counted as cheating. Even if it did technically count as cheating, I wasn't exactly going to pretend it didn't happen to protect my relationship.

Mandy...she was slowly becoming a massive pain in my arse. Well, truth be told, she's always been a bit of a pain. I hadn't exactly been that enthusiastic about dating her to begin with, and then before I knew it, her things were all over my flat and she considered herself "moved in". I never asked her to move in. She just did it. And I felt too bad to ask her to move out, so I sort of just let her stay. Soon after she moved in she was talking commitment ceremonies and lady babies and by that point I knew I was in way over my head. But I just couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. I didn't even know where to begin, really, if I were to break up with her. Did I start with the bad first impression she made on our first date? Or how we had no chemistry in bed? Mandy and I were wrong for each other, but we were both too cowardly to admit it.

My fear of confrontation and upsetting other people kept me in that relationship for far too long. I suppose a benefit of being in a relationship with Mandy when I didn't really like her was that she was away most of the time. Mandy's job as a human rights lawyer was very demanding and she's in Geneva about 98% of the time. We were in a relationship basically because I was too afraid to break up with her and upset her. But earlier last week when she suggested we take a break, I leapt at the idea. Didn't really seem like much of a break though, considering it was a week later and she was begging me to take her back.

I continued contemplating my life and trying to figure out when exactly it turned into a steaming pile of horse shit while I finished getting dressed for work. It was a Friday. A glorious Friday. The last day of the work week. Thank god. My morning was full of calls to various diplomats, and my afternoon was full of interviews I had to conduct to replace my current assistant, who was about to get married and had found a job in Norwich to be closer to her husband's family. She was a great assistant and most of the applicants I'd considered already weren't nearly as qualified as my previous assistant. Only one application had stood out so far, and she was scheduled to come in for my last interview of the day.

I showed up at work looking completely presentable and put together, which was exactly the opposite of how I felt on the inside. Inside, I was taking a moment to relive the awesome sex Naomi and I had and wondering if I would be able to give up the chance of seeing her again if I got back together with Mandy. Basically every part of me was telling me not to get back together with Mandy, but the thing is, well, Mandy is easy and simple. I understand how she works. I know what makes her mad and I like the idea that I'm tied to someone...even if I don't necessarily like them. Breaking up with Mandy was taking a huge chance – what if I never saw Naomi again? What if I never found anyone better than Mandy? I wasn't sure what to do.

I greeted all my colleagues as I walked through the office before shutting myself in my own personal office and taking care of the conference calls I had to make to Spain, Portugal, Greece, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Each of the calls took longer than I'd expected so I ended up working well into my lunch break. By the time I was supposed to be conducting my first interview to replace my assistant, I was a miserable cow. I hadn't been able to stop for lunch, and hungry Emily is the worst type of Emily.

I stepped away from my desk and walked into the small waiting room outside my office, and saw my first interviewee sitting there waiting. She seemed a bit nervous, so I smiled at her as warmly as I could manage and shook her hand.

"Hi, I'm Emily. Are you Nancy?" I asked. The woman nodded and I ushered her into my office. "Did you bring a copy of your CV?"

Nancy sat down and reached into her bag. She handed me a copy of her CV as I sat down and grabbed a notepad and pen to take notes. I gave a quick glance to her CV, using it to remind myself of the qualities I liked about her CV and the areas I thought were lacking a bit for the position.

"I see here you're currently working at a law firm and you have a strong background in law, so why is it that you're interested in an assistant position?" I asked. Nancy shifted nervously in her seat.

"I'm...uh...this job is closer to my home. I really hate commuting in London."

Well, not exactly the answer I was looking for.

"Uh, okay. This job is quite demanding and would require you to travel and be on call most weekends and evenings. Would that be a problem?"

"Well...not really. I mean, I like to be home as often as possible to be with my cats, but I suppose the extra hours wouldn't be too much of an issue."

And the interviews went downhill from there. The woman I interviewed after Nancy had 5 children and there was absolutely no way she could be away from them for the occasional business trip or weekend. The woman I interviewed after her was well qualified but didn't speak French or Arabic, which was a problem since Amnesty International preferred if employees could speak at least one of the two languages as well as English. I personally required my employees to speak either French or Arabic because I dealt with those regions on a fairly regular basis.

By my last interview, I was so exhausted and disappointed that I didn't bother to get up. I had the last girl I interviewed ask the final girl to come into my office so I wouldn't have to move. I had put my head on my desk and groaned just as the final interviewee walked into my office.

"Crap day?" A familiar voice asked. My head snapped up immediately, my eyes wide. Naomi. I looked down at the list of names of the people I was supposed to be interviewing today, and there she was, at the very bottom.

"Your name is seriously Naomi Campbell?" I said the first thing that popped into my head. Naomi just shrugged. She didn't seem upset or bothered at all when she realized that I was the one conducting the interview. Meanwhile, my mind was moving as quickly as a fucking war zone. Just this morning I was thinking that I would never see Naomi again and that the wise decision would be to get back together with Mandy, and now here Naomi was, turning my world upside down. I wanted to hire her, then fuck her on the desk and completely forget about Mandy.

This is going to be a problem.

Naomi sat down and handed me a copy of her CV.

"Should we get on with the interview or should I just leave now?" Naomi asked as I continued to stare at her in complete shock.

"Wha...why would you leave?"

"I don't know, maybe there's some kind of office-wide policy against fucking the boss."

"Naomi!" I hissed as I got up out of my chair and quickly shut my office door. "You can't just say things like that here. Someone might overhear..."

"But that is what happened, Emily."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my already horribly messed up hair. I knew she was right, I knew that was what happened, oh, trust me, I knew. I was replaying it in my head right now. Every time I looked into those ice blue eyes of hers I remembered what her face looked like as she came. Every time she spoke I remembered what she sounded like as she moaned while I fucked her. Obviously, working with her might be a bit of an issue, since indeed there was an office-wide policy against 'fucking the boss,' as Naomi so eloquently put it.

"Okay, just give me a minute to process this," I said as I leaned against the door. Naomi shrugged at me again.

I didn't normally do things like this. I never cheated, I never lied, I never deceived. Naomi was the first risky decision I've made in years...hell, possibly the first risky decision I've ever made. I knew I was supposed to feel guilty, but I just didn't. I couldn't. Because deep down, I knew that sleeping with Naomi wasn't a mistake, it was...fucking perfect. And I couldn't let her walk out of this office and never see her again. I had to see her again, I had to kiss her again, I had to fuck her again.

Quite obviously, giving her a job as my assistant could be yet another risky decision, and one that I wasn't sure I could afford. Naomi was, by far, the most qualified and well suited to the job out of all the applicants. But Naomi was also, by far, the most risky considering our history. If word got out that we'd slept together, we would both risk losing our jobs and essentially ruining our careers.

But apparently that didn't matter at all to me. Because I simply couldn't let her leave and never see her again. And I also couldn't be an idiot and not hire the most qualified candidate for the job.

"You're by far the most qualified applicant for the job, Naomi, and I know that without even going through the whole process of conducting this interview. But if anybody finds out that we slept together, that's it. We'll both be completely and utterly fucked," I said as Naomi smirked slightly. "Not in a good way, either. So if you accept this position, be forewarned that we cannot sleep together again, and that absolutely no one can find out that we slept together last week." I said. Naomi continued to smirk at me.

"So we can't have sex while I'm your assistant?" Naomi repeated. I nodded at her. Her smirk widened. "Well, this should be fun."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Naomi got up out of the chair and walked over to where I was sitting on my desk. She pushed my legs open and stood between them. My breath caught as she leaned in and pressed her lips against my neck and her hands pulled my tucked-in blouse out from my skirt.

"I'm not technically hired yet," She whispered as her hands moved under my shirt and made their way to my breasts. She flicked her thumb against my nipple, making me bite my lip to keep quiet.

"Naomi, we really shouldn't," I whispered as Naomi started to move her lips up along my neck and closer to my own lips. Naomi sighed and stepped away, pulling her hand out from underneath my top.

"Fine," She replied. I closed my eyes and sighed, tilting my head back as I tried to figure out why exactly I asked Naomi to stop. In hindsight, I wished I didn't say anything and let her just fuck me on my desk. That would've been so hot.

"Need a minute?" She asked with a smirk as she sat back down in her chair. I closed my eyes again and nodded. "Good. Me too."

I tried to push all the images of Naomi and having sex with Naomi and kissing Naomi out of my head. When I looked back at her she was still smirking. I shook my head and cleared my throat and tried to get my thoughts back in order.

"Um...uhh... the job involves occasional business trips and being on call on most evenings and weekends. And I'll need you to get a police record check."

Naomi smiled. "The trips and weekends and evenings won't be a problem. I don't really have much to do in my spare time. And the record check should be okay...I think...maybe."

I let the last bit slide and continued with my final question. "Do you speak French or Arabic?"

"Yes. Fluent French, but very little Arabic."

I nodded and smiled at her. "Well, then I'd like to offer you the job."

Naomi took a moment to think things over and smiled. "Okay. I'll take the job."

"I'd also like to ask you out to dinner. In a completely professional manner, of course."

Naomi shrugged. "Sure."

I grabbed mine and Naomi's jacket and lead the way out the office.

"It'll be fun, working for you," Naomi said with a smile as we got into the elevator.

"Why's that?"

She smirked and waited till the elevator doors closed before speaking. "It'll just be fun watching you remind yourself not to fuck your assistant."

"I think I can control myself," I scoffed. Naomi smirked.

"Sure you can."

"Naomi, I mean it, no funny business."

"I'm never funny, so no worries there," Naomi responded. "Now where are we headed for dinner?"

Over dinner, we went over further details regarding the job and I did my very best to control myself, and Naomi was on her best behaviour. I even managed to share a cab home with her and not ask her to come up to my apartment. See? Progress.

As soon as I got home, I found Mandy sitting on my couch.

"I suppose I should have asked for my key back when we broke up," I said. Mandy's head snapped up.

"Em, we need to get back together, I miss you so much," She said as she walked over to me. "Please take me back. I was so stupid, I never should have suggested that we take a break."

I stared at her, my face completely blank. What could I say to get me out of this situation? And suddenly, I had the answer.

"I slept with somebody else."

Mandy looked stunned for a moment.

"Who?"

"You don't know her. She's rather beautiful and I want to be with her," I said, not even necessarily lying at this point.

"Em, we can get past this. I forgive you! Just give us another chance," Mandy pleaded as she took my hand and kissed it repeatedly. I tried not to cringe at how pathetic she was.

"No. Give me the key to the flat. We can arrange for a time for you to come and pack your things."

Mandy started crying as she handed me her copy of the key to my flat, but thankfully I didn't have to push her out of my apartment. She left a few minutes later, and I found myself dialling the first person I could think of. Naomi had programmed her number into my phone over dinner and suddenly I couldn't get her earlier offer out of my mind.

"Hello?" She answered. I heard some shuffling in the background and some muffled voices, but I didn't care.

"You know, technically you haven't started working for me just yet..." I said, letting my voice trail off suggestively.

"I'll be at your flat in five," Naomi responded.

Maybe hiring Naomi as my assistant wasn't the best choice I've ever made. Maybe I shouldn't have even slept with her to begin with. But right now, I didn't care. I'd fuck her one last time and then that's it. No more. I can't risk my job, which I really do love. But for right now, I'll do what I want, and tonight all I wanted was Naomi.

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