Aimee Duffy - The Office Christmas Party - A fun, feel good Christmas cracker of a romance!

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Harper Impulse

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017

Copyright © Aimée Duffy 2017

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017

Aimée Duffy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN:9780008197285

Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008197254

Version: 2017-10-09

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page The Office Christmas Party AIMÉE DUFFY A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright Harper Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017 Copyright © Aimée Duffy 2017 Cover images © Shutterstock.com Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017 Aimée Duffy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN:9780008197285 Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008197254 Version: 2017-10-09

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Epilogue

Also by Aimée Duffy

About the Author

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

December was, without a doubt, Natalie Taylor’s favourite month. She didn’t care much for the cold, or the way the London pavements turned so slick and slippery that wearing heels was just as dangerous as taking a dip in the Thames. She wasn’t even a fan of the icy winds or the way the snow stained her favourite boots with hideous white rings she could never cover with leather polish, no matter how many bottles of the stuff she used.

But the evenings were a different story. Tonight, she’d found the perfect way to kick off the month in style.

Trudging up the steps, she pulled a piece of paper from her handbag, then reached for the door of her the flat she shared with her best friend. The smell of cinnamon swirls and baked apples filled her nose and her stomach growled. Just another reason she loved her flatmate. The woman had one of the best bakeries in the city and always let Natalie try her new cakes before she sold them in the shop.

And if the saliva pooling in her mouth was any indication, Rose was switching to her Christmas recipes.

Once inside she tried to ignore the rising growl in her stomach and ditched her keys in the bowl next to Rose’s. She headed straight for the kitchen, the piece of paper ready to be shoved into her best friend’s face, but froze at the alcove leading to the living room. Rose wasn’t alone, and was feeding what looked like a slab of a cinnamon swirl to her boyfriend of almost a year, Tom.

‘Hey Nat, there’s more in the kitchen if you’re hungry,’ Rose said, smiling.

Natalie went for a slice of cake and returned with a plate filled with a bit of everything, even the soft apple bakes she’d smelled earlier. She sat down on the coffee table and dropped the sheet of paper she’d been so excited to show Rose. Of course, if Tom was here for the night, that was it for her carefully planned evening.

That man could suck all the fun out of life.

‘These are amazing,’ Natalie said through a mouthful of the crumbly apple soft bakes.

Tom nodded his agreement as he popped another cinnamon swirl in his mouth. He didn’t say much, but when he did it always made her friend’s whole face light up. Natalie couldn’t really see his appeal. He had thick auburn hair and flawless skin but he wasn’t really her type. He was slim in a tall, almost gangly way.

Oh, and ever since he came on the scene, there’d been no more Saturday nights checking out local up-and-coming bands, or Sundays lying in bed with Rose recovering from the night before by eating so many cakes that they spent their Mondays on a sugar crash.

Shaking her head, she smothered the twinge of jealousy. It wasn’t nice to be thinking about her friend’s boyfriend that way, even if he was as dull as dishwater. She couldn’t feel annoyed at him just because he was there when she’d happened to have plans for her and Rose.

But she could stay hopeful that Tom was only staying to taste Rose’s new recipes then leaving …

‘How was work today?’ Rose asked.

‘Good, we’re booked up well into the new year.’ She’d spent all day planning the most exquisite parties her clients had ever seen, but of course the clients didn’t know she existed. Her boss, Mick the Dick, was the one who took the credit and pocketed all the profits, whether he spent his office hours at the driving range or not.

Natalie glanced at the sheet of paper with a list of some of the best parties to be at this December and sighed.

‘What’s that?’ Rose asked and before Natalie could answer, her friend swiped the sheet off the table.

‘Um,’ Natalie eyed Tom warily as he leaned over to read the list.

He looked up and turned to frown at her. ‘You can’t be serious?’

His pissed tone got her back up. Natalie folded her arms across her chest and stared him down. ‘Why not?’