Chapter 1

As Amelia finished unloading the shopping into the larder she couldn’t help but eye up the stack of food to go in the fridge. Next to the milk and a huge slab of cheddar cheese there was a large cream cake fresh from the local patisserie. A huge round Victoria sponge covered in delicate cream swirls and fresh raspberries. It was positively oozing jam and yet more cream down the side of its container.

Sighing Amelia shut the cupboard door and turned to the floor to ceiling fridge. It was a big metal American thing, surely room for more food than needed for the bosses own meagre needs. Opening the fridge door she stacked away the milk and cheese. A carton of eggs and a large pack of bacon were next in; they were for the bosses Saturday morning fry up of course. Rustling through the many shopping bags she tried to keep her mind as far away from the cake as possibly. ‘You don’t need all those empty calories Amelia’ she told herself but still the cake kept floating to the forefront of her mind. Amelia was just stacking the last of the bosses beer bottles into the fridge when the image of herself running a finger around the oozing edge of the cake, then slowly licking it clean appeared fully formed and totally distracting.

So lost in thought was she that the last bottle slipped from her grasps, sped to the floor and shattered. The sheer noise and the wet slop of ale down her uniform brought Amelia back to her senses with a bump.

“Oh shit” she muttered slamming the fridge door shut “not another one”. She didn’t mean to be clumsy but this sort of stuff just kept happening to her, only the other day she’d tripped up the stairs and scattered the laundry all over the landing. The boss had been greeted coming in the front door by her quite sizeable bottom bent over on the staircase as she picked up a far flung sock.

‘Damn it’ she thought as she grabbed the tea towel off the side and bent down to start the clear up.

Richard was not in the best of moods, he’d been stuck in traffic almost the whole way home from the office. As he fumbled with his keys in the door he thought fondly of a cup of tea and something sweet to sate his appetite until supper.

Amelia didn’t hear the door and was still bent over the growing puddle of beer when Richard entered the room.

“Can you put the kett…?”

The maid was once again on the floor, ‘Ah hell’ thought Richard as he dumped his keys on the side board with a deliberate clatter causing Amelia to jump. She looked over her shoulder spotted the master and immediately pulled herself to her feet.

‘What now Amelia?’ Richard asked calmly.

“Slippery bottle of beer sir…I’ll err pay for it?”

Richard could barely contain a small laugh. He had more money than he knew what to do with most of the time, one bottle of beer was not going to put him out of pocket; the problem was she’d been part of his household staff for a little over a year now and things were still forever breaking around her. He’d put it down to nerves at first, new job and everything, but it had never gotten any better; yet for some reason he didn’t have the heart to let her go.

Maybe it was something to do with the way she looked in her uniform. Richard’s friends had sniggered at his traditional choice and called him a ‘Kinky bastard’ but he found that the black and white looked both crisp and tidy as well as being complementary to nearly all skin tones.

Maybe it was her sunny disposition, or the fact she was often caught singing as she worked, either way it was apparent he had a sizable soft spot for her, it was the only explanation as to why he still hadn’t fired her.

At the moment though Amelia looked anything but crisp and tidy; a brown beer stain was creeping along her white piny. Her skirt reaching just above her knees was bunched up from her kneeling on the floor and her dark hair was slowly escaping her tightly tied bun behind her head piece, framing her chubby face in tiny graceful waves. Her unusual turquoise eyes looked worried; probably expecting some kind of telling off; Richard often heard the old cook Glenda yelling at Amelia for her various mishaps

“look I’ve got work to be doing, bring me a cup of tea to my office then finishing clearing up here before starting on dinner”.

Sighing Richard turned to exit the kitchen massaging his temples. He could feel a headache coming on and was not looking forward to the spreadsheets awaiting him on the computer. As he reached the door he spotted the cake still sat by the fridge waiting to be put away.

“And bring me a slice of that cake too, a bit of sugar might make this headache go away”.

“Yes sir!” said Amelia giving the slightest of smiles before turning to the kettle.

‘Bloody beer bottles’ thought Amelia as she hurried around the kitchen getting the tea things set up. The kettle was bubbling away in the corner as she grabbed a new piny from the bottom draw. Tying it around her ample waist she gave a groan as she turned to face the cake. It was mocking her she could have sworn it. She reached into the cupboards and draws and pulled out a small plate and a sharp knife to cut it with. As she popped open the cakes plastic casing she caught a whiff of the freshly baked sponge. Sweet vanilla, it made her stomach rumble. She cut the master a thin slice after all he had supper in the not too distant future. She plated the piece on the side of the knife; when she looked down she saw the blade was coated in a thick layer of the cream and jam. No longer able to resist temptation she slid her finger carefully across the blade and drew the thick sauce into her mouth.

She let out an audible groan as the taste slid across her tongue. Maybe just a little slice she thought. He’d never know. Carefully she placed the knife back on top of the sponge trying to mark out a slice.

‘Just a little slice’ she kept saying moving the knife across. What she actually cut herself would have been more aptly described as a wedge; a large wedge in fact. ‘But he’ll never notice’ she reasoned as she stuffed the slice eagerly into her mouth. It was sooo good. Maybe just another little one she thought picking up the knife again. The kettle began to whistle in the background but it lay forgotten. The second slice disappeared even quicker than the first, the third even more so. Soon Amelia was left looking at an empty cake box with an almost painfully full stomach to remind her of what she had just done.

“Oh shit! Oh shit!” moaned Amelia quickly scurrying to the kettle to pour the tea and place it on the tray. Thankfully the bosses’ slice of cake had survived her cake eating orgy and was placed delicately on the tray beside the steaming cup of tea.

‘Maybe I could say I dropped it?’ she thought as she carried the tray through to the stairs. ‘Replace it along with the beer, oh I am so dead’.