Chapter 20 - Darya
Stefano has to go into work today to meet some rather important clients, and to my surprise, he has invited me to come along with him.
I rush around, oddly feeling nervous, trying to dress up in a way that is professional and stylish.
Stef walks into my room, where I have clothes spread all over the floor and the bed.
“What is going on in here?” he looks around, shocked at the chaos.
“I don’t know what to wear. I just—I want—"
He walks over to me, seeing how flustered I am.
“What’s bothering you? I’ve never seen you worked up over choosing what to wear? You always look incredible. What is different about today?”
I sigh, rolling my eyes at myself.
“Hey, talk to me, baby girl,” Stef insists.
“You’ve never invited me to meet any of your clients, and I just want to make a good impression for you,” I finally admit, feeling silly. I have been to thousands of meetings with my brothers and met thousands of clients and I have never felt this way before.
It just tells me something obvious.
It isn’t even the client I am wanting to impress—it’s Stef.
I want him to see me as someone capable and valuable in business.
I don’t want him to just view me as someone he is sexually attracted to and nothing more.
“Darya, don’t be silly, you could arrive in sweatpants and a hoodie, and you would look incredible.”
I roll my eyes again. “I most certainly would not do that,” I say, horrified.
“Come on, you are overthinking this. Get ready, we need to go.”
Stef leaves, clearly not understanding the dilemma a girl faces when nothing in her closet seems like the right fit for a certain situation.
I grab my gray wide-leg trousers, a soft cotton white blouse and a gray slim fit jacket along with my white stilettos.
Alright. This will do.
I rush downstairs, knowing that if I take any longer than this, I am going to make us late.
***
Of course, when we arrive, Reina is there. I guess it is to be expected, seeing as she is the client liaison. I am getting tired of seeing her around Stef’s warehouses and office space. She has not been respectful towards me in any way and continues to very blatantly flirt with him.
Even now, in front of these new clients. Reina gushes over Stef as she leans towards him, her hands always on his body, when she addresses them.
“Stefy is the best in the business. You couldn’t be choosing a more suited person to handle your shipment needs,” she says proudly, as though it was him on display and not his service.
Stef shifts, looking uncomfortable with her unprofessional behavior. He nods towards the clients. “Let me take you on a walk around the warehouse so that you can see how your products will move. Our security is tight, and we pay a lot of attention to detail in order to save you costs and have your product arriving safe and on time.”
He steps away from Reina, towards me, and holds out his hand. “Come, walk with us,” he says, and I slip my hand into his and let him lead me.
Reina follows closely with a bitter look on her face, which I do my best to ignore. Since meeting her at the camp, I have seen her a number of times, and each time she seems to get more and more aggressive with her moves towards Stef.
I can’t figure out what her problem is and why she seems to have absolutely zero respect for the fact that we are married.
After the clients have left, having signed up for a series of shipments with Stef, we are all in good spirits.
“The staff should go and celebrate, Stef,” Reina says, making it clear that she means that I should not join.
“I can’t tonight, Darya and I have plans.”
“Well, perhaps tomorrow night, you and I can go for a drink like old times.”
Stef chooses to ignore her remark, and I clamp my teeth together to hold back anything I want to say.
Reina plays a very important role in his business—in fact, she does a lot of work for my brothers, too, which I only learned about recently. She is good at what she does. I need to keep my personal feelings aside and just endure her pathetically unprofessional behavior towards my husband.
I trust Stef, but I also know that they have a history, and it does get to me.
It’s difficult to deal with her.
Stef takes a seat at his office desk to sign off some paperwork while I sit on the couch to the side, browsing on my phone to kill the time.
Reina leans right over his desk, pointing at the areas he needs to sign, her cleavage right up in his face.
I bite my lower lip. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
I can’t watch another second of her blatant disregard for my presence here.
I stand up, sighing loudly.
“I think I need some air.”
Stef looks over at me with his eyes strained, as though he wants to apologize to me for her behavior.
Reina smiles. “Yes, it is a bit crowded in here,” she smirks.
I can’t believe her.
Stef stands up, pushing his chair back.
“Reina, that is the last comment I will tolerate from you. If you make another remark, joke or unprofessional jibe towards my wife, or another inappropriate move towards me, I am going to relieve you of your position in this company. Darya is my wife, and the only woman I am interested in. She is the only woman for me. Do I make myself explicitly clear when I say that?”
His voice is heavy and dark, his eyes are narrow and fierce, and his demeanor sends a shiver through me.
Reina stands at his desk with her mouth open in shock.
“Stefy, you and I go way back—"
“Reina. If you cannot pull yourself together and behave in a professional manner, then I am going to ask you to clear your desk and leave.”
She sniffles and pouts out her bottom lip. She looks pathetic.
“Sorry, Stefano. It won’t happen again,” she sulks, then turns to march out of the office in a tantrum.
“She will cool down and pull herself together,” Stef says, looking at me. “She is really good at what she does, but I won’t tolerate someone disrespecting you.”
My heart is beating so fast at his commanding outburst towards Reina.
I used to hate the way he would publicly claim me, or let people know that I belonged to him. But now I find it turns me on and seeps right into my core in delightful ways. I want to belong to him.
I can’t believe I am admitting this, but I think I have feelings for him.
“Thank you, Stef. I appreciate you putting an end to that behavior,” I say, still a little shocked by my own realization that I actually have feelings for this man.
What does that mean for me, though?
I know that from his side, this all just started out as a marriage of convenience for business reasons, and maybe over time, he developed an intense physical attraction to me, but he has never given me any hint of it being more than that.
I sigh, lost in thought.
“I’m almost done here, baby girl, then we can head out. I am sure you are over this place for today.”
I smile at him. How am I going to deal with this?
Do I try to find a way to tell him what I am feeling?
Would that just cause tension between us?
I imagine that if I let him know I was falling for him he might pull away from me. I bite my lower lip, starting worry about what I have gotten myself into.
When we leave the office, Reina does not come to say goodbye to Stef which is a huge relief for me; however, she does make a very big point of glaring at me from across the warehouse. I shake my head. I won’t get pulled into her games, whatever she is playing at. This is my husband, and she is just going to have to accept that.