Chapter Eight
"MS. SINCLAIR?"
The voice had Payton shaking her head as she raised her hand and got to her feet. “T-That’s me.”
How very strange.
She knew she couldn’t have possibly fallen asleep while waiting for her name to be called, but why did she feel like she was waking up from a really long dream?
The woman who had called Payton’s name introduced herself as Nellie. “I work as Mr. de Vindice’s EA. Fairscale employs a rather large workforce, but Mr. de Vindice prefers to work with a small team and then delegate everything else.” Nellie opened the door to her boss’s office. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Payton took a deep breath before entering.
“Take a seat, please.”
She rushed forward, stumbled, then quickly straightened.
“I’m okay!”
She got to her seat and when she finally looked up—
Oh!
This man was, well...beautiful.
Black hair.
Golden eyes.
And...
Could this man truly be Niccolò de Vindice? And why were his lips so—
Stop it, Payton!
It was so not like her at all to be this...
This...
Oh, she didn’t even know how to describe the way this man was making her feel.
All she knew was that these feelings of hers were entirely inappropriate, so...
Focus, Payton!
You need a job to pay for your student loans!
So focus!
Payton tried to recall her train of thought.
Niccolò de Vindice was...oh, right.
He was so protective of his privacy that there wasn’t a single photo of him on the Internet. At all. Since that was practically unheard of in this age, she could only imagine how much he had spent to make it happen.
But with Fairscale’s IPO just around the corner, and the fact that his company was hiring for its new PR department—
Oh.
She finally noticed how he was looking at her, and well...
This was her first job interview ever, so she wasn’t actually sure what that stare meant, so...
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out. “Did I do something wrong?”
Mr. de Vindice coughed. “No. Apologies.”
And now, his high-boned cheeks were slightly flushed.
“S-Should I call for Nellie? You look—”
“It’s fine,” he said curtly. “Let’s get on with the interview, shall we?”
Payton’s heart sank. Had she made him angry? Again?
“You’ve just graduated from college, I take it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And where else have you applied aside from Fairscale?”
“I have an interview with Todd & Tolstoy lined up after this,” she admitted.
“And if both of us made you an offer, which would you choose?”
“You.”
And when he raised a brow, she realized how that sounded, and she hastily added, “I mean, Fairscale. I...I’d choose Fairscale—”
“That wasn’t what you said earlier.”
Was it just her or did that sound like Mr. de Vindice had purred those words—
Enough, Payton!
You need this job!
So stop thinking stupid thoughts!
Payton cleared her throat. “I apologize for the misunderstanding. What I meant was that Todd & Tolstoy’s job opening is for advertising, and I’d rather work in PR.”
“Is there any difference between the two?”
“People versus products.”
“So you’re saying you prefer to market people?”
“I like correcting wrong impressions,” she said simply.
“And if I were to hire you, what would those wrong impressions be?”
“Wrong impressions like...”
Oh no.
Don’t.
Just don’t.
But instead she heard herself say, “I think I, um, read somewhere that you have a girlfriend.”
“Did you?”
“Yup.”
“Show me, please.”
“I forgot where I read it.”
“How convenient.”
Mr. de Vindice’s gaze glittered as he said this, and well...one thing was for sure. The way butterflies were suddenly fluttering their wings in her stomach? That was terribly inconvenient, and—
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Oh.
“Do you have a boyfriend, Payton?”
OH.
“I...I...” Payton gulped. “No.”
“Then...”
His jaw clenched.
Her heart pounded.
And when he rose to his feet...
She could only stay still, almost as if she was waiting for her whole life...
Payton’s lungs started working overtime as he took her hand.
Her knees were shaking, and she had a feeling he was aware of this.
“You have a very unusual effect on me.”
Was he saying...he had fallen in love with her at first sight? Because if he was, she had a feeling that was also—
“You make me feel like I have lower IQ than usual.”
Oh.
Okay.
Um.
“Was that supposed to be a compliment?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m...sorry. It’s like what I said. You...make me feel like I’m not myself.”
“Riiiight.”
Payton started to pull away at this point, but this seemed to make him panic.
“What I mean is—” He raked a hand through his hair. “I think I’ll just keep getting this wrong, so...” Payton jerked in shock when he suddenly cupped her face.
“May I simply show you instead?”
She had barely started to nod when his mouth immediately covered hers, and oh...
It was her fist kiss, but she already knew...
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
She didn’t even know how she ended up with her arms around his neck.
Or her on his lap in his couch.
But when he finally lifted his head to let her breathe—
All she could do was look at him dazedly.
Niccolò.
She only realized she had said it out loud when his golden gaze blazed with need.
“Say it again.”
And so she did.
“Niccolò—”
He kissed her again and again and again, and when once again he had to give her a moment to catch her breath—
“I feel like I have been waiting for you my entire life,” Niccolò said tautly.
“It’s the same for me, too.”
“But it sounds crazy, does it not?”
"Do you want to hear something crazier?"
His gaze gleamed. "From you? Always."
Payton wasn’t quite sure that was a compliment, but anyway...
"You probably hear this all the time, looking the way you look—”
“Are you saying women are only after me because of my looks? What about me being a billionaire—”
“Let’s not talk about that. I only date trillionaires as a rule, but for you I’m lowering my standards—”
“Give me five years, cara—”
“I was just joking,” she said hastily, “so please forget I even said that, and anyway...” She felt like her heart was about to explode with nervousness.
“Whatever crazy thing you want to tell me, I’ll believe it.”
“I think...”
This is really crazy. So, so crazy. And yet...
“I think you’re my future best friend, my future husband, my future baby daddy—”
She didn’t get to say anything else.
Because Niccolò was kissing her again.
And as this went on and on and on...
Nellie checked her watch and smiled. Ha.
She had seen how her boss reacted to Payton Sinclair’s photo on her resumé, and that was enough.
Even though he hadn’t given her any instructions, she had already canceled every commitment he had in his social calendar that required him to be single.
She had a feeling her boss would be married soon, and mm...
It was never too early to start browsing for wedding coordinators, wasn’t it?
And as she went through her feed, she came across a news report about a double homicide, with the victims listed as Eric Cheyney and Anya Aboimov.
The couple, who had only been dating for several months, was reported to have a violent lover’s quarrel that ended with the two of them fatally shooting each other.
Nellie could only shake her head as she removed the post from her feed.
Talk about bad love.
With a wedding to plan, Nellie had no time for such news.
The End