Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
V eronica
My heart jackhammered, my palms were damp with sweat. I kept asking myself why I’d even come here in the first place. The house was freaking nice, worth millions, and that shouldn’t have surprised me because Rupert was a wealthy man. He lived in Mayfair, and only people with money could afford a postcode like that in London.
Before arriving here, I’d had to speak to Rowan about what had happened. One of the girls had shared that our new boss was messing around with our clients and schedule. I’d told her it was just a rumour, but I had to address this quickly and hash it out before it spread. Rupert’s actions angered me, but that didn’t change the fact we needed to take care of this before it backfired.
Rowan wasn’t too keen talking to me about Rupert, but I’d pushed him to tell me everything. I threatened that I would leave, and since my social media posts were going viral, I knew this would do the trick. We both knew he couldn’t afford to lose me. After the viral video on TikTok, I didn’t really have any blowout posts, but Rowan didn’t need to know that. A few brands did reach out to me because I kept making silly videos about my life that people seemed to enjoy and they wanted more. Slowly, I was transitioning into making product content, and I could see potential in this—but I needed more time.
“He’s only trying to look after you, darling, so don’t worry about it too much. So he decided to change up some of your clients. You still earned a handsome sum this weekend, didn’t you?” Rowan stated.
I kept biting my lip, a habit of mine I couldn’t seem to break while I’d paced around his office wearing my yellow platform shoes that I loved so much.
Slamming my hands on the desk, I stared at that handsome fucker and wondered why he was covering for that posh bastard.
“We both know this isn’t about the money. He wants to control me, and I won’t have it. Now be a good boss and hand me his address. I’m going to pay him a visit,” I snapped, breathing hard. On the weekend, Rupert had kissed me, and that had shaken me to the core. Then also I’d known something was wrong when I’d seen him in that restaurant. None of this was making much sense.
Rowan dragged his hand into his thick dark hair and given me a faint smile.
“Fine, Veronica, but you didn’t get it from me, and don’t go making any trouble. This could end badly for business,” he warned after sending me the text with Rupert’s address.
That’s how I ended up standing right outside Rupert’s posh house, digging my nails into my skin and weighing my options. What the hell was I doing? I was over dressed for tonight, which drew some attention from passersby. I hesitated to ring the bell. Taking a deep breath, I decided to simply knock rather than use the bell button. There was a light in the hall, and one of his cars—a Porsche—was parked on the driveway.
There is no escape from me, darling.
Several long moments later, he finally opened the door, and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets because he looked totally different.
“Veronica? What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, holding a glass of white wine.
I smiled then used his temporary shock to move past him, stepping into the darkly decorated hall. Then I headed straight to the stylish open-plan kitchen with the most amazing view of the massive garden at the back.
“Veronica, I didn’t tell you that you could come in. How do you even know where I live?”
Rupert followed closely, his bare feet treading softly. Despite this, he still emanated a commanding presence, looking irresistibly attractive in a crisp white shirt. A few buttons were undone, revealing a muscular chest that I remembered so well when I’d run my nails over it back in Greece.
“Very nice place you have here, Rupert. Indeed, very impressive.” I stared at him and reminded myself that I was angry with this man—even though if he looked good enough to make me forget about all my pep talk from earlier on.
He arched his left eyebrow, then placed his wine on the worktop.
“You’re playing a very dangerous game, sunshine,” he said, getting into my space.
The scent of his cologne and his eyes made me melt.
“Stop fucking around and tell me what you want?”
“I want you to stop fucking around with my business. I found out that you not only messed with my clients in the past week, but you also convinced Martha from the office to give you my entire agenda,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
I could be intimidating if I wanted to, but Rupert smelled so good. Heat rushed through my core as I stared into his deep-blue eyes, trying to control my overactive libido. If I stayed long enough here, maybe later I could sneak upstairs and smell a selection of his colognes. My cheek brushed over his, and my nipples stood erect beneath my shirt. He didn’t shave, and that thought alone made me instantly wet, because I remembered the roughness of his beard on my throbbing clit.
Rupert glanced back at me. Our bodies were suddenly so close to each other that every cell zoomed with rising energy. He inhaled sharply and then pulled back a little, looking at me with his hooded eyes.
“I’m your boss, so I should know these things, Veronica. Maybe I personally wanted to make sure you would be safe. After all, you’re our best girl in the club,” he said slowly, as though mincing his words.
“That’s bullshit and you know it. I’m this much away from squeezing the truth out of your balls, so you better start talking. You don’t know me, you only fucked me once, but that doesn’t mean I’m not vindictive. Besides, I’m really, really pissed off right now.” My gaze shifted to his lips and I pictured myself kissing him. I had no idea what was going on with my hormones lately. His gaze made me so aroused, I seemed to be constantly melting in his presence.
Rupert wasn’t saying anything, but when I was staring into his eyes, thousands of emotions passed through them. Heat riddled through my core when I imagined him bending me over his kitchen island and taking me from behind.
“Why don’t you sit down and I make us dinner? I was going to cook for myself tonight, and I’ll tell you exactly why I did what I did back on the weekend.” He took a step back, allowing me to breathe again.
I was a little disappointed that he didn’t just grab me and kiss me. My chest felt heavy as I glanced around. Granite worktops, white walls, and although Rupert was a minimalist, his kitchen was filled with Italian vibes, like pictures on the walls, Tuscan- inspired linens, cookbooks, and all the fresh herbs that he spread in front of me.
I was still in a bit of a shock, but I sat on a tall chair on the opposite side of the island. This man was tanned and gorgeous. My ovaries high-fived each other the moment he’d ordered me to stay. My palms dampened with sweat as I tried to figure what to say next, my anger fading away.
“Rupert, don’t tell me that you know how to cook. I thought you would have a private chef like your brother, the PM.” As I spoke, he started chopping onions, his forearms muscular and tanned. I wanted to run my tongue over them. I thought about him spreading my thighs with them and lowering himself down to my bare pussy. A bead of sweat ran down between my shoulder blades.
“I enjoy cooking. My father is half Italian, and four of us have been spending almost every summer in Sicily since we were babies, sunshine,” He lifted his head and smiled at me.
My ovaries again vibrated with need.
“I hope you’re hungry. I’m making us some seafood pasta. It will go well with the white wine.”
“Sure, seafood pasta,” I muttered to myself, stomach growling. I was so preoccupied with figuring out how to find him that I remembered I’d only had a light lunch earlier on. “Aren’t you a dream, Rupert. So since we are hanging out, I think you should tell me how many women you’ve had lining up to be your significant other, because I don’t believe for one minute that a man like you is single.”
“Alexa, play ‘Bella Ciao’,” Rupert said, and soon, the familiar tune played in the background. “I have been in a relationship before, but since Greece I haven’t had anyone serious in my life, Veronica. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since that night. You’ve been haunting my dreams every night, and that’s the reason why I started reviewing your clients. I couldn’t fucking stand the idea of you sleeping with any of them.”
I wanted to laugh and say something witty, but my brain went blank because when that man stared at me, nothing else mattered. I swallowed hard, still doubting that he cared about me so much.
“So you switched my clients so I wouldn’t sleep with anyone else,” I said, my voice strained.
Rupert broke eye contact and focused his attention on the meal he was preparing.
“Precisely, sunshine, because you belong to me, and I want to claw out the eyes of any man who ever dares to even look at you.” He threw the spaghetti into boiling hot water. “I don’t fucking share, and you can’t deny there’s something strong brewing between us.”
I sipped the wine while my skin felt like it was literally on fire. I normally didn’t take too well to men who wanted to claim me, but with Rupert, this felt natural. I didn’t want to feel this way and yet, I needed him to keep talking. I sipped on the wine for some degree of comfort.
“I think we need to set up some ground rules. We are not together, we had one night of mind-blowing sex two years ago, and now you’re my boss. You cannot make me quit, Rupert. I have a five-year plan and I need this job so I can achieve my goal,” I said, aware of my own security. I promised myself that I would never struggle like my mother had in the past, and corporate life wasn’t for me.
“Tell me about your plan, Veronica.” He gave me another wide smile.
I drank more wine. Then I told him exactly how I wanted to live my life while he was cooking, starting from being a highly paid social media influencer and ending up owning my own beauty business. Italian music played, the whole kitchen smelled divine. Bliss. .
My heart lightened up. I knew this man could take care of me so I wouldn’t have to worry, but I would never give up my independence.
“I know you’ll get there. I can see the drive you have, and it’s impressive.” He sounded nostalgic, or maybe that was just my impression. He quickly set the table and dished up our dinner.
My mouth watered because the seafood pasta looked absolutely delicious.
“Thank you. So that’s why you need to back off, Rupert. Stop interfering in my life and let me do what I need to do.” I picked up a fork.
“Never, sunshine. I won’t let you continue working there because as I said, I don’t share and I don’t want anyone else putting their dirty cocks in you. Nothing has changed.”