She never liked him. Or maybe she did. Amber Kingston had always been irritated by her boss's lifestyle. She never wanted anything to do with him outside of work, but then he brought a proposition to her table. To marry him. She did it for a price, and now she is breaking his one rule. How would she tell him, she'd fallen in love with him when it was something he'd clearly warned her about?
Amber's POV
"... You have a meeting in five minutes, a newly booked appointment with CadLtd," I glanced up from my tablet to take in the man sitting in front of me, with no ounce of emotion on his devilishly handsome face. Not even a goddamn flick.
His mask was always in place, I doubt it ever slipped. What is he? A statue of a damn Greek god?
His brows raised ever so lightly and my eyes fell back to my tablet and I cleared my throat.
"Well, the CEO of CadLtd wants to meet with you and probably discuss the merging of... "
" Cancel it"
The command was low, so damn low I'd have missed it if I was breathing so loudly. What!
"Cancel it?" I asked, he tilted his head staring at me in that 'do you have a problem with it' manner. I drew in a deep breath and fucking resisted flipping off my boss.
He's an asshole, I would agree with anyone on that. He was a beautiful one at that who had the attention of both male and female and yeah, they flocked around him a lot.
"Do you have a problem with that, Amber?" he asked and I shook my head even though my blood was simmering beneath my veins.
I'd managed to put up with him for three fucking years as his PA, his attitude never gets old but it gets on my nerves the whole time.
He stood up like a predator watching his prey, green eyes fixed on me with so much intensity I almost shuddered, but I managed to pull myself together.
I don't like this one bit.
"Good. I have a meeting to attend" he said before leaving the office in smooth, long strides without sparing me another glance.
I waited for a second, glaring at his back. If I had my way, I'd have knocked some sense into his 'not dumb head'.
Getting my feet to move, I knew better than to lag around.
When he said he had a meeting to attend, he was flatly biased... because we were both attending the meeting. That's how it's always been from the start.
If I wasn't present in a meeting, it pisses him the hell off. But I knew better than to say Xavier had an obsession with me because ha! The man was a stone.
Hurrying after him, I was fast enough to see him get into the elevator. I raised a finger, silently pleading with him to hold it for me as the doors were already sliding shut.
His face was impassive and he didn't even move a muscle. The doors shut right in my face and yeah, I lost my cool.
"Asshole!" I cursed my face and ears hot from either anger or embarrassment.
Luckily, we were the only ones occupying this floor of the company. My office came before his, I was doing both the job of a Secretary and a Personal Assistant and because my boss was Xavier, it sucked.
I ran my fingers through my hair before I stiffened, my eyes almost fell out of their sockets when the elevator slid open and my eyes met with that of Xavier's.
Oh shit!
The silence hung in the air thick and heavy. What does one say after calling their bosses assholes?
I took the easier route. Cleared my throat, straightened my spine, and walked right into the elevator avoiding his hunter's eyes and pretending I did nothing wrong. Well, I didn't.
"Thank you" I muttered, expecting him to be quiet just as he'd always been, but I was in for a big surprise.
He pressed the button leading us to the second floor which had the conference and meeting room.
"Did you call me an asshole?" He asked, his voice dry and dead serious. I shifted uncomfortably on my foot.
I lowered my head a fraction.
"No sir. You probably didn't hear right" I said, staring at my shoes. I loved my job too much to lose it, well I meant the pay.
There was silence and I risked glancing at him. His broad shoulders leaned against the elevator wall, his hands tucked into the pocket of his Tuxedo pants, and...amusement danced in his eyes for a slight second before it disappeared.
I was sure I'd seen it.
" I don't have hearing issues, '' he said and I almost huffed. Everyone thought he did. I wasn't going to touch that topic.
I won't be the one telling him he had hearing issues because the man heard right.
"I doubt" it was a grumble. Under my breath, he wasn't supposed to pick on it but he did.
Of course! Psychopathic abilities.
"You think I have hearing issues? Seriously?" I closed my eyes. I'd have pinched the space between my brows to wedge off the headache that I could sense brewing.
Before I could come up with a reply, his phone rang, cutting off our awkward little chit chat and I was grateful for the interruption.
His face darkened. His eyes once held a little warmth hardened and turned into frosty green slits. His lips pulled into a hard line, tension oozing off him.
I took a step back.
I know there was a lot to Xavier Castillo, he was a beautiful surface with the deepest and darkest secrets lurking beneath.
The elevator dinged and the doors parted, I stepped out of it almost too quickly.
But Xavier remained in it, his jaws set hard, his eyes staring into nothing, and his fingers wrapped tightly around his phone that I feared for the poor phone.
Whoever had called was a trigger or an enemy or... I don't know. The doors slid shut, but not before his gaze rested on me.
I shivered, his eyes weren't as predatory as they'd been earlier... they instead looked calculative.
And a calculative Xavier was dangerous.
It could never mean a good sign.
Alessia De Luca is determined to prove to her family that she has moved on from the man who left her at the altar two years ago. Desperate to avoid their pity, she enlists her arch-nemesis Noah Wilson, a moody colleague, to pose as her boyfriend during a summer trip to Italy, where her ex-fiancé, Antonio, is getting married. But circumstances changed and she's thrown into a dilemma that almost ruins everything. However, things get more complicated when Noah plays his role a little too well, and Alessia realizes that she's falling for her perfectly 'fake' boyfriend.
"I, Riccardo Saviano, future Alpha of the Grey Shadow Moon Pack, reject you, Artemisia Guerrieri, Daughter of Alpha Franco of the Blood Moon Pack, as my mate and future Luna." One single sentence. One stupid single sentence was all it took to disintegrate my life. And the day of my birthday, on which this sentence was audaciously uttered to me, I lost the love of my life, my future mate, and my wolf, all at once. As I'm still assembling the pieces of my shattered heart years later, there they come. Like lightning out of a crystal blue sky. My Mates. But wait... If I am mated to triplets, how come I'm about to be mated to 5 gorgeous men? *** TW: explicit and foul language; spicy content; explicit sex scenes ***
Joelle thought she could change Adrian's heart after three years of marriage, but she realized too late that it already belonged to another woman. "Give me a baby, and I'll set you free." The day Joelle went into labor, Adrian was traveling with his mistress on his private jet. "I don't care whom you love. My debt is paid. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other." Not long after Joelle left, Adrian found himself begging on his knees. "Please come back to me."
Sheila had her back against the wall when her family tried to force her to marry an awful old man. In a fit of rage, she hired a gigolo to act as her husband. She thought the gigolo needed money and did this for a living. Little did she know that he was nothing like that. One day, he pulled off his mask and revealed himself to be the world's top magnate. This marked the beginning of their love. He showered her with everything she could ever want. They were happy. However, unexpected circumstances soon posed a threat to their love. Would Sheila and her husband make it through the storm? Find out!
Kallie, a mute who had been ignored by her husband for five years since their wedding, also suffered the loss of her pregnancy due to her cruel mother-in-law. After the divorce, she learned that her ex-husband had quickly gotten engaged to the woman he truly loved. Holding her slightly rounded belly, she realized that he had never really cared for her. Determined, she left him behind, treating him as a stranger. Yet, after she left, he scoured the globe in search of her. When their paths crossed once more, Kallie had already found new happiness. For the first time, he pleaded humbly, "Please don't leave me..."Â But Kallie's response was firm and dismissive, cutting through any lingering ties. "Get lost!"
Rosalynn's marriage to Brian wasn't what she envisioned it to be. Her husband, Brian, barely came home. He avoided her like a plague. Worse still, he was always in the news for dating numerous celebrities. Rosalynn persevered until she couldn't take it anymore. She upped and left after filing for a divorce. Everything changed days later. Brian took interest in a designer that worked for his company anonymously. From her profile, he could tell that she was brilliant and dazzling. He pulled the stops to find out her true identity. Little did he know that he was going to receive the greatest shocker of his life. Brian bit his finger with regret when he recalled his past actions and the woman he foolishly let go.
Due to the plight of her family, Phoebe had no choice but to embark on the path of selling herself. In an accident, she had a tangled night with Alexander. Everything began to derail, and even if she fled to the ends of the earth, she would still be found by him and entangled... *** Phoebe screamed in frustration, "What do you want from me?" What was this supposed to be? He raised an eyebrow wickedly. "What do I want? You'll find out soon enough." With that, he hoisted her up and carried her back into the office. The door slammed shut with a kick, and he cleared the desk with a sweep of his arm before laying her down on it, his body pinning hers in place, completely trapping her in his grasp. Every cell in his body was telling him he wanted her. He wanted to claim her again. This time, there would be no escape for her-he wouldn't let her slip away. Never again. If he had suffered for five years, then this woman wouldn't get off easily either!