His Personal Chef

15

 "Chase is pissed off." Austin walks into my office, taking a seat across from my desk. "What kind of mess did you drag Helena Mathis into?"

"Vincent and his big fucking mouth." I rub my temples. "I will fix it."

"Chase doesn't want you to fix anything. He has already reached out to Ms. Mathis to come in this afternoon for a meeting." He takes a quick look at his watch. "She should be arriving now."

"And why wasn't I notified?" This is bullshit. So I dabbled across the line of business and pleasure, but that doesn't give them the right to fuck me over this way. "I was going to fix it tonight."

"With your cock buried deep inside of her? Come on, T. You know better than anyone what happens when you mix business with pleasure. You've seen what all the other guys went through with their wives. I know you're serious about Ms. Mathis, but you can't do it this way. You need to court—"

"Save it!" I snap. The last thing I want is a speech on how to date someone. Especially from the guy whose wife almost brought down the entire company off of one scandal alone. Austin has some fucking nerve to tell me how to court someone. "Where is this meeting taking place?" I stand up. I will fix it myself.

"T,"

"Austin, where the fuck is the meeting taking place?" If the following words out his mouth isnt the location—he and I will have a serious fucking problem.

"The meeting room on the lobby floor." He says, and I storm by him. Why the fuck would they have the meeting down there? We haven't used the room since—shit, well in, forever ago. I don't wait for the elevator and take the stairs. Moving at the speed of light, hell, as fast as I'm moving, I'm putting the Flash to shame. I take a deep, controlled breath before exiting the staircase to the lobby. A few workers spot me greeting me; for once, I don't want to welcome their presence. I need to see Helena. With haste, I greet most and make a beeline for the meeting room.

Opening the door, I see Helena spinning in her chair, and she stops abruptly, and her eyes widen at my presence. She stands up and apologizes. I smile at her, letting her know it's okay. Why is Chase not here yet? He is never late for meetings; he likes to be in the meeting rooms before clients because he feels like it gives him the upper hand. At times it does depend on who the client is.

"I need to talk to you." I close the door, taking a seat beside her. She scoots her chair back a bit, and that kind of stings. She still has walls up from last night, but why would I think today would be any different? I was being a dick last night. "Look, I want to apologize about last night."

"Mr. Beckett, you have nothing to apologize for." I look at her strangely. I was the one who was in my feelings last night—not her. "If anything, I should apologize to you."

"I need to confess something." She lets out a deep breath. "I haven't been truthful, and to enter a partnership with Opal, I think I should come clean to you at least. That night in college. I was the girl you slept with. When I saw you at the restaurant that night, I knew exactly who you were. Once I found out you were a founder of Opal...."

"You were going to use me?"

She nods her head.

"Then you offered me to be your personal chef, and I knew I had to do it for my restaurant to see it blossom. Then you dragged me into this fake fiancée thing, and I can't." she looks around the room, not once landing on me.

"So, at the end of the day, you would have just played nice and continued to let me fuck you for the sake of your restaurant?"

She slowly nods again, unbelievable. "But weren't you? That day in the restaurant when you were with your friends. The Latina, Antonella, you said she was your best friend, and then last night she's your ex-best friend. It didn't make sense to me once I went home and just thought about everything."

Fuck. I should have told her the truth about Antonella and me, but with the look on her face, I just told her she was my best friend. It was easier. I didn't want to share the details of our broken friendship when Helena was the one that looked like she had lost a lover. Whenever I think I'm getting closer to breaking down her no-mixing business and pleasure wall, she adds another layer.

"I misspoke at the restaurant. Antonella is my ex-best friend. I didn't want to cause a scene at the restaurant. Antonella is known to cause quite a commotion." I reach out for her hand that sits on the table, she doesn't move it, and that's a good sign. "I like you, Helena. I've liked you since I took that sweet virginity of yours. For over a decade, I have dreamed about that sweet pussy of yours. I've suffered through countless outings with Nick, hoping to see if you, the girl from that night, would ever show up. I just couldn't flat out ask him without giving it away that I fucked someone he considers his little sister."

She chuckles. As one of Nick's close friends, I bet she probably understands my suffering. Nick has a strange taste in how he spends his free time. But I'm not the one to judge; we all have preferences others might not like. As Austin said, I should know better about mixing business with pleasure. But my business is to pleasure Helena, to make her mind. I've waited too damn long for her. As my nieces would call it—I'm a simp for Helena Mathis.

"You don't have to be my personal chef or fake fiancée anymore. I want a chance to wine and dine you for three months. A chance to see what this could be. I've waited too long, and now that I got you. I don't want to give you up." Fuck, I'm a sucker for her. "Give me a chance to get to know you more, to see if what I've been holding onto for a decade is worth it."

She looks at me but doesn't say anything. I wish I knew what was going on in that pretty head of hers. Would she throw caution to the wind and try or...

"I'm sorry, Mr. Beckett. I have to think about my restaurant here. I will fulfill my three-month contract as promised. You do understand, right?"

The conference door opens, and Chase walks in with Priscilla from HR and a few of our legal team. Chase glares at our hands on the table, and Helena quickly snatches hers away. Chase's mouth is in a tight line as he looks at me. Oh, fuck yourself, brother.

"Mr. Beckett, I wasn't aware you were invited to this meeting?" Chase clears his throat.

"I wasn't. I so happened to see Ms. Mathis looking lost, so I escorted her to the meeting room. I can stay if you—"

"The IT Director isnt needed for something like this. However, if you wish to stay as I go over our new acquisition with Ms. Mathis, you can." He says the words he knew would make me understand how much he meant business. I stand as everyone walks in, taking their seats.

"Don't screw her over," I whisper to Chase as I brush past him, walking out the door. Little does Helena know, she just made it impossible for anything to happen between us. I needed just three fucking months with her alone before she got in bed with Opal. Just three fucking months—for anything, a proposal, marriage, hell, even a baby would have saved us at the end of the three months. Being the last of the guys to get married, I knew if I ever came across someone I truly wanted to be with that worked for us, it would never happen. Austin's wife made sure of it. It's in all of our new contracts that Jasper fucking Tucker created himself. Clients, partners, and employees are off-limits. Failure to comply would cost the person everything.

And I'm not for losing everything.