The CEO's Favorite

Chapter Twenty six

I continue staring at him, unmoving. A few minutes ago, he literally embarrassed me in front of everyone on the floor, and now, he's telling me to come with him.

"I said come with me." He repeats, his voice hard like he's still mad at me. "Don't test me, darling."

A collective gasp is heard around the floor and the place is no longer silent. I clench my fists in annoyance. He doesn't feel the least bothered about what he just said, which shows that he did it on purpose. He raises an eyebrow at me as if challenging me to disobey him, and then turns around to leave, not waiting to see if I'll follow him or not.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. When I open them, Marcus, Belle, and Nessa all have their mouths hung open and it aggravates me. It's exactly the reaction he wanted and he got it.

I smile tightly at them and stand up to follow Gabriel. "They're definitely fucking." I hear Belle breathe out in surprise, and I don't bother to correct her as I leave. If this is the kind of rumor he wants to stir up, I won't be the one cleaning after his mess.

I reach the elevator as it's about to close and Gabriel holds it for me. I can feel the holes boring into my back as I enter and when it closes, I turn to the man beside me. "Are you crazy?"

He graces me with a glance, but otherwise, doesn't answer. I bite my lips, keeping what I have to say in until we reach his floor and he leads me to his office.

As we enter, he locks the door after me and proceeds to draw up his blinds. After that, he removes his suit jacket, flinging it on the couch, undoes his cufflinks, and releases his tie, while I just watch him. His moments are so graceful like he has been doing this all his life and for a few seconds, I forget exactly how the past week went.

"Sit."

I give him a blank look and he nods at the chair opposite his. I sigh, sitting down as told and he walks toward me, sitting on the desk in front of me. For a while, he doesn't say anything. He just stares at me until I say, "Yes?"

"What happened?"

"What happened where?"

"Earlier today." I still don't know what he's talking about and my expression portrays that. "With you being late? Who did that to you?"

I subconsciously cover my wrist when I realize what he's talking about. "It's none of your business."

"I think I deserve to know if any employee of mine is in danger, don't I?"

I can't help the bitter laugh that leaves my mouth. I may have said this before, but there's no controlling how I act around this man nor can I help what I say. "So that's what I am to you? Just an employee?"

"Would you like to be more?" He questions, genuinely curious and when I don't answer, he sighs. "Tell me who did that."

He seems so different from the person I ran into this morning, it's crazy.

"I've told you it's none of your business, Mr. Hernsburg."

"Wrong." He replies immediately. "You are my business, darling. Everything about you is my business."

Two weeks ago, I would've loved to hear this from him, but right now, I don't know how to feel about his words, which is why I dismiss them. "A question for a question then?"

"Fine." Gabriel agrees even if it seems like he doesn't fancy the idea. "Who did it?"

"Shawn."

"Who's Shawn?"

I shake my head. "My turn. Why the fuck did you call me darling down there?"

"You like it when I call you darling." He shrugs.

"Yeah, but not in a room full of your employees who happen to be my colleagues."

He cracks a smile. It's the first one I've seen from him in over a week and as embarrassing as it is to admit it, it throws me off. "Noted. Who's Shawn?"

"My ex-boss."

Gabriel can't help himself. "Where did you run into him?"

I ignore his question since it's my turn to ask him. In a normal setting, I'm certain he won't answer my questions, but his eagerness to know my answers has him answering as well. "What's with the change of attitude? You keep snapping at everyone."

"I'm not snapping at them. They are slacking and just don't like a stern boss. I can't have them running my company to the ground."

He answers so freely, it's like they're practiced. Still, he knows that's not what I'm asking. "You fired an employee over spilled coffee," I remember. I catch sight of his wince, but he shrugs it off as soon as I see it.

"That suit was expensive. Where did you run into the bastard?"

"At the parking lot of my apartment complex. Why were you trying to push me away?"

Gabriel pushes up from his desk and squats in front of me. He takes my hand in his and caresses the pink strip of skin on my wrist. I flinch. "I can't push you away, Aria," he confesses, brings my hand forward, and places a kiss on the spot. That single gesture has my heart racing and forgetting that I'm mad at him. It makes me forget that he was ever rude to me sometime last week. "Trust me, I tried, but it's hard when all I think of is you. And to see you hurt? It's maddening. Tell me, Aria, what happened with Shawn?"

I don't know when I start speaking. "I was on my way to work and he blocked my path to my car." I go on to explain the details of what happened and I can clearly see Gabriel trying to control his anger. "Did you do anything? You were the only one I told about that assault."

"Of course, I did something. I couldn't let him go scot-free, could I?"

"You should've asked me first!"

"Would you have let me?"

I think about it for a second. The answer is no. I wouldn't have let him. I wouldn't have wanted him to blow it out of proportion, which he still did without informing me. "What did you do?"

"Nothing much," Gabriel smirks proudly. "I just spread the word about his true self."

"Well, it resulted in this and I didn't even know why he was doing what he was doing. It was kind of scary, to be honest."

I don't know what this man does to me for real. I always find myself telling him everything, not missing a single detail. When I came into his office, I was hellbent on not saying anything, but somehow coaxed it out of me. The hold Gabriel has on me is crazy. I wonder if he knows it.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him."

I eye him apprehensively. "You're not going to do anything crazy like lock him up, right?" Gabriel shrugs, not answering me. "Gabriel? I'm for real. Just leave him alone and stop provoking him, he'll back off, okay?"

"Gabriel?" He gives me a lopsided smile. "Not Mr. Hernsburg?"

"Don't change the subject. Promise me."

"Fine, I promise." He says, rolling his eyes. He stares at me for a short while, then all of a sudden, he hugs me. I'm frozen in shock as I try to sift through my memories and recall if he has ever hugged me before. He hasn't. It feels too good having his arms around me and I wrap mine around him as well, hugging him back. "I missed you, love."

"I missed you too," I admit, quite breathlessly. "I missed this you." I quietly savor the last few seconds of being in his arms. Now, I know why he locks the door whenever we're together. If someone is to walk in right now, they'll have the wrong idea.

'Is it the wrong idea though?'

I don't know how to answer myself because why else will an employer hug his employee? Why will an employer call his employee darling in front of his other employees? Why will an employer treat his employee the way Gabriel treats me? I want to ask him what the hell we're doing, but we merely came back to being on good terms, so I save that for later.

I wait for him to finally pull away before I speak again. "You never answered my question though."

He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "Anything."

"Why did you try to push me away?"