19
When I woke up, I found myself alone in his bed. I sit up and rub my eyes. I look around and see a light pink satin robe hanging off the back of the chair. I climb out of bed and grab the robe. I put it on and tie it closed, I wonder if he went into work? He knew I'm off but, this man never takes a vacation it seems.
I walk out of the bedroom and I hear voices coming from down the hall. I walk down and I see a door open, I stand in the doorway and see it's to his home gym. I see him hitting a punching bag talking to a man dressed in athletic wear, I would assume he's a trainer. I smile to myself and watch him hit the large black punching bag only wearing his joggers.
The man looks at me and says "Oh hello there."
Chris stops and turns to look at me, he smiles at me. "Good morning."
"Morning."
Chris looks at the man "Mark can we take a five minute break?"
"Sure thing. I'm gonna go grab some water." He walks towards me and says "Miss." I smile at him then when he walks out I walk towards Chris.
"Thank you for the pretty robe."
"I knew you'd look beautiful in it. Light pink looks good on you." He pecks my lips
"I should always just wear robes around you."
"Sure, if you'd be comfortable with me doing this constantly." He lightly pulls the shoulder of my robe down.
"Alright, alright, there's someone here."
"You think that'll stop me?"
"I mean, I would hope?"
He smiles and kisses my lips again, he walks away and grabs a water bottle. "Oh, before I forget. Ivy called, she wanted to talk about your birthday this Saturday."
"Why?"
He looks at me "She wanted to know what you wanted to do? She's coming over to see you."
I shrug "I don't usually do anything for my birthday. Max and I usually go to a bar and drink. Even when I was with Mason we didn't do much."
"Well, she's gonna wanna throw you a party. Plus, I'd like to do something nice with you."
I groan "No, no party. I just wanna spend the day with you in bed."
"I could go for that but, Ivy won't. How about I talk her down to just a dinner? We can do it here, you can invite Max. Then after everyone leaves, you and I can do your idea."
"Okay."
"Okay, good. Now that's settled. Why don't you go back to bed and I'll join you shortly?"
"One more thing, what was that appointment you had last night?"
"Doctors appointment."
"A doctors appointment made you that upset?"
"No, I had a bad work day. Wasn't in the mood to talk about it."
"Okay, if you need to talk? I'm here for you."
"I know you are. Alright, go on. I'll be there shortly."
"Okay but, don't keep me waiting to long, Mr.Cerulli. I may have to help myself."
"You wouldn't dare."
I shrug "Hm, we'll see."
His trainer comes back and says "Alright Cerulli, let's get back on track. You pay me to keep you in shape, not to talk to pretty girls."
I blow Chris a kiss then walk back to his room. I close the door behind me then take off the robe. I put it back over the chair, I climb back in bed and wait for him to finish his workout.
Around lunch, Chris got me out of bed to eat. We sit and have some sandwiches. I look around "Is Mrs.Holland here yet? She said she was gonna be late today."
"I called and told her not to come, I told her to stay and be with her daughter. The house is immaculate, she doesn't need to be here. I'll still pay her for the day."
"You really do appreciate your workers."
"I try to, everyone deserves to be appreciated."
"True, so, any work for you today?"
"Nope, I took the day to be with you."
"How sweet of you." I smile
"I wanted to be here with you, actually enjoy a day in the week."
"Well I'm certainly enjoying it."
He grins at me "Do you have any work today?"
"I can work on some patients notes but, I can do that tonight."
He holds my hands and says "Can I tell you something?"
"Anything."
"The doctors appointment I had last night was a therapy appointment."
"Really? That's great. I'm happy for you."
"You're not mad?" He raises his brows
"Mad about what? I'm proud of you."
"I thought you may be upset, that I went to someone else."
"It's okay, really, I wouldn't be able to take you on as a client anyway. If you were my client and we started having sex it would be illegal. So, no I'm not mad. I'm so proud of you for seeing someone though."
I get up and go to him, I climb on his lap and wrap my arms around his neck. I kiss him and He kisses me back then pulls away "That's why I was so angry yesterday, talking to him brought up a lot of animosity. Just know, I went for you."
"Me? What do you mean?"
"I meant what I said before, I like you Charlotte. I want some kind of relationship with you. I think if I work through some of my issues..maybe you and I could have a chance. I know it's slim but, I figured I could try."
I smile widely and kiss him, he kisses me back. He slides his tongue in my mouth and I lick his tongue. My phone starts loudly playing the ringtone I have set for Max. He never calls me, it must be important. I pull away and apologize, I grab my phone and accept his call. "Hey, everything okay?"
"Where the hell have you been? I've been texting you for two hours!"
I look at Chris "Sorry, I was a little distracted. Why? What's wrong?"
" Someone leaked your foster care records. Then some tabloid's running a story about how you're just some foster kid trash after Chris's money."
"What!" I get off Chris's lap and I hear him ask "Baby, what's wrong?"
"How did they find my records? They should be private aren't they?"
"No, you can or anyone can request them. They're not like adoption records, those remain sealed unless the child wants them. I do it all the time for work."
My heart grows heavy, it was one thing for me to tell Chris that I was a foster child but the world? I'm so angry I could scream! Who would leak that information? What does it gain someone? That information is private and something I keep close to my heart. Who would try to hurt me this way? My first guess would be Mason but, this doesn't gain him anything.
"Look at the articles I sent you, their pretty nasty babe. I'm so sorry."
I look at Chris and he looks concerned, I sigh and say "Thank you, Maxy. I'll read them then call you later."
"I can come over! Do you need me to?"
"No, no. Chris is home with me. I'll be okay."
"Okay. Let me know if you need me."
"I will, thank you Maxy." I hang up then look at Chris.
"What's wrong?"
"Someone leaked my foster care records. Then some tabloid wrote an article that I'm just some girl after your money."
"What! What's the article say?"
I open one of the many links Max sent me, one of the comments I read says "Who knew Chris Cerulli took his work to bed."
Another says "She's just after his money. He better realize that before he knocks that girl up."
The last one I read says "Funny how the first time we saw her with him that it was at a charity gala! Talk about taking your work home."
I set my phone down and tears well up in my eyes. Chris pulls me into his arms and kisses the top of my head. He rubs my back and says "Don't worry, I'll take care of it, I promise."
I nod and hold his shirt, my heart aches. I don't like talking about being in foster care because it makes me remember that I don't have my parents. Chris picks me up and takes me upstairs. We go back to his room and he lays us down. He let's me cry and he tries comforting me as best as he can. I find myself crying myself to sleep in his arms.
When I wake up the room is darker than earlier, my eyes sting and I'm groggy. I sit up and look around, the clock tells me that it's just past five. I get up and go to find Chris. I hear him talking loudly down the hall. I don't even need to leave the doorway. I hear him say "What do I even pay you people for! How dare you not try to stop this article going live! She is mortified and upset! As am I!"
Who's he yelling at? He sounds more mad than I am about the situation. I keep listening "From now on, You better stop ANY article about her! Even if someone writes something about a pretty dress she wore, I wanna hear about it. Do I make myself clear? Good because I'm not fucking around here. Now find the fucker that leaked her records and bring them to me. Call me when you have something for me." I hear him slam his phone down
I quietly shut the bedroom door and go back to the bed. I cover up and I hear him coming towards the door. He quietly opens the door, he pokes his head in and sees me. "Oh, you're awake." His tone much quieter and softer.
I nod and he comes over to me. He sits on the bed and says "Don't worry, it's being handled."
"Thank you."
He nods "With me or not, someone's records being leaked is an invasion of privacy. I'm so sorry, Charlotte."
"It's not your fault. You didn't leak my records."
"I'm still sorry."
"Let's talk about something else. What's your favorite dessert?"
He grins "Oreos. Yours?"
"Same. I like them on top of ice cream."
He stands up and says "Get dressed."
"Where we going?"
"We're getting ice cream." He walks to his closet and I get up and I go to the guest room.
I quickly change into a pair of jeans and a hoodie. I pull on my vans then I pull my hood on my head. I walk out of the room and see Chris waiting for me. He's wiping off his sunglasses, he puts them on and says "Come on." He grabs my hand and we go downstairs
We find a grocery store nearby and walk in. I hold Chris's arm and I feel safer. I know he at least cares about me enough to protect me. I see a couple people look at us. Normally I'll say something when someone stares but not today. I'm to fragile today. We find the cookie section and and he lets me pick out whichever Oreo I want. I of course pick the double stuff.
We go to the freezer and find some vanilla ice cream. He looks at me and asks "Anything else?"
"No, I think I'm good."
"Okay come on."
I hold our treats and go to the register with him. He pays for our things then we leave.
The minute we got back to his place, we started eating the ice cream. I sat criss cross applesauce and eat my dessert. Chris looks at me and grins, he looks away. "What?" I ask
"I'm just amazed by you." He smiles
"Why? Is it because I can eat more dessert than you?"
He chuckles "No, you had your whole world torn apart today and you..you're calm. I know you're upset but, you're relatively calm. If it were anyone else, they'd be having a meltdown. Myself included."
I shrug "It's who I am. I was in foster care, as private as that information is, it's the truth. I can't be mad at the truth. I'm sad because people are cruel."
He puts his hand on my knee "Don't worry, I'm going to find out who did this to you. I promise."
I grin "I know you will. I appreciate it."
He stands up and kisses my forehead, he walks over to the sink to wash his bowl out. I smile to myself, I need to accept my feelings for him. I'm in love with him, regardless of him wanting me that way or not. Whether I tell him or not, I don't know if I will. I know how he feels about me falling for him so, I may just have to hide it. Keep it in my heart.