I didn't even know his first name. I'd been working with the blue-eyed menace, Mr. Archer, for a week now and I had no idea what his first name was.
Working with him, around him was fine. He didn't bother me as long as he had a cup of coffee at sharp fifteen past nine on his desk with me reading out his schedule for him in the back. Most of my work included sorting out emails, arranging or rearranging his meetings, talking to different clients and searching for restaurants to hold the meetings.
So far, he hadn't taken me to any meeting of his and I'd complied since the less his pretty eyes stayed in my wake, the better. Well, unfortunately, so far, in the past six days that I'd worked here, I'd been late for three days by six, three and eight minutes respectively, consecutively. He'd given me a good scolding for it though.
My phone buzzed in my purse and I whisked it out. The alarm I'd set for five past nine yesterday, after being reprimanded in his office about being punctual for about twenty minutes, went off. Sighing, I minimised the email's window on the computer and set off towards the pantry to make the grumpy old man his coffee.
As I walked passed the aisles, I offered multiple smiles to the other employees who I'd gotten very familiar with in the past few days.
Lily, the pretty receptionist, bristled past me with a nod of acknowledgement with a guy trailing behind her towards Mr. Archer's office. I offered her a nod back and went at my work.
Just as I was stirring Mr. Archer's coffee, my phone vibrated in my hand and I brought it to life almost instantly.
Sure enough it was a text from Lily.
Lils : that was a big client. can you please get a coffee for him while you're at it for Archer?
Me : how does the client like his coffee?
Lils : His name is Bernard Black btw. Milk and too much sugar. man's too sweet and flirts like it's his last day on earth.
Me : TMI. but gotcha.
Lils : thanks, bye.
Now I was stirring Mr. Archer's coffee and brewing Bernard's. The name sounded too familiar to ignore but I figured I'd find out once I gave him his coffee and saw his face.
Balancing one coffee on the tray while also wearing inches long heels was a hard deal as it was but with two coffees now, it was almost impossible. I survived, luckily.
I raptured my knuckles onto Mr. Archer's office door twice, like always, and entered.
"Three minutes." I'd just stepped into his office and the way his husky voice leered through the air had me stopping in my tracks for a second before I regained my composure.
I managed to look above, directly into his eyes, since Bernerd Black's back was to me as he was on the guest chair right across from where Mr. Archer sat, playing with his dangling earring. Jesus fucking Christ. "I was making coffee for our guest here. Sorry that I thought being hospitable would be respectful."
He smirked, amused by my retort and dropped his hand back down onto the desk, his muscles flexing deliciously under his white dress-shirt. Shuffling past Bernard's chair, I dropped both coffees onto their respective sides.
Even though I was very, very curious to just look over my shoulder and find out why Bernerd Black sounded so familiar to me, I abandoned the thought. I'd pissed off Mr. Archer, talked back to him infront of his client and yes, he'd been sort of amused by it, I didn't think any employer would appreciate their employee snarling around. And then turning around to take a look at this huge client would be. . . well. . . a step closer to being fired.
So, simply, I turned around, took a haste look at Bernard Black's face, the freckles around his nose making him more and more familiar, offered him a polite smile and almost took off. Almost. Until another slow voice veered off into the air. "Viens The Virgin"
I froze. My grip on the tray becoming steel strong, knuckles going white with anticipation. Viens The Virgin. Traumas and years of bullying came flooding back and slammed into my chest with such intensity, I stumbled a step.
"Hey— " Mr. Archer's voice evaporated the moment Bernard's voice clinked off, "Vienna."
"Oh look, it's the girl from yesterday's after-party," someone said, eyes on me as I walked towards my classroom.
"Said she's a petty fuck. Cried and begged to snuggle after giving away her 'bloom'," another one echoed, his laughter ringing throughout my way to the classroom.
Petty fuck.
Begged.
'Bloom'
Attention seek—
"Vienna," Bernard's voice dragged me back from the flashback. It was horrific and I'd never felt so vulnerable as I did right now.
I blinked back the stinging in my eyes. Trying to hide the tremor in my hands, I held the tray tighter and turned to him. "Bernard," I said in acknowledgement and nodded. Once.
"Oh my god," he shot to his feet. I took a step back as he moved forward to reach to me and flinched. I hated him. More than that, I hated the remorse floating through his eyes. The regret skimming so freely in them, it took me back to when I was sixteen. I hated them even more because his brown eyes reflected the same expression mine did years ago. "I— I've been trying to contact you for years. I'm genuinely sor— "
A snarl ripped from my throat. I didn't want his apologies. I was breathing so hard it almost felt as if I wasn't breathing at all, the inhale and the exhale was so ridiculously urgent, my head floated. "What are you doing here?" my voice had a cold edge to it and I loved myself for it.
"Vienna, I'm here to— oh my god, are you— ," his hand came up to me almost instantly and landed on my forearm, the touch of his bare skin on mine burnt and every reason why I hated him came running back to me. I tried to shake his hand off of mine but instantly another wave of nausea hit me and the tray fell with loud clink. I swayed and Bernard's arm came around my waist, holding me tight and to the ground.
"Please." I was pathetic and breathing hard. "Don't touch me, please," I begged and his eyes turned soft as if the memories stung him just as painfully as they did me. But it was all an act. He didn't care then, he wouldn't do now.
"You'll fall, Vi. Let me hold— "
"Don't call me that," I growled. With my arms sweaty and my head still floating, I pushed at his chest, sending him stumbling but he was fast enough to catch himself and me again. "I said, don't touch me— "
From near, the scraping of the wheels of a chair reverberated and another hand came upto my waist, sliding me out of Bernard's grip. "Hands off, she said." The touch of Archer's hand on my waist sent heat rushing right to my face. His voice was rough on the edges and understanding passed through Bernard's face before he nodded curtly.
"I'll come back someday else, Kai," Bernard said and with another nod, he was out of the cabin, leaving me and my boss, Kai, alone.
As soon as Bernard left "Kai's" office, I turned to him, an involuntary giggle slipping out. His eyes narrowed on me, his fingers still caressing my waist. "Is something funny, Ms. Bell?"
"Kai," I blurted. Then snorted. "As in, K A I," I spelt the letters of his name for him and another giggle slipped out. "That's your name? It sounds like a name from one of those supernatural series where he's a sociopath yet everyone loves him. No offense, of course."
Amusement flickered across his deep blue eyes that set my stupid heart on fire. The corners of his lip twitched but he shook his head softly. "That's not my name."
I blinked. "Hmm, that's not?" When he shook his head lightly, I nudged him in stomach and shivered when my elbow bristled a ridge in his abs through his dress shirt, "Then what is?"
My voice was dreamier than I would've liked it but when he smirked down at me, it sent another wave of adrenaline straight to my toes. He leaned in so his lips brushed the shell of my ear in the most sensual way and whispered, "That's for me to know and for you to, dot dot dot."
My toes curled at the sheer heat of his body pressed against mine and everything about that asshole Bernard vanished into thin air. My panic attack, long forgotten— the moment his fingers brushed my waist, to be exact and— wait, "You know that reference," I laughed, my head tipping back, coming right in contact with the line of his shoulder and my entire body shuddered with laughter. "You've definitely seen that series, haven't you?"
He coyly raised a shoulder and an unexpected chuckle slipped right through his lips. "Maybe," he said it softly and another rush of heat warmed my cheeks.
"Uh-huh." I was still laughing so hard at the mental image of Kai-or whatever his name was-sitting infront of his television, watching the most ridiculous sociopath annoy the shit out of the main characters. It was really impossible to even imagine him— I gasped.
"What the hell?" I breathed. While I was still laughing, obviously oblivious that we'd still been in a very controversial position, Archer had spun me in his arm so my lower back came straight in contact with the edge of his desk and then he was hovering me, his hands on either sides of my hips, just besides mine own.
"Bernard," his tone had shifted from warm to cold, professional in a flicker and my body suddenly hated his presence, this aloofness. "What's the deal with you and him?"
Before I even opened my mouth, I already knew I wasn't telling him what had happened ten years ago. It was worthless, really. A little while of laughter and teasing him about watching a show was fine but he was, afterall, the CEO of the company and cared only about its profit.
I remembered Lily mentioning how he was a big client and I knew as much, a big client meant big profit so I wasn't going to ruin this for Archer.
Though I hated Bernard and didn't trust a single emotion that flickered past his eyes today, I also knew he hadn't known I was working here so there was no way for him to talk of whatever this deal was just to bully me even more than he had. Besides, if anything, I should've been the one to track him down and have him pay for his sins for everything I and my family went through because of him. This deal was just as fruitful for Bernard as it was for Archer.
When I felt my boss's gaze burn deep into the side of my cheek, I quickly cleared my throat as he raised a brow at me in silent question. "Childhood feud," I said after a while. Technically, I didn't lie. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. There were a few things I would have to talk to Bernard about later though.
The blue-eyed menace was definitely not content with my two-word answer and waited for me to elaborate. When I didn't, he sighed, nodding stubbornly. "Coffee?"
I looked at him through my lashes, the skin on my arms erupting in goosebumps as his fingers brushed mine for a second longer before he leaned away, rounding the corner to sit on his chair. He watched me breath unstably from his chair and I knew he knew that he'd made me breathless on multiple occassions today and it was not okay.
Obviously, that invitation for coffee had been a bluff because he'd already opened another file on his desk, ticking stuff away with his black pencil.
Well okay then.
Without another word, I slipped out of his office and shut the door behind me. The moment I sat on my own chair, another shiver rippled through me at the memory of his fingers on my waist, on my hand, his mouth on my ear, the whisper of his words on the shell of my ear and I knew, again in conviction, that if I didn't keep my distance, I would be too far gone to return.
||
I think it had been like two hours since my incident with Bernard when the hair on the back of my neck stood. I knew without having to hook my nose out of the file who it was.
"Ms. Bell." He looked so pleasing even in the middle of the day after having worked for half the day that one day, honest to God, it would bring me to tears if not my knees. He had his jacket back on, hair gelled straight up as he rolled his cufflink on his right wrist.
His eyes met mine and I sucked in a breath so sharp, the right corner of his mouth tugged up. I hadn't noticed in the last week that I worked here how handsome he actually was. Goodness. Those ocean blue eyes would be the death of me someday. "Sir."
"Come on, we've got to go and return before the lunch break is over. I don't think we've much time left," he said, tugging at the file in my hand and already closing it.
I started to protest, rolling the watch on my wrist, "Hey, it's only—" I watched the time on my watch and almost did a double flip, "— thirty past twelve. Wait, how did time run away— no, wait, where are we going?" I shrugged his arm off of mine, the mere sense of his fingers lightning up another dull spark in the low ends of my belly, and got to my feet on my own.
He glanced at me as if I'd just killed his beloved cat and buried her in his yard. It was my turn to raise a brow at him. His nose flared in annoyance. I glared back just as venomously before he dropped his act and sighed, "I promised you coffee."
Someone save my heart because this tall and handsome and unreal and unearthly man was doing things to my heart and I couldn't bear it if he kept this up. The man didn't even want to give me this job in the first place, for God's sake. "You didn't promise me anything."
"I asked you, you didn't reply so I assumed it was a yes," he said.
A chuckle drew out of me. "Never assume, it doesn't do good most times."
He gave his shoulders an insolent shrug. "It's easy," he bobbed his head as if he was giving the most valuable advice of the decade. "You reply to me when I ask, I don't assume."
I scoffed.
He groaned, grabbed my bag from my desk and then he was walking forward leaving me staring at his back in disbelief. A few steps in, he looked over his shoulder and tipped his chin, "You coming or shall I assume you've agreed to let me use all the cash in this bag of yours?"
It was my chance to groan. Nevertheless, I followed him as an idiot smile spread across my face.
||
Lils : wru? been waiting in the line at the pantry. sandwich again? ooooooh or salad? balanced diet and all that?
Me : neither. im not at the office
Lils : wru Vienna? trouble? 911? SOS?
I rolled my eyes. Someone needed to keep all those dramatic books and movies away from her. The next time I was around, I'd probably log out of her Netflix, she didn't remember her password anyways. I was a bad friend, like that.
Me : coffee with boss
Lils : nice one but seriously, wru?
Me : ten grand says im with the grumpy old man rn, wanna bet?
Lils : stfu watchu guys doin?
Lils : WAIT YOU TWO ON A DATE? when did you start dating? omfg Vienna im going to kill you, how could you keep this from me?
Me : calm your mf ass down. we're not on a date and no im not dating him, jeez. it's like filling a promise, is all
Lils : u promised him coffee? why?
Me : he promised me coffee
Lils : I call bs, you high?
I sent her a rolling eyes emoji and dumped my phone into my bag when I felt my boss walking over to our table with a tray of two coffees in one hand and a plate of sandwiches in another. His biceps flexed from under his shirt at the littlest friction and something about men walking with food in their hands turned me on— no, uh uh, not going there.
He placed the coffee tray on our table and proceeded to sit across from me. This was a new cafe that opened for business not long ago and I had been dying to check it out with Lily but when Mr. Archer mentioned of it, I couldn't help but agree.
The interior was calm, symmetrically lined table and chairs, fresh flowers in each vase, couple paintings on the walls— neither too vibrant nor too lowkey— and a counter straight up ahead from the entrance. The cashier looked like a man in his late twenties with a pretty face. Shame, though, I hadn't seen him smile once in the five minutes I'd been here.
Blue-eyed menace cleared his throat, bringing my attention from the cute cashier to his. "Coffee and sandwich," he gestured to the plates between us. "Don't like it?"
I realised I hadn't taken a single bite out of our food so I quickly picked up the piece of a perfectly cut sandwich and shoved it down my throat. Man I'd been famished. Then, deeming this behaviour very unladylike in the public, I remembered to chew my next bite. "Heavenly," I said between my mouthful and slid the plate toward him. "You?"
He shook his head and pushed the plate in my direction. "Someday else."
"Why not now?" Even as I said it, I picked the last piece of the sandwich and took a large mouthful. If he wanted one for himself, he'd get it. It wasn't like he couldn't afford it. Besides, I'd asked him once, rather half-heartedly, but something better than nothing, right? And he'd denied!
"Watching you eat plenty would do for me now, so eat," his gaze swept over my face and then an amused chuckle slipped past his lips. He picked at a tissue from the box on our table and leaned forward till his fingers brushed my nose. He scrubbed the tissue at the corner of my lips and my heart stilled in my chest. Sucking in a long breath, I pulled the tissue out of his hand and cleaned the crumbs off of my lips myself just in time to hear him laugh and mumble something like stupid girl under his breath.
Still laughing softly, when his eyes met mine and he held eye contact, my heart stopped for a second. And then it fluttered so fast back to life, I was left staring at him wide-eyed with my stupid, erratic palpitations.
And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the bells of the cafe chimed and the door opened. Stepped in Bernard Black, his dark gaze set on me and Archer laughing.
Then he was walking towards our table with something unpleasant dripping off his scowl. That's when my heart did a double take. This wouldn't end well.
||
This chapter- man, it took me DAYS to complete but I hope you guys liked it.
The Kai and "that's for me to know and for you to dot, dot, dot" was a "The Vampire Diaries" reference for people that didn't know.
Kai Parker was a sociopath (not really since we all loved him at some point) in the series and the next dialogue was said by one of the main characters Damon Salvatore in the series.