9. Claire

The rest of the day seems to fly by without Julian in the office. I have to admit that a part of me feels like he"s avoiding me and rightfully so. The dress I"m wearing is hardly work attire, but I want to show him what he"s missing out on. I don"t like that he feels like I"m playing games. But isn"t he the one who started this?

I was perfectly fine fantasizing about him until he brough my vivid dreams to reality and stopped short of taking my virginity. I don"t want to give it to anyone else, but it"s looking like that may happen, anyway. The workday runs smoothly and when the day ends, still not a word from our CEO.

However, I don"t get the chance to leave without running into Fiona. She"s still fumbling with a thick binder in her arms which I"m no longer sure it"s actually necessary for her to carry around. I"m beginning to think she carries it to make herself look more important than she truly is. After all, she"s in the finance department. Aren"t all of her forms and records on the servers? Does she have to carry sensitive documents with her all the time?

When she practically stomps by like she"s annoyed to have a job, I put my head down to focus on closing out my laptop and tablet for the day. After she makes the obvious deduction that Julian"s not in the office, she stops by my desk.

"Where is he?" she asks. In a huff.

"Mr. Blackwell isn"t in the office today," I reply.

"I know that," she snarls. "I saw the memo you sent out earlier. I thought he"d be back by now. I need his signature on these forms and contracts."

"You can leave them with me. I"ll make sure he gets them and they get back to you." I tell her as I stand to take the file from her.

Fiona tosses her wavy hair over her shoulder, tucking the binder in closer to her body. She"s behaving like she has top secret missile launch codes in her hands. Perhaps she does. That would certainly be a more plausible way to make a billion dollars annually than consulting about mergers, acquisitions, and corporate culture.

Yes.

From now on, in my head, Nuvola Scura is a corporate entity safeguarding nuclear weapons for various governments and the company is paid millions of dollars daily to do so.

"Are you going to leave the documents here or would you prefer I leave a message for Mr. Blackwell to see you when he gets back into the office?" I ask her.

Fiona drags her green-eyed gaze up and down my frame as if I"m insulting her. "These are for his eyes only. I"ll come back tomorrow. Oh, and just a note, that attire isn"t suitable for the office. More like for a club. You need to decide what you want to do here."

"What do you mean?"

She rolls her eyes. "I mean, you"re barely out of high school. Most people your age are in college or trying to find a career. I hardly doubt that Julian Blackwell"s, whatever you are, is going to be an executive assistant forever."

"What"s wrong with being an executive assistant?"

Fiona lets out a sigh, shifting her weight and that stupid binder to the other arm. A part of me wants to take it from her and sit it on my desk. However, she doesn"t seem like she wants me to help her, let alone touch anything she"s touched.

"Nothing, but Julian, and his family, come from money, honey. If you"re going to be associated with their family, the expectations for you are much higher than an average girl. Besides, I feel like you"re ambitious and eventually you"ll get tired of fetching his coffee." She closes her eyes, almost as if she"s dreading whatever words are going to come out of her mouth. She shocks me too as she says, "If you ever want a bit more responsibility, to see how we do business here at Nuvola, you can shadow me for a few days."

"I thought you didn"t even want me around," I reveal in a low tone.

"I don"t, but since Julian does, I might as well make you an asset. Sitting your pretty little ass in front of his office all day doesn"t make you an asset. It makes you a trophy that most of his visitors would likely try to capture. That doesn"t serve anyone here. My job as his finance manager is to make him money. There"s something far more profitable for you to do here, career wise. Make an appointment to see me sometime next week."

Fiona walks away without me agreeing to the offer. She just assumes I"m going to take her up on it. I think I might, unless of course, this is some ploy to make me look bad. Maybe it"s a way to get me fired. However, even if it is, I can use it to actually learn the specifics of the different departments. I might excel in a specific area. The confidence I"d have would match Fiona"s and then I"d feel much better standing up to her. However, I don"t have time to work myself up over whatever lessons or games Fiona is playing here. I have a date tonight. Excitement fills me to the brim and I can"t wait to see what Devon has planned for us. I can barely contain my grin as I shut everything in the office down for the day to make my way home with Bonnie.

"You"re wearing that on the date?" she asks as we pull up to the front entryway of the manor.

"Yes, why?" I ask her, peering down at my dress and high heels.

"It"s just that, the Devon kid, the car he drives, it all looks, um, you might be a tad overdressed for a first date," Bonnie says. "I could be wrong, but maybe jeans, a regular shirt and some tennis shoes might be better."

I huff out a breath and think about it. She"s probably right. "I"ll go change."

"It"s fine if you want to keep that on. I just wanted you to be comfortable, just in case, you know?"

I nod and head inside to jump in the shower and toss out everything in my closet to find a vintage t-shirt to throw on with a pair of denim cutoff shorts. It takes over an hour for me to get ready and that"s when I realize I haven"t heard from Devon. I glance at my phone and don"t see anything.

There aren"t any new notifications from him or from Julian. It"s after seven and we agreed for six. What if he"s keeping his original time of eight? That"s probably it. I"ll wait for him outside, scrolling through social media to kill time. As the sun sets and the minutes tick by, Bonnie pops her head out of the front door from time to time to see if I want to just go into town or something, blow him off.

I shake my head, hoping that Devon eventually shows up. By the time it"s dark outside and I"m sure the date isn"t happening, I can feel the sting of tears burning the back of my eyes. What kind of girl gets stood up on her first date?

Fuck, I"m pathetic. Maybe this is the ick that Julian feels and it"s why he won"t go all the way with me.

However, the front gate creaks open and the sound of a car much lighter than the massive SUV Edward chauffeurs Julian around in rolls onto the property. The same beat-up sedan from early this morning pulls around the fountain and stops in front of me.

When Devon gets out, his arms wide as if I"m going to hug him, infuriates me into refusing to wipe my tears in front of him.

"Hey, Princess, you ready?"

"The set of balls you have on you. Do you have any idea how late you are?" I ask him. "What the fuck? You asked me out."

"And out we"re about to go." He walks around as I stand up to go back inside. He opens the passenger side door to his car, saying, "Your chariot, my lady."

I slam the door shut. "Absolutely not. I can"t believe you still think you have a raindrop"s chance in the desert of ever taking me out."

"I do," he says, cocky and tipping his head to the side. "Listen, Claire. I"m sorry I"m late. My car broke down and unfortunately, I"m the only mechanic I can afford at the moment. It took me a while to fix the issue with parts around a shop that"s only built to fix lawn care equipment. Don"t let my tardiness ruin a perfectly good night. We can hit an ice cream shop?—"

"I"m not going anywhere tonight. I only waited to see if you were going to show up. You could have called, sent a text, a smoke signal, something?—"

"You"re right and I absolutely should have, but the funny thing about phones is they don"t work when they"re dead. Let me make it up to you."

"No," I tell him, softening under the gaze of his big brown eyes.

He takes a step closer, reaching forward to take the tips of my fingers into his hand. "Pretty please, Princess?"

Devon bends at the waist to kiss the top of my hand. So dramatic, but charming in his own way.

"You"ve got one last chance to prove you"re not a turd."

He chuckles, "I promise you, Princess, turd I am not. A piece of shit sometimes, absolutely."

That makes me laugh for whatever reason. He"s effortlessly charming, and it does have a way of easing the rage I'm experiencing. But, the charm melts away when he tugs me into his embrace just as Julian"s SUV pulls onto the property.

Fuck. I try to push away, not wanting Julian or Edward to see me in Devon"s arms.

"Let go," I urge him.

"Aww, Princess, what"s the matter? I thought you were giving me another chance."

I push my hands against his chest to shove him away, but he doesn"t budge. It gives me a distinct image of what he"d be like if he truly wanted to throw his weight around. Suddenly, the morning self-defense drills don"t seem so pointless.

"Devon, let go of me. I"m giving you one more chance to show up on time, not paw at me."

"Princess, this isn"t even a paw. This is," he smirks, dropping one hand to grip my ass which causes a literal knee-jerk reaction.

My leg comes up, my knee connecting to the side of his thigh. I grab him by the shoulders to do the move again when he throws his hands and a leg up to block himself. There"s a smile and laughter coming out of him. "I"m sorry, sorry, sorry. I was wondering if you were going to do that karate shit again. That"s fucking cool."

"You can ask, you know. You don"t have to continuously piss me off to get that out of me."

He shrugs, backing away toward his car. "I don"t know, Princess. I like you mad, feisty. Can I call you to reschedule?"

"Yes, fine, one more shot and that"s it. Don"t fuck up again," I warn him.

Devon offers me a smile with his palms pressing together as if he"s praying, grateful to have another shot at pissing me off. He gets into his car and takes off. I look around, wondering how much of that Julian saw, but I"m certain he used one of the other doors to head inside.

After sending Bonnie home, I make my way upstairs. Julian stops me before I reach my bedroom.

"Come here, Claire." His voice is dark, glare menacing, and his dark, wavy, brown hair is unruly as it falls to just above his ears. He"s already out of his suit and stands in front of his open bedroom door for me to come inside. The mood is somber. The black leather walls have a modern look that makes the entire space feel different from the rest of the manor.

There"s an enormous cream-colored stone fireplace centered in front of his bed. The bed sits between four spindle iron posts. The fireplace is more like an eight-foot-wide column that blocks the view of large windows overlooking the back lawns of the property.

Nothing is behind the manor except a protected nature preserve or something like that. There"s a guest house buried among the trees after the inch-high grass greets the woods behind us. The staff"s quarters are out of sight, courtesy of Julian"s mother and her strict policy from the days she used to live here. The help is never meant to be seen, and never meant to live in the home with the family.

I can"t let the view or ideas of home economics distract me. Julian"s presence is distracting enough.

"Is that what you like, Claire? Some kid"s hands all over you?" he asks. His tone is subtle, but anger laces every word.

"He"s not a kid and no. I didn"t like it which is why I stopped him from going any further. You know whose hands I want all over me, Julian." I prod him, egging him on because my own frustration with Devon standing me up is Julian"s fault. "This is all your fault. If you"d just?—"

Julian slams his door shut, taking a few large steps toward me and pulling me into his arms. His lips capture mine with fury, passion exploding between us as his tongue pushes inside of my mouth. He"s possessive, urgent with need as he pushes the fingers of one hand through my hair while the other palms my backside to easily scoop my legs up to wrap around his waist.

Julian carries me over to his bed, where he lays me on my back for our passion to continue. He feverishly undoes my shorts and slips them off, never breaking our kiss. When our lips finally part, I can barely hear his words. They come out in a hushed but hurried tone.

"You"re mine, Claire. You belong to me. This pussy belongs to me," he snarls before snatching my panties away. My heart races as he cups the apex between my thighs, our eyes meet, he stares at me for a moment, "This is what you wanted. Isn"t it? This is what you"ve been asking for, right?"

I don"t want him to stop. I don"t want to speak. I just want to feel Julian inside of me. "Yes, this is what I want. Please just, just do it."

"Tell me, Claire. Tell me who you belong to."

"You, Julian. I"m yours."

Without another thought, our mouths crash together as Julian pulls his cock out, stroking himself while he slides his fingers between my folds. It doesn"t take long before he"s dipping them inside of me while his tongue darts in and out of my mouth. I can"t stand the wait. The buildup to this moment. All I had to do was date someone else.

"Fuck, I need you so bad, I can"t stand it," he mumbles as he pushes me further back onto the bed, prowling over me before nudging his thickness at my center.

The moment I feel him push inside of me, my eyes slam shut, mouth gaping open, gasping for the pain to ease. My thighs tense around him, locking him in place to stop from moving.

"Spread these legs for me, Claire. Let me inside of you."