Earth Angel

"Truth is a great flirt." ~ Frank Liszt

"WHATEVER IT IS," SLADE said irritably when he heard the knock on the door, "I'm not in the fucking mood for it." Farica should really know when not to push—-

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wyndham."

Shit.

The billionaire practically tripped over his own feet in his haste, and he got to the door in record time. He threw it open and saw his adorable little Kady, in the process of turning away, jerk in surprise as their gazes clashed.

"Sorry about that," he said right away. "I thought you were Farica." Seeing that she appeared seconds away from bolting, he swiftly searched for a way to keep her from leaving, and it was then his gaze fell on the tray she was holding. "Is that for me?" he asked in surprise.

"I was worried," Kady mumbled. "You...you hadn't eaten the whole day, and you s-seemed in a bad mood."

With embarrassment seemingly having gotten the best of her, Kady had started blushing mid-speech and by the time she finished speaking, her voice was barely audible over The Fleetwoods singing in the background. He normally hated Farica's choice of songs, but this time, his colleague had definitely gotten it right.

His little Kady was an earth angel indeed, with the way she couldn't help worrying over him despite still finding him as fearsome as the boogeyman from her childhood.

"Is there anything wrong, Mr. Wyndham?"

Sweet, sweet Kady, to have found the courage to ask such a thing even as the question now made her look close to fainting.

"Yeah," the billionaire said finally, "I suppose you could say that."

Kady's fears dissipated at her boss' words. Oh no. She had been right, after all, and she looked up at him worriedly, saying, "If there's anything I can do to help—-"

"There is," he said right away, and as her gaze turned hopeful, he said lazily, "Don't ever talk to another man but me. Don't smile or meet their gazes. Don't even think of any other guy except me ."

Kady's jaw dropped. She couldn't have heard him correctly. Could she? But when her boss only continued to gaze at her, she stammered, "I...I...I..."

"You asked me what was wrong," Slade reminded her mockingly, "so I'm simply answering you with the truth—-"

"Mr. Wyndham!"

He glanced at the tray she was holding. "That must be heavy." But instead of offering to help her with it, he simply stepped aside. "Come in, please."

And just like that, she was trapped, like a lamb being led to slaughter as she reluctantly followed him inside his office. The last time she had been here was when he had Kady sign her employment contract, and she had been so nervous and overwhelmed that day to pay any attention to her surroundings.

This time, however, she had enough presence of mind to look around as she placed the tray on the coffee table. His office was a lot larger than it appeared from the outside, and while the furniture and fixtures were the same mix of leather, copper, and old wood, what did surprise Kady were the fully stocked shelves, with coffee books printed in various languages. Russian, Japanese, Spanish, German...

Slade's lips curved when he saw her staring at his books. "What if I told you all those were for show?" he asked slyly.

She shook her head. "I know you'd be joking."

He raised a brow. "How come?"

"Because you don't seem the type," she answered honestly. Despite his rather wickedly offhand attitude to most things, Kady's guts told her that one flaw her boss would never be guilty of was being a fake. He simply didn't strike her as the type to be weak or shallow enough to change himself to suit other people's—-

What was he doing?

Too late she saw the pair of glasses her boss had set next to the tray. Panicking at the thought of having to share even just a drink with him, she blurted out, "I think I should go—-"

"Too late, little chick. Just give in gracefully and have supper with me."

Kady watched her boss take a seat on the couch.

The billionaire's gaze turned thoughtful. "It's your choice," he said pleasantly. "Do you sit next to me—-" He tapped the extra space on the couch. "Or on my lap—-" He had barely finished talking when Kady hastily took her place next to him, and Slade grinned. "Thought so." He gestured to the selection of drinks he had taken out of the minibar. "Pick your poison."

"Just apple juice, if that's okay?"

He glanced at her oddly. "It's your drink."

Kady avoided meeting Slade's curious blue eyes at his words, not wanting to tell him the countless times Margaux's boyfriends had made fun of her every time she refused to drink alcohol with them.

Seeing Slade cut his sandwich into halves and realizing he was going to offer her one, Kady started shaking her head-—

"Your choice again," he reminded her. "Do I feed you or—-"

She practically snatched the halved sandwich from his hands. "Thank you very much," Kady said quickly.

Seeing her hesitate, he said gently, "You can say grace."

A small, shy smile flashed on her lips. "Thanks." As soon as she was done praying, he saw her take a huge bite right after, and the billionaire had to cough to hide his laugher, knowing that it was her way of giving him zero chances to change his mind.

After taking a bite of the sandwich, he remarked casually, "Good, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir."

The billionaire grimaced. "Shouldn't you be calling me Slade by now?"

Kady started squirming. "It's just..."

"You like him more than you like me," he finished for her.

Her eyes widened. "No, of course not—-"

"Then you like me?"

"I don't—-"

His lips tightened. "I knew it. You were just lying earlier. You don't like me."

"But I do—-"

"I thought so, too," her too-handsome boss purred, and Kady, seeing the wolfish gleam in Slade's eyes, almost groaned at the realization that he had set up the whole thing.

"You're impossible," she burst out, sheer exasperation for once winning over the usual nervousness his proximity evoked.

He tsk-tsked. "You mean irresistible."

"No, I do not—-"

"Of course you do," he asserted silkily. "You're just having a hard time admitting the truth to yourself."

Kady could only shake her head. "You're so hard to understand—-"

"That's fine, little chick. I won't hold it against you," he said generously. "As long as you're attracted to me, it's all good—-"

She almost choked. "Mr. Wyndham!"

"Slade," he reminded her.

"If I call you Slade," Kady couldn't help muttering under her breath, "will you at least promise to stop this?"

"This?"

She made a face. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Perhaps you should spell it out," he suggested, "just so I can be certain we're thinking about the same thing."

Squirming once again, Kady found herself practically choking on the word. "F-Flirting."

"Ah." Laughter flashed in his gaze, and Kady realized he had simply once again manipulated her into doing something she didn't want. Aaaaaargh!

"So you think I'm flirting with you," Slade drawled .

The words caught her off guard. "But...I...you..."

"Are correct, of course," he cut in with a grin. “I am flirting with you."

Kady had the craziest urge to slam her head on the coffee table. Repeatedly. "Please stop making fun of me. I really don't get it, especially after..."

Slade's smile disappeared at the way Kady suddenly stopped speaking. "Especially after what?"

"I know what happened to the other waitresses," she revealed in a small voice. "Farica—-"

Should've kept her mouth shut, he thought grimly.

"She told me how all of them had done their best to hook up with you, and that at least one of them had even threatened to sue you for sexual harassment." The only reason the case hadn't even seen the light of day was how every square foot of the cafe was under CCTV surveillance, and the footage had proved very damning...against the women.

"So you see..." Lowering her gaze to her lap, she mumbled, "I just don't get why—-"

"I'm different with you?" Slade asked.

Kady slowly nodded.

"To be honest...I'm not sure myself."

The blunt tone of her boss' voice had Kady looking up, and his lips tilted in a mocking fashion as her gaze tentatively met his.

"I've never been the jealous or possessive type," the billionaire shared pensively, "but there's just something about you that brings out the caveman in me. Having the ability to make you squirm and jump gives me unparalleled pleasure—-"

Kady's jaw dropped once more. Maybe she was reading him wrong, but wasn't he basically saying...

"I especially enjoy seeing you blush and trip—-"

"Are you basically admitting to being a bully?" she blurted out.

Slade's broad shoulders moved in a lazy shrug as he drawled, "I suppose I am, but..." Devilish amusement only served to turn her boss' eyes a more mesmerizing shade of blue. "I'm only like this with you, sweetheart."

"Only with...me?" Kady couldn't tell if she was being complimented or insulted.

"I'm afraid so."

"Because I'm...different?"

"Because you're different," he agreed.

"So if I try...acting like one of the other waitresses..."

The billionaire grinned, having no difficulty understanding the direction her thoughts had taken. "You could try," he acknowledged, "but you'll only be wasting your efforts. You'll be fantastically bad at playing the tart—-"

"You don't know that," Kady interrupted, just because she felt the need to defend herself.

"Ah, but I do, little chick. And you know why?"

She shot him a wary look. "Why?"

"Because you're not the type to flirt with someone you don't want," he pointed out dryly. "And I can tell, you know. You don't want me that way—-" And in the blink of an eye, Slade suddenly leaned close, leaving her no chance to rear back as he whispered straight into her ear, "Yet."

Kady nearly fell out of the couch, and the billionaire laughed at the way she practically gobbled down the rest of her sandwich and excused herself the moment he pulled back.

"I...um...tables..."

"What was that?"

Kady gave up trying to be coherent. "Good night, Mr. Wyndham." She could barely hear her voice over the wild, hard thumping of her heartbeat and tripped twice in her rush to leave the office.

Slade leaned back in his seat as the door slammed shut. As galling as the truth was to admit, he hadn't been lying earlier when he told Kady he knew she didn't want him that way yet. Even with the way her breath caught or how her body moved restlessly in his presence, the billionaire knew it all amounted to Kady simply being nervous.

And the truth was damnably easy to tell, with her eyes never once begging him to kiss her every time their gazes met.

After finishing the rest of his sandwich, the billionaire got to his feet and was about to clean up when he felt his phone vibrate inside his pocket. Pulling it out, he saw that a new text from an unidentified number had arrived at his inbox.

I love you so much. I know you know who I am. And shouldn't that tell you something?

Slade's jaw hardened.

He did know, and it did tell him something.

But it wasn't what she was hoping for.