A sigh left me with the continuous feathery kisses gliding down my neck and shoulder, when the gentle yet possessive touch of a pair of calloused hands over my curves pulled me out of the sleep. His hot breath fanned the skin of my neck. A raspy, deep groan reverberated through his chest when his palms glided over my chest.
“So perfect…” he murmured in my ear in a husky voice.
A gasp slipped from my lips as he softly bit on the skin of my throat. My eyes fluttered open to the shadowed room. The curtains blocked the sunlight out, only some rays of light peeked through the gaps.
A pair of beautiful stormy gray eyes peered into mine. With some strands of his ruffled bed hair falling over his forehead, thick stubble across his sharp jaw, and that familiar intense look of his whenever he looked at me left me breathless; as always.
“Good morning, my beautiful rose.” Gently grabbing my chin, he placed a soft kiss on my lips.
My heart fluttered at his simple yet sweet gesture.
I smiled. “Morning.”
“How did you sleep, baby?”
“Good.” All thanks to him. His touch and presence set my mind at peace. Even though his words from last night nagged me.
“When will you tell me?” I asked him last night, ready for the answers I was looking for so desperately.
His eyes met mine. “Tomorrow. You’ll know everything tomorrow.”
“Why tomorrow?”
“I need some time, Rosebud. I need to prepare myself to live my past once again, the past I had buried in the darkest corner of my memories.”
He asked for a day. And I’d have given him more than just a day if he had wanted. I made a mistake by pushing him too far once, I had hurt him unintentionally. I didn’t want to do it again. One day wasn’t much to wait for.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Where are we going?”
He let out a chuckle. “Aren’t you an impatient one?”
Last night, he said he wanted to take me somewhere. Somewhere we could spend some alone time away from here. Especially after the stressful days. And in his words, it was a temporary replacement of the plan he made for our vacation. Because a long vacation wasn’t possible at the moment due to his constant meetings with the Russians. But he promised me to take me on one soon.
I knew he needed this day out as much as I did. He needed this time to prepare himself to reveal his every secret before me.
I pouted. “I hate it when you do that.”
“Well, it’s called surprise, baby.” His smile slowly slipped. A look of concern took over his features as he cupped my cheek. “You okay?”
Letting out a sigh, I nodded. “I’m better now.”
Last night was one of the worst nights of my life. I was shocked. But I was fine now. And the love of my life being there for me made it easier.
“You sure? We can postpone it if you want to stay in today.” His thumb brushed over my cheek.
I shook my head. “No. I’m fine. Don’t worry. I’m actually looking forward to this, uh, what to call it? A date?” One of my brows raised.
The breathtaking smile appeared back on his heavenly features. “Call it whatever you like. All that matters is you being with me.”
“So, it’s our second date, then?”
“Nope,” he said, making me frown. “First. Our first date as an official couple. Not just as friends.”
Rolling my eyes, I bit my lip. Heat crept up my cheeks, remembering how I forced him to go on a date with me just as friends. I had no choice, though.
I hoped this date would turn out good. Not that the last one wasn’t good. It was amazing, the most beautiful day of my life. But the end was equally disastrous. So, I wished everything would turn out well this time.
His gray eyes looked down at me with adoration and love. Tracing my cheeks, he leaned in and kissed both of them.
“These adorable freckles. Do you know I hate it when you hide them with powder?”
I giggled. “It’s makeup. And yes, I know that.”
“Then why do you do that?”
“Because I don’t like them much.”
His brows furrowed. “But they’re beautiful.”
I bit my lip at his confused face. He looked so adorable.
He snuggled against my neck, letting out a groan. “You don’t know how beautiful you look with them, my rose. You’re so fucking beautiful.” His voice came out husky, sending a shiver down my spine.
His hand returned to my chest, cupping me firm with his big, calloused hand.
Then I realized how my legs were wrapped around his hips. Our bodies were pressed together, my soft one against his hard frame. When his hand marked their territory over my chest, his lips left more hickeys on my neck, sending my senses haywire. His huge junior was rigid and hard against my thigh. I felt a painful tug at my core.
“My rose…” he groaned.
My breath came out ragged. I needed more.
And just as I pulled him closer, tightening my legs around him, my stomach decided to interrupt.
He pulled away slightly, a frown formed between his brows. “You’re hungry?” Then he shook his head. “Of course you are. You didn’t have your dinner last night.”
At the mention of last night, I felt his shoulders tensing. But he composed himself soon.
“Let’s freshen up and I’ll make something for you.” Moving himself away from me, he placed a kiss on my stomach. “Let’s go.”
Smiling, I put my hand in his awaiting one and let him carry me to the washroom. I didn’t ask him about his sudden tense mood. In fact, I was grateful he didn’t start any conversation about last night. I didn’t have the strength to remember the incident again and again.
Pulling my hair up, I set it into a messy bun and stared at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were still puffy from my crying last night, and the bags underneath them were noticeable.
Ace left to make breakfast when I decided to spend more time in the washroom, taking a shower. Now that he wasn’t with me, memories of last night floated back into my mind. My hands tightened on the basin.
I tried not to think, but I failed.
I still couldn’t believe Warner could do something like that to me. Yes, he was drunk and hurt. But that didn’t justify his actions. He was… violent. He was a monster last night. I didn’t know he had this side in him. Now I didn’t know which Warner was real. The one I called my friend, or the one I came face to face with last night.
Bile rose in my throat recalling his actions. Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths to calm myself down.
I didn’t care to know where he was right now or how he was doing after Ace had beaten him to unconsciousness. I didn’t even want to think of him anymore.
Blinking away the moisture in my eyes, I walked out. As soon as I entered the kitchen, the mouthwatering smell of bacon and pancakes hit my nostrils. My stomach growled.
His gray eyes looked up at me before gliding down my body.
I was wearing one of his T-shirts that reached my mid-thigh. Nothing else.
The darkening of his eyes and tightness of his sharp jaw didn’t go missed by me as I sauntered closer.
“I bet you didn’t wear any panties, did you?” His voice came out deep.
My cheeks flushed. Shrugging, I sat on the counter. His eyes followed the movement of the T-shirt as it rose higher up my thighs.
“It’s long enough to cover my lady parts. So… yep. I didn’t wear anything else.”
He groaned, resting a hand on my knee. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Such a tease you are!” Leaning in, he nuzzled the crook of my neck, taking a breath. “If you wanted something from me, you could just ask, baby.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed at his chest, causing him to frown. “The only thing I want right now is food. I’m hungry.”
“Yes, it’s almost done,” he grumbled. Stepping away, he put some batter on the pan.
Giggling, I leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for making me such delicious dishes everyday. I love you. You’re the best boyfriend in the world, you know that?”
Though we hadn’t discussed our relationship yet, nor did he ask me to be his girlfriend, I just started to think of him as my boyfriend. He already called me his, and he was mine, so I didn’t think we needed to give it a name officially.
My kiss seemed to brighten his mood as he pecked my nose. “I’m glad. Even though I don’t like the boyfriend tag and I’d like to change it soon, it’s okay for now. And I love you more.”
My heart raced inside my chest. Butterflies erupted in my stomach at his words. Change the title soon? Did he mean what I thought he meant?
Heat touched my cheeks as I looked down at my lap, twirling my bracelet.
Chuckling, he kissed my head and pressed his forehead against mine. I looked up at him through my eyelashes.
Stormy grays peered into my soul with his intense gaze. “Soon.”
Warmth surged through me, happiness bloomed inside my chest. Just at the imagination of him waiting for me at the altar did something to me. My whole body tingled at the thought.
Becoming Mrs. Valencian didn’t sound so bad.
A burnt smell reached our nostrils, breaking our little magical moment. Crinkling my nose, I looked at the pan. The pancake.
I let out a chuckle when he only scowled at the almost black pancake, as if murdering it with his eyes for interrupting.
“Let me make another one.”
I shook my head.
“Did someone come when I was in the shower? I thought I heard some voices when I was changing.”
He nodded. “Yes. Arthur and Mr. Ivanov were here. I couldn’t meet them yesterday, and the Russians were eager for a quick meeting. So, I told Arthur to get Mr. Ivanov up here.”
My posture straightened. Arthur was here?
“Who’s Ivanov?”
“The owner of the Russian company we’re going to sign a deal with. There are two owners of the company. Mr. Balakin and Mr. Ivanov. Mr. Ivanov is doing all the work on this upcoming project,” he explained.
“What did he want to discuss so urgently?” I asked. I heard mentions of the Russians many times in the past two weeks, but I never met any of them yet.
“Mr. Ivanov came up with a new proposal. At first, they were only interested in just working with OC Textiles, but now they want to work with Valencian Corp as well. Changing the original plan of Mr. Balakin, the other partner, Mr. Ivanov now wishes to work on several projects at a time. He said he had his full trust in us. So, the more projects they could work on with us, the more they can expand their name in the US market.”
“So, what did you say?”
He thought for a second, before going back to flipping the pancake. “At first I didn’t like the idea of acknowledging the amount of money Valencian Corp has to invest. But Arthur has a belief it can bring us a huge Russian market if we go ahead with it. Their company has a good reputation in Russia. Even Caleb seems to like the idea. So, I agreed.” A shoulder of his lifted.
“How much does Valencian Corp have to invest?” I raised my brow.
He glanced at me. “Five hundred million.”
I gasped. My eyes widened. Five hundred?
“And as it’s a vast amount of money, they don’t want to bear any risk before the projects complete. So, they suggested signing a contract. A contract where it says that if there would be any hindrance or loss caused by a party between the certain time before the projects finish, they shall compensate the other party with the whole amount they invested in the project,” he added. “So that either party wouldn’t have any kind of hesitation regarding the deals.”
My mouth was on the floor, still absorbing his revelation. “And you agreed to go ahead with this? Five hundred million isn’t a joke for a company. I know you’re a freaking billionaire, but it can be a big issue for your company in the future if something goes wrong.”
He cupped my chin. “Our, it’s our company, baby. And don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. Our company handled deals like this before, though not with such contracts. But it’s not a big deal. They agreed to a lot of our conditions, we had to agree to this one of theirs. Normally I don’t work with others’ conditions, but Arthur seems to be adamant about working with them. He requested me several times to agree. So, I did.”
Something didn’t feel right. This contract didn’t sit well with me. Though people were working with contracts like that out there, with Arthur involved in this, seeing his desperation for this deal, I couldn’t help but worry.
He was definitely planning something.
“You said Arthur is going to handle this project?”
He nodded.
“Do you think you can trust him with it?” I asked carefully. “I mean, it’s quite a big project for him to handle all alone.”
“He’s not going to be alone, Rosebud. There are people who will be assisting him. And Caleb will also join once he comes back from his honeymoon,” he replied, putting some bacon on my plate. “Don’t worry. I trust him.”
That was what holding me back from telling him Arthur’s truth earlier, before Arthur threatened me with Ace’s past. He had blind trust in his uncle.
Seeing my silence, he gave me his whole attention. “What happened? What are you thinking?”
Should I tell him? Will he trust me?
What about Arthur’s threat? But that could be just a bluff, right? Maybe he didn’t know anything and was just bluffing to keep my mouth shut?
Kissing my lips softly, he made me look at him. “What’s bothering my rose so much?”
Should I?
I gulped. “He…”
