I Didn't Know He Was My Boss: A Billionaire's Marriage of Convenience Romance

by Marian Tee

  It was probably the sweetest of all captions, but—-

  The video, which was playing on a loop, started again, and she watched herself fall asleep on the screen and begin to snore.

  Her teeth gnashed.

  Sweet caption or not, she was going to kill Luca for this.

  When she finally made it to the office, it no longer surprised Vivian when everyone turned to look at her with knowing smirks, some even taking photos of her with their smartphones as if they wanted to share proof that they had seen the woman whose face was plastered on every available billboard in the city.

  Maggie had texted her while she was in the car, and so far, her former roommate had told Vivian gleefully, she had been able to track down twenty different billboards.

  By the time Vivian made it to the penthouse, she could no longer remember how it felt to have a face that was not on fire, and her cheeks burned anew when even Luca’s normally conservative executives were grinning at her.

  Fuuuuudge. Next time, she would remember that Italians seemed to have a strange definition for the word ‘mushy.’ When she reached Luca’s office, she didn’t bother knocking on the door and simply barged in, saying hotly, “Luca Valencia, you have some explaining—-mmph!”

  The door closed behind her, and her back fell against it a moment later as Luca caged her in his arms while his mouth ravaged hers in a savagely sweet kiss.

  “L-Luca!” But she couldn’t really remember what she was supposed to be mad about and instead found herself locking her arms around his neck and returning his kiss. His tongue pressed deeper in bold intent, and her knees buckled.

  Chucking against her lips, he asked huskily, “Did you like my surprise?”

  “N-no.” But she ended up whimpering her answer out as his mouth trailed down, and she arched her neck when he began to suck the soft skin.

  “Why not, cara?” His mouth moved back up, and he whispered into her ear, “Was it not mushy enough for you?”

  Vivian couldn’t answer, too busy shivering at the way his words caressed her ear. By the time she had recovered her voice, it was to have him spinning her around, and as she felt her breasts flatten against the door, she asked him breathlessly, “Where did you even get the idea to use all those billboards? Did you lose a bet to Angelo or something?”

  “No, that was all mine,” he told her with amusement. “But Angelo did suggest I take you to a vacation island he and Ari had tried, and I did take him up on it. I’ve booked us for the weekend and as soon as Eula is out of school, we’ll be flying there. It will just be the three of us, no phones, no anything—-”

  This time, she couldn’t help spinning around to face him. “Really?”

  A crooked smile appeared on his lips. “Don’t be too excited, I haven’t told you the best part yet.”

  Her eyes shone. “Tell me, tell me.”

  “I was thinking we could cook our meals together, because you always make this little sigh whenever you watch that show, Unplugged—-” He stopped speaking as his wife threatened to choke the life out of him with her bear hug.

  “I’m so happy, Luca,” she whispered. “So happy.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Who knows, I may even wear an apron for you—-”

  She pulled back to gaze at him in amazement. “Really?” The conservative and manly Luca Valencia in an apron? She couldn’t even picture it, and she was his wife.

  “It has its merits, but only if you also promise to wear an apron—-”

  “Sure!”

  “—-and just that.”

  “I, uh, what?”

  Laughing, he spun her around, and again she found herself facing the door this time. “What are you—-” Then she felt him unzipping himself, and she stiffened, asking incredulously, “Luca, really—-” It was broad daylight, for heaven’s sake! And there were people and-—

  “Oh my God.” Vivian felt him inch her skirt up, bit by bit, until she could feel the cool air touch the back of her thighs, and she shivered in sensual pleasure, the forbidden element of what they were doing making her lick her wet lips as moisture pooled between her thighs.

  “This one,” her husband said silkily, “I asked a Greek billionaire friend of mine if he had any suggestions of how else I could prove to my wife that I love her very much.”

  “A-and?” Her voice was strangled, her mind a mess, and her body already melting—-

  She heard something rip, and Vivian gasped a moment later, realizing it had been her lace panties.

  “Since he knew me pretty well, he told me that I should wear my love with pride.” And as he spoke, he slowly entered her from behind, and Vivian gasped as she felt his hardness filling her.

  Oh God.

  Licking her ear, he whispered, “You always tease me about being too conservative.”

  She couldn’t answer, too busy covering her mouth so she wouldn’t make a sound as her husband did his best to drive her out of her mind with his deep, forceful thrusts.

  “So today, I thought I should prove you wrong. I want you to let everyone know about how proud I am that you have me enslaved—-”

  He pulled her hands away from her mouth and kept it locked between their bodies.

  Panicking, she tried twisting around to look at him, gasping, “Luca—-”

  But her husband chose that moment to sink his hardness back into her, at the same time reaching around her to flick his finger against Vivian’s tiny bud of pleasure.

  This time, Vivian was unable to think.

  She let out a moan.

  Outside the office, everyone stopped dead in surprise, the men even bumping into each other while an older secretary dropped the mug she was holding in shock, and it smashed against the floor with a loud crash.

  It was chaos, and a moment later, Vivian realized why it was happening, and she gasped, “Luca, we can’t—-”

  But he was doing it again, pleasuring her in every way, devouring her the way only he could, and she just couldn’t stop herself.

  Vivian moaned.

  And it was chaos anew outside the CEO’s office as everyone struggled to determine whether they should ignore or listen to what was happening behind closed doors.

  Part Two

  Chapter One

  The tension in the bedroom was palpable, the silence draining Luca of strength. But at least this was different from how he and his ex-wife quarreled, the Italian billionaire thought dully. At least this time, he and Vivi were capable of being civil. At least this time, he knew both of them genuinely cared about Eula, which meant that shouting and fighting in front of his daughter were absolutely off-limits.

  That was the one and only thing he could be happy about, in the wake of their ongoing struggles.

  “Luca.” Vivi suddenly spoke his name in a jerky tone, making him lift his head sharply. She had always looked like a fragile little thing, but in the past she had countered this with a constantly cheerful expression. Then, her gaze had always sparkled with optimism.

  But now—-

  Dark circles underlined her eyes, and the way her floral dress hung so loosely around her body emphasized the amount of weight she had lost. She looked like she was about to break any second—-

  Because of him.

  Looking at his wife, he worked hard to keep his tone even as he said, “I know we’ve been having problems, cara.” He saw Vivi bite her lip hard, visibly struggling not to cry, and his fists tightened at the sight. “We can still fix it if—-”

  “I’m sorry, Luca,” Vivi whispered. “But I just can’t take this anymore.”

  Ah. It hurt to hear the way Vivi choked the words out with tears clogging her throat, but what tore at Luca even more was the way she looked at him.

  Those eyes – those dull green eyes were saying his wife no longer loved him.

  How did this happen?

  Why did this always happen?

  Why couldn’t he seem to hold on to the woman he loved?

  When he didn’t reply, Vivi sl
owly crossed their bedroom, but when she tried to reach for his hands, he couldn’t help stepping away, and she whitened. “I’m sorry,” she choked out. “I didn’t want it to be like this. I thought—-” She looked at him pleadingly. “I really thought this was what I wanted—-”

  “Then what changed?” he interrupted hoarsely. “What did I do that—-”

  Vivi cut him off with a slow shake of her head. “You already know the answer to that, Luca,” she whispered. “Don’t pretend that you don’t.” She hugged herself, saying haltingly, “I’m not cut out for this kind of life. You knew that from the start, and yet—-” Her voice shook in the end, forcing her to stop speaking. Looking away from him, she whispered, “If you had really loved me—-”

  “Don’t you dare question my love,” he charged bitterly.

  “But I am questioning it!” She whirled around to face him again, a stricken look on her face. “Because the way I love you means I place you above all else, and that you’re free to do to make you happy—-”

  “Was it so damn bad?” Luca couldn’t help snarling. “I stopped you from going to school because I knew you didn’t really want to do it. It was a fucking mistake – you were committing the same mistakes Maria did—-”

  “Oh, Luca.” Vivi gazed at him despairingly. “You don’t get it, do you? I get why you were concerned. I get why you were worried. But it still didn’t give you the right to control me. To cage me. I’m your wife, not your prisoner—-”

  “Everything I did—-” Frustration seethed in him, making Luca raise his voice. “Everything I did was for us to stay together—-”

  “I wanted that, too,” she cried back at him. “Or at least I did want it until you made me feel it wasn’t even my choice to stay with you.” And this time, tears slowly fell on Vivi’s cheeks like an endless, transparent trail of pain. “That’s when you stopped being the man I fell in love with.”

  VIVIAN WHISPERED, “WAKE up, caro. You’re having a bad dream—-” She shook him again, and this time her husband shot up to a sitting position. Hearing him desperately suck his breath, she quickly pushed herself up as well and twisted around to flick the light switch on.

  The pair of bedside lamps flared into life, and when she looked back at Luca, she saw the stream of golden light illuminating her husband, who was still breathing hard. The covers had fallen to his waist, and his powerful, naked body was enveloped with cold sweat. When she lifted her gaze to his, Vivi saw that his light blue eyes had a haunted look to them, and a twinge of pain pinched her heart.

  Moving to him, she laid her hand on his arm, whispering, “It’s just a dream, Luca.”

  He slowly reached for her, almost as if he was afraid that she would disappear any moment, and instinct made Vivian keep herself still. Her husband’s fingers grazed her cheek, and when he still didn’t say a word, she whispered uncertainly, “Luca?”

  He said abruptly, “I dreamt you left me.”

  Oh. That such a thing could cause him to have so much darkness in his gaze—-

  It pinched her heart again, but the pain was a sweet agony because the darkness was also proof of how much he loved her.

  This man who had once turned his back completely on love, this man who had once pushed her away in order to harden his heart against her-—

  Giving Luca a tentative smile, she tried to lighten his mood, saying, “That was the bad part, right? You’re not telling me that the nightmare was the fact that you woke up and realized I’m still your wife—-”

  In a blink of an eye, her beautiful husband had her pinned under him.

  “Luca!”

  “I’m not joking,” her husband snarled under his breath, and clasped tightly to him, Vivian could feel the way his heart beat hard and fast against his chest. This suggested that he was seriously worried she could leave him, and she blinked up at him in bemused shock. “Oh, Luca.” Vivian shyly clasped her husband’s face, mumbling, “How can you even think it’s possible for me to leave you? I love you—-”

  “And I love you, too, cara.” He took her hands, kissing her knuckles gently, and in spite of the simplicity of the gesture, it was still enough to make Vivi’s body shiver in sensual awareness.

  “But even so—-” The tautness of his tone drew her gaze back to his face. “I still made you cry. I still make you cry—-”

  “That’s normal,” she dismissed lightly. “And besides, we always make up—-”

  Her husband’s expression remained hard. “All your troubles now are because I made you my wife.”

  These last words finally clued her in to where he was coming from, and she sighed. “This is about me being turned down a chair in St. Francis’ board, isn’t it?”

  When her husband’s lips tightened, she thought with a mental wince, Bingo. Looking at her husband, she said carefully, “They were right to turn me down, and I was stupid to even have tried applying without consulting you.”

  Luca absently threaded his fingers through his wife’s silky dark locks, asking, “Why did you try applying?” Because this was the part he still didn’t get. Although Vivi was the type who liked to help, it wasn’t like her to want a title along with it.

  Vivi bit her lip at his question, and he stiffened slightly at the way the sight reminded him too much of the way she had looked in his dream—-

  Stop being foolish, he ordered himself. A dream was a dream, and it could only influence reality if he allowed it to.

  Looking down, he prodded gently, “Vivi?”

  “All the wives of billionaires are board members of charities,” Vivian confessed awkwardly.

  Comprehension dawned, making Luca ask incredulously, “And so you thought you had to be one as well?”

  A tiny nod.

  “And I suppose that’s also the reason you recently started wearing suits like those women in CSI?”

  A tinier nod.

  “And your stubborn insistence on attending college again?”

  She gave him a mortified smile.

  The billionaire sighed. “Cara. Do you not understand yet?” Fastening his gaze with hers, he enunciated slowly, “I love you as you are.”

  His wife’s eyes widened.

  “And so it is pointless for you to compare yourself to other billionaires’ wives.”

  If only it could be so easy, Vivian thought miserably. “I want to be an ideal wife for you, Luca. I want to meet people’s expectations—-”

  “Are you saying their expectations mean to you more than mine does?” The Italian billionaire raised one aristocratic brow at her, and the sight momentarily distracted Vivian. It was stupid of her, but she had always found his arrogance a huge turn on, and now was no exception.

  “Are they?”

  “Y-you already know the answer to that.” Toes curling hard at the way her husband’s gleamed in sexy satisfaction at her reply, she managed to wrench her gaze away from his, mumbling, “Sei tutto per me—-” You’re everything to me. Vivian wanted to say more, but there wasn’t a chance to do so because Luca had already claimed her mouth in a rough, hard kiss.

  Ooooooh.

  Her response was immediate, her surrender without question, with Vivian’s arms wrapping around his neck as she succumbed to his hungry kiss. Thank God for Italian lessons, she thought dazedly. Ever since Luca had admitted to finding Vivian speaking in his native language a huge turn-on, she had done her best to improve her fluency and had come to rely on it as her way of initiating sex.

  As Luca’s mouth ran down her neck, she thought vaguely, Maybe one day I can even talk dirty in Italian.

  “I can feel you thinking, cara.” Giving her neck one last lick, Luca lifted his head and eyed her heated cheeks with keen interest.

  “I’m n-not thinking anything.” But Vivian’s stammered protest only had her husband releasing a low, sexy laugh, the sound of which made her toes curl even harder.

  “We both know you’re bad at keeping secrets,” he told her with a smirk.

  “It’s really nothin
g—-” Her words ended in a gasp, her back arching as he suddenly moved down to suck one lace-covered nipple. Her back arched even more, pushing her nipple deeper into his mouth as he sucked harder and harder.

  “Lucaaaaaa.” She couldn’t help moaning his name as he moved on to the other nipple. A moment later, and her husband impatiently undid the front clasp of her bra and tossed it away. His hands moved down, working just as fast in pulling her panties down her legs.

  “You’re so damn hot,” he growled, his hands running over her naked body.

  “S-so are you,” she gasped back unthinkingly, making her husband chuckle.

  A shiver ran across her entire body as Luca squeezed her breasts, but then his hands moved back down, and her breath caught. His fingers found her folds, and Vivian’s eyes squeezed shut as he stroked her already wet and throbbing core—-

  “L-Luca, oh God—”

  His arousal peaking at her breathy whimper, Luca dug his fingers into the plump cheeks of her bottom. “I can’t wait any longer—-” As her clouded eyes clashed with his, Luca plunged his rigid erection into her with a growl.

  She moaned at his penetration, her hands wildly moving over the smooth, muscular panes of her husband’s back. He pulled out a moment later before sinking back into her, harder and deeper, and her nails dug into his back.

  He started to move, slowly at first but gaining speed with every succeeding thrust, and her breathing became choppy. Her head tossed and turned on the pillow while she instinctively met his thrusts, her hips lifting off the bed.

  He was so good, so good.

  What had she done to deserve a man this sexy—-

  Luca’s mouth found her ear, and he whispered, “I love you, Vivi—-” His manhood plunged deep into her at the same time.

  Aaaaah.

  “I love you, Luca!” The words were torn out of her throat in a moan, her inner muscles tightening around his length.

  His words echoed in her mind, and her body tightened even more.