by Vivian Ward
After we had such a great night, I was surprised to see that she was no longer in bed when I woke up in the morning. That seemed to be becoming a trend. Each time the two of us spent the night together, Natalia would fall asleep in my arms but would disappear before morning. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I didn’t know if it was because she was my employee and didn’t want things to look bad if she was seen coming out of my room or if she didn’t want to make things awkward between the two of us in the morning. All I knew was that I liked her and I didn’t want her to think she had to leave. If she was doing it because I was her boss, things could be addressed. I threw my clothes on as fast as I could and went off to look for her.
As usual, everyone on my staff was there getting their day started. Even Bailey was there, though she didn’t usually come in for another hour. I spotted Natalia doing some work around the house, but I wanted to wait until she was away from the other employees before I talked to her. I didn’t know how much she had or hadn’t told them and I didn’t want to bring it up if she wasn’t comfortable with everyone knowing about us.
I liked the way the word ‘us’ sounded in my head. Of course, I had no clue where she was as far as where she thought our relationship was headed. I’m guessing she thought it was going somewhere if she said she wanted to meet my son. Bad relationships in the past always have me second guessing things when I really have no reason to do so. It’s a tough habit to break.
Since it was going to be a while, I decided to take a walk as a way to clear my mind. Over-thinking things has always been a problem for me. Whenever that starts happening, I like to talk a walk, get some fresh air and not think about anything. About halfway through my walk, my cell phone began to ring. I usually leave it behind when I take one of my walks, but it was in my pocket. I pulled the phone out to see who it was. The screen showed that the call was coming from a private number. I answered but was met with silence. That wasn’t completely uncommon. Lots of marketing companies use robo-dialers and sometimes their telemarketers couldn’t keep up. What wasn’t common was when the calls kept coming. Over and over, private calls continued only to hang up when I answered. They didn’t stop for nearly a half-hour and only when I was walking through my front door.
As I walked in the door, I was happy to see Natalia doing some work in the living room. I was even more pleased to see that she was in the room by herself. She looked up to see who was coming in and gave me a half-smile when she saw me. I thought that was a little odd but thought maybe she was just tired or something. I figured that, since she was alone, it was probably my best chance to get to talk to her.
“Good afternoon, Natalia. I couldn’t help but notice that you weren’t in my room any longer when I got up.”
“Yeah, you were sleeping pretty hard and I wanted to get out of there before the others arrived. I grabbed a quick shower in the guest bathroom downstairs and got dressed. After that, I just started the day like normal.”
“You know you don’t have to do that. I would actually like it if you were still there in the morning. The mornings could certainly be a lot more fun than waking up alone.”
“I’m sure they could, but I had a lot of work to do. In fact, I still have quite a bit that I need to get finished. Was there something in particular you wanted to talk about?”
“Yeah, there are quite a few things, actually. First, I want to know if you’ll be staying with me again tonight.”
“Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about it. I may think about it, but I’m not so sure it’s a good idea.”
“What? Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?”
“Oh, I don’t know Kaiden. You want to keep me a secret and I don’t know how I feel about that. I want to be with someone who is proud to have me. I feel like I am nothing but a Kaiden Melrose mystery girl.”
“That’s ridiculous Natalia. I like you and I don’t care who knows it. In fact, why don’t you have Bailey place another ad for a housekeeper. That way you can be here with me and don’t have to worry about how other employees see it.”
“I can’t do that. How will I support myself?”
“I make plenty of money to support you. That won’t be a problem.”
“Excuse me? That very much will be a problem. I’m not looking to be taken care of. That’s not what I’m all about.”
“Natalia, that’s not how I meant it. All I meant was that I want you here with me. I want to spend as much time with you as possible. If being my employee makes that harder for you, then I want to figure out how to solve that.”
“That’s not how it is at all. It’s fine that you don’t mind people around here knowing about us. That’s great and it makes me really happy to know that you’re not ashamed of me around here, but that’s not all there is to it.”
“So what is it then? Tell me so I can fix it. What would make you happy and comfortable enough to be here with me?”
“I want you to tell your parents about us.”
“I can’t do that right now.”
“Fine, just let me know when you can.”
“That’s not fair Natalia. You’ve seen how my mom is. Our relationship is something that I’m going to have to ease her into. I promise I will tell my parents about us in due time. I’m just not ready yet.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Natalia
I felt like I was giving him an ultimatum. In a way, I guess I was. The last thing I wanted to do was give him a take it or leave it stipulation. Men like him didn’t typically go for that sort of thing. No matter what, I had to look out for myself. If he wanted to be with me, he was going to have to learn that I don’t like to be kept on the back burner. I like to feel like I’m special and if you hide me, I’m gonna think I don’t mean much to you.
After I got done saying my peace, everything else was up to him. My hope was that he would realize I wasn’t messing around and decide to get serious about me. The last thing I left him with was a statement telling him to think about what he wanted and to let me know what his decision was. He didn’t say anything in response and actually let me leave the room. I’m a girl and figured he would try to chase me, but he didn’t. I wondered if that meant anything.
If I allowed myself to think about what he might choose to do, I would have driven myself crazy for the entire day. Instead, I decided the best thing I could for myself was to keep myself busy. I started by finding Lupita and helping her with various tasks that she was trying to finish. After that, I went out to the garden to see what I could help with. Then, I helped the cook chop some green onions for a meal he was preparing that evening.
After exhausting all the tasks I could find to do, I decided to head upstairs to take care of the offices. I started with Bailey’s office since there’s always much more to do in there. I spent nearly an hour emptying the trash, dusting, vacuuming and tidying up. When I had done every menial task I could think of, I made my way into Kaiden’s office, hoping he wouldn’t be in there. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to see him, but I also wanted him to be able to make a decision about us without me being all up in his face.
I walked into Kaiden’s office and was happy to see that it was dark. He always turns off his lights when he leaves the office so I knew he wasn’t in there. I flipped the light switch on and rolled my cart into the room. Startled, I let out an involuntary yelp when I looked out and saw a woman sitting in Kaiden’s office chair. She had a cocky grin spread across her smug face. When she saw me, she stood up from the chair. She was tall, blonde and beautiful.
“Oh my God, you scared the shit out of me,” I said. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Ha! The hired help asking if she can help me with something,” she snorted. “That’s cute.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Never mind, I’m sure you don’t have much of an education since you’re a housekeeper. I should probably dumb it down for you. Do you want me to use small words or would speaking slowly work for you?”
; Who in the hell did this bitch think she was to talk to me like that? She was crazy if she thought I was going to stand there and take her talking to me like a piece of trash.
“Look, there’s no reason to be rude. I was just seeing if there was something I could help you with.”
“Listen to me because I’m only to going to say this one time. I’m here to see your boss. Where is Kaiden?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t believe he had any appointments scheduled for today. Is he expecting you?”
“Sweetheart, I’m probably the last person he’s expecting to see here.”
That’s when it hit me. This had to be Anna.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Kaiden
I already knew how I was going to answer Natalia. I like her and I don’t want to lose her. If that meant that I am going to have to tell my parents about the two of us before I really wanted to, then that was I had to do. At the same time, I didn’t mean to seem too eager. It wasn’t that I wanted to make her sweat what my decision was going to be, I just didn’t want her to stop seeing me as the strong, powerful man that I am.
Having my mind made up, I started heading back home. Besides, I still had a ton of research that I needed to get done before my big acquisition meeting that was coming up quickly. My original plan had been to finish it up the night before but my parents through a wrench into that idea.
As I was walking up the stairs, I could hear voices coming from my office. I could tell that one was Natalia’s, but the other one wasn’t as clear. The closer I got, the more familiar the voice became. When I walked into my office, my fear became my reality. Anna was staring down Natalia as the two of them bickered. When she noticed me standing next to her, Natalia looked as though she was relieved. I couldn’t imagine what kind of awkward that moment must have been for her.
“What do you want Anna?” I asked. “You know you’re not supposed to be here.”
“Oh shut up Kaiden. What are you gonna do? Call the cops? You sound as pitiful as your little housekeeper here.”
“I don’t need to call the cops. I employ a security detail to handle things just like this.”Anna started to laugh.
“Oh yeah, that’s some security detail you’ve got there. I was able to walk right in through the front door and come straight to your office without anyone having a clue. You might want to look into hiring some better security.”
“Yeah, I do. Preferably the kind of security that sees an intruder and then shoots them on site. No questions asked. Now, I’m going to ask you this one more time. Did you need something? If not, I’d appreciate it you could get the fuck out of my house.”
“You need to chill out Kaiden. I’m only here to discuss a business proposition with you. One that could potentially make your life much easier or much harder than it is right now. The choice is yours.”
“What is it, Anna? What is it that you want? What do I have to do to make you go away for good?”
She stepped around from the other side of my desk and began walking toward me. I took a step back but it didn’t dissuade her as she kept approaching. Continuing until she was right in front of me, Anna reached up and grabbed my tie, pulling me into her until our faces were inches apart.
“What do you have to do to make me go away for good? Come on, Kaiden, we both know that’s not what you want. Why don’t you go ahead and admit that right now?”
“Are you crazy? I’ve wanted nothing more than for you to go away and disappear from my life forever.”
“Oh Kaiden, you never cease to amaze me. I don’t know why you always try to lie to yourself. You may do a great job convincing everyone around you that you don’t want me around, but you don’t fool me. I know you’ve always been crazy about me. You know you’ve always been mad about me. We’ve always been crazy about each other.”
“Anna, the only thing you got right in that whole statement was the word crazy. You are insane. No, you’re crazier than crazy. You’re fucking nuts.”
Anna started laughing, which all but proved my point that she was crazy. She didn’t seem to be able to grasp the fact that I was over her and had been for quite a long time. It was true that there was once a point when I would have taken her back in a heartbeat. Those days were long gone, however. No matter what I said or how I presented it to her, she didn’t seem to get it. Instead, she continued with her little tirade.
“Here’s the thing, Kaiden. I know that I’ve done some pretty terrible things to you. I know that I broke your heart when I moved on and no longer allowed you to be a part of my life. I know it destroyed you when you lost the love of your life. I know it killed you to see me walking around town with a new stud on my arm. I know it made you jealous to know that I was sleeping in someone else’s bed. That’s all over. I’m here now. I’m ready for the two of us to pick up where we left off.”
“Are you being serious right now? Yeah, it sucked to see you with another man and it was really hard on me when you took off, but it wasn’t because I was jealous. It was hard because you didn’t just abandon me. You left our son as well. I don’t care what you did to me, but that little boy is growing up without a mother in his life because you wanted to make selfish choices.”
“Maybe I can make up for those choices. I’m no longer with that guy anymore. We split up a few days ago. It’s time to work on us now.”
“You think I’m going to be your second choice? That’s not going to happen. I’m over you and I’ve been over you. I’ve even stopped wishing you were around for our son. He’s better off without having you in his life. Besides, I’m with her now,” I said, looking over at Natalia. “I’m with her and I’m happy. I’m not going to play your games. You’re too late. I’m over you. I’m happy.”
“You’re with her? Since when do you go for black chicks? Is she one of your little pet projects or something? What could she possibly bring to the table in a relationship that I couldn’t?”
“She brings a lot of things to the table that you never did. Trust, for one. I feel like I can tell her anything and everything and not have to worry about who she is going to run and tell in order to make herself a quick buck. Natalia also likes me for me. She doesn’t want to be with me because of what I can give her. She hasn’t asked me for anything other than my companionship and I love that about her.”
“Are you sure, Kaiden? Are you sure you want to throw this away forever?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I have the person I wish to spend my life with. It just took me a little longer to realize it than it should have.”
“Fine, if that’s what you want then I don’t give a shit. You want me out of your life for good? That’s fine, I’m gone. You give me a hundred grand and you’ll never hear from me again.”
“No, I’m not doing it. I’m tired of paying you off anytime you want to make a threat. It doesn’t work for me anymore. I refuse to pay you another cent.”
“Okay, if you want to do things that way then I’m more than prepared to play dirty. If you don’t want to give me my money, then I’m going to expose you. I’m going to expose you as someone who is supposed to be a role model in the community but is really nothing more than a pervert who spends his time in underground sex clubs. I’m going to expose you as a man who uses his power and position to take advantage of and sleep with his help. I’m going to expose you and I’m going to ruin you. You might want to think twice about who you’re messing with.”
“You know what, Anna? Shut up. Shut the fuck up. I’ve had it with you. I’m tired of your threats. I’m sick of you always trying to hold things over my head in an attempt to extort more money from me. I’m not going to take it any longer. You want to go public with everything you know about me? Go ahead. I don’t care anymore.”
Anna didn’t seem to know what to say to me. I was pretty sure it was the first time that I had ever seen her be rendered speechless. Eventually, she was able to speak again.
“Don’t think I won’t. I’ll g
o straight to the media. You know they’d love to take a story like that and run it at the top of every newscast. I’m sure it would be on the front page of so many newspapers across the country.”
“Tell them, Anna. I just said that I don’t care anymore. Tell everyone. Go sing it from the rooftops. Yell it off the highest mountains. Just know that if you do, I’m going to expose you as well. I’ll let everyone in on the fact that not only do you have a son but you have a son that you abandoned. Don’t you think that might throw a little wrench into your plans? Don’t you think that might make you lose out on some of your credibility? How are you going to feel when everyone finally sees you as the cold, heartless bitch you really are.”
