“Excuse me?” she said. Her voice was low and deadly.
“He’s obviously just trying to get into your pants. Don’t fall for it,” Slade said. He rapidly tried to shit Nadiyya’s attention from his blatant fuck up over to Lucian.
Lucian smirked. He knew that idiot would eventually show his true colors. Perhaps his little problem with Slade would take care of itself.
“Slade, you don’t control me,” Nadiyya replied with an eerily calm voice as if she were holding back a tidal wave of anger.
Slade snapped. “Why are you being such a bitch? This guy is clearly just trying to fuck you! I’m the one who has your goddamn back! Or maybe you’re such a dumb whore that you can’t see past it,” he yelled.
This time, Nadiyya couldn’t hold back her rage. What Lucian had tried to discuss earlier flooded into her head. She realized that he was right all along. What on earth was Slade thinking talking to her that way? Nadiyya didn’t care what was wrong with him. She just wanted him out. She had never let anyone talk to her that way before and she certainly wouldn’t start now.
“Get out! You’re fucking fired Slade! Don’t you dare come back here!” Nadiyya screamed. He wasn’t sure if she was serious.
“I said get the fuck out! Take all your shit too!” Nadiyya screamed. Her dark brown face took on a reddish hue as anger pumped through her veins. She stood up to let Slade know she meant business. Slade was taken aback but once he saw that Nadiyya was serious, he knew he had to get moving. He’d never seen her quite this angry and although he was trying to save face he was terrified of what she could do.
“You heard the lady,” Lucian replied, standing up to take Nadiyya’s side. He wasn’t so much trying to be a gentleman as ensuring that Slade didn’t hurt her. He had always known there was something off about the little creep. Slade was furious. He packed up his possessions in a huff and stormed out the door.
Nadiyya was shaking with anger and tears were pouring down her face as Slade left. She hadn’t felt so emotional in years. This was it, the end of a friendship and a partnership. It had all happened almost too fast for her to really understand but it was most certainly over. She could never let someone who had called her a ‘dumb whore’ back into her life. Nadiyya had clear boundaries and they’d been violated. She just hadn’t expected this from Slade.
He had pretended to be her friend and Nadiyya felt totally betrayed. These weren’t just words misspoken due to anger. There was clear, violent intent about them. That was just too much for her to handle. The quiet flow of tears quickly turned into loud sobs that echoed through the small office space.
Lucian pulled Nadiyya close, extending his hand in genuine friendship for the first time. He let down his arrogant, know it all persona and just held her in his arms. Even Lucian realized that what had just happened had wounded Nadiyya deeply. Nadiyya rested her head on Lucian’s chest, noticing the fresh smell of his aftershave. The smell comforted her. He knew he had to offer her a few words of reassurance. This was his chance to redeem himself for his earlier faux pas.
“What am I going to do about this company? Slade was everything,” Nadiyya squeaked out between sobs.
“Nadiyya, Slade wasn’t what was holding this company together. It was you. And I’m willing to go through with this no matter what. He wasn’t what intrigued me and attracted me to working here. It was you,” Lucian said. Nadiyya pulled away and looked into his eyes. She saw that Lucian was dead serious.
Nadiyya was at a loss for how to respond. She’d been filled with so much self doubt, that of course had been planted and exaggerated by Slade throughout the time they were working with each other. And here Lucian was telling her that she was everything to her company. She’d never received a better compliment. Nadiyya dried up her tears, but she was embarrassed that she’d cried so publicly. Black women are so rarely given space to be fragile that it seemed her tears had broken some sort of taboo. Lucian didn’t mind her display of vulnerability. In fact he felt it was more than justified. Watching her cry had awakened Lucian’s nurturing spirit, but he wasn’t quite sure what Nadiyya needed.
“Still want to go for that drink, or would you rather be alone?” Lucian asked.
Nadiyya was surprised that he had witnessed her outburst and hadn’t been scared off.
“I’ll take you up on that drink,” she replied, wiping away her tears.
The two locked up the office and walked down the snowy streets together. As they headed towards the bar, they talked for the first time about something other than work. Nadiyya appreciated the break and she appreciated the chance to get to know Lucian in a different context. He was starting to seem like less of a boorish asshole to her and Nadiyya enjoyed getting to know this side of him.
For the first time since he’d arrived, Nadiyya finally got the chance to ask him the burning question she’d been wondering for a while: how did he get to be so wealthy?
“That’s a billion dollar question,” Lucian had responded, chuckling at his own play on words. Nadiyya wasn’t quite so amused. A part of her wanted to prove that Lucian had been born in the lap of luxury, that his money really had come from centuries of exploitation and oppression.
Nadiyya was shocked to find out that it was something much different. In the 80s, Lucian’s father had been a wealthy NASA engineer. He’d grown up with a significant amount of money but certainly not billions. When Lucian was seventeen he’d invented a brilliant software and some tech company had offered him millions of dollars to take it off his hands. He’s willingly sold and invested wisely. Now, barely past thirty, he had billions to his name. Nadiyya was right, Lucian was privileged. He just wasn’t privileged in the way she thought he was. He was clearly a financial genius.
Nadiyya realized she had been wrong the entire time she’d judged Lucian for being so immutable when it came to her company’s decisions. He really was trying to help. He really did have intimate knowledge of the world she was trying to break into.
By the time the two got to the bar, they were more interested in having hot cups of coffee than pints of beer. So they had both, and towards the end of the evening Lucian offered to drive Nadiyya home. She took him up on his offer and spent the entire car ride marveling at the custom interior of Lucian’s Bentley. He dropped her off at her house and watched her enter to make sure she got there safely.
Nadiyya didn’t know how lucky she was to have Lucian there watching her back.
***********
Chapter 4
Slade had been parked at his station in the parking garage across from Nadiyya’s apartment. When he saw Lucian waiting outside to ensure her safety, he gave up on his plan and drove home. That bastard had thwarted him again.
Slade slammed his hands down on his steering wheel as he sat in the garage of his two bedroom house. He couldn’t believe this jackass had stepped in so soon after Nadiyya rejected him! And that slut had actually fallen for him! He couldn’t believe it. He’d thought Nadiyya was different from all these other women but she was exactly the same.
He entered his house and began to really plot. At first, he was willing to be forgiving but now Nadiyya would have to pay for what she’d done to him. He knew big secrets about Nadiyya, secrets she would never want public. If she thought she could mess with Slade, she’d messed with the wrong guy. He wasn’t weak, and he wouldn’t let some black bitch walk all over him.
And what about Lucian? Slade began to wonder what skeletons were hiding in the billionaire’s closet. He had to have some secrets. What kind of rich guy spent his time helping out small startups in the middle of nowhere when he had the world at his fingertips? There had to be something wrong with Lucian, and Slade was determined to find out.
They had no right to kick him out of the company for their little lovefest! Slade couldn’t take it. The two of them had to be stopped at all costs.
***
The next few days at work got off to an awkward start. Nadiyya was starting to feel like Lucian was valuing
her input and she stopped emphasizing the differences between their viewpoints. Once she stopped looking for war, Nadiyya began to see that she was more similar to Lucian than she thought. They were both idealistic and inventive. They both had a passion for the work they did and were obsessed with producing the absolute best product. Plus, Lucian had years of working in tech under his belt so once he lost his paternalistic air, his expertise became much appreciated.
The technicalities of the two working together were smoothed out. What wasn’t so smooth was the mounting tension between the two. The day Slade had left was a highly emotional time for Nadiyya. She appreciated the way that Lucian had taken her out and effectively taken her mind off the pain of abandonment and betrayal she was feeling. Nadiyya started to feel closer to Lucian after that evening. She wasn’t sure what this closeness meant or if it was even romantic but the tension between the two was mounting.
He was pretty much the only person she saw regularly any more. Most of her friends were off doing charity or volunteer work. And she hadn’t heard from Slade at all. She’d at least expected him to apologize for what he’d done but he hadn’t even sent her a text. At least Nadiyya didn’t mind seeing Lucian every day. As their work progressed he was starting to be gentler and kinder to her. Nadiyya didn’t think much of it but Lucian thought that he was starting to fall for her.
A part of him chalked it up to the fact that she was the only truly beautiful woman he’d been around for a little over a month now. He wondered if she felt similarly about him. He noticed how much more comfortable Nadiyya seemed with him since the afternoon Slade left. She seemed to be less antagonistic. She stopped always looking for a fight. At least that had allowed them to work more harmoniously together.
Lucian and Nadiyya had both noticed the shift in their dynamic but neither of them knew what exactly it meant. Nadiyya wondered what would happen if she actually went for it with Lucian. But what would a rich white billionaire want wit her? What could she possibly offer him? The last thing Nadiyya wanted was to create even more awkwardness that could put her company at risk. The incident with Slade had been more than enough to turn her off getting too close with Lucian. She had to put an end to these feelings that were rising to the surface. But it was difficult. Nadiyya had to admit that even if she’d found him piggish at first, Lucian was quite attractive. He was charismatic, energetic and clearly passionate about everything he did.
The halfway point to their startup’s launch soon approached. Nadiyya and Lucian were celebrating by working round the clock -- 6 am all the way until midnight. After lunch, Nadiyya opened her Macbook and tried to access the cloud drive where all their data was stored securely. Her heart stopped when she double clicked on the folder that contained years of her hard work… It was completely empty.
“Lucian! We have a problem!” Nadiyya yelled. She could feel her heart rate speeding up. What the hell? The only person to have access to those files was Slade! They had backups but of course Slade was in charge of all the backups. Lucian rushed over to where Nadiyya was sitting and she debriefed him on what was wrong.
“Shit. Fucking hell,” Lucian said. He pushed his brown hair out of his face and looked down at the empty folder. There was no way they could continue working without the code that these documents contained. There was no denying that this was a major setback and there was nothing either of them could do about it.
“Where are your backups?” Lucian asked.
“Slade has them. He’s the only person who could have done this! But why?” Nadiyya replied.
“Fucking cocksucker,” Lucian yelled, slamming his hands down on the table so hard that Nadiyya nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Why?” she wailed, unable to comprehend how and why Slade would do something like this. Just a week ago she’d considered him her best friend and only confidante in the entire state.
“I don’t know, but this is bullshit. It’s illegal! We should call the police,” Lucian said. His tone indicated that it was more of a command to call the cops.
Nadiyya whipped out her phone to comply and saw an email flashing on the lock screen.
“Hold on,” she said, gesturing to Lucian to show him that she’d just received an e-mail.
She opened the e-mail. It was from Slade.
The drive is empty. Call the cops and I’ll tell them what you’re hiding. This isn’t a game. - S.
Nadiyya was visibly shaken. “What are you hiding?” Lucian asked, intrigued by the possibility of this woman actually having secrets that were dark enough to scare her away from calling the police, especially when so much was at stake.
“That’s not important. We can’t call the cops,” Nadiyya replied. Her eyes were wide with fear. She set her phone down on the table and buried her face in her hands.
Lucian knew he had to do something. He had grown fond of Nadiyya and he couldn’t let this prick ruin things for her. Lucian had invested a lot of time and money in this venture. He wasn’t about to let it wash down the drain. This Slade guy was clearly a jackass. The one thing you don’t mess with is a billionaire and his money.
“I’ll take him out if you want to. Get some of my guys to shake him up a bit,” Lucian offered. Nadiyya raised her head and looked at Lucian as if she’d seen a ghost.
“Your guys?” Nadiyya inquired.
“Well you know. I have certain individuals who work for me who have certain skills...” Lucian trailed off realizing that most people didn’t have gangs of thugs at their beck and call to take care of light dirty work.
“Lucian. That’s illegal!” Nadiyya responded. Lucian was amused. Illegal didn’t quite cover it.
“So is stealing millions of dollars worth of information,” he countered.
“I can’t let you do this,” Nadiyya said. He could tell that she was dead serious.
“I understand,” Lucian replied. He wasn’t sure if he did understand, but he could tell it was what Nadiyya needed to hear. She’d just lost everything. Nadiyya stood up, as if standing up would some how cause her to be pulled in the direction she needed to go. She felt powerless about what to do next. Should she start from scratch? Should she talk to Slade? Would he actually tell the cops her secret?
Nadiyya felt like she was going to cry again and she was doing everything in her power to hold back her tears. Lucian moved in closer to her and hugged her. He could tell that she was doing everything in her power not to cry. Lucian squeezed Nadiyya tightly and she started to breathe deeply. Nadiyya pulled away from him and looked into Lucian’s eyes. He barely knew her yet here he was sticking up for her and standing by her in this terrible time.
Lucian knew the look in Nadiyya’s eyes well. He took a risk and leaned in to kiss her. When their lips met it was as if all the tension of their past two weeks was finally broken. Nadiyya felt transported out of her body, as if all the worries of the day had melted away. Lucian’s lips were soft and he kissed her gently as if he were exploring how far he could go with her. Nadiyya wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back hard. How could kissing Lucian make things worse? Everything had already gone to hell.
As they kissed, Lucian’s hands rested on Nadiyya’s hips. His hands began to wander up to her waist. He wanted desperately to pull her shirt off and feel the voluptuous mounds she had hiding beneath. He bent his head to kiss Nadiyya on the neck and she let out an unexpected moan as his lips trailed along her collarbone. Nadiyya felt herself getting wet and aroused. She could hardly believe this was happening, but it felt amazing.
To Lucian’s surprise, Nadiyya pulled her shirt off on her own. Her breasts were held up in a sexy black bra which Lucian quickly unhooked. As her large tits came into view Lucian felt himself get instantly hard. Nadiyya’s breasts were large and her nipples a near purplish hue. Lucian bent his head down and swirled his tongue around her nipples. They became instantly hard. Lucian licked around the little nubs, savoring the softness of Nadiyya’s flesh. She moaned as he sucked on her nipples just a little harde
r. This time her moan was somewhat intentional, begging him to take it a step further and move his tongue further down her body.
Lucian helped Nadiyya ease out of her winter leggings, shoes and socks. Soon she was nearly naked, with just a tiny black thong covering her crotch. Lucian wanted to fuck her so badly but he was uncertain how open to it Nadiyya would be. Of course, there was one thing he could be certain she would be open to. Lucian picked Nadiyya up and carried her to the old leather reading chair that she had stationed in the back of the office. As she sank back into the cozy chair, Lucian spread her legs and got down on his knees between them.
Nadiyya was surprised. The first time she hooked up with most guys, they wanted to be sucked off but would hardly ever return the favor. Here Lucian was asking for nothing and giving her everything in return. That alone brought her to the edge of orgasm. Her skin prickled in anticipation as Lucian ran his hands along the length of her legs. He then moved his fingers to her hairless slit and brushed his fingertips against her clit.
The Devoted Winter: BWWM Billionaire Romance Novel (Her Winter Love Series Book 1) Page 3
