Kissing The New CEO

Chapter 4

Stella's POV

The elevator doors slid open, and Julian's hand grazed the hair on my back without touching me.

"After you," he said.

I stepped out first. "You don't need to be polite."

"Force of habit," he muttered, following close enough that I could feel the heat of his body.

We got to the door, he fished out the key, and slid it through the lock.

"Ladies first," he said softly.

"Don't make this weirder," I told him as I walked inside.

"Force of habit again," he said and slammed the door behind us.

I stood there in my dress, feeling ridiculous. "You can drop the act now."

"It's not an act," he said, moving toward me slowly. "Let me get those hairpins out."

"I can do it myself."

"I know you can," he replied, already reaching for the first one. "But I want to."

His fingers worked carefully through my hair and downwards, finding the zipper at my neck. The dress loosened and fell. I stepped out of it, standing in nothing but panties and a strapless bra.

Julian's eyes dropped to my chest. "f**k, Stella."

"You're beautiful," he whispered.

"I can't help it," he unhooked the bra. It dropped to the floor.

He hooked his fingers in my panties and ripped the threads that held the laces together.

"Spread your legs," he commanded after swooping me up into the massive bed in the corner of our suite.

"f**k, you're tight."

"Mmmmph," I moaned, my nails raking his sweaty back as he slid in gently inside me.

He pulled out and flipped me onto my stomach. "On your knees." And continued thrusting deeper.

I came with a sharp cry. "f**k, Julian!"

He kept f*****g me through it. "That's it. Good girl."

He came so hard, he groaned as he filled me with thick ropes of c*m.

He stayed buried in me while we managed to catch our breath. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I said.

"Remember, this doesn't change anything." He stood up and walked to the bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julian's POV

"Morning," she said beside me, her voice still doused with sleep.

"There's a board meeting at six," I said.

"Drake called it"

"This early? What does he want?" she asked.

"I don't know yet." I reached for my phone and ran through everything my brother might want to bring up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Julian. Stella." He gestured at the two empty chairs like he was hosting. "Thank you both for coming on short notice."

"You called an emergency session at six in the morning," I said, taking my seat. "What's this about, Drake?"

"I think you know exactly what this is about."

"For those who haven't read the filing," Drake continued, standing, "I'll summarize. My brother married his father's former assistant four days after our father's funeral."

"Four days!" he emphasized.

".... I'd like someone at this table to explain to me how that isn't cause for concern."

"It's not a crime to grieve differently than you do," I replied.

"No. But it might be a crime to marry someone in a hurry because she's carrying a child you need the world to believe is legitimate."

"Excuse me?" Stella shot back.

"That's a serious accusation," one of the older board members said. "Do you have any evidence to back your claim?"

"I may not," Drake said. " But I have a marriage four days after a death. I have a woman my father kept financially dependent on him for years, suddenly free of that dependency the moment he's gone, suddenly married to his heir instead."

"Careful," I said.

"Am I wrong?"

"Fine," he says. "Let's not dance around it. Is she pregnant, Julian?"

"That's not a question you get to ask in this room."

"It's exactly the question this room needs answering, since apparently the future of this company might depend on it."

"Drake—"

"No," Stella replied sharply, cutting through mine before I could finish. Every head turned toward her. "You want to know if I'm pregnant?"

"Stella, you don't have to—"

"I want to answer him." She stands. "No. I'm not pregnant. We took a test this morning, before we walked in here, specifically because I knew you'd try something exactly like that."

"You expect this board to take your word for that."

"I don't expect anything from you," Stella said. "But I'd be happy to have a doctor confirm it, if that's what it takes for you to stop implying I'm some kind of con artist in front of a room full of people who've never even had a conversation with me."

"That won't be necessary," the board chair said, already looking uncomfortable. "Drake, if there's no pregnancy, the entire premise of your petition—"

"Falls apart. I'm aware," He answered, his smile faded immediately. "Forgive me for asking the obvious question, then. If there's no child, why the rush, Julian? "

"I don't owe you a timeline for my own marriage." I shot back almost immediately.

"You don't owe me anything. You owe this board transparency, and half of them are wondering the same thing and don't have the nerve to say it."

I looked around the table. He's not wrong about that.

"I married her," I say, "because after our father died, I realized I wasn't interested in wasting any more time being careful the way he taught us to be."

There was dead silence in the room for almost a minute.

"I married her because I wanted to. If this board needs a more complicated reason than that, I think the real problem in this room isn't my marriage."

A murmur of agreement followed.

"Fine," Drake said, finally.

"Petition withdrawn. My apologies to the board for the confusion."

"Drake—"

"I said I withdrew it, Julian." He snapped.

"No hard feelings. Truly. I was simply looking out for the company's interests."

The session ends an hour later. Drake's the first one out of the room, already on a call before he's through the door. I caught Stella's hand as we walk out. "You didn't have to say that in front of all of them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stella's POV

The driver drops me off at the curb, and I'm still holding my phone, replaying the incident at the board over in my head, when I see the paper taped to my front door.

"NOTICE OF PROPERTY VACATION — 30 DAYS."

I pulled my phone back out, calling my mother, pacing the sidewalk while it rang.

"Mom. There's a notice on the door. What is this?"

"Stella—"

"What is this, Mom?"

"Your father—" she paused. "He took out a loan. Months ago. For one of his ventures. He needed collateral, and I let him put the house up."

"You let him use our house as collateral for one of his schemes?"

"I didn't think it would come to this. He said it was a sure thing, he said—"

"He always says that." My voice cracks down the middle. "He said that about the restaurant. He said that about the import business. He said that every single time, Mom."

"Stella, I know—"

"Where is he now?"

"He..." She stuttered; I knew what that meant.

I hung up before I said something I couldn't take back.

I turned and asked the driver to take me straight to the Castle home. I needed a good distraction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I arrived at the Castle's home in a jiffy. The housekeepers welcome me warmly and guide me to the large dining hall.

Julian is at the table. So is a woman I recognize instantly from photographs. Isabella, Drake's mother, and beside her, a blonde woman I don't recognize, close enough to Julian that their shoulders nearly touch.

"Stella. What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you. Something happened—"

"You can't just walk in unannounced."

"Julian, this is important—"

"Is this her?" Isabella's voice cuts through mine. She looks at me like I'm something that has wandered off the street. "The w***e he settled for?"

"Isabella—" Julian starts.

"I'm only asking what everyone else is thinking, darling."

The blonde woman leans back in her chair. "You don't even fit the title," she said, with disgust written over her face.

"Julian and I have always been meant for each other; not even a tramp like you can change that."

I looked at Julian. Waiting for him to say something, anything, i

n my defence.

He didn't say a word.

"Stella," he said instead. "We'll talk about this later. Not here."

"Why not here?" I replied, my voice shaking.

"Because you're ashamed of me."

"That's not—"

"Julian, you see me as a w***e too?" I asked, my sight already blurred with tears.

"Isn't it?"