Kissing The New CEO

Chapter 1

Stella's POV

"You're finally awake."

The voice was so deep yet calm. It sounded nothing like Derek's.

I sat up so fast, like something shocked me.

"Julian..." my voice was only a breath.

Derek's son?

"How did—"

"I'd send you some money to shop for new dresses", he cut in, disrupting my thoughts, and adjusting the duvet to cover his visible bulge.

"Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," I muttered, already up and hunting for my clothes. "What's with the Castle's always thinking money should make up for everything else?" I think to myself, reaching for my red dress, which is now shredded pieces on the floor.

"Derek doesn't share. If he finds out I touched his son, I'd lose everything. My brother's medical coverage, my apartment, the job which was the only safety I've had in two years"

I found my coat, put it on with nothing underneath and hurried to leave. My skin still had visible bite and scratch marks from last night's

"Where are you going?" Julian asks, watching my fingers fumble the buttons.

"Away from here. Away from you. This never happened."

"Stella—"

"It was a mistake," I said first, before he could say it. A perfect, rich man like him doesn't need to remind me of what I am.

He crossed the room and cupped my face in his hands. His thumb brushes my jaw.

For a second I remembered last night, the way he touched me like he'd been waiting years for permission. I used to catch him watching me across conference tables, quick, guilty glances he thought I never noticed. I always told myself I imagined it.

"Last night—" he starts again.

"Can't happen again. Ever," I cut in. "You know what your father would do if he found out. To both of us."

"He owns me, Julian. Not you". My voice broke.

"You think I sleep with your father because I want to? My brother is in a hospital bed that costs more a month than you probably spend on shoes. One word from Derek and that stops. All of it, because you couldn't keep your hands off me."

"You weren't exactly fighting me off."

The words landed like a slap, mostly because they were true, and I hated that a part of me had wanted him to look at me like that for the longest.

"Out of my way, Julian."

I hurried down the hallway when my phone buzzed.

It's from Drake, Derek's other son. He never texts me unless something's wrong.

I opened it. It's a link to a news blog.

"Sixty-Seven-Year-Old Billionaire Dead in an Accident."

The phone almost slips from my hand.

Derek is dead??

I look up. Julian was standing in the doorway, with no shirt, staring at the same headline on his own phone.

-----------------

Julian's POV

I watched her scramble for her clothes, and I didn't stop her, even though every part of me wanted to.

For two years I've watched her walk in and out of my father's office, and two years I've had to sit through meetings pretending I didn't notice anything about her.

Last night I stopped pretending.

I know it was the wine. I know we were both drunk because neither of us would have done that sober. But drunk or not, I've wanted this since the first week she started working for my father.

She melted under my hands last night. I don't think I've ever wanted anything the way I wanted her to keep looking at me the way she did. I'd give up anything for one more night of that look.

And I know exactly why she started sleeping with my father in the first place. He told me once, almost bragging about it, like it was some clever business: "her brother's medical bills and an apartment, and she's all mine". He liked owning people. He was good at making it look like generosity.

It made me sick. It still does.

My father is dead. I know that. But my father and I stopped being anything close to family a long time ago. We were business partners who happened to share a last name.

I felt this guilty relief that the one man standing between me and her is gone.

I watched her enter the cab absentmindedly, and just then my phone buzzed again.

It's Drake.

A photo of Stella and I together from last night, with the caption,

"Look who's already warming Dad's spot".

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

Drake's POV

I see her leaving Julian's room at dawn, coat wrapped tight. I could tell she was naked underneath.

My chest goes tight at the thought of what Julian had done to her all night. I wanted her first, but he always had a way of taking what I wanted without even trying.

I remember the company's gala two years ago, back when she was still new. I'd been drinking, and I followed her when she slipped away from the party to find the bathroom.

"Miss Cooper..." I said, trying to catch up with her pace.

"Mr Castle—"

I pushed her against the wall, closing the distance between us. I aggressively caressed her soft skin.

"Stop, Drake...." She struggled to break free of my hold. Hard enough that I still remember the sting of her nails.

When she went to my father afterward, shaking, trying to tell him what happened, he laughed it off in front of me like it was nothing.

"My son wouldn't waste his time on someone who's only here to warm my bed," he said.

Then he turned to me and added, "Everything that's mine is yours too, eventually. Don't let her tell you otherwise."

Julian stood in the corner of that room the entire time. He watched with that same c

old, unreadable face he always wears.

But now watching her leave Julian's room, I understood better. He also wanted a taste too, he was just better at hiding it.

I won't watch him have it all.

The company or the girl, he has to hand over one.