HIS POSSESSION

The Belavé

"Thank you," Emma said but remained standing. "I'm sorry about how this started." She straightened the papers in front of her,"Allow me to walk you through our proposal for the Age Avenue project."

And then she began. The first few words came out unsteadily but Emma found her rhythm. Her shoulders relaxed and her voice became firmer.

By the time she reached the middle of the presentation, she had almost forgotten that Matteo Mortelli was watching her.

Almost, till she made a mistake and he covered up for her.

"Matteo..." She stopped herself when she referred to him so casually.

His eyes sharpened. "Mr. Mortelli," he corrected calmly.

Emma's face burned, "Sorry. Mr. Mortelli." She continued.

Everyone in the room assumed she nearly called him by his first name because she was nervous but Matteo knew exactly why she almost said it.

Drew was the only person who noticed what just happened between his boss and Emma.

"...as you can see in the files before you, Lance Interiors has consistently delivered successful projects for every major client we've worked with."

She closed the folder.

"We believe our work speaks for itself. Thank you." Emma exhaled softly when she finished. Then she waited.

"Beautiful presentation, Ms Kroner." Her eyes found Matteo's when he spoke.

Her smile was nervous,"Thank you."

"What do you all think?" Matteo turned to his team.

They began discussing the proposal among themselves. Emma tried to listen but she could feel him watching her. She looked at him. He was already looking at her. Something in his eyes made warmth crawl slowly up her neck.

Emma blinked, trying to stay composed but she was sure he was smiling at her with his eyes. Or was it just in her head? She felt the heat rising up her cheeks. It was easier to avoid his eyes while she talked earlier. She decided to look away from him.

When she glanced back a few seconds later, the corner of Matteo's mouth had lifted. She caught his smirk. He was doing it deliberately. The bastard. He was messing with her; it wasn't in her head!

Matteo cleared his throat. The room immediately went quiet. Everyone turned toward him, especially Emma's boss.

"Our lawyers will be here tomorrow to finalise the agreement." Emma stopped breathing. Matteo rose from his chair, "We look forward to working with Lance Interiors through you, Emma."

An excited sound nearly escaped Emma's throat but she swallowed it at the last second. She had to be professional.

"Thank you," her boss said quickly, stepping forward. "You won't be disappointed."

Matteo buttoned his suit jacket, not even looking at the man in front of him. Emma was the only focus in his view.

****

By the time Emma got home that night, she was exhausted. Her mind had spent the entire bus ride home replaying the day against her will, moving from the horror of seeing Matteo seated at the head of that conference table to the absolute disbelief of her finding herself annoyed that he acted like he didn't know who she was.

She still couldn't decide which part had been more embarrassing—the fact that she'd frozen in front of everyone or the fact that Matteo had watched her lose her mind and had somehow seemed to enjoy it.

She dropped her bag on the couch and kicked off her shoes before heading toward the kitchen. She needed something cold, preferably something sweet, and then she intended to shower and forget the entire day had happened. But the moment she walked in, her steps slowed.

There was a bottle of wine sitting on her kitchen counter.

Emma frowned, moving closer as she tried to remember if she'd left it there before work. She hadn't. The bottle was too expensive for her to forget buying, anyway, and as she picked it up, her eyes immediately fell on the small note tied neatly around its neck.

“Congratulations on closing the deal. You deserve this.”

A smile slowly pulled at her lips. "Oh, you guys."

It had to be one of her friends. Or them both. They knew about the presentation today, and they knew how badly she had wanted Lance Interiors to secure the Age Avenue project. More importantly, they knew this was her favourite wine, though she almost never bought it herself because spending that much money on a bottle of wine felt irresponsible when she had rent and bills waiting for her.

Emma turned the bottle in her hands, admiring the familiar label before placing it back on the counter. She didn't stop to wonder why they hadn't waited to celebrate with her. Her friends had spare keys, and they had done things like this before: leaving food, gifts, or some ridiculous surprise behind when one of them had something to celebrate.

She opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of juice, pouring herself a generous glass. Just as she brought it to her lips, she heard her door unlocking. Her friends were here. She left the kitchen and found Becca closing the door behind her.

"Emma, did you make the sale?" Becca asked the moment she saw her, leaving Emma confused for a second.

"I don't know, did I?" Emma teased before nodding. "Yes, I did. I f*****g did. Their lawyers are coming over tomorrow to sign with us!" She squeaked, and Becca jumped on her with a hug.

"I knew you'd get it!" Becca said, pulling away before rushing back to the door. She opened it and called outside, "Lucia, she got it!"

Lucia rushed in carrying a box of cupcakes and a badly folded banner that read: CONGRATS, EMMA! YOU DID THAT s**t!

"Oh my gosh, guys..." Emma was lost for words. "Thank you so much." She hugged Lucia while Becca took the box of cupcakes from her. "You guys are the best. And just when I thought the wine was it. I love you guys."

"I love you too, but what wine are you talking about?" Becca asked.

"The bottle of wine... the one on my kitchen counter... that you both got for me..." Emma trailed off.

"We didn't get you wine. Well, at least not yet. We were gonna check if you had some just now. The plan was to surprise you when you got back from work but you came home early." Lucia pouted.

"I told you we should've confirmed beforehand if she had wine or not," Becca immediately said, turning to Lucia.

"Emma always has wine. Don't look at me like that," Lucia said defensively, and Emma had to cut them off before they turned it into an argument.

"Yes, I have wine. I do have wine in the fridge. I'll get it." She said and returned to her kitchen.

The Belavé was still sitting on the counter where she met it. She took out the tag and put it in the fridge before taking out the one she planned to drink with her friends.

She was going to find out how that got there later.