CEO daddy's accidental bride

CHAPTER 7 Interviewing his accidental bride

Lena stood frozen in the doorway with her hand still covering her mouth.

Roman sat behind his desk looking back at her. He didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just looked at her with that same quiet patience she had noticed in the elevator, like he had all the time in the world and had decided to spend some of it on her.

Then he leaned back slightly and lifted a hand to his face, wiping it slowly from his forehead to his chin.

“Is something on my face?”

Lena dropped her hand. “No, I—” She stopped. “I’m sorry. For the elevator. I didn’t know it was yours. It wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the—”

“The elevator.” He said it quietly.

“Yes.”

He looked at her for a moment. Then he set his pen down.

“It’s just an elevator,” he said. “And it wasn’t even my idea. My assistant decided I needed a private one.” The corner of his mouth moved. “I don’t see it as a problem. Miles disagrees.”

Lena nodded slowly. Something in her chest loosened but not entirely. There was something about the way he was looking at her. It wasn’t an inappropriate look. Nothing she could point to. Just in a way that made her aware of herself.

“Sit down,” he said.

She crossed the room and sat.

He picked up his pen and looked down at the pad in front of him, then he wrote something. She watched him and said nothing.

Without looking up he said, “Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

He looked up then and the full weight of his attention landed on her.

“Tell me about yourself, Miss Carter.”

Lena straightened in her chair. “My name is Lena Carter. I’m twenty two. I studied Business Administration at a university close to where I grew up in rural Texas.” She kept her voice steady. “I don’t have formal corporate experience but I managed my father’s ranch for three years. Coordinated with suppliers, handled accounts, tracked expenses, managed the workers we brought on during peak seasons.” She paused. “I scaled the operation before things got difficult. My work ethic is something I take seriously and whatever I commit to I give completely.”

Roman paid attention to her. Pen in hand, pad in front of him, watching her.

“So.” He leaned forward slowly. “No formal experience. And you applied for Executive Liaison Officer to the CEO.”

She pressed her lips together. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m capable of it.”

He looked at her.

“If you gave me the job,” she continued, “I would be the direct link between you and every department or external party that needs executive attention. I manage what needs managing so your time goes where it matters.” She held his gaze. “Nothing falls through. Nothing gets missed. That’s what I bring.”

The office went quiet again.

Roman sat back. He said nothing for long enough that Lena felt the edges of her confidence start to fray slightly. She kept her expression steady.

“Are you married?”

The question landed without warning.

Lena blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“Married. Are you?”

She looked at him. “You need to know that for the role?”

“You’d be working closely alongside myself and my assistant.” His eyes stayed on hers. “I think that entitles me to a reasonable picture of who I’m bringing in.”

She looked at him for a moment longer than she intended to. Then she smiled faintly. “Of course.” She paused. “Well umm… It’s complicated.”

He said nothing. He simply waited for her to finish.

“Actually.” She stopped again. “No. I’m not married. I’m single.”

Roman looked down at his pad.

The sound that left him was quiet. Barely there. Somewhere between a scoff and something else entirely. He wrote something down and she had no idea what.

The silence stretched. Then he set the pen down and looked at her.

“You’re hired.”

Lena stared at him. “I’m sorry?”

“Monday. You start Monday.”

“Just—” She shook her head slightly. “Just like that?”

His smile reached his lips this time. “Yes.” He replied.

She didn’t realize her hand had moved until it was already on top of his on the desk. She pulled it back so fast she nearly knocked her chair.

“I’m sorry.” She sat straight. “I just—” She let out a short breath. “You don’t know what this means. I will bring everything I have, you won’t have to worry about a single—”

“Lena.”

She stopped.

He was looking at her with that expression again. The one she couldn’t read. “Monday,” he said simply. “Miles will reach out before then.”

He looked back at his pad. “You can go.”

She stood. “Thank you.” Her voice came out quieter than she intended. “Really.”

He didn’t look up.

She turned and walked to the door and stepped out into the corridor and pulled it shut behind her.

The corridor was empty.

She stood there for exactly one second. Then she grabbed both sides of her blazer, spun on her heel, pumped her fist and did a shuffle that she would take to her grave if anyone asked.

Roman’s eyes had already moved to the security monitor on the corner of his desk.

He watched the spin. The fist pump. The shuffle.

A quiet laugh left him. He shook his head once and reached for his phone.

“Miles. My office.”

He was still looking at the monitor when Miles walked in. The screen was empty now. She had already turned the corner.

Roman hadn’t looked away from it yet.

Miles stopped. He looked at the monitor. Then at Roman. Then back at the monitor.

“How did it go?” he asked carefully.

“I gave her the job.”

Miles pressed two fingers to his forehead and stood there. “And the other thing.” His voice dropped. “Does she know?”

“No.”

“So she is sitting across from the man who signed her marriage certificate and she has absolutely no idea.”

“Correct.”

Miles exhaled slowly. “Roman.”

“She said she was single.” Roman finally looked away from the monitor. Something moved briefly across his face. “When I asked if she was married. She said she was single. Why would she say that? I’m her husband.”

Miles looked at him. “She doesn’t know that she’s married to you, sir.”

Roman said nothing. He stood up and reached for his jacket.

Miles watched him. “Where are you going?”

“I want to see where she lives.”

“I can find that in three minutes. Address, satellite image, full residential—”

“Are you coming or not?”

Miles grabbed his phone and followed him out muttering something that Roman chose not to hear.

They made it to the car just as Lena’s cab pulled away from the curb. Roman nodded once at the driver and they followed.

The cab moved through the city and eventually turned into a quiet estate on the calmer side of Dallas. Clean streets. Wide driveways.

The cab stopped in front of a house that sat back from the road with tall windows and a landscaped front. Lena stepped out. She was three steps from the entrance when the front door opened and Shane Lawson stepped out.

They exchanged words. His hand moved to her shoulder. She didn’t pull away but something in her posture shifted in a way Roman noticed from across the road.

He watched.

“Miles,” he said quietly.

“Yes.”

“Whose house is that?”

Miles was already on his phone. He went still when he found it.

“Shane Lawson’s,” he said carefully.

Roman’s eyes stayed on the front of the house. On Shane holding the door open. On Lena stepping inside without looking back. And the door closed.

Roman said nothing for a moment.

“My wife,” he said finally, his voice completely even, “is living in another man’s house.”

Miles opened his mouth.

“Find out everything,” Roman said. “About that arrangement. About why she’s there. About what he has over her.” He looked away from the house for the first time. “Everything, Miles. I don’t want her living in another man’s house.”