CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: FALLEN TOO EARLY
1694 Words
LIORAÉ
Soren had insisted on picking me up at the house at dawn; it didn't matter what I said, he just kept on saying.
“It’s too early for a lady to be walking about.”
It wasn't too early at all; it was a little past six am when he pulled out in front of my house and walked up to the door. My mom had got the door, and when I heard her greet him warmly, my stomach dropped.
I was praying to everything out there that they didn't get into a conversation that was going to expose me.
“Lioraé, your boss is here,” my mom had screamed at the top of her voice. I was so sure I would have been ready and waited at the road so he didn't have to come up, but I guess I messed up already.
I tried to decipher the tone of my mother, hoping that Soren hadn't said anything that was going to implicate us both.
“Coming,” I screamed, pushing the rest of the things into my bag and slinging it over my shoulders before pushing to the living room. “I will be out for the weekend,” I announced as I pulled Soren from the chair before any conversation could form.
“Ms Alcott, you are…”
“Mr Vale, we are going to be late,” I said before he could say anything. He frowned as I pulled him out of the house, closing the door behind me, not waiting for any pleasantries.
My grandmother had been the reason I woke up late. “I am coming for a visit,” she announced when I picked up the phone.
“A visit?”
“Yes, this weekend.”
“Oh, that can’t work, Ma; I am going on a business trip.” She sounded too disappointed when I told her. I felt bad about it, but there was nothing I could do to make it better.
She had spoken all night over the phone about everything she wanted to say. “Lioraé, you are the only sensible one in your family. I am glad you did away with Evan.” She had never really liked him anyway.
“Ma, are you sure it is okay if I do?”
“Of course, you are a lady capable of taking care of herself; you don’t need a man, and certainly you don’t need a man like Evan,” she scoffed and then giggled.
“So you think I won’t suffer in life since I didn’t marry a rich man?”
“Evan can barely be called a rich man.” She was right; after seeing and being so close to Soren, who was renting out restaurants just to have lunch, I knew that Evan had nothing.
“If you want to be rich, then go to the top,” she added, and I laughed. She would lose her mind if I told her about Soren; after all, he was the top of the top.
“Your parents are supposed to be the ones to provide for you, not the other way around, so don’t let their words get to you. If they want to be rich so badly, then they should make money themselves.” Her words have comforted me in the strangest way ever.
“You didn't even let me say hello to your family.” Soren’s voice snapped me out of mulling over the conversation with my grandmother.
“Do you have to? “I don’t think it’s necessary,” I said as I tried to push him further towards the car.
“I am a gentleman; I should at least say hello.”
“I would send a message later saying you are saying hello.” I wasn’t going to do it, but at least that lie should be enough to set him off for now. He looked at me as if he was questioning whether to trust me.
I opened the back door for him to slide in, and that was when I realised that there wasn't a driver in there.
“Mr Vale?”
“It’s Soren this weekend,” he said as he pushed the door closed and opened the passenger seat up front for me. “Slide in.”
“Are you driving?” I asked as he took my mini bag out of my hand and pushed me in.
“Yes, I am.” I was already seated, and he was pulling the seatbelt onto me as my breath hitched in my throat.
“I am your assistant; I should drive.” I tried to get out of the seat, but my body collided with his, causing my heart rate to quicken even more. He stared at me, obviously aware of his effect on me as he pulled away gently.
“I will do the driving; you just sit and make sure I don’t fall asleep.” He winked and closed the door, entering the driver’s seat a moment later.
“This is wrong, sir,” I said, knowing it was risky for him to be showing such affection in front of my door, but also anyone who saw that was going to misunderstand our relationship.
“How wrong? Can’t a man drive himself anywhere?” he asked, blinking rapidly.
“That is not what I meant, but this is a business trip, so everything should be purely business,” I finished and swallowed the knot in my throat.
“You know you talk a lot,” he said as he pressed the ignition, the car purring to life at once.
“I talk a lot?”
“And I have effective ways of shutting you up,” he replied with a nod.
“I don't believe I talk too much; I was just…” His lips pressed against mine. My mind spun a thousand miles per hour as I pulled away gently. “Mr Vale, how can you?” I asked, my voice barely audible.
“That's one way,” he said
“And it’s inappropriate.” I tried to cover up the fact that I liked it and I wanted to climb him and finish what he had started. We had barely moved from my parents' house; it was risky for him to be doing anything.
“Can we just go?”
He smiled, and I felt like someone was undoing me slowly. He pulled on his seatbelt. “This weekend I have a task for you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Soren…” he corrected, his eyes blazing. He didn't need to say the words for me to know he was not going to correct me again in an appropriate way.
“Soren”, the name, fell off my mouth almost too comfortably. The corner of his lips raised in a smirk. “What task do you have for me?”
He started the car, and we began to move. Something about him not saying the task before we moved sent a shiver down my spine. It was something he knew I wouldn't want to do, and driving away was making sure I didn't back down.
“The client we are meeting today thinks I am bringing my fiancée.”
“What?”
Why was he bringing them and not Elara when she would act as a better fiancée for him than they ever would? I blinked and turned the seatbelt restricting me.
“He is a man who believes in family ties, and he wants us to have dinner with his family. “I had to bring someone,” he said, like he had been shorthanded all of a sudden.
“And you chose to bring your assistant? Can you imagine how badly that would backfire if he were to figure out that you were fooling him?” He didn't really seem to care about this client; this was all a ruse to get what he wanted, and I loved how extra he was.
“Are you suggesting I risk the investment and tell him the truth?” His tone was accusatory, as if I were the one who got him into this mess in the first place.
“Of course not.” I shook my head. “I was just…”
“Don’t worry, all you have to do is act like a fiancée to me, and I would take care of the rest of it,” he said.
I glanced at him, super turned on by the way he was driving so effortlessly. Who knew that driving could look so good?
“And if this backfires?”
“You don’t have to worry about things like that; you can trust me to take care of you,” he said, and something about that made me want to trust him. I sighed and rested in the seat.
“So you have to get used to calling me by my name and not ‘sir’ because it’d be weird if my fiancée did that.”
“You could have taken Elara.”
“Why would I take her?” Everyone would see the insincerity since I don’t love her,” he said, and even though he didn’t say more, I heard the flip side of that statement.
With me, it was going to be genuine because he loved me. Was he mistaking lust for love? Did he just enjoy the s*x we had and was trying to get down again?
“Do you just want to have s*x with me?” The words slipped out of my mind before I could even think it through.
He coughed suddenly, turning to me with a surprised expression in his eyes. “I have been thinking about it; there is really nothing special about me, so why would you be doing all of this?”
“Do you really think there is nothing special about you? And that I am just doing this to make your life difficult.”
“How else are you going to explain this?”
“Because I have fallen for you.”
- Writer
