The billionaire’s forbidden obsession

Can’t stop thinking about her

Dorian Reid had handled rooms full of men double his age. He had signed deals worth more money than most people would ever see in their lifetime. Stayed with people who knew how to smile ever so brightly while plotting to stab you in the back, and survived.

Even his father’s enemies didn’t scare him but this neighborhood?

This neighborhood scared him.

Not because it looked dangerous, it didn’t. That was the problem. The houses all looked the same. Cars parked up neatly. A kid who was being dragged but didn’t want to be dragged. A woman chasing her husband with a rod for some reason thst was unknown to him.

The kind of places his enemies wouldn’t even think twice about. Which was exactly the point. The reason why he refused all the luxurious penthouses his dad and assistants offered him, and chose this instead.

Just then, he noticed a car slowing down. The same car passed in the opposite direction not up to a minute ago. Every instinct in him shot up.

What if this were the enemies? what if someone he knows came looking of him? What if—

Oh.

It was just a man coming out of his car with his entire family, at least that’s what it seemed like. They were probably coming back from holiday. Maybe. He didn’t know. He didn’t care to know.

Infact he had more important problems right now. This damn phone just couldn’t get any signal. He used to have three phones. One, mainly for work purposes. Another, for personal stuff. And the third was reserved for serious emergencies. Now he’s stuck with this piece of glass that couldn’t perform the one purpose it was solely made for.

He decides to be hopeful again and raises his phone—

Still no service. s**t.

He used to have people who handled this stuff. Assistants. Security. A driver who knew where to go without being told. His dad had joked once that Xander didn’t know how to exist without a schedule.

Now the schedule laid by his father was: don’t get noticed.

He had to lay low, have no patterns and keep no contacts.

His dad had said it like he was advising him and not warning him. That was how he knew it was bad. The threats hadn’t been specific, which somehow made them worse. Enough to make everyone tense. Enough to make Dorian Reid disappear instead of fighting back.

Then his eyes caught a glance of someone. She had a messy bun, dressed in scrubs that looked like they had stood the test of time, he couldn’t see her face properly but he could see her hands were both filled with grocery bags. Too many than she should supposedly handle. He could foresee the bags tearing.

And then they did.

One after the other.

He couldn’t help laughing. As he did, it eased the tension within him. And then he regretted it. She locked eyes with him and God…she was beautiful. The kind of beautiful that could make everything else lose its meaning. Hell, even his mind lost track of everything else just looking at her.

But there was something else in her eyes, Exhaustion. Even from such a distance, he could sense it. He wondered how many battles life had brought her path…and how many she’d survived.

He caught himself moving towards her without much thought, helped her and escorted her to her mother’s bakery to which the groceries were meant for.

He loved every second he spent with her.

——

It was later than he expected.

He told himself he’d leave after 15 minutes.

That was the morally sane thing to do. He had met this woman barely 12 hours ago, he shouldn’t be outside her bakery, waiting to escort her back home. But here he was because his impulse won. The damage could still be undone though, he thought. If he left now, there would be no trace of him being there and she wouldn’t find him totally insane.

And yet, he still stayed. 30 minutes had passed and he was still standing under the shaky lamp-post. If he leaned too much, he was sure the tension in him would cause its fall. He tried peaking into the bakery, checking if he would see her and signal to her that he was there. He caught a glimpse of her and immediately faced his car and ducked down. He waited 30 seconds before raising his head up to see if the coast was clear and when he noticed she wasn’t near the window, he stood back fully and that’s when he felt a knot tighten in his chest.

What the hell was he doing?

When did his life turn into this. He was behaving like a high school kid with a crush. Enbarsssing. Even in high school, he never did anything like this. He wouldn’t think twice about any girl, let alone be so concerned that he would leave everything he had doing just to be sure she gets home safe so why was he doing it for her? Not that there was any obvious threat hovering over her life. Yet.

A lot of answers came to mind and he finally settled for the one that seemed accurate. He told himself it was the gentlemanly thing to do. She had a rough day yesterday from what he gathered so since he got her to the bakery, he should also make sure she gets back home safely. That was what a gentle man would and he was one… besides no girl should be caught wandering the streets at night. That wasnt safe. He tried so had to convince himself but he knew that was bullshit. How would he even know if the streets were safe or not when he’s been there not even a total of 48 hours?

Ever since he left the bakery that morning– the way her cheeks puffed when she smiled, her tentative laugh, the way she tightened her eyes each time she felt embarrassed, the way she played with her hair and looked into thin air when she had more than two thoughts going on. These all lingered in his mind. He tried distracting himself with mindless work and tried convincing himself it was just one encounter, it shouldn’t mean anything. But he couldn’t deny anymore that whoever she was…he didn’t want that to be the last time they meet. Some would say, leave it to fate. But he never believed in that any way. He believed in creating his own chances.

He checked the time and considered leaving.

The bakery door swung open, ambient lighting flashing through the streets.

At night, she looked…different. Softer,even. Somehow less guarded. Almost as if all the energy she had saved up for everyone else during the day had already been spent.

He noticed how careful each step she took was. Up until she noticed him too.

He watched the surprise cross her face—her steps faltering, her eyes widening just slightly. She didn’t look alarmed but he could see the genuine shock on her face.

“You’re…here?”

He opened his mouth, and the truth almost spilled out—I wanted to see you again, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, I know this makes no sense—but instead, he came up with something better. A lie.

He glanced quickly at the nearby cafe through the corner of his eyes. “Yes…I came to get coffee and I figured, why not wait for you to close from work …”

Her eyes fell on his hands as if searching for the said coffee he came to get, he understood and thus, continued.

“Well, they didn’t have the coffee I wanted so I didn’t get any”

She walked past him and pointed at the closed up cafe to be sure it was the same one he was talking about.

He nodded, further adding to this lie. “I was their last customer so they closed up not too long ago”

Her brows raised at him and she folded her lips before speaking, trying so hard to suppress her laugh. “Really? That’s interesting. They’ve been closed up since the last 2 months. It’s a miracle they opened today.”

Suddenly, the colour left his face.

He scratched the back of his head and his eyes failed to meet hers.

“so youre bad at jokes and at lying too? You really have some improving to do, Dorian” then she laughed. The sound of her laughter loosened something in his chest. It felt good— making her laugh felt good in a way he had never experienced before now.

She stepped closer. “Tell me the truth Dorian, why are you really here?”

“It’s late at night, Maya. I just thought since you’ve had a long day and we live close, I could walk you back home…if you’d let me. I swear to you I have no ulterior motive behind this.” He raises his palms in the air, trying to show her he was being genuine.

She seemed to love how nervous he was at the moment. He prepared himself for the polite rejection that was coming after and instead, she smiled at him and after studying him, she said “My walk back home is usually quiet since my mom leaves before me. I would really appreciate your company”