Love and Anger

Dominic watched as the blonde haired woman who happened to be Maeve Casalengo walked up to him, a snarl on her face. He had to admit, she was a beautiful woman, although that had never been hard for him to admit before. Of course, Maeve Casalengo was a beautiful woman and not only was she beautiful, she was also sexy as fuck and that short pink dress was doing nothing to hide all the sexy parts of her body. Nope, Dominic cut that part of his brain off. Not tonight. He needed to concentrate and not think of how long her legs looked in this heels or how…..uhn uhn. No, not tonight.

As she took long strides in his direction, he kept his gaze on her, a smirk playing on his fac. He could see the glare on her own face and it fueled his excitement. He wondered what she would do when she got to him. Would she just let him be? Or would she create a scene – scream, yell, throw him out? He couldn’t wait to find out.

The moment she got to him, she wasted no time in snapping, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Hello, Miss Casalengo, it’s so good to see you again. After how many years? Two? Three?”

“Cut that crap out,” She snapped heatedly. “What the fuck are you doing here? You were not invited. I’m going to have a talk with the guards outside. I made it very clear that they do not grant access to anyone who wasn’t invited. So, how did you get in?” She asked as she began to make her way to the door.

Oh, so she was going to throw him out. Very ballsy of her. Before she could get to the door, his hands shoot out and he grabbed her arm. He ignored the tingles that shoot up his palm the moment he touched her skin.

“What the fuck?! Who the hell gave you the permission to touch me?” She growled in a low tone. She looked deadly furious, her eyes wide with anger, her chest heaving up and down as she breathed heavily. Dominic was surprised she was not already screaming her lungs out at him in the middle of the party, although they were beginning to attract some attention.

Dominic dropped her hand very calmly. “I have an invite,” He said in an equally calm tone, thoroughly enjoying how shocked and even more furious she looked at his words.

She looked at him like he was crazy. “How did you get an invite? I made it very clear to my assistant that you are not invited.”

“I have my ways,” he answered coolly, amused at how angry she was. She looked like she was about to reach out and smack him across the face. Not that she would ever try that though. But then again, this was Maeve Casalengo – one couldn’t really predict the extent she could go in certain situations. “Do you really want to cause a scene at your party, Miss Casalengo?” He asked.

Maeve stared at him, breathing heavily. She could hear the sound of her breath as her chest heaved up and down and her heart beat fiercely against her ribcage. She was furious. How dare Dominic Fitz crash a party. She made it very clear to Noelle that he wasn’t to be invited, so how did he get an invite? She hated how he was looking at her right now. He looked amused, like she was just some stupid little kid to laugh at. She hated how he seemed so calm and composed while she was about to lose her cool.

“Miss Maeve?” A gentle voice called behind her.

She whirled around, grateful for the interruption, as she faced Noelle. “What?” She snapped.

Noelle took a step back. “Um, I think this is the right time to make a speech.”

Maeve glared at her for a while. She sucked in a deep breath and walked away.

Dominic watched as she walked to a small platform mounted at a part of the room with a microphone attached to the podium. She climbed the podium gratefully, lowered her head slightly to the microphone just as the music stopped playing. She cleared her throat into the microphone, attracting the attention.

Maeve let out a small smile as everyone stared up at her. She hoped she wasn’t looking as anxious as she felt. Her hands were trembling, so she stilled one on the microphone and hid the other behind the podium. In that moment, she hated Dominic so much she felt like her chest was going to burn. Is presence here disrupted her emotions and after she had tried so hard to keep her nervousness at bay, he and worked her up again and made her a bundle of mess. Her gaze met his and he stared right back at her very coolly. She pulled her eyes away. “Good evening everyone. I’m Maeve Casalengo, you already know that.” She cringed at her words. What was the need to re-introduce herself. They already knew who she was. Ugh, she was messing this up badly. “Um….I just wanted to thank you all for honoring my invitation. This party is meant to celebrate my return home and my appointment as the COO of Casalengo Enterprises and can I just express how honored I am to be placed in that position. Anyway, I hope you are all having the best time of your life at my party. There are food and drinks enough for everyone, so don’t hesitate to eat and drink to your satisfaction.” She paused slightly, racking her brain for what else to say. “Thank you,” She finally said and stepped down from the podium. There was a loud ringing in her ears as she walked away. The music resumed again and everyone went back to chatting and laughing.

Noelle approached her. “That was a good speech, Miss Maeve.”

“No one asked you,” she snapped, walking ahead. A couple intercepted them and she stopped to talk to them.

Dominic watched as Maeve stopped to talk to the couple. He had to admit, he looked like she belonged here. She was graceful and elegant and, calm. She looked normal in the midst of all of these high achievers and celebrities and wealthy people – but then again, she grew up in this lifestyle, she probably knew must of these people from birth. That didn’t change the fact that she shouldn’t be the COO though. Just because she was wealthy and famous didn’t mean she was smart enough to take on the affairs of a company. But then again, it wasn’t really his business though, was it? If his rival company wanted to run their company to the ground, who was he to complain?

“Hey there, handsome,” A sultry voice said, jerking him from his thoughts.

He turned to see a tall, skinny brunette staring at him with hooded eyes and a smile. A frown appeared on his face. “Hey,” He said in a blank tone, turning away from her and hoping she would just walk away. That was a futile wish though, because the moment he turned away, he felt her hand on his arm.

“So,” She began, “I can’t help but notice you looked just as bored as I am. You want to step out for a bit?” He asked.

“No.”

“Are you sure? I mean, you look so….”

“Oh God, Imogen, can’t you keep it in your pants for like a day?” Another voice exclaimed. A voice Dominic knew so well. Maeve Casalengo.

He suppressed a groan but turned towards them. She was glaring at the woman who came up to him whose name he now knew as Imogen. Imogen’s hooded eyes had cleared and she just looked sheepish.

“Come on, Maeve,” Imogen groaned. “I told you we won’t do it in any of your rooms, we’ll do it in my car. Right, handsome?” She winked at Dominic but it just seemed playful instead of sexy.

“Imogen,” Maeve deadpanned.

Imogen pouted. “Fine. I won’t have sex tonight. It’s your call,” She said, leaning down to kiss Maeve’s cheek. “You did good by the way. Your speech was nice.”

Dominic frowned when an hopeful look appeared on Maeve’s face and she looked up at her friend. “Really?” She asked.

Imogen nodded. “Really,” She answered. She brushed Maeve’s hair slightly. “You feeling better?” She asked and Maeve nodded. “Good. I’ll see you later.” She kissed Maeve’s cheek again and walked away without even so much as a glance in Dominic’s direction.

He wasn’t sure if he was offended or relieved by that.

Maeve stared hard at him for a while. Then, she began to walk away.

“You can’t express how honored you are to be in this position,” Dominic murmured, his words halting her. She turned towards him, crossing her arms around her chest as he continued talking. “That’s a lot of talk considering you only got the job because of your father.”

Maeve raised a brow. “And that’s bothering you because?”

“No reason, really. Just thinking of how you are about to single handedly ruin your father’s company.”

“And that bothers you because?” she repeated. “I mean, shouldn’t you be happy about it? Your rival company is about to go down thanks to me. You should be glad but you aren’t. I wonder why.” She gives him a knowing look. She turned her head. “Oh look, Dylan Bass is waving me over. Have fun at my party, Dominic.” She turned and walked away.

Dominic watched her walk towards Dylan Bass. He watched as they hugged. They were obviously very familiar with each other. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest and his blood boiled with anger. He dropped his glass on the table with a thump and strode out of the house, leaving the party.