CLAIMED

The air in the office thickened with tension. Even the said fiancee, who was so full of herself a minute prior, seemed to have swallowed her tongue. Sofia was torn between the lady selling her off to her fiancee and fathoming how Ethan would react.

 

"What in the world are you doing here?" Ethan's stern voice echoed. He had walked a few steps further, avoiding his desk, which left Sofia confused. She wondered if that was the expected reception of a couple. I mean, what happened to hugging and kissing? Even just a 'hi babe?' wasn't heard anywhere.

 

"Then again, what do I know about the rich people? All I know is that they are all strange in all aspects," Sofia said inwardly.

 

She cleared her voice, deciding to save her boss the trouble of having to figure out what happened. "I am sorry, Sir Ethan. I was just about to go get your fiance some coffee. Excuse me, sir. I will be right back," she excused herself, avoiding eye contact with him at all costs. How was she supposed to look at him?

 

"One more step, and you are fired, Sofia!"

 

His cold voice stopped her almost at the door.

She turned in shock, and their eyes locked for a moment. His look was defiant, and hers was demanding. "Sir?" She whispered in a gesture that she didn't understand.

 

"Last I checked," he took a step closer, "you are my secretary and not some damn coffee girl. Remind me, when did that change?"

 

Nothing had changed. She knew what exactly she was. She knew her job well. But a gross bitch in the name of his fiance stride in and turned her into a coffee girl. What was she expected to do after all the mess she had made?

 

"I sent her for the errand, Ethan. That is the least she deserves after all the humiliation she has put me through in this office," Amber intervened, strolling to Ethan's side.

 

Ethan didn't turn to her so-called fiance. His gaze remained fixed on Sofia. "You had no right to walk into my office," only then did Ethan turn Amber, his voice low and raw, "and start ordering people around. If she did anything wrong, I am sure you provoked her. And in any sense, you should have waited for me to handle the issue. This is my office, and you know how much I hate people disrespecting it!"

 

Amber leaned back in shock and embarrassment. It was obvious she didn't expect Ethan to speak to her in that manner. "I am your fiance, Ethan! How can you take the side of this pathetic secretary over me? You don't even care to know what this ungrateful, cheap whore did to me, and you have already concluded that I was the one who did wrong? How could you?" She hissed bitterly, the weight of her fiance taking his secretary's side over her and turning her face red.

 

Ethan emitted a faint chuckle, but the sarcasm in it could not go unnoticed. "I know you so well, Amber, and you know it. I can bet on everything written under my name in this world that my judgment is right. You wanna challenge me? We can revisit the issue from the beginning."

 

Amber swallowed hard, averting her gaze from Ethan to Sofia. She looked like she had murdered poor Sofia in her head countless times and was still strungling her to death. Her sinister glare spoke all.

 

"I know Sofia didn't mean to offend you in any way. So..."

 

"And how exactly do you know that?" Amber turned to Ethan, cutting him off as she fixed her glare on him. "It seems like you know your secretary so pretty well, huh, Ethan? I mean, you are even labeling me, your fiance, the bad guy here, even without knowing what really happened. So, to what extent do you know this thing here?" She demands, her eyes firing arrows at Ethan.

 

Ethan's expression turned darker, his glare growing more dark with authority. His voice dripped with ice as he responded, "You have no right to question me, Amber. You coming here was a mistake that I hope, for your own good, that it does not happen again. Leave!"

 

Even Sofia froze from the authority exuded by Ethan's voice. The couple had not even said hi to each other, and now he was asking her to leave?

 

Amber's hands dropped from her chest where they had been resting, her look turning obstreperous at once. "You can't embarrass me like this, Ethan!" Amber hissed, her voice trembling, and so did her whole body.

 

"You do not want me to repeat myself, Amber!"

Sofia saw a look in Ethan that shook her to the bone. It was like there was a beast inside of him that was taking control.

 

A beast that made even the elegant, high, and mighty Amber bow. She grabbed her handbag and brushed past Sofia as she stormed out in anger.

 

"Close the door," he said, his voice thick with command, which Sofia adhered to without hesitation.

 

Ethan did not move an inch after escorting Amber out with his cold gaze. His gaze was now softening slowly under Sofia's vulnerable gaze. He didn't speak at first; he just stared at her, his eyes traveling over her body like he was claiming her with just a look. Or as if she were the remedy for his demons that Sofia knew nothing about.

 

As soon as the door clicked shut, he was in front of her, his lips crashing into hers with the same burning passion they shared hours ago. The way he kissed her made her feel like nothing else mattered, like they were the only two people in the world.

 

But hadn't his arrogant fiance just left the office? Sofia was sure that she had not yet left the lobby, and there Ethan was, all over Sofia, as if the lady who just walked out meant nothing to him.

 

Her antagonistic face tormented Sofia throughout the kiss, making her break it against her body's wish. "We should stop!" Her heart cracked at her own words.

 

He pulled her closer, possessing her vigorously. He caged her chin between his thumb and middle finger while his other hand enveloped her waist. "Make sure your words are in line with your body language."

 

He could see through her eyes that she wanted him to continue kissing her and touching her. Her body wobbling in his touch was clear evidence that her words were betraying what her body and soul craved.

 

His expression darkened, his jaw tightening. "So, what will it be, Sofia? My touch or your fears? I will stop this if you tell me to."

 

He knew so well that she could not resist, and she knew that so well too. "You have a fiance. You are engaged. I have nothing, and I will never be anything like her, Ethan. You can't like someone like me. I was wrong to dream about this. I am wrong to want this," she whispered nonstop.

 

"Don't speak for myself. And until the words come directly from my mouth, nothing changes this," he growled, his hands gripping her waist more tighter, pulling her closer. His breath was hot against her neck, sending shivers through her as he slowly bit her lower lip, making her almost leap. "You belong to me, Sofia," he growled again, his dark eyes filled with desire as he locked hers.

 

Belong?

To him?

Since when had he developed such possessive feelings towards her? And what about that Amber, his fiancee, the one that was wearing his ring, the one that he was about to marry? What about her?

 

Sofia was about to argue, but he anticipated her move and captured her lips roughly in a searing kiss that made Sofia forget everything and savor the beautiful moment.