"I do. I deserve a raise. That man owes me" I play, and he shakes his head, knowing that he won’t be able to get it out of my head.It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, but I need to plant myself to fit this expense into my life. I will need to give something up, but I don’t care if it means making my dad less burdened.When we had the diagnosis, it was a shock for all of us, of course. Mom had some symptoms often, which were always justified by the sedentary lifestyle, with laziness that had of exercises. If she climbed a few steps of stairs and was exhausted, said that she was not used. If you felt tingling for a whole day in the legs, it was because you slept in a bad position.It was hard to convince her that it was not normal to have symptoms like these for a long period. Luckily, she has two stubborn people around her, and me and dad didn’t give up until we took her to the doctor.After being referred to a neurologist and having a series of tests, the terrible di
There are things in life that I would not like to worry about.Do not take me wrong, I am not a bad person or without scruples, but I know the limit of things. I know it’s not normal that I’m worried about my secretary at this level. I was unfocused in the last few days, thinking what the hell happened to her for having asked for this leave so urgently. Although Nicole has her bad moments, she is a great employee and never left me in her hands before.It was insane days, when I realized that she was the person who brought me back to reality, the only one able to prevent me from diving into work to the point of forgetting everything. Proof of this is that I missed an important meeting. Not because I didn’t know about it, I did, but I lost the fucking notion of time. When I saw it, it had been too long.Nicole keeps me alert and makes me land when my mind is shut down for too long to focus on what I have to do.I hope very much that this woman comes back today.Not that I’m looking at m
Her eyes, now more green than brown, stare at me in shock. She opens and closes her mouth and looks sheepishly at the other employees.“Isn't she your secretary? What would she have to say?” Pierre asks, taken aback by what I've said.“What does that have to do with anything? She's my secretary, and I want to know what she has to say about your presentation. Besides, her resume is just as good as yours, Bones. In fact, I'd say it's even better. Did you know that she once held the same position as you at our biggest competitor?”If Nicole was shocked before, the look on her face now is priceless. I've rarely seen her as speechless as she's at this moment. Her beautiful eyes stare at me as if they want to kill me, and I like that reaction. I can deal with the fact that she hates me for catching her off guard. But I can't deal with her sadness.The rest of the team is also paralyzed, studying Nicole more closely. It's as if they've only just realized she's here. Pierre tries to hide his
I had to turn to my best friend to keep from freaking out even more. You see, my life has not been easy lately. I have a lot of things to worry about, to deal with, to face.The last week has been a real test of my sanity, with all the stuff with my mom and my finances, so the last thing I need is Valentin Salvatore trying to end what’s left of my life."I'd love to kill that man, Nat!" I shout to my best friend as I see the sassy one stifle a laugh instead of backing me up in my hate speech. "I see that smile there, Natasha Forbs! I’m serious, how can a human try to fuck you like that?""Oh, honey... I’m not laughing at you. Not really, but the situation with your boss is funny. He's been complaining about that man for years, but he insists on staying there.""I know, I know! I don’t want solutions to my problems, I just want to complain! Leave me alone!" She moans, trying to distract me from the beautiful little princess who is crazy about getting off my lap and running around. Now
After giving a kiss on the cheek of Amanda and another on Nat, he leaves us alone while his passionate wife is still sighing after Benjamin disappears from sight. Open a sincere smile and use the moment of distraction to take a pillow off the top of the sofa and throw it at your face. The gesture scares Natasha and makes Amanda laugh to the point of falling with her ass wet by the diaper right on the floor."What a bad influence for my daughter!" Nat protests, and I laugh out loud. Even after the speech, she smiles and grabs another pillow without throwing it in my face. "Attack the godmother, daughter!"I run through the house and see Natasha hugging Amanda, not knowing who is laughing more at the childish game. When the two adults get tired, the child still holds on with the energy of two human athletes. We spend the rest of the night playing with the small, easy things.It’s time for Benjamin to come back for dinner. I stay with the little ones and give them time to shower together
Things have returned to their natural course.Nicole Santoro is back to being the sharp-tongued, grumpy, stubborn secretary who insists on challenging me whenever she can. This has allowed me to focus on what is my priority, which is the business. I’m stressed from the turbulent weeks full of ups and downs, but at least everything is going according to my plan.I hear a knock on the door and authorize entry into the automated system, focusing only on the documents on the computer screen. As I read the last paragraph of the page, I remember the presence of the person I authorized. When I see the look on David Johnson's face, I know the shit is coming. He walks up to me with his hands in his pants pockets."Good morning, David. Do you have the contracts?" I ask, getting straight to the point, taking off my reading glasses and placing them on the table."Mr. Salvatore, I had a last-minute problem with my team, and they couldn’t meet the demands on you, but...""Do I understand correctly,
"Shut the hell up! I know how controlling and bossy you can be, and I bet that's what makes this place so intimidating.""Eleanor doesn't hesitate to berate me in front of Nicole, who stifles a laugh because she enjoys seeing me in a tight skirt. It's fortunate that most of the staff steer clear of my office, so fewer people witness the CEO being scolded like a child by his mother.""I am very good with his genius, Mrs. Salvatore," Nicole says, giving me a sharp look that makes Mom chuckle."Perfect! That's exactly what he needs. Do you have a car, darling? Can I give you a ride?""I didn't come by car today, but I don't need one either, ma'am..."I frown in surprise because I know Nicole has a car and usually drives it. She avoids looking at me, instead smiling sweetly and kindly at my mother. I know she's serious, as she cannot feign sympathy for anyone—not even for the person who pays her salary, which in this case is me."I insist. We can drop it off on the way, can't we, son?""O
Travel with Valentin. Okay, I can manage it without harming him. I will try. I have a family that needs me. Moreover, I can't afford to go to jail right now. That would be a huge problem, and it's all I can handle, so I have to make it work. It's going to be five full days in the company of the most unpleasant man I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. Oh, well. Maybe not the most, but certainly one of them. He's challenging to deal with, and I never know what to expect from his temper. I just hope he will be nice on this trip. I keep my fingers crossed and watch the clock tick by as I wait. He has said that I don't need to go into the office, that his driver will stop here, and we can head straight to the airport. So I'm ready, with two bags packed, because since madness is unpredictable, I have to be prepared for anything. You can drive me crazy, but you will not make me ugly, even if you try. I glance in the small mirror I have in my room f
Holy shit, Nicole is going to drive me crazy. If I thought I was paying for my sins earlier, at the beginning of my pregnancy, I had no idea what awaited me in the coming months. What a stubborn woman! If she was already bursting, with a difficult temper, complaining and stubborn, it got much worse. Although I find it funny when she is all disheveled after cursing me quite properly, I worry about the stress she goes through at this point in her pregnancy. I'm afraid she'll be stressed to the point of having a premature birth, for example. But does she listen to me? He doesn't listen to me."Nicole, for God's sake!" It's already two o'clock in the morning, you don't need to look at that again" I complain, seeing her concentrated on the computer screen of the office that she has in our house, her huge belly already seven months old, looking like she has two children growing there.But it's only one, our little girl. Finding out that I was going to be the father of a girl, back in the fi
I go around the house, still getting a little lost with the corridors because it's huge. I recorded some things, like the picture on the wall in the hallway of the bedrooms, but it's still hard to get by. I find my room and pick up a few things I think I'll need after I change my clothes, following Valentin's suggestion to wear a lingerie set to shower.When I return to the outside area of the house, he is no longer there, and I wait for him for a few minutes until he returns."Shall we?" He appears all hot, shirtless, with black shorts and sunglasses on his face."Of course."He guides me along the path that leads to the beach, and I already start to smell the sea. I smile and close my eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun touch my skin. I love all of this very much. The sun, the sea, the good memories they bring me."It's good to see you happy," Valentin says next to me, also smiling."It's good to be happy.""If it's up to me, that's
Everyone was surprised by my marriage out of nowhere, but I needed it to be like this to be able to continue with this insanity. Yes, I still think this is all crazy, especially when Valentin is taking it very seriously about being a marriage more for convenience than for anything else. I thought that, after we were in the same environment, without him having to insist that I stay, he would rip my clothes and fuck me anyway. But Valentin insisted on putting me in a separate room.It leaves me confused.Now I married someone who will never eat me again, that is, my previously hectic sex life is over. My pussy is going to create cobwebs."Shut up," she says as she prepares our breakfast, all delicious as always cooking.Poor me, having to watch Valentin walking around shirtless and not being able to take even a cone off him. I don't understand the reason for your physical distancing, but I've thought about so many things that I couldn't reach a consensus. H
I focus on the preparation of our food and feel her eyes watching me as I work with my back to her. I'm being cowardly, running away from the beautiful sight that this woman is because I'm horny fucked by her. I can try to hide it, but it will be difficult to be around her without showing how much I love her."You know, there's an advantage in this pregnancy that it happened now. I turn to her when I hear the sad, curious tone of voice.""And what would it be?""My mother," she says so vulnerably that she makes me drop what I'm doing to listen to her more carefully. "She has Multiple Sclerosis. We found out at the same time I joined LDrinks. Some time ago, it seemed like a death sentence, you know? In my mind, I wasn't going to have my mother for long. She wasn't going to be her anymore. Today, I deal with it better, but it's hard not to be able to predict how it's going to be."How long will she walk, talk, and see? Knowing that you're going to be here w
No man loses by being insistent on the things that matter to him. I persevered and got what I wanted. Nicole married me.Not the way I imagined, but he accepted. She just wanted a quick trip to the registry office, without any family members, just the witnesses, who were Nat and Benjamin. Because she didn't want to make a fuss, according to her. I wanted to try to make her change her mind and accept having a big wedding, the way she deserved, but I was afraid she would give up on marrying me. So, I accepted his condition.As always, the woman surprised me. On a random day, in the middle of the workday, she said she would marry me. Needless to say, I couldn't work for the rest of the day, just thinking about it.Today, at the end of the afternoon, we finally signed the papers, and now we are arriving at my house. In our house, from now on.We stopped by Nicole's apartment to pick up the basics, because then I'll ask a team to go there to pack everything an
I also don't want my son to grow up distant from his father, especially one who seems so willing to participate in everything. So much so that it suffocates me with its over-care, and my baby is only a few weeks old. But I like the attention he gives me, to feel cared for by him. To know that I'm not alone in this. Valentin has been fundamental in this initial period, which has been very difficult. But I'm not being fair to him, so I promised myself that even if I don't marry him, I'll try to let him get closer, at least for the sake of the baby. But it's not an easy thing for me.In all my years of life, I have never had a serious relationship, I have never met anyone's parents or created a routine. There has never been much conversation, to tell you the truth, so Valentin needs to understand that it is not an easy life change. What did I say about hating these sweethearts? I don't know how to deal with them very well. The idea of having a very abrupt one paralyzes me, and t
I still hope that, at any moment, I will wake up. This is still too surreal for it not to be an alternate universe. How real would it be to be with my parents in front of Valentin's house, ready to introduce them and tell them that I'm expecting a child from him?That's not how I planned to tell the two of them, I would like it to be something more secretive, less full of fanfare, but I'm afraid. The more witnesses, the better. That way, I'll make sure they don't yell at me or anything like that. It's not their face, but who knows? An unexpected pregnancy isn't what you need right now either."Are you going to tell me why we're here?" Mom asks next to me, curious, because I didn't give many details about tonight. I didn't know what to say without giving too much away. "Didn't you complain horrors about how horrible your boss was? Why did he invite us to his birthday party? I bought him a t-shirt, daughter, but I'm embarrassed after seeing this house.""Don
I've never been grateful that Tyler loves throwing a party before, but it's going to be useful to me now. At least I'll try to get Nicole closer to me. I want to know about her life outside this office, and I want her to know mine too."Your birthday is the day after tomorrow." I had forgotten," she comments, sounding thoughtful. "I'm going to talk to them to see if they can. I warn you.""All right. Do you want to go out to dinner now?""No, I'm a little tired. I just want to try to get some sleep.""I can cook for you, at your house, if you prefer," I offer, wanting to bang my head against the wall because I've never had to humiliate myself so much for a woman in my entire life."Valentin...""Nicole..." I repeat your name the same way you say mine. "Why are you pushing me away? Things were starting to look good between the two of us. Why are you avoiding me?""Because everything got serious all of a sudden," he confesses in a whisp
Things are going differently from my plans. I wish I was following the pregnancy more closely, making sure Nicole is doing everything right. Taking medicines, eating, sleeping, avoiding stress. Unfortunately, the stubborn woman denied my marriage proposal. I expected it, I didn't imagine that I would accept it at first, but I thought that at some point I would be able to convince her that it was the best option for both of us.It would be a convenient marriage, for both sides. I'm going to need to use a strategy I wouldn't like, and I know she's going to hate me, but it's going to be for the greater good. I just can't stop living because I'm worried if you need me. I am controlling and systematic, I need to have the situation in my control, and with it away from me, this does not happen.I leave my room and find her typing focused on the computer. It's been a few days since I asked her to marry me and I haven't brought it up again, because I asked her to think about it