Fate.

Anastasia POV:

He stood tall, his hands in the pockets of his pants while his hair was flawless. They were combed perfectly with the jell, revealing his wide forehead and the black slim fit suit hugged his muscles like its life was dependent on it. 

Furthermore, his eyes were deep and dark. They were engulfing me as a whole and for a few seconds, I thought I was hallucinating. 'It can't be.' I shook my head, 'Yes, you are dreaming. You were thinking about him too much.' I tried to pull myself together. 

But he proved me wrong. He walked towards me like I am a prey and he is a hunter. His steps were calm, composed and yet intimidating. I couldn't help but take a step back. At that moment, I did not even care about someone else's presence in the room with us. 

He closed the proximity between us and hovered over me. I had to crook my neck to look at him. It felt surreal. But it was only until I smelled the intoxicating scent of his expensive perfume. 

"Look, who we have here." He whispered and my breath hitched. 

"Kevin, let's start." He coldly said to Kevin. I was disappointed. He did not show any expressions on his face and that hurt me. I don't know what I was expecting. 'He definitely wouldn't be happy to see me. I left him after making a use of his body. He must hate me.' Something shattered inside me at the thought. 

"Yes, sir." Kevin said to him. He must be his assistant. 

Samuel rushed towards me, "Are you okay? If you want, I can move with the presentation." He offered and that was tempting. I don't know if I am even able to speak in front of that devil at the moment. But when I saw him unbuttoning the front buttons of his coat and taking a seat at the head of the table proudly.... I couldn't help but feel confident. 

"No, we will proceed as we planned." My hands clenched into fists so hard that my nails dug into the palms. I am sure I have drawn blood. 

"Please, carry on. Miss. Anastasia Logan." He glanced at me and sarcastically said. 

I rolled my eyes at him and walked towards the podium that was placed at the end of the room and took my position there. The lights in the room suddenly dimmed and I breathed shakily. In the dim lights he appeared even more perfect. The shade of golden lights on his dark hair, made them more prominent. From my view, he looked untouchable. While I could not make out his eyes. They were dead serious and they made me anxious. I have no idea what is going through his mind right now. 

I bit my bottom lip and gathered the remaining ounce of energy that I have left in my body and started. "First of all, thank you so much for taking your time out of your busy schedule on such a short notice." I said but my words weren't directed towards Ryan but to Kevin. He slightly nodded and passed me a smile. 

When my eyes darted to Ryan, I found him glaring at the man. What the hell is wrong with him? 

"They brought a few designs from the collection that is going to be launched at the opening of my company." Samuel moved on to the next slide and it contained the designs of necklaces. They all were fragile and elegant. I put a great effort when I made them. 

"This piece has straps and those platinum straps are covered with diamonds and rubies while this one has an icy transparent jade in the middle and tiny flowers, that are made with diamonds, surround the jade. This is my favourite piece." 

I started explaining the material which I have used and my source of inspiration. More I talked about it, the more confident I felt. My voice was getting louder with enthusiasm and for the first time during the presentation, I unconsciously glanced at Ryan. This time his drop dead eyes were shining. But with what? I don't know. 

When we moved onto earrings, I started explaining about them, "Most of them are inspired by real life things. Animals, stars and moon, a dancing ballerina, butterflies, birds and I paid more attention to the color scheme and used all kinds of stones to get the natural shades."

"In the end, the bracelets and bangles were more of abstract art. As you can see-" I pointed at the projector screen, "this one consists of hollows, while this one has squares. I learnt abstract art to come up with these designs."  

I concluded my presentation. They did not interrupt me in the middle. So, I don't know if I have done well. I looked at Samuel, who was standing on my right side and looked at him with a distressed face. He gave me an assuring nod. 

"I must say, for a beginner, you are really good. You have the potential to open up your own company." Suddenly, Ryan's deep voice echoed in the room. The lights were turned on and now I was forced to look at him. "Every piece has a feel to it. I must say that but-"

'Oh God, but?' I pitifully looked at him. 

"I am not sure about the investment. As far as I remember, someone owes me an explanation." His double meaning conversation got me. 

'Does he really have to bring that up now?' I clenched my teeth. Amusement was dripping from his face and he leisurely placed his elbows on the table and rested his face in the palms. Kevin glanced at Ryan while Samuel looked at me. 

"I think it's unlikely." I glared at him and said. 

"Really?" His eyebrow rose up. Now, he was making use of my situation. I did not expect to see him. Otherwise, instead of coming here, I would rather have gone to Dad. He would have given me an earful but that would be more tolerable than working with this devil. 

"I think, Mr. Ryan, you are not interested in my project. Okay, fine. No worries. Thank you for giving me a chance. I will not waste more of your time." I indifferently said to him and suddenly his back straightened. 

I walked towards the podium to grab my things. Samuel nudged me, "What are you doing? He did not give us an answer yet. There is still a chance." He tried to convince me. 

"There is no chance, Samuel. There hasn't been a chance from the start." I forced a smile and put the strap of my bag over my shoulder. 

"Both of you, leave. I need to talk to Miss. Logan. Alone." He put emphasis on the word 'alone'. I looked at him speechlessly while Kevin and Samuel were confused. But they could not question him and complied with his orders. 

I was forced to be alone with him. 

"Have a seat." He pointed at the seat on his right hand side. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and sat with him. He looked at me for a whole damn minute. My breathing started to get heavy and I had no idea that someone could turn you on just with a mere stare. My patience started running thin. 

I stared into his eyes directly and asked, "What do you want to talk about?" I fiddled with my fingers under the table. 

"Why did you leave then?" He asked what I expected. 

"This isn't a time to be talking about our personal lives. I don't have much time. I need to look for another investor-" I tried to brush him off but that aggravated him. 

"Am I a joke to you?" His voice was really low and that was more chilling. He would rather shout at me. I guess that would be better. 

I sighed. He was determined to get an answer from me. "I think you are not aware of the rules about one night stands. When the deed is done and the night is over, you are not supposed to have a relationship with each other. What was done, it was done." I carelessly told him. 

He scoffed. "I am not some fucking game to you. You used me and then discarded me like a disposal. I looked for you everywhere and you are saying... what was done, it was done." 

"I did not force you. Although I was drunk, I still remember everything that happened because of mutual consent and you are saying, "I used you?" I used the same tone as him. "And why did you look for me anyways?" I suddenly asked him, "What did you want to talk about? Whether I was satisfied or not? Did I enjoy it? That's it?"

He smirked evilly and I wanted to slap that off his face, ''Oh, dear. I have no doubt about those things. You enjoyed it. Otherwise you wouldn't be screaming under me without caring about the people around us-"

"Stop it." I could not listen to his shameless talk anymore and placed my hand on his mouth to shut him up. 

Something stirred in his dark eyes and in the next second, I felt a lick on his tongue on my hand. 

"F**k." I cursed and pulled back while his melodious laughter rang in the air and it was so beautiful that it caused my pussy to clench.