Chapter 5

Gabriel Sullivan woke up with a start, feeling groggy due to lack of sleep and jet lag of the day before. The memories of the night came rushing to him in quick succession.

He sighed, he so wanted to punch himself right now. What had come over him last night. Reid was his employee, a very low level one at that and Gabriel had never messed around with his employees coupled with the fact that she was Steve's precious sister.

This could definitely lead to a problem between them in future if he ever found out and he had no one to blame but himself.

He wondered about Reid,he had never felt any feelings of interest or attraction from her, infact he sometimes felt she disliked him. She had always treated him with an aloof air of indifference.

Now he wondered if it was all just for show, women around him had often feigned indifference when they were attracted to him.

They preferred to be chased.

“Was she one of them?”, he mused.Look how easily she had fallen in to his bed.

More importantly, he hoped she wasn't expecting anything from him because of what happened between them yesterday. He hoped not; he didn't need the complications of breaking Steve sister's heart. He liked Steve. He was one of his oldest friends and he didn't want to ruin their friendship.

He suddenly felt irritated at himself. He had spent to much time thinking of useless things and had almost forgotten the reason he had travelled all the way to Dubai.

He decided to push all problems relating to Reid aside, he could deal with that later. Right now he had a very important meeting with some very important persons to get to. The future of the success of the project depended on it. He couldn't keep on wasting time thinking about a woman.

He quickly rose from the bed to take a quick shower, already thinking of ways to tackle the problems delaying the project. He knew with utmost confidence that he could solve the problems rationally just like every buisness deal he'd encountered.

A few minutes later, he had settled in the living room,his head bent over his laptop with intense focus when Reid walked in. He felt her presence almost immediately and his nose teased with the scent of her.

Her hair was tied in a loose bun and she had opted for a blue stripped pencil skirt had accentuated her hips.

His mind went back to the night before.He remembered trailing his mouth over every inch of her body, his heavy stubble leaving a pink trail on her skin.

He wondered if she still had the patches of stubble burn on her inner thighs. He remembered the way her breasts had tingled anytime he’d touch them.

He could barely suppress a shiver as he recalled how masterfully he had flipped her and drag his lips down her neck.

Dismissing his raunchy thoughts, he responded with a grunt to her greeting annoyed at the direction of his thoughts. 

What had happened to being cool and rational. He was already being turned on just by looking at her.He mustn't let her know what he was thinking.

“Miss Reid, kindly give Mr Levi a call, I need to speak with him urgently”, he said without looking up at her, glad he'd been able to keep his voice as formal as possible.

He felt her eyes on him before reaching for the company phone. Mr Levi had already retired for the night, just as she had suspected due to the different time zone and definitely not alone, judging from the sultry, feminine voice that had picked up the call. 

She was still in the middle of explaining what she wanted when Gabriel rudely yanked the phone from her hands and took over the conversation.

She walked away, determined on ignoring his rude behavior and headed for the room service cart breathing a sigh of relief when she noticed he had ordered enough for two this time. Memories of the way he had not even bothered to order a meal for her last night filled her with fury once again.

Reid stared at him, he was still busy on the phone. She had woken up this morning feeling anxious of facing him.

Many scenarios had played out in her head of how he would react on seeing her: he'd sweep her off her feet with promising words of forever, or he'd offer a proposal of a relationship in discretion.He hadn't even spared her a glance except to bark orders and behave rudely to her.

She had even expected rejection, a cold letter of termination of appointment but what she didn't expect was the lack of acknowledgement and indifference he'd shown her. She was expecting anything but that.

His indifference bothered her much more than she would care to admit. It unnerved her. He had appeared so normal and unaffected she wondered if he had already forgotten what had happened between them yesterday.

She wouldn't put it past him though. He was famously know for changing woman just as much as he changed his underwears, so maybe a little mistake with his secretary was too small to make him feel unaffected.

“There's no time for breakfast, we are already running late. Our meeting is in an hour and I just been informed that it is the traffic rush hour and I don't want to leave a bad first impression”,he barked rapidly bringing her out of her thoughts.

“What, but…”,She had barely eaten more than a mouthful and was still very hungry. She stared hungrily at her still full plate cursing herself.

The only reason she had appeared late to breakfast inspite of waking up early was because she had spent about an half hour trying to gather her thoughts before meeting him that morning.

“I can't afford to be late, the meeting is too important, so get up and get moving”,he pressed her again, picking up his laptop and briefcase, already heading towards the door.

She cursed at him silently before shoving a mouthful of bacon into her mouth before picking up her bag, racing to the door on the heels of an impatient Gabriel Sullivan.