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Twelfth Secret
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Zach opened his door and found Darien waiting outside as they had agreed. He was feeling excited about breakfast whereas Darien was sporting dark shadows around his eyes and looked like he hadn’t slept well.
“Were you up all night working?” he asked.
Darien covered his mouth whilst he yawned. Zach took that to be a reply to his question.
Despite his visible fatigue, the billionaire was still sleekly dressed in another colourful jacket and blue trousers. His hair was freshly wavy and he was wearing a simple necklace that probably cost more than Zach’s monthly rent.
“I finished reading my back catalogue and finished the plot outline,” the billionaire replied. “It took longer than I thought. It’s fortunate we’re leaving this morning so I can sleep when I get back.”
They fell into step together and this time Zach elected to take the lift. Darien didn’t look like he would appreciate walking down all those stairs.
The breakfast area was ever
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The CEO's Little Secret Thirteenth Secret
Darien couldn’t believe what he had done when he returned home. He had fallen asleep on Zach’s shoulder on the train and had to be woken up. Zach had probably been inconvenienced by that. He had apologised once he realised where his head was. Zach had accepted the apology and had denied being bothered by it like the kind and polite person he was. His stomach rumbled and drew his focus away from his transgression on the train. Eating like he had over the past day had messed with his schedule. Darien strode to the kitchen and made himself a protein shake. Darien’s eating habits had materialised in his early twenties when he had taken over Harper Publishing. Every second of his day back then had been focused on learning how to run the business and once he grasped those skills, he had changed to trying to drive the company to new heights. There had been no time for proper meals unless it was to lure in new business partners. He had compensated by changing to supp
The CEO's Little Secret Fourteenth Secret
Zach sat down at the well polished table opposite the billionaire. The strange feeling in his heart had gone. Perhaps it had been his first instance of heartburn. Darien looked as good as always. His hair was primped to perfection. Zach liked his wavy hair from the weekend more than his neatly arranged straight hair. Maybe it was because of the implication that he was one of a very small number of people to see him with wavy hair. The billionaire was currently engaged in a quiet conversation with the waiter who came across as efficiency incarnated. “Was that your order?” Zach asked once the waiter had left. “That’s right,” Darien confirmed. “I want to surprise you.” Zach resisted the urge to get his phone out under the table and do some internet research about this particular restaurant. He had a feeling he had seen the name somewhere before so it was probably another top rated restaurant in London. “Is your hair naturally straight or
The CEO's Little Secret Fifteenth Secret
Darien turned away from Zach and despondently walked off to where he had parked his car. He needed to be somewhere quiet so he could settle his heart.He drove home as fast as the speed limits would allow and swore during every traffic jam. The city centre was terrible for car drivers.Once he reached his multi million pound house, he poured himself a glass of wine and sat outside in the garden.He had fallen for Zach. There was no denying it now. He didn’t just like him, he was in love with him.There was no turning back now.The contract he had created to chain Zach into improving his life, came to mind the second he thought about acting on his feelings.He had put in the clause that neither of them could fall for the other.Darien put his hand into his hands and groaned.He had ruined his own chances at happiness with that contract. Why was it even in the contract? He could have left it out and he would be feeling much better about himself right now.He had effectively trapped himse
The CEO's Little Secret Sixteenth Secret
Darien wanted to bang his head against the steering wheel. He had shown his hand too quickly to Zach. He just hadn’t been able to control his feelings of annoyance when he had seen Zach talking to Austin for so long through the front window of the flower shop. They had looked happy together and well, he’d always had something against Austin. Why had the dim blond decided to open his damn flower shop so close to his offices? It wasn’t even like he could bribe Austin to leave, the blond was rolling in money. He could tell that the intern was annoyed with him for saying those things. There was a tight set to Zach’s jawline and he felt very sorry already. He knew Zach wasn’t in love with Austin, he hadn’t looked flustered with the blond at all from what he had seen. He had the air of a person putting up with someone dumb. He also knew that Zach had no intention of going against the contract by asking Austin out. He knew all that, yet he had done h
The CEO's Little Secret Seventeenth Secret
Zach was confused by the sudden hand holding. Darien came across as a person who didn’t like to be touched and here he was holding his hand.Then he saw the look of complete pain on the billionaire’s face and he softened. Clearly Darien was holding onto him for help. Spicy noodles weren’t something Darien could withstand.He slipped his hand out of Darien’s grip and patted his head.“I’ll get you something cold,” he said. “You can give up now, I’ve clearly won this challenge.”Darien nodded weakly and Zach smiled to himself. He was most likely to be the only person who had ever seen the billionaire in a state as fragile as this.He quickly grabbed the tub of ice cream from the freezer and two spoons. The shop he had visited to get the noodles hadn’t stocked the largest selection of ice cream due to the time of the year so he had just picked the one he expected Darien to despise the l
The CEO's Little Secret Eighteenth Secret
Darien couldn’t believe that he had the bravery to invite Zach around to his multi million pound house. No one aside from his personal assistant and cleaner had ever been there. He poured himself a glass of milk from the fridge and drank it in one shot. His tongue was still tingling from those demonic noodles and he had only eaten two mouthfuls. How it was considered a fun pastime was beyond him. Maybe he was out of touch with the youth now. He had been so set on becoming the perfect leader of Harper Publishing at 22 that he had tried to be more mature to make business dealings easier. Now he knew he should have appreciated his youthful years more. At least he had managed to have some fun at university before everything had gone downhill. There was also the making out with a stranger at a masked ball two years ago, but he didn’t like to remember that. Darien’s kitchen contained every modern device possible from an airfryer, an instant boiling water ta
The CEO's Little Secret Ninteenth Secret
Zach was undeniably flattered to know that he was the first person to have an invitation to Darien’s mansion. It made him feel special as he was getting to see even more aspects of Darien’s private life.It was the most special he had felt in his life.Darien walked down the long hallway and turned left at the end. Zach was shown the two reception rooms, dining room, gym, the sun room, the indoor swimming pool and the display room which was full of empty glass cabinets and lifeless white walls.“The idea was to have a place to display anything I might collect. I’m not into antiques or anything like that so it’s stayed unused,” the billionaire explained after seeing his questioning glance at the empty cabinets. “Maybe I’ll start collecting something when I eventually retire.”The tour continued and the kitchen was next. It was everything he could have dreamed of and it of course had a waffle maker stand
The CEO's Little Secret Twentieth Secret
He didn’t deserve Zach. He had bound him into a legal contract and had put him under all kinds of restrictions. He also had too much baggage in his life for someone happy and optimistic as Zach. “You’re good at following instructions,” Zach observed. “That always makes for good teamwork.” Darien smiled gently at him. “You’re good at giving orders, that helps a lot.” He carried on eating. Croissants, eggs, cheese and ham shouldn’t go together like that, but they did. Darien had believed from all the fancy food he had grown up eating that he had already experienced a wide range of food. Now he knew that wasn’t true at all. It was nice to try new things with someone else. “I was going to ask if you like it- I can see the answer though,” Zach asked and carried on eating. Darien was already nearly at the end of his second croffle. He tried his salad and beamed at the taste. He could tell why so many people took up cooking as a hobby
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The CEO's Little Secret Author's Note
Hello, This story has come to an end now. I just wanted to thank every reader who has supported this story over the past few months. My intention with this story was to create a CEO story that BxB story readers can enjoy as the genre is normally dominated with straight stories. I will miss writing this story as I had fun creating all the different characters. I am planning to enter the 'A Touch of Rainbow' contest at some point so you will all see me sometime soon. I am very excited for the contest. Thank you again for all the support. Cassandra Kim
The CEO's Little Secret Final Secret
1 year later:“What did you think of my latest chapter?” Darien asked. “From an editor's perspective, not as my boyfriend.”Zach glanced at his boyfriend with a critical eye. He still couldn’t quite believe that his first client as a freelance editor was Damien Black.“I had to make a lot of edits, you changed character perspectives too frequently. It wasn’t a consistently written chapter.”Darien listened to his criticism with a pout and then his pout became a cheeky smirk. His boyfriend was always keen to flirt with him no matter how formal the setting was.“What did you think as my boyfriend?”“I have the same opinion,” Zach replied with the same stern tone.His boyfriend looked disappointed and Zach didn’t bother trying to placate him. Darien always bounced back from criticism about his writing. Zach checked his watch. He had an appointm
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Ninth Secret
The weekend went too fast for Zach’s liking. It felt like two days with Darien to himself had flashed by at an impossibly fast speed.He rolled over in bed and turned off his phone alarm. He was still at Darien’s house and they were getting up early so they could get to the office without being seen together by anyone.Darien groaned next to him.“Is it time to go to work already?” he asked sleepily.Zach pulled back the bedcovers with a yawn. He had his work clothes on hand, but he did need a shower before going to work.“It is time to get up for work,” he corrected. “You’re making breakfast, I’m going in the shower.”“That’s fair,” Darien agreed and got out of bed. “I’ll see you downstairs.”Zach had a quick shower and dried his hair using the hairdryer in Darien’s personal bathroom. He hadn’t used the spare room since the nig
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Eighth Secret
“I am ready for our date,” Zach said. “Did you give the reporters the slip?”He got into the passenger seat as he spoke and Darien did his seatbelt for him.“I got my PA to drive the car here and came down here a few minutes before you,” Darien explained. “I sent all the reporters away earlier. Anyone still here is just very persistent.”Zach took a careful look at him. Darien didn’t look tense at all. In fact he looked quite happy and free. It was good to see the change. It had occurred to him that Darien might have second thoughts about coming out publicly after the press attention.“Has all the coverage from the media been positive?” Zach asked.Darien grinned at him.“Only one tabloid used homophobic slurs- there’s already some legal action going there. The reaction has been good overall. I think I might have broken a lot of hearts in the process though.”
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Seventh Secret
Darien was caught off guard by the question. Since Zach had admitted to being in love with him, his desire to come out as a gay man had been forgotten.As it stood, he wouldn’t be able to take Zach to many places on a date out of fear of being recognised. That wasn’t fair to Zach and he didn’t want to be like that either.He wanted to come out.He waited for the feelings of panic and fear over admitting to being gay to appear and they didn’t.Darien realised he had completely changed now.Since meeting Zach and falling in love with him, he had lost his fear of public opinion. He was content to come out and be honest.“I feel like I can,” Darien told him.Zach’s face lit up with excitement and he pulled him into a hug.“That’s really good, Darien,” he said. “I fulfilled my end of the contract without knowing it.”Knowing that people were going to judg
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Sixth Secret
Zach was very reluctant to leave Darien in the evening, but he knew he couldn’t call in sick for another day. Darien dropped him off outside his building after a long kiss. Zach entered his apartment building and hesitated at the stairs. He did like to stay fit by taking the stairs, he had just done too much physical exertion to manage all those stairs. He elected to take the lift up to his floor instead. Emilia was sitting at the kitchen table when he walked in and he tried not to act like his whole body was sore from having sex with Darien. “Did you call in sick to work?” she asked suspiciously. “We did,” he admitted. He had already eaten dinner with Darien. The billionaire had surprised him by ordering a Chinese takeaway and they had eaten it in the dining room, the plastic containers and cheap disposable chopsticks contrasting with the fancy table and chandelier. Emilia snorted and took a sip of her coffee. “I’m glad that t
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Fifth Secret
Zach was very quick to agree to the date request.“Of course I’ll go on a date with you. Isn’t that what we've been doing unofficially anyway?”“I want to go on a date with you as your boyfriend,” Darien pointed out. “That’s different.”Zach realised he was correct. They had gone to places first as two people in a business relationship, then as friends and best friends. Going somewhere as boyfriends was going to be different.“When did you want to go on a date?” he asked.Darien looked over at the clock on the wall and turned back to smile at him.“There’s no time like the present. Let’s make use of our ‘sick’ day. I don’t think I can wait until the weekend and I’ll need to send you home at some point today so you can get to work tomorrow.”Zach didn’t have any reason to disagree with that idea. He didn’t want
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Fourth Secret
It had certainly been a rollercoaster of a day. Zach had thought Adam’s date request had been the peak and then he had thought that confessing his love to Darien would be the peak. Instead the peak was an attempted acid attack from Darien’s most psychotic ex-girlfriend. Darien drove the car at a steady speed and kept glancing at him. Zach still didn’t feel like speaking. Giving his statement to the police officers at the scene had taken most of his energy. He was probably in some state of shock as well. One moment he had been on his way to confess his love to Darien, the next he was being shoved to the ground by Darien to avoid an acid attack. He had a lot of questions for the billionaire, but he was too tired to start that conversation. His eyes closed and the next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by Darien. “Come on, Zach,” Darien said softly. “I don’t have the strength to carry you up the steps so you are going to have to walk yourse
The CEO's Little Secret Fifty Third Secret
Zach stared at Adam in surprise. Despite Meghan’s regular teasing comments, he had never expected to receive a confession from Adam.Another part of his mind noted that he had received two confessions in the past three days. He was becoming popular.How should he respond to this one?Unlike Darien, Adam was just asking him on a date. He wasn’t confessing his love. Zach made up his mind very quickly.“I only see you as a friend,” he said gently. “I don’t think it would work out between us.”He felt no feelings of love towards Adam. The editor was just a very friendly co-worker who was very attentive to him.Adam looked away for a moment and Zach didn’t know what to do. He didn’t like to hurt anyone’s feelings, but it wouldn’t be fair to get Adam’s hopes up by going on a date with him. He would only be leading him on.“I accept your answer,” Adam replied
