Five

Dante Rodrigo was anything but happy as he stared at the people standing before him while he was sitting—lying down—on the floor!

The annoying part was that he had been knocked out by a mere woman with a frying pan and in his freaking home by an unfamiliar person at that!

His eyes narrowed into slits when she gazed at him with a triumphant smirk on her lips, babbling that she had caught a thief.

Great! Now he's a thief in his own house, he simmered inwardly.

He made eye contact with Lee and the old man paled instantly. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the butler hurriedly walked towards him.

"Why are you looking so scared, Lee? I knocked him good," the mysterious woman questioned still looking smug.

"B-boss!" Lee stuttered helping him to his feet.

He stood up dusting his one million dollar suit.

"Take this to the dry cleaner." He discarded the suit handing it to Lee.

"Oy! You don't have any right to talk to him like that!"

Dante rolled his eyes. He was getting fed up with this girl and she had just been in his presence for—he glanced at his watch—three minutes and forty-five seconds. What can he say? Time was money.

"Shh!" Lee shushed her, "He's the boss, Natalie."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, the boss of breaking in."

Dante resisted the urge to chuckle. It was clear she wasn't fully awake.

"Not that..."

He rudely interrupted Lee.

"I'm Dante Rodrigo, Natalie. Your boss."

The satisfaction he got from seeing her stunned reaction will forever remain branded in his memory—maybe he was exaggerating because he's got a lot of use for his memory—the way her mouth had snapped shut and opened up again forming an 'O' shape and the way her jaw had dropped to the floor.

If he was in a good mood, he might have probably captured her reaction on a camera but he was not in a good mood.

He was stressed from work and he just wanted to have a warm shower and a long night but now he's got a headache to worry about.

He massaged the back of his head seething with anger as he entered his room slamming the door in his butler's face.

Hopefully, by the time she succeeds in picking her jaw off his expensive floor, she would already be out of his house.

The nerve of that insolent wench...

The door swung open pulling him out from his thoughts. He saw Lee standing in front of the door scowling at him.

"I was right behind you, Dante!"

He glared at Lee. He was in a foul mood and not ready to play favorites.

"Congratulations on being behind me now tell me who the fuck is that crazy bitch in my living room?!"

Lee opened his mouth to reply but he cut him off and continued, "If you needed a good fuck you could have done it outside not in my house!"

"Natalie is Chloe's nanny, Dante not my sex mate!" Lee snapped.

He opened his mouth then shut it again, shaking his head furiously. "No freaking way. That crazy-ass bitch can't stay here I'm ordering you to fire her!"

"I'm sorry I can't do that, Dante."

Dante looked taken aback as he stood up from his bed heading to the balcony grabbing a bottle of wine on his nightstand.

"You are countering my orders?"

Lee smiled. "I'm not Sir, just think about this rationally."

Dante glared at him. "I'm not thinking about shit. I don't give a fuck, the bitch wanna tell me she didn't recognize me?"

Lee chuckled softly, "As a matter of fact she didn't."

"Oh crap! Is there anyone that doesn't know me?"

"Turns out there is, Dante."

Dante cocked his brow at him, "You think this is funny?"

"No, I think you're having a hard time believing that someone doesn't know you."

Dante glared harder at his butler. "Get out and call me that girl!"

~~~~*

Natalie stood in the sitting room trying to make sure it wasn't her boss that she had almost killed—death by frying pan—he was just knocked down and she may have been the reason for that.

How was she supposed to know her boss will be creeping into the house way past midnight and Lee had said he will be coming back tomorrow.

Technically though, tomorrow was today but that doesn't mean he has to come home by this time.

She heard raised voices from upstairs but couldn't make out what they were saying. A few minutes later she heard the opening and closing of a door then saw Lee stomping stairs.

"He's asking for you, Natalie," he said to her.

She frowned. "Am I getting fired, Lee?"

He gave her a small smile, "I'm not going to let that happen."

Letting out a shaky breath and giving him a small smile, she headed upstairs taking her time climbing the stairs.

She reached the imposing door on the left-hand side and gulped nervously before knocking. No one answered.

She tried again and nothing happened. She pulled the door open and heard the shower turning off from the bathroom and the door opening as her boss stepped out.

Shit! He was bathing.

Her throat suddenly went dry as she stared at the well-sculpted person before her.

He had wavy brown hair that was dripping wet with water, his well-chiseled jaw and his clean-shaven face, his full pink lips, and his chest...

She wanted to place her head on his chest and run her hands over his abs. He was indeed a sight for sore eyes.

"First you clobber me over the head and now you're gawking at me? Pathetic."

She looked up and met his eyes, steel-blue eyes as hard as ice and deeper than the ocean stared back at her.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Natalie Tyson?" She saw the smirk on his lips and the tiny frown etched on his face when she still kept quiet.

"Cat got your tongue?!" He snarled.

She glared at him. He may be her boss but he had no right to speak to her in such a rude manner.

"With all due respect sir, I'm sorry about the frying pan incident and I'm not gawking it's not a bad thing to admire God's creation. I'm only trying to be respectful."

Natalie noticed he gave her a startled look before composing himself and slipping back into his facade.

"Oh, you talk?"

She took a deep breath and counted to ten chanting in her mind, 'my boss is an asshole don't kill him' before she flashed him a polite smile and replied. "Yes, Sir."

"Now let's get one thing straight, Natalie," he began in a serious voice, "I don't like you and I don't want you in my house so get lost!"

"You egotistical bastard! You can't fire me without a reason," she said through gritted teeth. She was having a hard time controlling herself.

"What? You almost gave me amnesia with the way you clobbered my head and now you are insulting me."

She opened her mouth to respond but someone else beat her to it.

"It was an honest mistake which she has apologized for because she didn't know it was you!" Lee snapped at her boss.

"Oh please!" He rolled his eyes at Lee, "you expect me to believe that she doesn't know Dante Rodrigo?"

Natalie frowned.

Who the fuck does this man think he is? She wanted to snap at him again but caught Lee's eyes.

"I didn't know you were my boss, it was a misunderstanding," she said in a clipped tone.

"I told you, Dante."

"Oh come on are you buying this, Lee?" He asked the butler a look of surprise on his face, "how could she not possibly know, maybe she's a spy sent to kill me and she almost succeeded earlier."

"Stop acting childish, Dante!" Lee snapped.

Natalie refrained from rolling her eyes. Now she knows where his daughter's dramatic personality came from. They had both called her murderer in one day. Bravo!

"Fine, I'm gonna put you on trial," her boss spoke up again, staring at her.

"Trial? What does that even mean?" She questioned frowning.

"Don't interrupt me again!" Dante snapped at her.

Ugh! Take it easy frowny pants!!

"Sorry, boss," she replied meekly while holding her triumphant smirk.

"You are free to continue working here but if anything even the slightest unfortunate incident happens to my daughter, I'll kick you out of here!" He threatened.

She gave him a small nod, "I understand, Sir."

"Daddy!"

Natalie turned around just in time to see a flurry of pink bounce past her into Dante's arms.

"Honey, why are you awake?" Her father asked.

Natalie frowned when the kid turned and fixed her with a piercing look, a smirk on her lips, "Nanny Nat forgot to tuck me in properly!"

Natalie sighed. Like father, like daughter.