October and April (Bk 2 Of The Valhireya Series)-rewriting

Five

Idalia

"I must say, when I asked if I would work from home, I was not expecting it to be your home!" I tell him as he opens the door for me. I am a surprised by this working arrangement and angry that I saw him during the weekend. This situation is complicated enough without this... without him in messing with my private life.

"Are you this delightful every morning?" He asks me and I swear I can see a small smirk appear in the corner of his lips but he soon erases it and returns to his straight face.

"Don't worry! This is one of my good days." I tell him plastering an exagerated fake smile on my face and walk past him into the lobby.

"This could be so much easier..." I hear him mutter to himself as he closes the door.

"So, what does a girl have to do for a coffee around here?" I ask him with an exaggerated gesture. He nods his head in surrender and leads the way to the kitchen.

"Just choose what you like and meet me in the office!" He tells me pointing to the coffee machine and then leaves.

I choose the biggest cup and prepare myself the biggest cappuccino with extra foam. After all, what is the purpose of having moved to Italy if not for the coffee? Well... maybe the pizza... and the pasta... and the wine. I think to myself as I enter his study with a smile on my face.

"Remind me to greet you with coffee every morning!" He says with a sarcastic voice as I take a sip from my mug. I roll my eyes at him and then look at the mess on his desk. Smartass!

"So what do you need me to do?" I ask him, trying to end this pissing game that we have on so far. After all, I have to remind myself he is my boss.

"These are the offers we received from some potential suppliers: for bottles, labels and so on. Analyze each one and select the best options. Remember this is a luxury brand. Don't go cheap! After you have your selection, come find me in the library." He tells me and just walks away, touching my hip with his hand while passing by me. I gasp softly as I feel the current traveling through my body again and he stops for a second in his path. His fingers linger a second too long and then he leaves the room, letting me deal with how my body reacts to his closeness.

"For the love of God, Idalia! You need to get laid!" I mutter as I take another sip from my mug and sit down in front of the pile of files. Matteus comes in mind and I smile remembering his full lips and honey like eyes.

"This is going to take me forever!"

Cade

It's been 5 hours since I left her in that office. She hasn't come out yet. Lunch is served so I decide to go and ask her to join us.

"Miss Lumien?" I say her name and startle her and she knocks off the mug to the floor. It crashes down and breaks into pieces, splashing the remaining coffee on my cashmere rug. If the circumstances were different, she would be dearly punished for this but now is not the time. However, just the thought alone makes my mouth water.

"Jesus! Don't sneak up on me like that!" She says as she gets down on her knees to clean the mess. She cuts her finger in a glass shard and starts bleeding heavily.

"I'll just have to throw that rug away, I guess." I tell her as I offer her my hand to stand up.

"I am sorry I bled on your rug." She tells me defiantly. I can't help but smile thinking about the things I would do to that smart mouth of hers.

"Yes, because the coffee stain is not the problem! Let's get you a bandaid and then we can have lunch." I decide to ignore the urge to shut her up and guide her to the kitchen again by placing my hand on her lower back. She gasps again at my touch and I smile with delight. She is so responsive to me!

I open the first aid kit and take her hand in mine. I can hear her shaky breathing as I carefully and slowly clean up her finger and then wrap the bandaid around the cut. She keeps squirming in her seat, to my delight.

"Now let's go eat!" I tell her a bit too joyful and she gives me her first genuine smile today. And heavens, she looks so adorable that my chest clenches just looking at her beautiful face. What the...?

"Lead the way!" She says and I snap out of my thoughts, leading her to the dining room where Claire is already waiting for us.

"Hello!" Idalia goes straight to her and sits on the next chair. That pleases Claire. They both smile at each other.

"Are you my new nanny?" She asks her with her usual curiosity and I face palm myself.

"My name is Idalia. But you can call me Ida."

"That is a very pretty name." Claire tells her.

"It means Behold the Sun." My mouth speaks before I can think. Idalia looks at me with a very surprised face and the blushes a little.

"I didn't know you spoke Greek!" She tells me.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me!" I tell her lowering my voice out of reflex. She looks at me with those beautiful lips parted and for a second we forget that Claire is also in the room.

"Will you teach me Greek, then?" Claire's question interrupts our staring contest.

"Sweetheart, miss Lumien is not your nanny. She is daddy's new..." I pause for a few seconds. I wanted to say Toy so badly... "assistant." I end my sentence and find her gaze again. Her cheeks are rosy as she looks at me.

"Oh... I am sorry!" Claire turns to her with a bit of sadness in her eyes.

"Don't be! Let's make a deal: I can't teach you how to speak Greek because I don't know the language. But... I can stay with you sometimes and we can play games or I can help you with your homework." She tells Claire earning a big smile from her.

"Deal!" Claire offers her little hand and Ida shakes it.

If I didn't know better, I would say she is starting to look like me.