Mr CEO - Daniel Ricciardo

Twelve

Daniel's POV

I came bounding back inside my living space, where the boys had opened and set up my poker table. Lando had already taken his seat as he shuffled the deck. Max was just behind the living area in the small kitchen space.

It wasn't my main kitchen, but served great purpose for my entertainment area. I hadn't really had opportunity to try it out, considering this is the first time I've had more than one person around my home at one time, excluding the times Michelle has visited with the children.

Blake came running back into the room, with a beer perched in one hand and a cocky smirk planted on his face. "Where have you been?"

"Claudelle called me." I revealed to them as I approached the table and lay my phone across it. I placed both my hands flat across the table and looked between the men.

"Who's Claudelle?" Max asked as he joined us at the table, placing his beer down before pulling his chair out to sit down.

"She's my, erm," I tried to scratch my brain at what to call her, but nothing I could think of seemed appropriate, "she's my colleague."

Blake started to laugh as he banged his fist on the table as we were now all seated. "Colleague, yeah right." He rolled his eyes.

"Alright, alright," I placed my hands up in defence, "what should I call her then, Blake?"

Blake shrugged as he stopped laughing, "Your girlfriend, dude?" He looked at me as if he'd just said the most obvious thing in the world to me. "I mean, that's what she is, right?"

"We've been on one date." I told my friend as I locked my eyes on his.

"And how long have you worked with her?" Lando asked as he started to deal out the cards.

"Like, six years or something stupid." I scratched my neck. "We've only recently started to work closely together."

"Yeah, because Riccy here employed her to be his personal assistant." Blake told the others as they opened their mouths wide in shock.

"You hired the fittest girl in the office to be your PA?" Max shook his head. "Dude, nice one."

"It wasn't like that." I rolled my eyes. "She's got potential and I—I know she works really hard. It had nothing to do with how she looks."

"But, she does look like a dream." Blake told the others before he took a sip of his beer.

"You've met her?" Lando asked him as he too reached for his drink.

"Yeah, I was invited to their work drinks." Blake teased with a massive grin. "She's a pretty little thing, isn't she, Daniel?"

"Will you watch your mouth?" I warned him as my heart started to pound in my chest. "She's a very nice girl and I hate the way you speak about her."

"That's because you like her," Max clicked his fingers and drew my attention, "say this was a girl you had no real feelings for, you wouldn't give a shit about how Blake was talking about her."

"That's true." Lando nodded his head. "You don't want Blake making rude comments because she means something to you."

"See." Blake settled back in his chair. "What have I been telling you? You're smitten with this chick. Do something about it."