Forbidden Love

Chapter 3

It had been a month since I'd signed the contract with Ria and had dinner with her. It mostly consisted of talk about the designs and a lot of flirting as she knew I wasn't ready to talk about personal things yet. It attracted me more to her that she was willing to be patient with me because the road ahead was going to be long and tricky. I was more used to being discarded over and over, emotionally and physically.
The end of the night consisted of us sitting in my car, locking lips for the best part of fifteen minutes which had us both worked up but We both chose not to go any further so we could focus on the collaboration first. This was very new territory for me and I didn't know how to feel. Emotions weren't my strong point so this was about to be very interesting to say the least. I wasn't due in the office for any meetings so I decided to head into the city for some retail therapy. The last week I hadn't had a second to myself so I made sure, today was the day it was all about me.
The first place I headed to was the piercing shop. I'd always wanted my nose pierced but hadn't had the guts to do it.

"CHRISTINA?" Is all I heard from a familiar voice making me spin around to see Ria stood in front of me. She was in casual wear with her hair in a high bun and her edges laid perfectly with absolutely no make up on. She could wear anything and I would drool over how stunning she was.

"Hey Ria" I said happily as she gave me the biggest squeeze making me wrap my arms around her to squeeze her back. I couldn't get enough of her hugs, they made me feel fuzzy inside which was another thing I'd never felt before, that warmth that came with someone being genuinely interested in you.

"It's crazy that I ran into you because I was going to  pass your office to see you" she purred as we broke apart and strolled towards the tattoo parlour, arms rubbing as we shared that intense eye contact again and again.

"Oh yeah? It's my day off today so I was doing some retail therapy, works been heavy this week along with everything else"

"Same. I haven't had a day off in 6 months. Being the CEO really can be tiring"

"I know exactly how you feel" I blurted out making my eyes widen at the fact she didn't know yet that I owned the company not just ran it. I'd told her that the CEO would only talk to me so now I had some explaining to do.

"Wait..... you own CBDESIGNS?" She asked, shocked as she we strolled through the doors and towards the desk so I could fill out the form for the piercing.

"Shhhhh nobody knows but you now and I intend to keep it that way. I'm trusting you Ria" I said sternly making her cover her mouth with her finger as if to say she won't tell anybody with this innocent look on her face, she looked real cute. The conversation got cut as I filled out the form before following the Piercer into the back room. Ria waited outside while he cleaned up my nose and pierced the right side. It felt like a punch to the face which made my eyes water. It was the first piercing I'd ever gotten and I was proud that I went through with it. It really suited me too so I was hoping Ria would also like it.

"What do you think?" I asked nervously as she stood up and checked out my nose. Before she could answer she bit her lip and her eyes softened letting me know she liked but I just wanted to hear her say it even though the piercer was right behind me at the counter. I was being very daring lately and that was all down to Ria. She was very open and proud with her sexuality where as myself on the other hand, was riddled with internalised homophobia that I hadn't shaken off yet.

"It really suits you" is all she said with a smirk on her face which let me know she liked it but she couldn't say it out like that. Again, she was respecting my boundaries which had me questioning all the things I knew about people. As we strolled out of the shop her phone rang so she answered while we strolled down towards the indoor centre where all the expensive shops were.