Billionaire's Cloud

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Unlike the previous dinners Claudia had had at the Towers, tonight was definitely tense. Elliot must have sensed her discomfort and ordered his family to stop asking questions about their relationship. Or at least save them after dinner.

She had offered to clean up after the meal, to avoid being questioned any further. Of course, like any other time, Nora refused vehemently. Good thing Elena dragged her into her bedroom before any one of them could ask another question.

Elena's bedroom was so homey, with blue and green bed covers, and earthly landscape paintings which she had painted herself. A couple of Polaroid pictures was also posted on the wall near her bed, and a string of yellow Christmas lights hung a few feet above her bed.

"Okay, spill! You and Eli? How did that happen?" Elena asked.

Claudia sighed, not knowing how to tell her. She didn't even know if she could lie to the girl. She and Elijah had never talked about what their plan was if other people knew about this, because he was so convinced that nobody would find out. Well, didn't turn out so true, did it?

She looked into Elena, who was eagerly anticipating her answer. Ah, to heck with this, she thought, she couldn't lie as good as Elijah. Might as well tell her the truth.

--

It had been over a week since the dinner at the Towers. Claudia and Elijah never talked about it at work; they just didn't seem to have the time to. It was nearing month end, which was always a peak season at Towers Financial.

It was almost eight in the evening when she finished her workload. It was Friday and she was looking forward to a nice warm bath, and a good night's sleep. It was a gruesome week and she felt like she deserved a good rest.

She knocked at Elijah's door and entered when she heard his confirmation.

"Hey, I finished checking the 4-17 files. Do you need help with anything else?" she asked, walking towards his desk. Elijah was checking reports, and signing documents. He wore his black-rimmed glasses which he pushed towards his nose when he heard Claudia enter. Claudia definitely thought her boss to be attractive. As did everybody else.

Elijah had his father's pale gray eyes, dark eyebrows, and a straight nose. His lips, although not as plump as her brother Ethan's , were pink and soft. (Or Claudia thought they looked soft, because she had no way of finding out if they were or not). Both he and Eric had dark brown hair, which looked black at times. Eric liked to keep his hair short whereas Elijah grew his. Not too long that it can be tied into a man-bun, but long enough to run one's finger through it. Claudia would have liked to run her fingers in his hair. At times. Sometimes. Or, she didn't know, maybe she just liked to pull his hair instead of her own when she's frustrated.

Elijah removed his glasses which caused her to frown slightly. She liked it when he wore glasses.

"Nah, you can go home now, Cloud. Or would you like to have dinner with me? I need to talk to you about something," he said. Claudia knew they'd have to talk but she honestly had no more energy left. She shook her head to decline his offer. "Therese and I already made plans for dinner," which was not a lie, "but you could come if you'd like."

It was Elijah's turn to shake his head. "I wouldn't want to impose. How about tomorrow? We really need to talk, Cloud. We should have talked a week ago, and that was my fault, sorry. But now that we both have time, I think we need to talk about this."

She nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm okay with tomorrow. Afternoon, though. Or maybe lunch."

"Why, you've got a breakfast date?" he teased, though not liking the thought.