Signed & Sealed

F O U R - Just A Little Teasing

Happy reading, Sade xx

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BRIGHT rays of sunlight shone through the large window waking Charlotte up from her nights rest. Stretching out her arms came in contacts with the soft, even fabric of the pillow case.

Hold on, where where are her ruffled edges ?

She shot up so fast it took a few seconds for her eyes so focus on where she was. Before her was a large LED television screen on a soft purple coloured wall. As her location registered in her mind she scoffed, Nicolas.

Tentatively she go out of bed donned her robe and slippers, she walked towards the door and before she opened it, took in a deep breathe. Stepping out of her room she turned left only to come into a solid wall of muscle and flesh.

"Whoa there Ms. Stein, where are you going in such a hurry" said Nic with an obvious smirk.

"Just the bathroom," she replied, "It would be a lot easier to get there without you running into me."

"Me running into you ?" he asked in an amused tone, "I too would like to get some breakfast without being attacked in my own home" Nicolas said as he walked forward to the kitchen, letting out a little chuckle as he heard her gasp.

Attack him, huh, he would be so lucky. 

Entering the bathroom Charlotte was quick to close the door, standing in front of the mirror she took notice of her frazzled appearance; cheeks flushed, hair messy and the fast pace at which her heart was beating.

"Just breathe Charlotte, just breathe," she softly repeated to herself.

She will not allow this to happen again, she will not allow herself to get sucked into the world wind that is Nicolas De Luca.

After her shower she readied herself for the day and pushed the encounter with Nicolas to the back of her mind. Walking out of her newly acquired bedroom she found Nicolas leaning against the kitchen island on his phone with a glass of orange juice in front of him.

"There you are Miss. Stein, what time will dinner be ready so I will be able to arrange my day accordingly ?"

"Dinner ?" she asked in a confused way.

"Yes, you will be making dinner for me won't you ? I mean is that not one of the tasks that entails in being a nanny?" he said.

"Mr De L-"

"Call me Nicolas," he interrupted, "While in unfavorable circumstance, we are living together so I do think that it would be easier to just leave out the formalities."

"If you wish, as I was saying Nicolas," she tested his name, "I was not hired to be your nanny, more like a behavioral supervisor. You did make the point to tell your mother that you are a '30 year old and could take care of yourself' so I assumed that I would not need to perform such tasks"

Just as Nic was about to respond to her statement the door opened and in walked a woman wearing an apron.

"Charlotte; this is Lisa, my housekeeper, Lisa; this is my, urhm, friend Charlotte Stein and she will be staying with me for a while," he informed her.

"In the guest bedroom," he added quickly.

Lisa gave Charlotte a bright smile which caused the crows feet near her eyes to be accentuated.

"I'd be careful whilst this one is around Lisa, she has a tendency to run you over at any given time." Nic said in a serious tone but only to further irritate Charlotte, and by the reaction that he received it looked like it worked !

NICOLAS strode into his office building with a smirk, irritating Charlotte Stein was becoming one of his favorite things to do. The professional persona she kept up was slowly cracking and he couldn't wait till it fell apart. Maybe this will drive her to resign, he pondered.

"Good morning Mr. De Luca," greeted his secretary, Daisy Lowe, she was a sweet 37 year old woman that had the duel task of being his secretary as well as personal assistant.

Hiring Daisy was probably one of Nicolas's best decisions of his whole professional career,  he truly did not know what he would do without her and he isn't very keen to find out. Entering his office to find his cup of hot coffee perched up on his desk, proved his point. Daisy had military precision and seemed to know just what he needed and when he needed it.

Since his father had taken a back seat on the more metropolitan businesses to focus on his vineyard, someone had to step up to make sure the empire he built did not crash and burn. His eldest brother, Marco, had taken charge of the investment firms and Nicolas took it upon himself to run their international hotel and resort chain.

Sitting down he reached for the renovation plans of one of their hotels in Italy, it was undergoing structural changes and was on the last stage. As Nicolas was reading over the notes the team of architects and designers made for the new layout schemes, his office door flew open and in walked his youngest brother, Maximo.

"Nickie, busy as ever I see" he said and he casually took a seat on one of the chairs stationed before Nicolas' desk.

"Some of us actually have to do this daily task, its called a job. Have you heard about it before?" Nicolas remarked sarcastically. 

"Well technically, I am still on my vacation"

Max informed Nicolas about the happenings around the house, including a list of thing he missed while away in London; top of the list was their mothers cooking. He also let him know that their sister is preparing for her first ever solo runway collection, then he said something that caught Nicolas' attention.

"What did you just say?"

"That the gala is tonight starts at 7:30," Max repeated and seeing the baffled look on his brothers face, "You know the annual charity our family hosts that funds cancer research?" he elaborated.

Shit.

Nicolas could not believe that he had forgotten about it. Now everything came flooding back to him. His mom had called him to let him know that his father had decided to push the event forward this year so it could coincide with his grandfathers birthday. Resting his face in his hands, he sighed.

"So I'm guessing that you forgot?" Marco deduced, "I would've have thought Daisy penciled this into you schedule."

"Mamma called me herself to tell me about this but I must have forgotten to send a memo to Daisy" Nic groaned.

"It wont be that bad, I'm assuming that you have a tux somewhere in you closet. Now all you need is a date. Who's your current flavour of the month?" Max asked with a smirk.

Nicolas rolled his eyes at his younger brothers antics, "For you information, I am not currently doing anything, with anyone" he said matter of factly, choosing to lave out the contract that his beloved mamma let him sign, "I'll just attend alone."

"Err.. I dont think so. We're expected to bring dates. It's part of the tradition."

"What am I going to do?" he looked down at his watch, "It starts in a few hours" his voice laced with slight panic.

"Well big brother, that is really not my problem." Max said donning a large smirk as he made his way out the door.

Where the hell is he going to do ?

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Oh  Nickie, Nicky, Nikki.... What ever will you do ?

Yay new characters intro !!! Meet Maximo aka Max, the youngest of the clan. I feel like you guys would enjoy him because he is, quite, eccentric ;)

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