Chapter One - The Birthday Party

Nicholas Grey awakened to the sound of birds singing. He gently opened his eyes and got struck by the bright rays of light stroking through his window and pointing directly to his eyes.

He turned around and got startled as sleep condensed his eyes while trying to imagine why he had been sleeping in his study for some days now.

He could hear the sound of his ceiling fan rotating as it does during his work days. He observed the heavy, brooding silence that descended on him; the silence and loneliness he had gotten used to.

Still feeling tired, he leaned back in his armchair and fell asleep again.

Some minutes later, he eventually woke up to the sound of pattering footsteps. He could tell there were people in his office, not one person.

He sluggishly stood up, looked around and was flabbergasted to some files and documents scattered around his study.

“Who must have been here? Who would do this to me?”

He stood there staring into space while fiddling with his keys. He turned to look at the door that connected his office to the room and frowned in confusion.

His workers knew better than to enter his office without permission unless it was urgent. But what about his best friends? Those two idiots were capable of doing anything.

Suddenly, his phone rang; it was his secretary, Miss Lance.

“Ahh” He screamed and deliberately ended the call when his eyes caught a document of a deal he closed a fortnight ago with a client over a cup of coffee.

He remembered arranging those documents in a sequential manner on his office desk but here it was scattered around his study.

“What’s going on here?” he whispered as he wandered aimlessly around the room with his eyes feasting on every important file he noticed.

He had an inner room in his office where he relaxes and uses as his study and he preferred staying there for some unsolicited reasons.

In a jiffy, he walked out of his room, ready to give his best friends a mouthful for disturbing his sleep. His eyes widened as he peeped closely and saw his staff all dressed in a blue coloured apparel.

Of course, blue was his favourite colour. ‘How could they have known and why are they dressed this way?

Before he could complete his line of reasoning, he heard a sharp shout out.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSS!!!”.

He looked up and saw his name boldly inscribed on a banner which was held at both ends by all his staff. He spotted his best friends smirking at him with a mischievous glint in their eyes.

"Happy birthday man! More chics to you" Killian said laughing.

"Happy birthday bro! I'm not suprised your birthday didn't ring a bell to you". Matt said laughing playfully.

He was amazed and worried at the same time. How busy was I to forget today is my birthday?

He pretended and let out a fake smile with slight tears running down his cheeks.

Everyone was surprised, they had never seen their boss in such frame of mind before. He looked so fagged and exasperated and appeared in the same garb he wore the previous day. They knew who their boss was and never questioned him.

Nicholas Grey was a typical business tycoon, handsome, rich, demanding and domineering with his fierce look. He possessed a latent leonine power and walked with purpose and authority. He had a Teutonic-gold hair that was always coiffed to perfection.

People always commented on his alluring grey eyes; they could shine as bright as the evening stars when they were alight with joy. Other times, they could resemble two drops of flashing fire.

He had an upturned nose and high cheekbones carved down towards an identical prominent jaw.

Above all, he was sexy looking and every lady’s dream man.

Nicholas gave a warm speech and the celebration began, he enjoyed every bit of the party.

The atmosphere was light and he had never been that happy in his entire life for a considerably long time. He ate and drank with his staff and friends and got tipsy before the party ended.

He stood with his Killian and Matt as the trio discussed about random things. He thanked them before they departed while the employees dispersed to their working post one after the other before he noticed someone was missing.

“Prisca Lance!” he muttered while hitting his palms on his desk.

He quickly reached out for his telephone and ordered her to see him immediately in his office before the next hundred seconds. Yes, he was bossy and would never take no for an answer.

While he was still pondering on why she was absent, Prisca appeared like a ghost before him. He was lost in thought and did not notice when she came in.

She wore a sleek blue gown like the other female staff but hers was extremely revealing and showing off her curves. He stared at her perfect body without uttering a single word but broke his stare when he heard Prisca mutter ‘Mr. Grey’ as he was popularly called.

“Miss… Miss Pris Lance” he slurred. “I didn’t see you earlier in my short birthday party”.

“Uhh.. Mr. Grey, I was present, you probably didn’t notice me” She lied without blinking.

Nicholas was ashamed, after giving it a quick thought, he replied, “We could make it up for a dinner date, right?”

Her response came immediately “Yes sir” as she smiled sheepishly.

She turned to leave but felt his presence right behind her. She knew it was her boss and thought to herself, ‘what is he up to this time?’

Prisca knew how badly she fell for him and was not sure she could control herself at that moment.

Before she could move a step further, he held her slim waist and dropped a light peck on her neck.

‘Not again, not anymore and worse still, not now’ she imagined herself saying these words but unfortunately, she only let out a soft moan in response to his touch.

He felt that was a greenlight to go further and pulled her closer to himself. While his hands roamed all over her body, she slowly turned to face him staring deeply into his enchanting grey eyes.

His body was like a magnet that attracted her to him, driving her body closer to his, in a way that seemed like a mystery to her.

Rather than ashamed this time, she initiated the kiss and he responded immediately with another kiss. Soon their lips were interlocked and he gently took her in his arms kissing her hungrily.

She was always waiting for such moments and there she was, weak and feeble like a new born baby, kissing him helplessly as he returned the kisses in the same manner.

She let out another soft moan as the intensity of the heat increased. He rolled his tongue inside her mouth and kissed her passionately making her beg for more.

Just as she clinged to him and slowly unbuttoned his shirt, she came back to her right senses and dropped her face down feeling very ashamed. She did not recall closing the door when she entered and it dawned on her that if anyone saw them that way, she would be fired immediately, knowing the kind of boss she had.

She tried to break free from his grasp and acutely perceived the smell of alcohol in his breathe.

As she looked at him, his eyes were filled with lust and desires.

“Oh my God! He was drunk” she whispered to herself as she hurriedly rushed towards the door.

“He was only drunk” she cried out while slamming the door behind her.

Prisca sat in her office feeling restless and felt her head splitting. She felt worse than she had ever imagined. She still had a vivid recollection of his encounter with him and was shocked at her own behaviour.

She was a saint and was supposed to set an exemplary life for others to emulate, but her recent encounter with her boss betrayed her behaviour immensely.

How could she forget that her best feature was her God-fearing heart? She felt sober and lost concentration in everything she was supposed to do that day.

The embarrassment she faced throughout the day was biting since she had always wanted to prove herself as a strong, independent and sophisticated lady but deep down she knew that when it comes to Nicholas Grey, she was always submissive.

Prisca dropped her face down in disappointment and tried to gather back her full strength to complete the day’s work.

Reluctantly, she stood up, stretched and yawned, she was hungry and needed to take her brunch before attending the meeting scheduled for 3pm.

While climbing down the stairs, she glanced up at the office she left about an hour ago, her boss office. She thought of going back there to question him for his action.

At first, it seemed quite daring but after thinking about it she decided that it was, in fact, a very sensible thing to do.

Lost in thought as she stood there looking at the door of his office and debating within herself between going for brunch and confronting her boss, she got startled when she heard someone call out her name behind her.

“Prisca, are you okay?” she knew who the voice belonged to, Miss Cassie, the HR manager.

She turned to look at Cassie and replied bluntly while trying to fake a smile.

“Yes, I’m good”.

Even though Cassie seemed very caring and virtuous, Prisca never liked her because she felt she took all the attention from her boss and it was obvious her boss had a thing for her.

She had no great yearning to keep standing beside her so she moved away slowly without saying a word.

“Just be fine” Cassie yelled at her before she finally disappeared from her gaze.

She must have nodded in response or even ignored her but she knew she was beyond being bothered by that.

Cassie was also heading downstairs but decided to go back since she did not want to pry into anyone’s private life.

Immediately she stepped into her office, she heard a loud noise that seemed to come from the distal end of the receptionist’s office situated downstairs.

She stood there like a monument with several thoughts running through her mind.