As soon as Skylar closed the door behind her, the growl of frustration that'd been stuck in Luca's throat finally pushed itself out. Glancing at the resignation letter she'd left in his palm, he tossed it aside violently, not giving a damn where it landed.How did she do it? How did she manage to make his body respond as ferociously as it always did to her three years ago.Because while she was in front of him, especially so close, it'd taken everything inside him to not wrap his arms around her and ravish her mouth. The muscles in his body ached from all the effort it'd taken for him to keep his arms to himself.That luscious body that he knew so well. Even though he noticed that she'd added on a bit of weight, that only went on to accentuate her curves perfectly. Tearing his eyes off of her hips earlier during the board meeting had been such a chore.And she still had that vanilla essence about her that'd invaded his nostrils and memories immediately, reminding him of long, passionat
Ella was an expert in diverting tensed situations and did so immediately.“What now? Aren't you going to hug your best friend whom you've missed like hell?” She asked, spreading her arms wide.“You and your impromptu returns.” Skylar shook her head, and yet she walked into her best friend's waiting arms, hugging her tightly.“Oh, please.” Ella said, and Skylar just knew she was rolling her eyes even though she wasn't looking at her face. “As if you don't love those surprises. Don't worry, baby. Mama is here for good now!” She run her hand through Skylar's hair, ruffling it, which caused Skylar to finally pull out of the hug with a laugh.“Wait! What do you mean by 'for good'? Like you mean for real, for real.”Ella loved the volunteer work she did which had taken her across every continent and she was very passionate about it. The last time they spoke which was about a week ago, Ella hadn't even seemed like she was ready to step back from the volunteer work.But Ella's joyful nodding
Skylar tapped the soles of her heels to the floor of the elevator continuously, impatience gnawing at her skin as she waited for the lift to stop. Once it did, she didn't hesitate a second to storm out of it.As she thundered through the executive floor, the rage she was feeling must've been rolling off of her in waves because almost everyone who would normally greet and start a small conversation paved way for her. Those who dared to issue any form of pleasantries only turned out to be the recipient of her cold glare.Finally, she reached the door to the office of the man she was after. Across some little distance, seated behind her desk was Nancy, the CEO's secretary. She'd also been Hector's secretary, which meant that Luca had kept her.“Skylar, you're...” The secretary began to ask.“Is he in?” Skykar cut her off, trying hard to reign in her incense. She wouldn't let it explode unless Luca was in front of her.“Yes he is, but he's having a meeting with...”Skykar didn't hear the r
“My cousin actually threatened to take you to court if you don't return to the company?” Ella asked, her voice laden with bewilderment.Skylar didn't bother to answer, knowing her question was rhetorical. Instead, she stuffed her face with some more cookies that Ella had made, angry with both Luca and herself. Him for bringing all this chaos into her life, and herself for being so affected by him.“What the hell is wrong with him? He needs to hear a piece of my mind!” Ella fumed. “And if he doesn't listen, I'll tell my aunt. She'll definitely talk some sense into him!”Skylar almost chuckled at that. “His mum hates me, Ella. Have you forgotten that? She doesn't want me in her son's life and would definitely support everything he's doing to make my life hell.”Her chest squeezed at the memory of the disdain in the eyes of Cornelia when she'd kicked Skylar out of Luca's house. To think that the woman had liked her so much before, hurt her every time she recalled.She vaguely wondered how
Alex surprised her the next morning. Skylar had just managed to catch some sleep after hours of restlessness when her ringing phone jolted her out of it. Stretching on the bed, she groaned as she glared at the offending device, annoyed by whoever was calling for stripping her of her not-so-beauty- sleep. Her annoyance peaked when she picked up her phone to realize that it was an unknown number, but it ebbed right back as soon as she heard the voice of the person on the other end.“Hey, Skylar. This is Alex.” His soothing voice was filled with a smidgen of uncertainty.“Alex.” Skylar breathed his name, genuinely surprised that he'd beat her expectations.“I'm sorry, did I wake you?” He asked.“Honestly, yes.” Skylar answered while trying to stiffle a yawn. There was no need to lie about that.“Oh. I'm sorry. I thought you would be up by now.” He said apologetically.Skylar grimaced. Why would he think she would be up in the middle of the night? Her question was answered when she blinke
“...and as you can see, the crisis cost the company a whole lot. Several clients and investors pulled out, and we're barely hanging on to nine figures in terms of our finances.” Skylar explained as she gestured at several parts of the digital graph she'd pulled up on the screen. “In this case...”“This is irrelevant.” Luca cut her off, his heated gaze searing into her. “Are you doubting the influence of Knight Corporations, Miss Simpson? Everything is going to be sorted out when the market realizes that Lancaster Innovations is now under Knight Corporations.”Bristling at being so rudely interrupted, Skylar forced a smile on her face. “Or it could tank the confidence people have in Knight Corporations. That very much is possible. In this situation, over-confidence is not the solution, Mr. Knight. We both know how well that served you three years ago.”The room fell quite, tension thrumming through the air. Skylar saw the look of shock and intrigue in the eyes of the three executives at
“What the fuck was that, dude? That was uncalled for!” Caleb immediately jumped on Luca's case as soon as they were alone in the latter's office. Ignoring his best friend, Luca stormed over to the mini bar cabinet on side of his office, pulling out a half empty bottle of whiskey. Grabbing a whiskey glass, he filled it to the brim and downed the stiff alcohol in just one gulp, feeling it burn his throat and his eyes.He was furious, and his blood rushed through his veins with an emotion he hadn't felt so fiercely in three years. He was fucking jealous.Seeing Skylar's hand wrapped around that guy's elbow, no matter how chastely, had drove him right against the wall especially when the bastard had mentioned that they were going on a date. It'd taken every ounce of restraint within himself to not sweep her off her feet, throw her over his fucking shoulder, take her to his office, and lock the fucking door so she couldn't go anywhere with guy.He poured himself another glass of whiskey an
Skylar's first instinct was to lie, but it quickly occured to her that if she tells Alex that Austin is someone else's child, it would only go on to confirm what Luca said about her jumping form man to man.Picking up her glass of wine, she took a sip to stall for time, but she knew that she would eventually have to pay the piper. "Yes. Austin is Luca's son."Alex just stared at her for several unnerving seconds, until his jaw suddenly clenched, a muscle ticking furiously in it. For the first time tonight, Skylar saw something like an accusation shimmering in his sea blue orbs."You told me Austin's father was not in the picture. You lied to me." He said cooly, and she could see he was keeping himself from saying something he might regret.She hated the look of disappointment in his eyes, but before she could say anything, the tension eased from his expression morphing into a look of realization."Unless... Does he know Austin's his son?"Almost instantly, Skylar felt her defences flar