All Chapters of Hiding The Billionaire's Son After Divorce : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Valeria's POV I couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. No matter how hard I tried to push it from my mind, it kept coming back, replaying over and over until I wanted to scream. We'd been arguing on that balcony, both of us angry and saying things we probably shouldn't have, but then Luka had just grabbed me and kissed me like he had every right to.The worst part wasn't even the kiss itself, it was how I'd responded to it. How I'd melted against him, how I'd kissed him back like I'd been waiting for it. I hated that about myself, hated that after everything he'd put me through, one kiss was all it took to make me forget why I was supposed to hate him.And then to make it all worse, he walked away, like it never mattered.I'd been working from home for the past few days, trying to stay busy enough that my brain didn't have time to wander back to that moment. But even sitting at my desk going through reports and emails, I could feel the ghost of his lips on mine. No matter how much I

Valeria's POV The invitation was clear. I should have said no, and thanked him for the conversation then gone home to my safe and boring life. But something in me rebelled against that idea.I was tired of being the perfect woman, the one who always did the right thing, who put everyone else's needs before her own. I was thirty years old but had only had sex once in my entire life. Could you even call it sex when Luka had been drunk out of his mind, thinking he was with someone else?I deserved better than that. I deserved to experience pleasure, to live a little and stop holding myself back from sexual experiences.Maybe it was the alcohol lowering my inhibitions. Or maybe it was the need to prove I was over Luka and that his kiss hadn't affected me all that much. Whatever the reason, I found myself nodding."Yes," I heard myself say. "Let's get out of here." He took my hand and led me through the crowd toward the exit. We didn't talk much on the way out.He hailed a cab and soon w

Luka's POV Everything she said made sense from a logical standpoint. The bar was closing and we were stuck, the hotel was the most practical solution. But the idea of being in a hotel room alone with Cassandra while my brain kept insisting she reminded me of Isis was dangerous. I wasn't so sure about this. I wasn't sure I could trust myself."I don't know," I hedged. "Maybe we should just wait here until they kick us out, see if the rain lets up?""Do you have a family waiting at home?" Cassandra asked suddenly.The question caught me off guard. "What does that have to do with anything?"She shrugged. "I figured you were against the hotel idea because you have a wife and kids at home. And maybe not coming home tonight would make them worry."I was quiet for some moments as I thought about it. Valeria and Elliot was a good excuse to avoid this situation. But the words that came out were, "That's not the case."Which was technically true. Valeria and I barely had a relationship beyond

Luka's POV For a moment, just one moment, I let myself respond. My hands moved from her shoulders to her waist. My mouth captured hers in a slow but deep kiss.But then reality crashed back in.This wasn't right. She was drunk, I was sober enough to know better. She worked for me, there were power dynamics at play here that made consent murky at best. And more than any of that, this wasn't what I actually wanted.I pulled back, breaking the kiss even as she tried to follow me. "No," I stated firmly. "Cassandra, no. This isn't happening.""Why not?" she whined, hurt flickering across her flushed face. "Don't you think I'm attractive?"Shit, I shouldn't have let her drink so much champagne. I didn't know she was a lightweight."That's not the point," I replied gently but firmly, removing her arms from around my neck. "You're intoxicated, you're my employee, this would be a mistake for both of us."To my chagrin, she started giggling. "You want to do it on the floor, instead?""No, that

Valeria's POV "I'm just stressed from work," I made up, hating that I had to lie to him, but not seeing another option. "Sometimes grown up problems are complicated."Elliot studied me for a moment, clearly not entirely convinced but wanting to let it slide. "You know what you need? An outing. We should go somewhere fun, take your mind off work stuff.""An outing?" I repeated, incredulous. It'd been so long. "Yeah! We could go to the park, or that museum with all the dinosaur bones, or there's that aquarium downtown that you keep promising that we would see but we never go to. Or… we could watch cartoons and eat popcorn together. Whatever you want, just something to help you relax."My heart warmed in my chest. It was sweet of him to suggest places that we could go together to get things off my chest. It was just so typically him, never wanting to see me in a bad mood. He was right too, sitting around the mansion dwelling on my failures wasn't helping anyone. Some time out, doing so