“Proud? You have no right to be proud of anything about me. You can be proud of something you’ve worked for. You weren’t even there when I became this man! So stop acting like a good father, you’re not fooling me!” he burst out.
“Kellan,” I whispered, but he already stood up from his chair.
“Georgiana, sorry for ruining this night for you. I have no problem with you. Thank you for the great dinner and your warm welcome. But I need to go now,” Kellan said to my mom, turning his gaze to me, “Do you want to stay, Melody?”
I could sense the pain behind his eyes, even though he looked so cold about all this. He needed me… or maybe I only wanted to think he did.
“It would be great if you can drive me home,” I said, giving my mom an apologetic look. She gave me a nod and we said our goodbyes. It hurt me how Brad looked at his son… I wished I knew what was between them in detail.
We drove in silence for awhile, I didn’t ask where we were going when he passed the turn-off to my house. He turned toward his house, stopped the car and walked to my side. Without a word he lifted me in his arms, carrying me to his home, toward the pool inside the house. Feeling the tension of his body, I didn’t say anything, let him do what he needed to do. He finally put me on the floor near the pool.
“Strip,” he rasped. I did as I was told when he made quick work of his own clothes. This was never getting old, seeing him naked, in all his tattooed and pierced glory. His beauty was so dangerous, so breath-taking it was hard to not fall for him… not only the beauty of his body, but also the beauty of his soul, even though he did everything in his power to hide it.
I was already aroused when he got into the pool and extended his hand to help me. I reached out my hand to caress his face when he wrapped his arms under my ass to keep my head above the water, our hips in line. But he got away from my touch, “Don’t. I can’t take it now,” he said through his teeth.
He turned me, my back to his front, placing me on his feet, “This will be rough… I need you to take it, can you do that for me?” he whispered, peppering kisses to the length of my neck.
“Give me your all… I’m here for you, I will always be here for you,” I whispered, not even sure whether he heard me.
The first thrust was bliss, but the rest… bliss didn’t even cover it, the feeling was exquisite… like I could feel his pain, anger, desperation, lust in my bones… like we were one.
But then he did something I had never thought he would, he stopped, turned me to face him and kissed the hell out of me. When our lips separated, I saw his soul in his grey eyes… for the first time I saw his bare soul, the child in it. He was in pain, alone, sad… and scared. I didn’t know what he was scared of, but I caressed his face, his hair, and covered his face with my kisses as I pulled him closer to me.
When our bodies joined together again, I couldn’t take my eyes away from his.
In that moment, I knew I was in deep trouble…
In that moment, I knew I would do anything for this man… even risk myself getting hurt for him.
Finally, it was time for the meeting. I was so excited and nervous even though we were ready. Kellan and I worked on the project and its presentation the entire weekend. Troy from the finance department was with us in the conference room most of the time with the financial part of the project. Also, lots of people were on Kellan’s floor, running around to get everything ready just the way he wanted.
After our drafts were done, Kellan made some people from different departments come to work on Sunday. Brian from IT started to work on the 3D presentation the designers made ready for him to show at the right time and he was still where we last left him since Sunday. I wasn’t sure if he ever moved from his place to be honest. Nicole helped me so much with cushion choosing, she was taking care of stocks in the company and had a great eye on her, she made the right shots for what I had in mind for the interior design cushions. We really got along well with her.
Pacing in the conference room, I was touching, checking everything before the clients came.
“Melody,” I heard Kellan’s voice behind me. He put his hands on my shoulder, rubbing my tense muscles into submission under his strong hands.
“Everything looks great. We did great, as a team. Now, keep calm, put that sweet smile on your face and straighten your back,” he told me.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and lifted my chin up with confidence. Smiling up at him, “You’re really a good boss,” I whispered.
A cute smile was about to form on his face, but he schooled his expression when the investors came in. They were four people: one woman, her assistant, a lawyer, and a finance manager. The head of the project was Stephanie Yorks, giving us professional smiles, I noticed she was hard to impress. But they wanted to work with Hawke Architecture, I reminded myself, Don’t let her intimidate you.
“Miss Yorks, gentlemen… please meet Miss Crown. She is a very talented architect who helped me a lot in this project. She is also the creator of the interior design for the building you wanted,” Kellan introduced me to them.
I couldn’t believe he introduced me as an architect instead of an assistant. I felt my cheeks heat up as appreciation grew inside me.
“Brian, we can start,” he said and started to explain the design of the buildings. I was trying to absorb his style, the way he talked, the way he made eye contact, his confidence. Aside from being deathly attractive, he had that charismatic intelligence… the more he talked the more he captivated you, hypnotized you.
“I like the idea. To be honest, I was expecting you to use a musical instrument for the building, like most of the other companies offered us before we came to you. This is new, but the design will only be seen if you look at it from above, right? Don’t you think it will be boring?” Miss Yorks asked.
“The shape of the clefs will be seen easily the moment you walk into the area. Because the buildings will be skewed, starting from the bottom, the building will raise up slowly. Brian, can you show Miss Yorks in 3D please,” Kellan answered her without breaking a sweat.
Everyone seemed impressed when they saw how it would look. I felt proud.
“What about the colors?” Miss Yorks asked this time.
“I want Miss Crown to answer your question on that. You should hear how she expresses it. I was impressed with the way she put it,” Kellan said, holding my hand to put me in his place, at the center of attention. He sat in my chair, giving me a nod with an intense stare that turned my insides to jelly.