Twenty

“Okay, I need you to come clean now.” I leaned in further to ensure I was maintaining eye contact. There was a need for the message to be considered a serious one. “Did you eat out of the chocolates?” With puppy eyes, Ruby shook her head in negative. I glanced at the brown smudge at the side of her lips and gave an unbelieving scoff.
“You did not eat out of it.”

Sharply, she responded, “No.”

“How do you explain this then?” I slammed two wrappers of snickers onto the kitchen counter and stared squarely at the little girl who was clearly struggling to find a way to talk her way out of the situation. “And how do you explain this?” I brought out a little mirror I had found in her room and put it in her face so that she would see the evidence I had against her.
“Do you care to explain that?”

“Uh…” I cocked a brow as I awaited the bogus explanation she would give. “I’m sorry!” Okay, I did not expect that, but it was a good sign.

“Why?”

She fidgeted with her little fingers. “Because I broke my promise?” I motioned for her to continue. “I promised not to eat chocolates for a week but I did.”

“Why did you lie?” With guilt on her face, she looked away but I immediately compelled her to look me in the eye.”Listen Ruby, you could have just asked me or told me that you wanted to take chocolates.”

“But you wouldn’t have let me have them.”She pouted.

With an interested look, I placed my elbow on the counter as I studied the little girl in front of me. “What made you think I wouldn’t have let you have them?” She shrugged lazily and I cut her short before she could say anything. “As long as I will not bite you, you can always ask me. I would have let you have a little bite you know.”

She shrugged again and said, “It’s just when mom used to live with us, she didn’t like me asking questions. She didn’t really like me talking to her.” I could tell how sad Ruby was and her need to get her father’s attention made more sense to me.

“Your mom used to live here? When?” If I recall vividly, Fiona told me she had been her nanny since birth, so I easily guessed her mother was never around.

“Yes, before I clocked five, she came back and stayed with us for a long time.” Ruby soon changed the topic, cutting off the question on my tongue. “I am sorry I lied.”

I sent her a light smile, reached out to cup her cheek and said, “It is fine Ruby. But this means you will have to be punished.” She gave a surrendering look.

“Okay.”

“Well, here…” My phone’s ringtone cut my words shut and when I saw the caller’s ID, I dismissed Ruby. “I’ll call you when dinner is delivered. We are still going to have that punishment talk though.” She nodded and ran out of the kitchen to do whatever she was going to do.

I hit the accept button and my ears were greeted by background murmuring. “Sam?”

There were more scratchy noises and I sat there patiently waiting for whatever was going on to die down.* ‘Grace. Finally! Why have you been rejecting my calls?’*

“Well, good day to you too. I am doing fine, thanks for asking.” I could almost see the eye roll she was giving me at that moment.

*‘Oh please! I was worried. I thought the whole publicity thing had gotten to you or something. And you hardly reject calls, I had to be worried.’*

I gave a light chuckle. “You sound so responsible right now.”

*‘I am responsible!’ She retorted playfully. ‘Anyway, the media is not shutting up, what’s up? Is your boss not doing anything about it?'

"Well," There is the fact that I haven’t spoken to him about it because we have been rather… busy. “,something else was occupying my mind.”

*‘Whoa! Hold up! Are you and Mr Powers…?’ Her face must be lit up with excitement and partial cockiness. She would probably say she saw it coming.*

“Well,” I dragged. “,something like that…” Sam shrieked, I had to put the phone away from my ear for some seconds. “Are you done?”

*‘No! I am not close to done. Tell me, how was the banging, hot yeah?’*

A little frown graced my face. “I am not giving you that kind of details. But that was not the reason for rejecting your calls.” She could read my serious tone, so her excitement died down.

*‘What was the reason?’*

“I… I remembered Kyle.” She gave a quiet ‘oh’. “For some reason, my fault actually, Do… Mr Powers learnt about him. It was painful, but I got myself to talk about him with Mr Powers and I,” I let out a large mass of air. “, I feel better. I felt better. For the first time since Kyle died, I feel genuinely happy. I felt a huge load lifted off my chest after I had the talk.”
I played with one of the chocolate wrappers. “I have let Kyle go Sam. I am ready to move on.”

‘*Oh darling, that is amazing. You finally let go. So…’* I knew she wouldn’t want to dwell on the Kyle talk for long. *‘Mr Powers uh? You calling him by his first name now?’*

Trying to shy my inner excitement from my voice, I shrugged before I said, “He prefers I call him by his first name.”

She scoffed. ‘*Yeah right. This is awesome! You are finally getting some good fuck.’*

“I don’t know Sam, it is more than the sex. It just feels that way.”

*‘Don’t tell me you are falling in love. No, girl. Remember, a player. He is a player. Falling in love with people like him can hurt you in the end.’*

“I am living with him Sam, the man is nothing close to a player.”

*‘You are living in his house. Just his house. You don’t know what he is doing out there.’*

I pondered on her words, but they didn’t sound right to me. To me, Dominic is a simple man. A simple, responsible man who just wants a break from his world. “I don’t know Sam, he just doesn’t seem so.”

*‘Just be careful, okay? Have fun but be careful.’* She had a point, but I still could not bring myself to consider her words because whatever was going on between Dominic and I felt genuine. His words, spoken and unspoken that made my heart grow warm and makes my stomach flutter with joy, felt genuine. He might not have a confirmatory love sick look on his face, but the little care the ever hardened look man had for me was more than enough for me to tell I was not being played.

“Okay Sam, I will be careful. Anyway, how bad is the whole publicity thing? I haven’t exactly had the time to check. “

*‘Well, they have officially fished out your social media accounts, so they have their eyes on you.’*

“Wow.” I heard the front door close with a slight thud, so I got up and made my way to the living room. “I should talk to Mr Powers and see if something can be done.”

*‘You do that girl and uh… use protection please.’*

Unbelievably, I shook my head. “Get out of my phone you tease.” She chuckled manically as she said her goodbye within. Cutting the call, I tucked my phone into the front pocket of my grey joggers and I finally walked into the large room.

“Mr Powers.” I called the attention of the man who was standing still, well focused on his phone. “Mr Powers?” I called even louder. I watched as he pushed his head a bit forward to focus more on the phone. Giving a light unbelieving gasp, I walked a bit closer to the end of the stairway. “Mr Powers?” He definitely could hear me, why wasn’t he responding? “Mr…” I suddenly remembered something.”Dominic.”

“Oh there you are.” He finally responded and I just had to roll my eyes at his attitude. Already quarter way up the stairs, he walked towards me. Dressed exceptionally with his suit and suit pants pure white and his shirt light blue, the two colours blending awesomely with his toned skin, I could read amusement in his eyes.
“Did I just see you roll your eyes at me?”

“Uh…” His hovering figure finally made it a step away from me. Looking up at his face, I bit my tongue as I could read the sensual danger that lay ahead. “I… did?”

“Hmm.” His deep voice boomed before his arm found my waist and pulled me into his chest causing me to give a loud gasp. My eyes still looking up at his, he said, “You looked beautiful rolling those pretty eyes.” I felt my whole body melt comfortably into his arm as his sentence warmed me up inside.

“Th… thank you?” Smirking delightfully, he ran his hand down my spine in one rub, the feeling of his hand against my top made me instantly wish my back was bare. His hands were just so magical, like his mouth. His whole being was magical.

“Come, let’s go shower before dinner.” He made for the first step, his hand tugging at my wrist. I could not even say no, but I remembered I had something important to talk to him about.

“Wait.” He turned back, a querying look on his face. “I need to talk to you about something.” I removed my hand from his gentle hold. “It is about the media. For some days now, they have been posting about me being your girlfriend.”

He gave a nonchalant shrug. “Well, are you not my girlfriend?” My head swirled at his question. It was just unexpected and sudden. Did he really see me as his girlfriend already? I mean, yes he has claimed me to be his, something I am glad about. But girlfriend?

“Sir?” He cocked a brow. “B…b…but I… I thought we were not that…” I paused to search for an appropriate word.

“That what?” His hand found my chin and he brought up my darting face to look at him. “That what?”

“I…I …I didn’t just know we were at that stage.”

“Well now you know.” His gaze narrowed darkly. “ I made you mine remember?” I gulped abruptly before nodding. It all felt unreal. There was really something going on between us.
“Anyway, it appears you are not comfortable with whatever is going on with the media, so I will look into it. Is that fine baby?” He threw me a smile.

Baby? A smile? He was already doing things to me without even touching me. His rare smile was a sight to behold and it was way better than his smirk. He looked cute smiling, it just had to warm your heart.
“Grace, are you okay?” I gave a subconscious nod as I replayed his word and smile over and over in my mind. “Grace…”

“Uh… yeah. Thank you so much Dominic. It is not easy to have the media all over you.”

“Well you are lucky you don’t get to go out often or else they would be really all over you.” His lips formed a little pout making me surprised. He was showing quite a lot of emotions. “I dragged you into this. I apologize.”

“It is okay. On the bright side, I get to be a celebrity even for just a while.” I threw him a grand grin. His hand still on my chin, his other hand reached to graze my skin and when his lips found my forehead, my eyes automatically closed to enjoy the bliss his kiss sent through my body.

“You are so beautiful.” He whispered as my gently opened, his eyes flickering to my lips which were slightly parted. His hand went on to hover over my lips. He did not make contact with them, but his touch being so close made me want to stop him from his delaying motions and get down to business. I was suddenly hungry for more of him.

“Grace. I am hungry.” Immediately Dominic and I separated and were standing beside each other. Hoping she did not catch a glimpse of the moment between us, I threw her a smile.

“Ruby, the chef has not sent dinner yet. I will check what is going on .”

“Okay.” With tiredness all over her face, she made to walk away.

“Ruby,” I called her back, my figure bouncing on the spot to keep myself in check. Dominic, who was so closely standing next to me had his hand sneaked into my top and caressing my back to give me tantalizing sensations. “, go and take a bar of chocolate on my bed to keep your mouth busy. I will…” He had slightly pinched me, I had to take a second to gain composure. “I will have dinner sent up in no time.” She nodded and walked back upstairs. “Dominic!”

My head snapped towards the tall figure who had pretense all over his face. “What is it?”

“Ruby was standing so close to us. She could have…”

“I am sure my daughter wouldn’t mind me giving you a back rub. Besides I wasn’t doing anything rated R.” He had this mischievous look on his face. I grabbed his hand and peeled it off my back.

“I need to get dinner available.” I turned to walk towards the intercom.

“Okay baby.” I gasped as he smacked my buttock lightly. Stopping my steps, I sent a look of surprise his way but he just winked and said, “Don’t forget, you owe me a shower.” And his slid his way up the stairs, my bewildered self staring at his broad, set back as he went.