chapter 13

Matthias POV

As I sat there blinking and wondering what the hell just happened, his freckled face popped into my blurry line of vision and he extended his hand to help me up. I was in two minds at first. Fight him or accept his offer to help me up and let it go.

My sarcastic thought died in my head when Galen gave me a sympathetic smile. "It's going to be a rough one today."

"No shit," I muttered, replying after realizing that my strongest guard Khalid is sick.

''Find someone else to cover, for the charity event tonight.''

''Yes, boss.''

....

Traffic got heavier the closer I got to my office. My patience was being stretched to the limit. By the time, I parked my car with an echoed squeal of the tires in the parking lot.

I entered the building with Josie, Eugene pushed a pile of message cards across his desk when he heard my footsteps thud on the gleaming tiles.

"Good morning, Mr. Lekas. Busy day today. The phones have been ringing off the hook. These are the messages the callers specified as urgent. I'll bring the rest by your office later. There are also-"

I held my hand out to stop him. The man was efficient as fuck, talked a million miles an hour.

''Eugue, what do I say about drinking coffee?

''Sir... I..''

''You talk too fast. Slow down," I cut him off.

He took a deep breath. ''I did the worksheet for you, everything is in alphabetical order. Also, you have a call by one-fifteen. Cartier.''

''Thanks, and Eugene..''

''Yes?''

''Zip up your pants,'' I whispered.

....

Hours went by and I was stressed over everything at work. Meetings on top of meetings and not to mention, my fake wedding with Josie. I hired a wedding planner along with a photographer and made some amends to make sure the wedding was perfect and quick as possible.

"Sir, may I have a word for five minutes?" Josie answered crisply. In the background, I could hear people talking and phones ringing but Josie didn't let anything rush her.

"Matthias."

''Pardon?''

''We're together, you don't need to call me sir. Okay?''

''Yeah, okay,'' she whispered.

"What can I do for you?" She walks into the office and closes the door.

''I realized that my hours are short, is there any reason for it?''

''There's a charity event tonight, I'm having the security team to take you out to buy a dress.''

''But, I don't have the money--''

''--I got it covered.''

''Covered?''

''Just say what you want and it's yours.''

She mouthed ''oh'' and heaved a deep sigh. The telephone rings and I nod her to leave the office.

"I'll see you soon, okay?" I said.

"Okay."

Scrubbing my hands over the stubble I didn't shave this morning, I sank into my wide wingback office chair. I took care of a few of the most urgent things I had to do before going to the next meeting.

The noise in my head died down knowing there weren't so many people waiting on me anymore, and now I'd gotten the basics covered. I walked over to my window, hooking my thumbs in my pockets as I took in my view.

I watched ant-sized people bustling around on the sidewalk below.

Without warning, my mind drifted to wondering whether Josie was down there somewhere. The memory of her gave me a nice hard-on. A welcome change of pace for this shitty morning.

From a distance, I saw her petite body walking towards the limousine as Abel opens the door for Josie to get inside.

Feeling slightly rejuvenated and more like myself, I turned away from my window and got to work.

I was so screwed. I was going to end up losing everything because I had started to care for a woman. This was why I had always avoided relationships. Damn my dad for meddling in my life and screwing up what had been a perfectly good system.

I glanced at the little clock on the corner of my laptop screen. It was almost five. I could pack it up. I hit send on the email, happy to be done with work. I wasn't usually one to walk out the door right at five, but lately, work had taken a back seat to my personal life.

A knock on my door pounded voluminously and I yelled ''come in.'' Zach bursts through the door with his suit and briefcase and danced his way to the chair.

''What the fuck are you wearing?'' I laughed at him.

''You like? I now go by Zachary.''

''Zachary?''

''Yeah. Your boy got a new-new at Google. I'm now a computer programmer.''

''Zach, that's amazing, congrats.''

''Thanks, dude. So what's up? What you've been up to do?''

"That damn paperwork. Turns out my dad had me signing all kinds of shit that I had no idea sealed my fate. He conned me."

"That doesn't sound like your dad."

I shot him a glare. "Obviously, I didn't know him as well as I thought I did."

"I'm sorry. How's it going with the model?" he asked while jiggling his brows.

I laughed. ''Not a model.'' I found myself smiling. I was in a terrible mood, but the mere thought of her made me smile. "Good. Really good."

"Have you decided if you're going to ask her to be your wife, real or fake?"

I shook my head. 'Yes."

"Dude, you've been seeing her for two weeks. You don't have a lot of time here."

"I know, but I don't want to rush it."

He eyed me carefully.

''What?''

''You know time would creep up on you.''

''I know, I know, but I doing one step at a time.''

''You do that and you'll catch feelings.''

I chortled. ''Yeah, that's not going happen.''

''Oh, it's definitely going to happen. You're going to catch feelings, I guarantee that.''