Chapter 52: A Millionaire, His Suit And Poor Me Chapter 52

Jace's face went from shocked, to confused, to positively terrified, all in the space of three seconds.“You're awake," he said softly, his voice trembling and calm, his hands clasped protectively on 2 Chainz. “Like,awake before I wake you up. You woke up by yourself. In due course. Not even in time,” he shuddered, his eyes closed,soon.”In response, I snuggled into my cocoon of pillows and blankets. “Is it so hard to believe that I am, in fact, able to be anactive member of society? Don't answer that."“Are you sick or what?”“No," I huffed, “I'm trying to decide how soon it's too early to call Henris."“Why? Do you ever regret not spending the night with him? Do you have any flashbacks of the horrible moments of yourpost-Liam, pre-Henris withdrawal period? Do you hope that he will come and save you from the tornado that is LouisTomlinson during the stupid month of his birthday? *.“I'm not sorry, Jace. I just needed some time to think, you know. Taking stock of everything we've been talking aboutwithout having her stupid pretty face to distract me."“It's been, what, twelve hours? Ten? Not much time to think, is it?"“And shit I laughed, throwing a pillow at him. He gave me a stunned and accusatory look and hugged our kitten to hischest. “This is off topic Jace. The question is whether it is too early to call Henris and prevent his likely attempt to show uat the office if I don't call early enough.’Jace's eyes lit up in agreement. Chances are he's already in Vogue waiting for you in a way that should be scary butabsolutely won't be because he's so handsome. Like, lounging against the table in our office in a Versace suit or somethirvictoria probably already mistook him for a model in today’s shoot.”“You are not helping at all”“Wrong,” he says, sticking his tongue out at the door. “I always prepare your outfits every morning. Call Henris. Or don’t dit.I don't care. You're boring me.’I threw another pillow at him across the room in a feeble attempt. “Are we boring? You and Louis have adorable small focbattles. You repeat your text with Louis in a fake British accent. I heard you arguing the other day about who wouldhypothetically make a better astronaut, and what the hell is this!”Jace gave me a black stare from the door frame, eyes now deadly. “Precisely,” he got carried away, “I would certainly abetter astronaut than Louis” With a last grunt, he lifted his nose in the air and left the room taking take care to slam thedoor behind him.There was no sound of footsteps moving away. Three seconds later, predictably, Jace reopened the door with a look thatsaid, “I'm always trying to be angry with you, so please don't say anything that can make me laugh”.“Call Henris," she gave me a black look. He put our cat on the floor and nodded towards her. “She is for the moral supporThe door closed, and this time I heard the footsteps moving away. And of course, I could hear Louis chatting with Jace thahe would definitely be a better astronaut. Hypothetically, of course. I hated them both and all their charming relationshij2 Chainz jumped on the foot of my bed and quickly got comfortable on my feet, stretched out and relaxed. From anotherside, I was staring at my phone again and wondering inwardly if it was really too early to call Henris or not, and maybe Iwas about to break it.“should 1 do itz" asked my kitten, pushing her nose with the tip of my foot. She meowed in response and pushed my fooback. “Good. I got it."That said, I dialed the number that I had memorized in my phone for a long time, because the cats’ advice is the best. Idecided that my nervousness could be due to the current lack of caffeine that I was experiencing, and I was already on ttpoint of hanging up and having a cup when the ringing stopped.“Noras?”I sat down immediately. “Oh shit, did I wake you up?”“No”, he whispers, his voice hoarse on the other end, “maybe”. Yes. I ignored my alarm clock."“Did you ignore your alarm clock?”Henris let out an annoyed sigh. “Why are you awake already?”“Well,” I whispered, “I thought you'd be awake, and then, like, I wanted to find you before you were really busy at work,because then my call would have bothered you. And then maybe you would have come to my office as you said so. And nI feel bad because you were sleeping”“I really wouldn't have come to your office, Noras."I looked up. “Oh, that's right. Not that I had any reason to think you would. Not a single one.”“t would?"“Exactly. Maybe you want to go to lunch or something? If you can? Or breakfast? Like, everything that works for you. Myschedule is more flexible. Hmm?”Henris laughed, in a low, hoarse voice, and the sheets crumpled in the background. “You are not spending the night, butyou call me at seven in the morning to offer to go have breakfast?”I looked at the phone with a scowl. “I have to keep you on your toes, Mr. Steve”“You've never been shy, Noras," he whispered, and I could practically hear the smile in his voice. “Don't try to be so now.We'll go to lunch, if you can hold out that long without me."“You're the one who was practically a ***g koala last year...“Noras," he warned.“Good,” I said, finally managing to stagger out of bed. I held the phone pressed between my ear and my shoulder while thI was rummaging through my wardrobe filled with something that I thought was worthy of rubbing shoulders with a Versasuit. “At what time?”I have a meeting at 11 o'clock, then another at 13 o'clock. Which means I'll have an hour in between,” he sighed. “I won'thave time to go out. I can send James to pick you up and you can grab some takeaways on the way. If that's okay."My eyes fell on a brown dress abandoned at the back of the wardrobe, which I had stolen at work a few years ago month.“Perfect. We'll have sushi, anyway. Don't try to argue about it.”“I wasn't thinking about doing that, baby. I'll see you at noon. Pull your hair up."“Ym rolling my eyes right now. See you soon, Mr. Steve."“Again, Noras, and I swear to you..."I told him: “Have a good day at worki"and I immediately hung up, the smile on my lips so wide that I had afraid that myface will split. It took all of breakfast and at least four annoying reminders from Louis about his birthday so that it fadeseven a little.By lunchtime, after reading the same 10 pages for the previous three hours without processing any of them, I was on theverge of madness. And the fact that I had a reason to be anxious didn't really help me, which made it time to the clock evslower than usual.I practically hugged James when I finally managed to escape from the Vogue offices. As promised, the driver picked me ufto pick up my lunch before dropping me off at the entrance of Steve Enterprises, in a few streets away, where I immediatesprinted for the ski lifts.I stamped my foot impatiently as the numbers scrolled over the door, increasing one by one with each exhausting seconand I was almost certain that it was the slowest elevator in the whole world. The 29th floor flashed, a before Henris, andthen, of course, the elevator stopped.As the doors opened, I was more and more convinced that the whole universe had agreed to me bring it down and makemy life a living hell. A hell full of big blondes in an ironic white suit, apparently.Her perfectly red-tinted lips lifted into a smile. “Oh, Noras. Looks like I'm not the only one toy that Henris decided to keearound him."My right eye twitched. “Obviously, no."“Nice,” he said slowly, stepping into the elevator next to me. “It would have been terribly boring here. The more we are frccrazy, the more we laugh, don't you think?”“No. Not really.’She waved a manicured hand in the air, long red nails, a flashy diamond covered her ring finger. “You're right," a-shepurred, “being surrounded by Henris Steve could never be boring”. I guess you know what I want say?”Many things were running around in my head at that moment, such as the fact that Claire Carter was a pretentious bitchand that the soy sauce would probably have splattered well on the front of her expensive dress. Instead, I gave him themost great smile that I could form.“Well,” I said softly, “I'm not really sure I know. And, to be honest, I don't care either.”The elevator stopped, and maybe the universe was on my side after all. I raised an eyebrow at her as I was walking. Woulyou like me to send a message from you to Henris? Maybe an apology for being a real bitch? Do you need a day off? Araise?”His mouth opened slightly and he pushed his hand between the two ends of the door to prevent it from closing.“I think so..”Sorry’, Interrupted her with a shrug, “I really don't care what you think’.This time, as the doors started to close, Claire didn't make a move to stop them. She gave me a look black through theclosing doors, and I greeted her like a lady before turning on my heels and leaving.I didn’t even try to hide my smile as I approached not one, but two secretaries, because from obviously, this was anotherthing that Henris had done during the small remodeling of the company. They were looking at me both of them with totaamazement, frozen beyond their lunch.“Damn it,” the new one blows, the sandwich still in one hand, “did you just tell Claire Carter to f**k off?".“Maybe?”“It's fucking fantastic. Can I help you?”Behind the new girl, the secretary I knew as Laura threw her familiar blonde hair over hershoulder and rolled her eyes before leaning back and whispering. “This is Noras," she hissed at her friend, her voiceechoing in the empty space to me.The new girl's gaze was turned away. “Is that Noras?"“No, the other Noah, you idiot” Laura breathed, pinching her arm before turning her attention back to me. I made a bigsmile. Sorry, she's new. Mr. Steve wanted another secretary so we could do more things. And you can come in. You don'teven need to talk to us, like, ever. You can always come in. Mr. Steve said so."“Oh”, I smiled, “cool”. Thanks."Not knowing what to do with myself, I gave the two girls a last awkward nod. As I was walking towards the doors loomingthe end of the corridor, their eyes burned in my back and surprised and curious murmurs circulated between them.I didn't think twice before pushing and opening the door, I just stumbled into his office with a nervous smile and sweatyhands.Henris was standing against the glass wall, his hands intertwined tightly behind his back. Her broad shoulders wereaccentuated by a suit that adhered strongly to the curves of her upper body, wrapping around her arms before stoppingwhere the sleeves were cuffed on his wrist, revealing a shiny watch.The only movement he made was a look over his shoulder. “Did you stumble?”I stuck out my tongue at him. “I brought food, 'm glad to see you too, why did 1 just see Claire Carter in the elevator?"“Because he works here,” he said slowly, pointing to the table in the middle of the room. “Sit down.”“I thought you fired everyone you slept with."“I should have clarified then. I fired everyone I slept with, except Claire.”The food bags folded when I put them on the table. “Yes, but why not?”I hadn't even noticed that Henris was near me until his lips pressed warmly against the slope of my collarbone, his hancsliding around my waist from the side. His breath nourished my skin as he moved, dropping another lazy kiss to where mshoulders meet my neck, then into the small space behind my ear.“Hello,” he breathed, another quick kiss on the side of my jaw. “Because you are going to help my company to succeed.Anything else?”“I guess not," I whispered. “Sushi?”Her mouth stopped on my skin, hot and spread apart. “Yes, please. I'm starving”With a slower rubbing of his lips against my skin, Henris moved over, leaving me leaning back in a contact who was nolonger there. He chuckled as he sank into the armchair and grabbed one of the many boxes, taking it out of the bag.When 1 dropped into the chair next to him, he immediately hooked his ankle around mine. And, as if that wasn't adorableenough, Henris stuck out his tongue for fun and grabbed one of my buns with his chopsticks, raising his eyebrows indefiance as he chewed it.I pushed his foot away, helplessly. “Now you must give me one of yours, you know."“Do I have to?”“Yes,” I gasped, leaning over to take one. “How was your day?"Henris shrugged, swallowing. It went well, actually. The meetings went well, the merger agreement did not I don't evenneed to be touched up, and Nia has already called me for a round of golf. So I consider it a good day so far. And yours?”Boring. And stressful. I hate the days before everything is printed. Victoria and Aaron are freaking out about everything.And I have broke the coffee machine again”I stopped and looked down at the table, absentmindedly pushing a piece ofsushi. “I'm going to say that I'm sorry and I want to tell you about last night."Henris rolled his eyes. “Sorry, I didn't understand correctly.”“Did I miss you?”“Later”“Do I want to talk to you?”He squinted. “Noras. And don't even try to think about eating that piece of sushi to avoid... Noras."I almost choked on my food when I saw his expression of annoyance and total amusement, something that seemed to bealmost perpetually displayed on Henris's face when I was near him. And maybe there was a little bit of tenderness hidderthere, in the raised angle of his smirk and the faint glow of his forest green eyes.He looked at me with a stern ai, the chopsticks stopped halfway from his mouth with a piece of sushi seized in a wayprecarious at the end, his expression becoming more and more determined with each passing second. I took my time tochewing and trying to figure out what I was supposed to say.After a good minute during which I pretended to eat the long piece of fish, then another minute during which I stared athim with my fingers trembling nervously, Henris let out a sigh and leaning forward to put his hand on my knee. “Are youdone avoiding the subject?”I swallowed loudly. “Do I have a choice?”“We can fuck on my desk” Henris smiles. “again. Your choice’My foot jerked against his in response, and he had to bite his lower lip to contain the sneer on his face.“You are a danger,” I mumbled, intertwining our legs again. “You know that, don't you?”“You are the one who called me at seven in the morning. Then speak up.”“Good cleared my throat awkwardly and chose to trace the embossed veins of his hands while talking, delicately butsurely. “So obviously I left last night -" Henris smiled in the background and I typed it under the table. “-Mr. Steve. Don't Irude”“Don't imitate me.”I pinched her fingers as an answer. “Anyway, I was caught off guard, I guess? I didn't expect this. I don't I didn't expect youto come and say it so easily. It's that simple. As if I hadn't passed the last week reading stupid Cosmo articles to try tounderstand everything. You just changed your mind like it was nothing."Henris's hand turned around, catching mine, much smaller, in his. Her hands were beautiful too, I thought distractedly, astouched one of her many silver rings. “Nora,” he said softly, “I haven't changed of opinion like that. Eight days."“There were only eight of them?”“ight days and I did nothing but work and not sleep. 1” he said, shaking his head furiously at the idea. “1 wouldn't havenever should have left, not when you were just standing there and giving me a chance to fix everything. It was all I couldthink of thinking."My fingers pressed against his fascinated fingers. “What made you change your mind?”“You,” he said simply. “Maybe Jennifer, a little. Nia pushed me to act for all the other shit. But it was you.Always you.”“Always?” I whispered.Her fingers tightened on mine. “Yes. I was just too busy being an obsessed worker a*****e for the notice.’Her hands were warm and protective on mine. All this seemed to hit me like a runaway train, because Henris held my harand ate sushi with me in his office on the top floor of the multimillionaire company he was responsible. I didn't know whmy life had become an episode of Gossip Girl, but I wasn't going to complain.“I just think that, like, I wanted it too much. And you didn’t want it enough."She began to retort, then was stopped by the opening of the door, followed by a heavy grunt and a woman dressed in blzfrom head to toe who staggered in. Her platinum hair, perhaps light purple, fell over her face as she checked that his blashoes showed no signs of rubbing.It took a moment of silence for her to freeze, remember where she was, and turn her head towards us. As it seemed beingthe norm with all the people we met, his first glance fell on Henris, before heading quickly to me, confused.She masks her surprise with a simple smile and a quick wave of her hand behind the pile of papers she is holding in herarms. “Mr. Steve,” she smiled, her eyes shining.Henris ran a hand over his jaw. “Lou, this is Noras. Noras, this is Louise, my assistant.”“Savior”, she corrects, “heroine, the best thing that happened to her”. I have several names. Anyway, Mr. Horan called.”“Jesus Christ,” Henris whispered.“He said he wanted to play golf this weekend. And a brunch on Monday."“I can't. Busy.”She stirs the stack of papers in her arm with an annoyed grunt. He said that you would answer like this. Then he said, anquote: “When Henri says he's busy, tell him to stop being a real asshole and get his head out of his ass”. It's from the woword for word."I waited for the repercussion - maybe a dry, steel-jawed glance, if he felt well - without seeing it coming. Instead from thHenris simply waved his hand distractedly. “This is a place of business Lou."“He gave me 100 dollars to do it. He offered three hundred dollars to hit you."Henris laughed. “And what would you do if 1 offered you a thousand?”“Weird stuff” she said solemnly, shrugging her narrow shoulders.“Good. The next time Nia offers a sum for some shit he wants you to do, I'l double it."His laugh, high-pitched and joyful, echoed in the office for the most part. I tried desperately to hate her, because I knewwhat happens in porn with beautiful secretaries and powerful bosses, and it was really very hard to hate it because fiveseconds earlier, she had called Henris an a*****e.She brushed her bangs to the side with a series of tattooed fingers. “Okay, but you really can't go play the golf thisweekend? Nia looked like a five-year-old boy and I really don't want to say no to her”“Ym going on a trip with Noras, tell him to call me on Tuesday to reschedule the appointment.”Understood,” she said, already typing on a phone that appeared in her hands. After a second, she stopped time to putathick row of papers on his desk before going out, shouting a happy “Nice to meet you, Noras!” Over his shoulder.As soon as the heavy door closed, Henris turned to me, frowning. “Before you say it, shes married.”I raised an eyebrow.“She is married and has a child."“Well, I was rather thinking about the fact that you have, once again, planned a vacation without even telling me about itadvance. I can't wake up and go to Europe for the weekend because you want me to come with you. And I was thinking alittle bit about cheap porn, to be honest”Henris slammed the tip of his foot against my leg. “Porn”? Honestly?”“Cheap porn,” I corrected, frowning. “You are not cheap. Anyway. Let's focus on the trip to Europe now.”“Not Europe. I have a cottage in the Hamptons that I want to go to. We can just relax, whatever you want, just you and meOne indoor weekend. The house is also on the beach. And there is a swimming pool in the back. And a jacuzzi, since it wilmake cold.”Which wasn't a proud statement at all, and judging by the way her forest green eyes lit up of amusement, Henris knew itperfectly well. He wrung my hand excitedly as I tried to find a reason to be angry, but that feeling seemed to disappear a:soon as he mentioned the Hamptons.“How can you be real?”He gave me a new smile. “I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at eight o'clock.”“Better question: how many houses do you own?"“Four, I think. Maybe five.”With that, he started eating the food I had brought and playing ball with me under the table, apparently satisfied with thecoldness of his office. It was as if all the stress in her body had started to slowly fade away, under the effect of warmtouches and kind assistants.I still managed to see it from time to time. Between the bites of my stolen food and his look at the watch extravagant onhis wrist, his eyes were looking over my shoulder at the pile of papers that Lou had just left him. But he would bring it bato me quickly.Finally, Lou walked through the door and reminded her about the next meeting, bringing us both back to the real world. Iis while I noticed that I was almost sitting on his lap, all illusion of staying away, lost.He pulled me towards him as soon as the door closed, rubbing his nose against the warmth of my neck with an annoyedgrowl.“Thank you for coming. How much did the lunch cost?”I snuggled up to him. “Don’t worry."“How much?”“Henris, really, don’t worry."He bit my skin in response, teeth moving along my vein. “I'l give you fifty then.”“It was only thirty years ago, damn it, don't be ridiculous”with what sounded like a grunt of triumph, he passed his arm over my legs and his knee further away from him, me pulluntil I was askew on her thighs, my nose beating the corner of her chin and my free hand resting on his collar.He pressed his cheek into my hand. “Last night," he whispered, “I was going to show you what I had done with theapartment. But you're gone before I can do it.”I paused with the relief of my thumb stroking the corner of his mouth. “What?”“I was going to show you around and show you all the things I've changed. There's - well, I filled the wine cellar. I boughtvery efficient coffee machine for the morning. And do you still use that lipstick, the red one? There are a lot of them now.Henris paused and kissed my fingers, while keeping his dark eyes fixed on mine. I asked Jace what you like to read, I alsobought some books and magazines that you might like. There's a new toothbrush.And there's room in the wardrobe for your clothes.”At that moment, he was stammering, and if I didn’t know him so well, I would have said that he was nervous. The last twoweeks of ridiculous suffering were interrupted by his little speech, leaving me restless, looking for the right words in thismoment of total amazement.“We are dating. You and me; I said flatly, my brain still trying to keep up with my mouth.“We.”“Noras,” Henris scoffed, “you can't tell me things like that. You have to ask me. Please.”“Mr. Steve.”He silenced me with a kiss, and a few minutes later, when Henris's tie had long been loosened and that the dress I had sccarefully chosen had come down on my hips, Henris's assistant hit loudly at the door, Henris simply laughed.Lou's voice floated across the small open space. You have a meeting at five o'clock, Henris. What are you — Oh.oh"Henris stopped long enough to stop brandishing a new bruise on my chest. “Noras wanted to know more more on theexchange rate for the dividend that Malik will receive,” he recalled, his voice low and broken. “She's thinking aboutinvesting.”I chuckled a laugh against his shoulder.“Five minutes,” Lou said seriously.I kind of wanted to disappear because I was going to have to do the walk of shame out of this office in less than fiveminutes later, but Henris was smiling at me, his lips swollen and his eyes shining with amusement. “How much money areyou willing to invest in my company?”, he whispered once the door was closed.Only a few seconds passed before we laughed, muffled and amused against each other's skin.

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