Chapter 6 The wrong suit

• "Who were you talking to, Ms Green?" Mr Cortez asked, a frown dwelling between his brows.
• I gulped, lowering my shaking hand holding the phone. He heard. He found out. Now he'd tell Mr Kingston, and I'd have to go to jail. No. This couldn't happen. Not when the old-age home needed me the most. "I-I..."
• His hand lifted, and I flinched away, deepening his frown even more. "Ms, Green? What's wrong? Who was that on the call?"
• He tried to approach me again, and fear took over every part of my sanity. "I... You've to believe me, Mr Cortez. I didn-"
• He held my shoulders firmly. "Relax! You look like you saw a ghost. Was it your mother? Has her condition worsened?"
• "What?" I blinked, dumbfounded.
• "I saw you crying, so I thought... You said your mother was ill, right?"
• I stared at him, my ragged heartbeats slowing down to normal. Did he not hear anything? Judging from his concerned expression, it was confirmed he really didn't. Oh, thank the Lord! Relief flooded inside me. "Yea-Yeah, yeah. It's just... she's not feeling really well."
• ***
• Two weeks passed, and four more deals were won by the Kingstons against Montero Co. Yet he never threatened me again, neither casted a single look my way. Every time Daniel lost, he walked out of the building like he just took another step towards conquering Aladdin's lamp, and it sent me overboard, thinking about the evil recipe that might be cooking in his demonic mind.
• But what was more scary was that with each encounter, Mr Kingston began to notice Montero even more, and the frown in-between his brows deepened. If even one ray of suspicion invaded his mind, it'd take him zero seconds to figure out the culprit.
• Me.
• Oh God! I leaned back in my seat, letting out a loud sigh and rubbing my temples. Thinking so much had taken its toll on my head as it felt like someone drilled holes inside. I had already finished most of my tasks and was waiting for the next.
• Perhaps getting a taste of caffeine would help. So I walked downstairs, to the kitchen and served myself with a warm, aromatic cup of coffee. Sipping on it, all my worries subdued for a moment along with the headache.
• "He's working you hard I see."
• I jumped from the sudden sound, and splashes of my drink fell on the counter. Turning around, I came to see Melody, the assistant accountant from the finance department standing before me. It was the second time I was meeting her after Mr Cortez introduced us during lunch the other day. She was a short, chubby girl with black curls falling around her face.
• "Oopsie! Didn't mean to startle you." She drew out a handful of kitchen towels and wiped off the mess.
• "It's alright and yeaah," I dragged the last word to answer her question.
• She chuckled. "You signed for it."
• Only if she knew I signed for something worse...
• "Btw, the ledger you asked for has been completed. Do you want me to bring it to you right now?"
• "That'd be great."
• "I'm sorry for taking the extra time. You know with Delaney gone, we're struggling to finish all the work," she said, rubbing her sunken eyes.
• I gave her a warm smile. Delaney was the head accountant who had to leave for pregnancy complications, and so everything was dumped on the assistants now. "Don't worry about that. I do understand. The new accountant will be here soon."
• "That relaxes me. Wait for me by the stairs."
• Nodding, I did as asked and waited till she was back with the said papers.
• "Thank y-"
• Sound of crying and slamming of a door cut me off, seizing both our attention.
• "What was that?" she frowned.
• I shrugged, already ascending the stairs with Melody following behind. We reached upstairs just when a tall blonde ran inside the elevator, crying.
• "What's going on?" I asked, confused. When did that girl come here, and why was she crying?
• Melody sighed. "Boss's girlfriend, well, ex-girlfriend."
• "What?" My eyes widened.
• "Yeah, that's the eleventh, no, twelfth girl I saw in three months, leaving his office, crying."
• This time my mouth widened as well. Dimitri Kingston was a playboy? And girls actually had the guts to date him? But my astonishment vaporized when my phone pinged. It was an email from the CEO, ordering me to go to his office right that instant.
• Great! I have to clean after their mess now?
• Saying bye to Melody, I rushed there, and my eyes broadened even more. He was fuming, hand on his shirt, unbuttoning it. It was soaked with streaks of red staining in places.
• Wait. Did that girl actually throw wine at him?
• Before I could restrain myself, a cackle left my lips, and my hand shot up, clamping my mouth. However, it was too late. The lion was already wounded, and talking about him, he was already half naked before me.
• Shit!
• I gulped as he began to stalk towards me, the shirt in his hand, and eyes shooting icicles. "Is my state entertaining you, Ms Green?"
• I shook my head rapidly, walking back, trying hard to keep my eyes above his finely-toned abs and hoping I didn't drool or worse, get killed. "S-Sir, y-you've a meeting in-in t-twenty minutes."
• But his steps didn't falter until he was right above me, so close I felt I was breathing him; rich, invigorating manly smell, warming my body in a not-so-right way. My breathing came out in ragged gasps, and my heart was in a desperate rhythm.
• He leaned down, and my breathing stopped. For a second, my lips parted in anticipation, thinking he was gonna kiss me. Instead his mouth passed mine to my ear. "If you wanna keep this job, Ms Green, keep those pretty lips sealed in the future."
• He straightened up, his hand grabbing mine and shoving the spoilt shirt in it. "Send this to the laundry and bring my extra pair."
• I nodded like a lunatic and sprinted outta the room like my life depended on it. Perhaps, it did because I couldn't breathe. But a smile so unexpected split my mouth remembering his words. He thought my lips were pretty.
• Wait. What was I thinking?
• Shaking my head, I took a moment to calm my horse of a heart and sprinted again to the manager's, indecently barging in. "Mr Cortez! Giv-" I stopped, my brows knitting.
• Mr Cortez was in the middle of waltzing with some imaginary lady around his desk. Noticing me, he snapped to attention like a soldier on duty. "Ms Green!" His cheeks reddened as he hurried to his desk and began typing on his laptop like an attentive employee. "Wh-What did you need?" he asked, avoiding eye contact.
• Could this day get any weirder?
• "I need the extra suit for Mr Kingston. Right now."
• "Oh, there." He pointed to the file cabinet, and I grabbed the package.
• Before I exited the door, I turned to the flushed manager. "Good moves you got there, Mr Cortez." Smirking, I ran back to the CEO's room.
• Mr Kingston was standing with his bare back towards me, and I took the moment to steal a look. Those pure muscles and solid biceps looked like the work of a proficient artist taking time to sculpt him out of pure granite. My eyes drove farther down to his suit slack hugging his thighs firmly, and a shaky breath left my mouth.
• What the hell was I doing? Snap out of it, Haze!
• "If you're done checking," he spoke in his cold voice and extended out his hand without turning.
• I bit my lip, ignoring the burning warmth in my ears and tore the package apart. How the hell could he tell that I was staring without even looking? Did he have superpowers or something? Not giving it a glance, I marched forward and placed the cloth on his awaiting hand. "H-Here, sir."
• Finally his head turned, and I watched confused as his eyes half-closed, and jaw clenched dangerously, releasing a heavy, elongated sigh. The garment unfolded from his still-extended hand before me, and on cue, my eyes darted to it, a frown making its way into my forehead. "Huh?"
• Dark velvet, white dots and crocheted lace. From the look of it, the cloth looked like a cloak from some old lady's antique closet. Wait, that was his extra pair of suit? Unless... In realization, my Adam's apples widened to the point that they almost bulged out of their sockets.
• It was the wrong package.
• For a moment, I wanted to laugh, imagining him in the cloak, and the next, cry, seeing the storm hovering over those piercing gray eyes that promised nothing but my demise.
• Whyyy? Why was everything so against me?
• My hand shot forward, taking a hold of the dress so I could go ask Mr Cortez before a certain someone committed my murder, but since bad luck was in favor of me today, Mr Kingston's hand clutching the fabric, yanked at it, pulling me forth, and I hit the solidity of his chest, the air getting knocked out of my lungs.
• "Does this seem like a joke to you?" he snapped.
• A shiver ran down my back. "N-No, s-sir. I-I do-" My lips quivered to get any proper words out. He was gonna fire me, I could feel it. As much as I hated the job, I couldn't leave now, not until Montero left my people alone.
• "I warned you. You're f-"
• The sound of the door barging open, cut those dreaded words off, and a panicked voice yelled, "Mr Kingston!"