I didn't have to wonder long. The lips that had found mine pressed together firmly in a thin line.When I woke up, I hadn't found him. I had walked to his door to knock when Josh found me."He already left." I turned to Josh, my mouth open to question him."He had to be there earlier than us to meet certain people. We'll just join him there." He shrugged.My face fell in disappointment. I was hoping we could see, so we could talk about what transpired between I us last night. My fingers found my lips and I blushed at the thought."Are you okay?" "What? Of course I am.""Well, you look flushed." I reached up to my face and felt my cheeks. They felt hot."I am." I reassured him, smiling. We got to the venue which was only 10 minutes away from our hotel. The conference centre was so huge in comparison to most buildings I'd been in. Josh had left to go find Kol and asked me not to move too far so he could locate me easily.I looked around with my mouth ajar in awe. The lights looked like
"Wha..what?" My eyes bulged wide, not believing my ears. I waited for him to explain himself."I shouldn't have kissed you." My heart shattered into thousands of fragments. My eyes welled up but I let him continue."I'm sorry I did. I wasn't thinking straight. After seeing you and you pissing me off..." He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes like he was in pain. He wasn't. I was. As if reminding himself he was veering off track, he said."I can't break my own rules. I didn't want to get involved with anyone who has had something to do with Jason or a co-worker." And I was both.I nodded my head in solemn realisation."I understand." He looked shocked. Like he hadn't expected me to be chill about it. "Tori..." I hated how lovely the moniker had sounded from his lips. I hated that I loved it."Victoria to you. Only Josh gets to call me that." His face hardened at that. He had no right to be upset. I was the one who let him kiss me. I was the fool. I walked to the door
'What on earth was he doing here? Of all the places to be on a Friday night' I wondered. Mr Clueless got the idea and left. Kol sat down where he'd vacated. I didn't turn to look at him. I couldn't. I had deluded myself into thinking I didn't like him that much and could handle seeing him but today felt different. We were outside the confines of a work-related environment. Both of us said nothing as he ordered a bottle of scotch, neat. I picked up my phone just to fill time. I continued to scroll through it when a notification came in. I'd forgotten I still followed Michael on I*******m. He'd updated his account with a post. It was a digital wedding invitation card alongside a few photos of the couple. I thought I would feel the pain. That I'd be livid but I felt numb instead. I ran over my screen with my thumb. He hadn't wanted me the same way Kol hadn't. I smiled bitterly. Maybe there was something wrong with me. "Hey." He said. I didn't look up at him and I didn't repl
"What?"I cleaned my ears to make sure I wasn't just hearing things. He rolled his eyes."I said I need your help." He gritted his teeth. I was tempted to smile but I played it cool. Sure, I had risen to the role of assistant team manager in quite a short time but, I never thought the day would come where he'd outrightly ask for my help."What do you need help with?" "I've selected a handful of people who I've decided to work with. We're about to launch a new device, a tablet with a different feature than the ones we have created and we're trying to keep it hush till the launch day." Because of Jason. He didn't need to say it.Jason was just a big bully and a scoundrel. I could see the pain on his face when he said it no matter how quickly he tried to mask it. It was hard for me to admit it to myself but I'd begun to notice the small details about him. The subtle way he scratched his chin when he was confused or the way his eyebrows rose subtly when he was shocked."So, do you agree
I told him everything I had planned out from months back, leaving out the part of it being why I was in his company in the first place.By the time I was finished telling him and showing him how far I'd gone with my idea, his mouth propped open. Josh was floored. "You thought of that?" Josh asked. Kol hadn't found the words yet. I smirked in response. I had made him speechless, a feat many wouldn't be able to brag about. There was a glint in his eyes, an emotion present there that I couldn't decipher. Pride maybe, or respect, I couldn't tell. It went as quickly as it came.A knock sounded from the door."We'll discuss this later." He nodded in my direction. 'This isn't over.' His eyes had spoken.It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off my shoulders as I walked back to the office.A smile formed on my face. I had finally achieved 60% of my dreams.The rest of the day went by slowed as I drowned in work. "Miss Victoria, what do you think?" I looked up from my computer and at
"What?" Thea peered around to look at the message on my phone."Uhm.. Kol wants to uhm..." I cleared my throat, my brows furrowing at the message. His message was curt and simple, leaving no room for argument. "Kol wants to meet at his place." Thea's brows creased in confusion."What do you mean meet at his place? Why his place?"I had always wondered why he wanted to meet at his place but apparently his place was set up as an elaborate tech space, making it much easier for us to work without distractions from our work place, plus there was probably a lot of security too.I always thought with the way he was closed off to everyone except Josh, getting to know his house would be as easy as finding a needle in a stack of needles.My stomach churned at the thought of being at his place. Knowing where he lived, how he lived, what that looked like. Like a small view into his soul. I felt my face grow hot at the thought."Are you blushing right now?" I touched my face with the back of my
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, looking at him with an annoyed look on my face."Where's your rag?" He went inside one of those mysterious doors and brought one.I wiped the floor clean of every spilled drop of water but Kol had something else on his mind. He was relentless. When he wanted something, he wouldn't rest until he got it and that was the answer to the question he had asked earlier."You didn't answer my question." He stood, arms akimbo like I owed him an answer. I didn't and I let him know that." I don't owe you an explanation." I scowled at him."Yes. Yes, you do." The b*stard. He'd been testing my patience all day and I had had it up to here."No, I f*cking don't. You're such an egotistical, rude, big-headed-a*s jerk. Not everything is about you." I was infuriated with him and tired of his antics. One minute he "No but everything is about you. You're suffocating, weird, annoying, uptight and most of all the most confusi..."We were chest to chest now, breat
"Where are you going?" He pulled me flush against his body.I struggled with his hold."I know what you're going to say""Really?" He asked, one brow raised high in question. His swollen lip, a testament of what had happened earlier, distracted me for a short moment.As if reading my thoughts, he bent his head and kissed me, snapping my thoughts close. I pulled away from him, hating that I loved it."You're going to tease me about my lack of experience." I said, a scowl forming on my face.He pulled me closer and wrapped his hands around me, shocking me to stupor. We had skipped so many stages that it baffled me to realise we had actually never hugged before. "I don't care. I was just shocked." He pulled back a fraction to look at myself."Shocked that I don't look inexperienced? Meaning you thought that I..." His index finger fell to my lips, shutting me up. "Nope. You're not going to do that."His eyes questioning me, if I was going to say anything. I wasn’t, so he removed his fin