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Chapter 32
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Struck by Love Chapter 33
Finally, the day of the presentation ended. Laura was incredibly relieved to have the pressure of the Kinetic ad proposals for Tsar Enterprises off her shoulders. It was a terribly awkward situation for her to be in a business meeting with the man she was dating, especially after all of the drama of the Dream Ball. She wanted to impress him, but she found it hard to focus around him. She was grateful that Raquel insisted on presenting everything herself. Laura didn’t think she could withstand the scrutiny in front of him. She desperately hoped Angelo had been happy with what Kinetic had proposed for his company. Angelo picked Laura up from work at 5:30 p.m. She felt a bit shy at first when she saw him. They had both agreed to act strictly professional with one another during the meeting. It had felt pretty strange and surreal to her. Much to her relief, he took her into his arms right away when he saw her. “My beautiful girl,” he said, wrapping his strong arms arou
Struck by Love Chapter 34
“What is it?” “Well,” she started to say, feeling embarrassed, “Raquel aside, there were so many other women coming onto you at the ball, just when I was with you…” “I can’t control what other people do.” “I know, it’s not that…it’s just, if Raquel made a second move on you that night, I imagine there were others as well after you went back down.” She looked up at him, trying to gauge his reaction. He gave her a soft smile. “Nothing happened with anyone, Laura. I promise you that.” He reached up to touch her cheek and leaned in for a long, lingering, passionate kiss. Laura felt partially relieved. She melted into him, her hand resting on his thigh. She moaned softly as his tongue found hers. She felt his hand slide down her shoulder and arm to her waist. His hand then slid to her hip, gripping it and giving her a slight tug. She could tell he wanted her. Her body became aroused at his touch, the feel of his lips on hers. She rubbed his thigh, inching her hand a
Struck by Love Chapter 35
“Well, she and Nikolas have been married about four years now. He met her at the annual museum gala. They seemed to hit it off right away. She hung out with our family a bit. He proposed six months later. She expressed an interest in our business. She had finance and economics degrees and graduated top of her class, so we gave her a job. She’s been working for Tsar ever since, heading up our financial services sector.” “She seemed quite friendly with you the night of the ball. I got a really cold feeling from her.” Laura wanted to say this next part as delicately as she could. “Did you and she ever…?” “What? No! She’s with my brother.” He was clearly offended. “I mean before that. She seems quite…flirtatious, very touchy-feely with you.” He sighed. “It doesn’t mean anything. She’s just like that.” “And that doesn’t bother you or your brother?” Angelo paused, feeling some buried emotions coming to the surface. “He did once say something to me, but that was a
Struck by Love Chapter 36
It was Tuesday night and Angelo was home alone after getting in from a long day at the office. He looked at the clock. 9:15 p.m. He was hungry, but tired. He flicked on a lamp, took off his suit jacket, and flopped on his couch. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to decide what to do. He unbuttoned the first several buttons of his shirt. His life seemed like it was just one frustration after another these days. He’d had it with just about everything and everyone. The business announcement they had made earlier today had been immediately met with mixed reviews and he and Laura hadn’t spoken since last night. He was still fuming over what he felt was a constant barrage of accusations from her. He felt attacked on every side lately. He decided to start by pouring himself a glass of scotch. He got up to grab a glass when his door buzzer rang. He grunted in frustration. He wasn’t expecting anyone and it was late. “Seriously, can’t people just leave me alone for a c
Struck by Love Chapter 37
Angelo was momentarily stunned by her brazen maneuver. Her hand was almost brushing against his crotch. He was getting a bad feeling about where things were going. “Sure,” he said, quickly standing up and not making eye contact with her. He grabbed her glass, which wasn’t very empty and headed back to the kitchen. She watched him walk away, grinning from ear to ear. She liked having a man caught off guard. She stared at his backside, admiring how his pants fit and flattered his well-built physique. He was taller, bigger, and stronger than her husband. She gazed after him until he disappeared into the kitchen. Angelo set the glasses down on the island. He was rattled. He knew Portia was a handful and now she was alone with him in his apartment. He wasn’t sure what she was playing at, but he knew she was up to something. He took a deep breath. He considered what he should do when he spotted his phone on the counter. He thought for a moment. He made a decision. He topped
Struck by Love Chapter 38
He grabbed her hand before she could get a hold of him. “You’re not touching me. Go home to your husband if you want that.” He took a step back from her, gripped her hand tight for a moment, then let it go. She looked at him, her face etched with shock. She had never been turned down by a man before, especially not with this level of come-on. She laughed sarcastically. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re a single guy, you’ve got a nearly naked beautiful woman in your place, ready and rarin’ to go and you’re going to turn that down? Turn me down?” She held her hands out at her side. She dropped her voice. “This is our chance to be together.” “Portia,” he said, his face tense, his jaw clenching, “I don’t know how the hell you’ve got this idea into your head that there’s something between us, but you’re sadly mistaken. Even if there was, which there isn’t, I would never do that to my own brother!” Her face again twisted into an expression of fury. “Please!” she shout
Struck by Love Chapter 39
Angelo listened to the recording on his phone. He had captured everything from when Portia had started her intense, but ill-fated seduction attempt. He was relieved she had left, but was saddened and stressed over the necessary consequences of her actions. He knew what had to be done though. He sat down at the glass and stainless steel desk he had in the far corner of his living room. He enjoyed doing his work there when he needed to bring it home. Looking out over the expansiveness of Central Park helped to relax him and give him perspective. He gazed out at the colorful lights of New York beyond and let out a long sigh. Things would be different from here on in. He hooked his phone up to his laptop and copied the recording onto his hard drive. He saved it in three different places, plus on a memory stick for safekeeping. Next, he picked up his phone and texted Nikolas: 'Need to talk ASAP. It’s urgent. – A.' He then drafted a quick email to Nikolas and attached a
Struck by Love Chapter 40
He swallowed hard. His blue eyes regarded her for a few moments. He nodded. “I understand why you feel that way. I do. But please just give me one last chance, for the things we’ve shared, for our time together. Just give me a chance to talk to you. That’s all. Then I’ll go.” Laura felt shaky, her emotions were bubbling to the surface. She had to go inside before she started crying in front of her building. Finally, she nodded to him, then silently went and unlocked the door. Relieved, he walked up behind her, still keeping a bit of a distance so as not to unsettle her any more than he already had. She didn’t look at him, but held the door open. He took it and followed her up the stairs a few paces behind. They hadn’t said a word on the way up to her place. Laura felt incredibly conflicted. Sarah would kill her if she knew that she was letting Angelo into her place right now. But part of her was curious about what he had to say. Still, the memory of him leaving
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