17. Perfectly beautiful.

"Alan's my personal assistant and secretary, so he sometimes stays here if we have a lot of work to do. Then there is Gio, which is short for Giovanni. He is in charge of everything concerning the house, he's the house manager and lives here."

"So he's your butl—"

"Hush now dearest. Gio hates being called a butler even though he still dresses like the royal butlers from the 18th century." He says and I can't help laughing and he laughs too. "Never call him a butler."

"Never." I repeat after him with a zipping my lips gesture and he laughs again.

"Lastly, we have Mary. She's the twins' nanny and sometimes our chef. She works Monday to Friday, from 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening. She doesn't live here because she has to return home to her family."

"Oh, I almost forgot Jeffery, he operates the gates. He doesn't stay here in the main mansion though, he stays in one of the separate quarters."

"Ah, I see. Why isn't Gio here then?"

"Oh, he gave himself a vacation since the twins were away for the week. He'll be back today before the evening is over. And Mary won't be coming in till tomorrow."

"One last question."

"You are quite inquisitive, aren't you?" He chuckles as he finally moves out of the way and I follow behind him. "Go on, ask." He says as he sits himself on a couch.

I pick the one across from him, placing the bottle water on the table between us.

"Why are you at home?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, you claim you're a CEO of Harford, when I was a CEO I was always at work, so why are you at home? It just seems off that the CEO of a business will sit at home, on a Monday no less."

"Hah! Oh dearest." He shakes his head and laughs.

"So that's what's been disturbing your pretty little head."

"Pagne, I am what you will call a uh, a stay-at-home boss."

What in the world does that mean?

"I mean, I don't always go to the office. To be honest, Alan does all the work, I just give the ideas and sign the documents."

I don't know when a scoff escapes my lips, "So in other words you're a lazy boss who dumps all his work on his employees, tsk tsk tsk."

"Well, I won't say lazy… Languid sounds much better."

I scoff again, "That's what a lazy person would say." I rest my back on the chair, cross my right leg over my left and fold my hands on my chest. "Poor Alan, having to do the work of his lazy boss. I feel so bad for him." I click my tongue and shake my head.

Bosses like him are the ones who give bosses all over the world a bad name.

"If you feel so bad for him, take my offer and become a Co-Ceo, then you can take his workload off his shoulders." He shrugs. Seriously, this man just knows how to make a conversation end up in a way that he wants.

"Are you sure you want me as a Co-Ceo? If I were to accept that offer, there is no way I would let you slack off. Your days of being a stay-at-home boss will be officially over."

"Ooooh," He fakes a shiver, "When you say it like that dearest, you make me look forward to working with you."

Crazy man.

He's crazy. Why do I feel like we are not talking about the same kind of work? And why am I starting to feel hot.

I clear my throat aloud as I pick up my bottle of water and sip from it again. Why is he staring? It's rude to stare. Doesn't he know that? Especially when he has those kinds of eyes.

"Stop it." I say.

"Stop what?" He feigns ignorance.

"Stop staring at me like that."

"Like how?"

"Like that. Like you're listening to every single thing I'm saying even when I'm not saying anything."

"Pagne, dearest… I am listening to everything you are and are not saying."

"I don't like it."

"Why?"

"It's unnerving and, and— and I think I hear a car honking!" I jump to my feet briskly walking away to the kitchen all in an effort to escape his gaze.

"I think the kids are back." I hear him say and I instantly run back to him with my eyes and mouth open wide.

"What?! Now?! You said they wouldn't be here until evening!"

"No, I said they will be here by evening, in other words, they could come before evening." He shrugs. Oh Lord help me I'm panicking!

"I'm not even dressed properly to meet them! Why didn't I think of this properly? It's my first time meeting them, shouldn't I have prepared a gift for them at least? Maybe it's not too late, w_what do they like? I can go get something. First impressions matter. What if they hate me at first sight?! No, I should first go and change into something more elegant."

"Yes, that is what I should do first. Right? Right? I mean, look at my face? Do I look okay? Do you think I look—" Again, m_my heart… It skipped a beat.

W_when did I get so close to his face? And my hands… They are on his chest. "Huh!" I gasp and instantly take my hands away from his body.

"S_sorry, I_ I was just worried that the kids would— ooop," I gasp again as his hand which I'm now realizing has been on my waist the entire time pulls me a little closer to his body. A little too close.

"They are three year olds, not seventy year old business investors. So dearest, calm yourself down because you look perfectly beautiful and fine right now. Like a real mother meeting her real babies who went on a vacation and are returning home. Nothing is off about you at all."

"And although they can be little devils most times, you have nothing to fear, they are going to love you."