Chapter seven

Antonio always danced like the devil. There was nobody the devil dwelled predominantly in, Vivienne thought. There were so many, and she just managed to meet all of them.

"Gavin only called this meeting out of the little respect he has left for you," Vivienne spat at the man who sat across her. "You know I don't give a shit about you or what you do with the scraps you stole from me."

"I know you're angry, and I understand it. You have every reason to be. Don't just take it out on my innocent soul. I can't blame you for being so naive," he grinned.

He made her smile and Gavin looked at it like it was the most beautiful thing he'd seen. "I can't blame you for being so ignorant either," she scoffed, happy on one hand that she could sit close to him and not have panic attacks, and still happy on the other hand that she was in a position where she could frustrate his life and take everything from him before the blink of an eye. What he should do is apologize and not build more enemies for himself.

"I knew this was bullshit when he said I should come," he chuckled. "I'll be back in a few weeks, or months and I'll tell you this, I'll have those in the palm of my hands, signed and ready to begin the work for which they were made."

Vivienne laughed. Stress lines creased her forehead. It was difficult to admit it, but he was wearing her out. "I wish you could hear yourself, Antonio. You're nothing to me and that'll never change. You can take your papers with you. I don't want a trace of you left in this office."

He smiled and stood from the seat. "How am I supposed to remind you that I was once a part of your life?" He asked.

Vivienne gripped the pencil in her hand so tight it almost broke.

"Oh, I forgot," he laughed. "I took away a piece of me and you'll always have a place in your heart for me no matter how bad things turn out. That's how you love, hard."

He got up and threw a mock salute at Gavin, then Vivienne and Eva at the door. He dropped some papers in her arms and she waved them in Vivienne's face.

"Bring them," she ordered and Eva hurriedly kept the papers on her desk. "I'm not scared anymore, Antonio," she said, her mind on her bodyguards and how much they'd do to protect her. She didn't know if there was much they could do with regards to kidnapping a person and feeding him twice a month.

She looked at them with indifference and tossed them on the side of her desk that she rarely touches. It was time to build new memories and there was no better person to do it with, than Gavin. Amelia was right. Over the past weeks, he has shown himself a credible friend and one she could trust with her life. There were a lot of question marks as to what he actually did for a living, but Vivienne didn't want to dwell on those things. She looked at Gavin from the corner of her eyes. He had taken the seat Antonio sat in. He typed away on his phone, swiping between unread messages to see how far he could go with that.

"I wish I was as free as you are," she said.

"No, you don't," he objected. There was nothing like freedom Gavin had and she wanted all of it. "You'd be bored out of your mind, thinking about a popular jeweler all day long. It will be so bad you'd have to do a little bit of stalking from time to time while you wait to be called to the stand. Now, tell me. Is that fun?"

She rolled her eyes and he watched as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. It painted a picture in his mind and he couldn't control what left his mouth next. "Have you considered taking me on as a personal challenge?" He asked. "What do you think about me?"

First, he doesn't give a full assessment of my dresses and now he wants one for himself? Well, what is good for the goose, is good for the gander.

"I think you're okay." She said and pulled out a file jacket from the rack on her desk.

"Excuse me?" He asked, shocked by her response.

Vivienne pretended to be searching for something, and when she heard his voice, she looked up. "Is there something wrong?" She asked and he shook his head.

"I wasn't expecting that answer from you, he admitted. You know I'm used to being adorned with praises and I thought I'd get the same from you since you see we're kinda…"

"We're a thing," Vivienne blurted out, and when she realized what she had just done, she threw her palm over her mouth. She turned in her chair so she was now facing back, looking away from him. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to say that, my brain was running at an overdrive and I didn't know what to say and how to react to what was happening, so I just-"

He took quiet steps to where she sat and kissed her most gently. He taught her how to love her lips. His gentle touches showed her that her lips deserve nothing but worship. Each lip deserves to be carefully catered for and its praises must be sung in long durations.

She moved her lips in sync with his, showing him that he is not capable of worship alone, but also deserves to be worshipped.

He smiled into the kiss and pulled himself up.

"If you can do that to my appearance every day, then I can assure you, I'd worship your person."