Taming The Wild CEO novel Chapter 43

Ella POV

“W-what?” Accidentally choked by the ice tea, Ella ended up coughing quite violently. Her hand reached for the napkin and she wiped her mouth.

“I am sorry.” Piers patted her back, trying to help but unsure whether he should get her something to drink or soothe her. “I should not have said it like that.”

Ella soon calmed herself. She leaned back against the back of her chair, her eyes were narrowed as her gaze fixated on Piers. It was not every day that someone said something like this to her, let alone her boss’s brother. Furthermore, she was pretty sure Piers got the gist that there was something going on between her and Javier especially since Javier had once mentioned her as his lover thus she could not quite comprehend why on earth Piers was telling her this now. They had not even known each other that long. “Please do explain yourself,” she responded, her voice turned formal and business-like.

He ran his hand through his hair, grimacing. “Okay. I like you but I have done something terrible in the past. No matter what my reason was for doing what I did or whether it would justify my action or not, deep down I knew I should have done things differently. Anyway, even though I like you and still am attracted to you, I need to know whether there is something going on between you and my brother. I have to hear it directly from you.”

Although she could not label what she and Javier had right now, she knew there definitely was something so she gave him the confirmation he asked for. “Yes. It is a bit complicated but to answer your question, yes, there is something between Javier and me.”

There was sadness in those green eyes albeit only for a few seconds. “Okay. Great. I, um, wish you all the best. Thank you for confirming that to me.”

“No worries,” answered Ella curtly, unsure what to say. She reached for her ice tea and cast her gaze to her hand on her lap.

There was a deadly silence between them as they waited for Javier to come back. Thankfully he came back shortly after and soon they were on their way to the airport.

“I am going to miss you,” said Piers as he threw his arms around his brother and gave him a hug. “Call me or text me.”

Javier laughed, shaking his head. “Dang, never know you are this needy,” he teased his brother but once the laughter had faded away from his face, he answered truthfully, “I will. I will text you once we land.”

They hugged it out once again then Piers gave Ella a hearty smile. “It is nice to meet you, Ella. Stay in touch.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Ella gave him a polite smile, not really knowing what to say to his last sentence.

“You will see her around if you are in D.C., brother. Maybe you should come back sometimes. We all miss you terribly.”

Looking at Javier’s eyes, Ella knew he really meant it.

“I will when I bring you that painting I made for your birthday.”

Javier, despite being in his late twenties, blushed. His cheeks darkened as he waved his hand dismissively. “It is fine. You don’t have to.”

The flight passed in a dream for Ella. So much had happened since they flew into Sicily that she felt her whole life had been turned upside down. She stared blindly out of the window, the milky white cloud formations pierced with vivid blue reminding her of the orchards near the cottage, snow-white against the spring sky. Javier leaned back with his eyes closed. He too was as exhausted as her.

The plane landed smoothly on the ground. After going through the immigration checkpoint then the arrival gate, they both had their baggage in their hands and walked side by side. His driver had waited for them at the front and rushed to carry their bags into the waiting car. Despite Ella telling him that she could grab a cab, he insisted on driving her home. He dropped her at her flat in the silence of a Sunday afternoon, the dark street was empty except for a milk bottle rolling across the pavement pursued by a small calico cat. She said a polite farewell and was about to grab her own baggage when Javier surprisingly followed her out of the car and helped her carry her bags upstairs.

“You know you don’t have to do that,” said Ella as she unlocked her front door and let him in.

He put her bag on the couch and her luggage on the floor next to it. “It is fine.” He turned to her with a smile plastered on his face and leaned forward. She was about to take a step back, thinking he was going to start something that she was not sure she wanted to, only to realize that he was merely planting a small kiss on top of her head. “Get some rest, Miss Stanford. I will see you tomorrow. Take half a day off, you need to get some rest.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Javier looked at her for a moment in silence then turned around and walked out of her front door. Ella stared at the door for a long while before she took a deep breath and began to unpack her bags. A call from Damon came shortly after, welcoming her back and asking her if she wanted to have dinner at his place. She accepted the invitation gratefully then ended the call. She grabbed her coat and purse then went outside to buy a bottle of wine to bring to the dinner at the corner ranch market at the end of her block.

At around seven-thirty she knocked on Damon and Tanner’s flat. Tanner was the one to open the door and let her in. “Damon is at the kitchen, checking the chicken marsala.” He lifted one eyebrow then blinked. “You look terrible and if you don’t believe me, he will say the same thing.”

“Well, hello to you too, Tanner.” She rolled her eyes and took off her coat then hung it on the coat hanger by the door and handed the bottle of wine to him. “Here, I brought Sauvignon Blanc. I hope that goes well with the chicken.” They walked into the kitchen where Damon was still busy trying to make everything perfect. “Hey there, Dee. This smells great.”

Damon lifted his eyes to look at her. “You look horrible, Ella Mia Bella,” he greeted, sounding appalled.

Tanner smirked. “See, told you.”

“Told her, what?” Damon looked at his husband then at Ella curiously.

“I told her the exact same thing and said that you would say it too.” Tanner shrugged, opening a drawer to get the plates and cutleries. “I was right.”

“Fine. I do look horrid but it is simply because I had a long week.” Ella asked for the cutleries and helped set the table. “I am so tired.”

Damon stared at her, eyes like saucers. “How is it going with the dearest sexiest boss?”

“Fine,” Ella answered curtly, not giving anything away.

“Oh, playing hide and seek, are we now?” Damon placed the chicken marsala on the table while Tanner came to get a bowl of mashed potato. “One look at you and I can tell that you shared his bed or at least coming close to that.”

Ella gasped. She could not believe her friend could simply tell by looking at her. It made her wonder if perhaps this fact was written all over her face.

“Ha! That just confirms it.” Damon laughed, earning a nudge on the ribcage from her.“It confirms nothing.”

Once his laughter had died down, he sat at the table next to her and held her hand. “How do you feel?”

I am fine.”

“Honey, you don’t sound fine. Did you guys have a fight or something?”

“Or something might be the answer.” She took a deep breath then let it out.

Damon turned to Tanner, clicking his tone. “Grab the glasses. We are opening that bottle of wine now.” Then once the obedient Tanner had produced one glass of white wine, Damon pushed it onto the table towards Ella. “Have a drink, Darling. You look like you desperately need it.”

“His family called him saying that his brother had an accident and that he needed to go and check up on him so we drove down there and got into an accident. We ended up staying at his brother’s empty cabin and basically emptied his fridge.” Ella shifted her gaze to the food on the table then drank half of her glass of wine quickly. “So what do we have for dinner?”

“That is what is known as the tip of the iceberg,” Tanner commented then took a sip of the white wine.

Ella looked puzzled. “What?”

Damon was the one to explain his boyfriend’s remark. “Your story, Ella. You are not telling us all about it. It is what you left out that really matters, isn't it? From the way you looked right now, it seemed that something big happened in Italy.”

Her face twisted as she sighed. “You have warned me, Dee. I should have listened to you.”

Damon looked hard at her. “Do you mean he finally got to you?”

“Well, I guess you could say that.” Under her friend’s stare, she flushed. “I gave in. I could not fight it any longer. I did not care about the repercussions and simply went with my heart. And I—” As she could not bring herself to say it, all she could do was simply shake her head.

“You what, Darling?”

“I am hopelessly in love with him and there is no future in it,” she finally admitted. Hearing this out loud only solidified her feelings for him.

Damon made a compassionate face. “Ella Mia Bella, I saw it coming but still, I am sorry. Was he being difficult? Was he acting like a jerk?”

“No.” Ella broke into a peal of laughter “That is the thing, he was not. He was being very gentle and kind and sweet and I don’t know. I don’t know what I am going to do.”

“It is really simple then.” Damon shrugged. “Date him and if everything goes well, you might end up marrying him for life. He could be your soulmate, you know.”

“Or,” said Tanner, jumping into the conversation, “If he is good in bed, you should continue hooking up with him. No strings attached so no one can call you a gold digger or something.”

“Oh, please!” Damon slapped Tanner’s arm, shaking his head. “Don’t listen to him, Darling. He is clearly demented. Everyone who knows you know that you are not a gold digger. Plus marriage is still a long way to go.”

She gave a dry laugh. “Not necessarily true.”