Taming The Wild CEO novel Chapter 70

B O N U S C H A P T E R 8 : H I S L O V E A N D S A C R I F I C E

J A V I E R S U M M E R S

Roberto Capaldi had been very understanding when Ella informed him that she could not come for dinner. It was far too personal to dine at his hotel and furthermore, it was not worth risking her stable relationship with Javier. The clock had barely reached five in the afternoon when Javier put on his coat and grabbed Ella’s coat from the hanger. “Shall we go for dinner?” He stood next to Ella who was still typing on a fast pace on her keyboard.

“Five more minutes,” she replied with a smile although her eyes were still glued on the screen. She had to reply to the back to back email between Summers Entertainment and Pacific Atlantic Production. They had some worries about their joint movie production and Ella had to ease their worries and reassure them that Summers Entertainment had everything under controlled.

Javier let out a deep chuckle. “You said that thirty minutes ago, Miss Stanford.” He put one hand on her shoulder and kissed the top of her head lightly. “Do not work too hard. It is already outside office hours now. You should get some rest.”

“They are in Vancouver so technically it is still two o’clock in the afternoon for them,” replied Ella stubbornly.

“Fine,” said Javier with a sigh. “I will let you send this reply but after that, we are going for dinner or else I will call them myself.”

“But—” Before she could argue, her stomach growled quite loudly, loud enough for both of them to hear it.

“See, you are hungry and remember, if you are hungry, you starve our baby too.”

“Okay, let me send this email.” She quickly inserted her signature at the bottom of the email and swiftly reread the email one more time. Then once she was sure, she hit the reply button and shut down her laptop. “What for dinner?” she asked as she turned to Javier.

“Something that is not spicy, Miss Stanford.” And when she opened her mouth to protest, he silenced her with his kiss that lasted for a few minutes. By the time their lips parted as they came for a breath, he added, “You have used up all your spicy quota today. Let us eat something else for dinner.”

At last, Ella agreed and about half an hour later, they were already sitting at the balcony of a famous Italian restaurant in Washington D.C. She stared right ahead at the beautiful night view. The city had lightened up as the sun had been slowly replaced by the moon. Sometime it blew her mind how life had changed for her for the last ten years. She had been a girl with three part time jobs, working her way to meet ends while also studying for her future to get a better life. Living in this big city by her own could be very lonely but she was lucky enough to have Damon and Tanner with her and now she had Javier and their baby. Even when she was all by herself on her bed in her flat downtown, she could touch her growing belly and knew that she was not alone. Then there was Javier Summers, her boss slash boyfriend slash fiancé. It was almost as if he had never slept. Each time she opened her phone and was online on her W******p, he would send her a text, asking why she was awake and if she needed anything. Once or twice, he had come over in the middle of the night to bring McDonald’s French fries and one tube of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. He had been very attentive and caring and honestly, she could not ask for a better father for their baby.

Ella felt a touch on her hand and turned to see that it was Javier’s hand that had touched hers.

“You look like you are deep in thoughts,” he said with a frown. “Is there anything that I can help you with?”

Slowly she shook her head, giving him a reassuring smile. “No. I am just feeling very grateful. Life has not been this easy before.”

Javier held her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know. I am sorry that you have to go through a difficult childhood. Every child deserves to have their parents protecting them. But you know, Miss Stanford, what you have experienced made you a stronger person that you are today.”

“Yeah, but sometimes I wonder if life would be different should my father did not run away. What would my life be if he were to stay with me and my mom? Would he protect us?” She blinked twice and gave a rueful smile. “I know it is silly to think about it now. There is no use, nothing can alter the past but sometimes I can not help myself. Especially whenever I look at my mom, sitting in our porch with a forlorn look on her face. It pains me every damn time and perhaps that is the real reason why I came and live here alone and not with her.”

Javier remained quiet for a few minutes. He knew how delicate this matter was for Ella and he did not wish to accidentally hurt her feelings. His voice was soft when he asked her, “Do you want to find him?”

“No,” she replied decisively. “He did not want anything to do with us. Why should I bother myself to find him? It was his choice to abandon us.” Resentment and hatred were dripping in her voice. Although she did not want to admit it, Javier knew that she was badly hurt by her father’s abandonment.

He recalled her words to him when they had been talking about her childhood.

“I know no one else other than her.” She had looked into his face and her smile had been sad that it almost broke his heart right then and there. “But it is okay. We are fine. I used to move schools a lot when the debt collectors start chasing but there was this one time where my mum brought me to this park in the neighborhood. I made some friends there. We played hide and seek and for a moment, I forgot that I do not have a dad and that we can not stay more than a few weeks in one city.”

Was her father had truly abandoned her? Had her mother told her the truth? Suddenly he had the urge to find out the truth for her. What if her father was innocent? What if he had no idea that he had a daughter? Javier closed his eyes briefly and thought about it. He wished that her father had not truly abandoned her and that the whole thing had been a misunderstanding. At least, if that was the case, then she could stop hurting. But was it his right to investigate about this behind her back? Would she be mad if she found out later? Would it be worth it?

He reopened his eyes and caught a tear slipped out of one corner of her eye and she quickly wiped it off. Right there, he finally got his answer.

* * *

After dinner, they had gone back to her flat. Javier helped Ella out of her coat then took off his own coat before hanging both on the hanger by the door. He stripped his dark suit off and put it on the couch then undid his tie. It had been a long day and he was feeling tired. More than anything, he craved for sleep. He was merely using his boxer when he went to the bathroom and washed his face and brushed his teeth. A few minutes later, he joined Ella in her bedroom. She was sitting cross legged on top of the mattress, reading one of the books that she always kept on the her nighstand. He had once, out of curiosity, picked it up and found out that they were in fact children’s story. It seemed like she wanted to educate herself and get familiar with children’s stories so that she could tell their kid. The thought alone brought a smile to his tired face.

The mattress dipped as he got on top of them and he reached for her. He lowered his face to the side of her neck and spread kisses across her throat and shoulder. “What are you reading now?”

“The Bluebeard,” she answered, titling her head to one side to give him full access of her neck and shoulder.

“Don’t you think that is a bit too much for children?” He asked, recalling the story of The Bluebeard and His Seven Wives and how the Bluebeard had murdered all of his wives and kept their bodies in his mansion.

“Yeah, I am crossing this story out but I want to know the ending.”

Javier looked over her shoulder at the page she was on and asked, “Where did you get these books anyway?”