The Millionaire's Bride

Chapter 8

Luca

I woke up before her as usual, remembering how she cried herself to sleep all night, making me feel like the biggest jerk in the world. For the first time I wanted to comfort someone but I knew if I tried to touch her it would make everything worse, she might even decide that she couldn't sleep in the same bed as me anymore. I wasn't having that.

I look at her once more, laying there all innocent and beautiful. And mine. I don't know what I was thinking last night. I guess I wasn't. There were always some girl or the other lurking around trying to go home with one of us. All they saw was the money anyways, they never cared which one of us they went home with.

I never gave any of the girls there any attention but after too many drinks and thoughts of a beautiful wife who didn't want me I gave in and allowed Layla to approach me, who looked like she had won the lottery.

Truth be told, I never went to the club with the intention of hooking up with anyone especially with Layla, she was always hanging around there, trying to get my attention. I'd already hit that once and once was enough. But I was pissed off, I'd never had a woman not want me. And Layla was very clear about how much she wanted me.

After that first night together Lucy made it clear I disgusted her and she wanted nothing to do with me, or at least that's what I had heard. But I wanted to respect her decision, I thought she might even be happy that I had hooked up with another girl and left her alone. Women were so complicated and that's why I never spent more than one night with them.

I know this marriage wasn't her idea and that she was too much of a good daughter to decline it, after all it saved her scumbag of a father. I guess I wasn't any better than him, just like him I saw an opportunity to use the girl to solve my problems. That and the fact that my body reacted to her in a way it's never done before. I mean she was wearing bunny shorts for God sakes, which did give me a lovely view to her beautiful legs but was more modest than what a lot of the girls wore around me constantly. It wasn't meant to be sexy but it was, she was beautiful and my body damn well knew it.

Thinking about using her made me sick, and that freaked me out. I never once had cared about using a woman for my own needs especially since I often returned the favour, and in this instance I had too.

I pardoned her fathers debt in exchange for her hand in marriage, a win-win, so why did I still feel like the biggest asshole in the world last night when she confronted me?

I got out of bed quickly and removed my clothes on my way to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Last nights events still plaguing me, the hot spray of water relaxing my muscles that I didn't realise were so tensed.

*****
"Norma, what have you got for me?" I ask as I take the much needed coffee out of her hand and walk to my office, her alongside of me.

"Mr Peterson called and scheduled an appointment at 3 next week to discuss the new hotel in Beijing, you've got a conference call with the contractors at 11. The files you ordered summarising all the details about each and every hotels owned by smith and smith, are on your desk, you've also got a meeting with the partners at 1 and your breakfast is already on your desk as well. Anything else sir?" She asks with a smug smile. Norma was the best damn secretary in the whole area and she knew it.

And I needed that if I was to take over the company after my father successfully. Everyone loved my father and it would be difficult to gain everyone's respect, but it would happen.
If your workers don't respect you, they don't follow instructions efficiently and if they don't follow instructions efficiently, then you might as well fire them and hire monkeys.

I shadowed my father for many years, learning everything there was about the hotels we ran before finally convincing him I was ready to take over as CEO and after much experience and criticism from him, I was damn good at my job. And expected everyone around me to be to. Norma was good at her job, that's why I hired her.