"Don't worry Mum, I'll handle everything alright?" Stefan was busy with his mum on the phone when Gary interrupted, "Sir, it's the reporter", Stefan signaled him to let her in while he finished up his call, "alright, bye Mum". He turned to see Lucia already seated, with her hair in that perfect chignon and an air of confidence about her. She looked beautiful. "So have you come to a decision Ms. Delgado?".
"Yes, I have",
"And?",
" I'll do it", she said with a straight face.
"Good, get your bags packed and ready, we have to be in Monaco by tomorrow".
"Tomorrow?! What about the interview?", she fired.
"We can do that right now", he said and took off his suit jacket and started to fold the sleeves of his shirt while Lucia stared as his perfectly formed muscles strained against his shirt. She let out a small sigh as she imagined what it would be like for that body of his to be on top of hers.
"So on the table or on the couch?"
Lucia did a double take, "what?", was he reading her mind?.
"Where do you want me for the interview? The table or the couch?" he asked again, giving her a confused look.
"Oh, anywhere is fine", she said, fanning the invisible sweat that formed on her forehead, it was becoming harder to keep her mind from going to forbidden places whenever she was around Stefan. She groaned internally at the thought of sleeping on the same bed with him every night. "Are you ready?", she asked him as she brought out her recorder.
"Yup, I'm all yours", he said, giving her a lopsided smile and Lucia felt a familiar throbbing between her legs.
"So will I get to see her tomorrow?" Stefan's mother asked. He rolled his eyes as if he already expected the question, "yes mum, you will". They said their goodbyes and as Stefan ended the call, he thought about earlier today, the pressure of work and the momentary relief he got by spending time with Lucia. She was really good company, like a breath of fresh air, something different from his normal everyday life. Although they got off on the wrong foot and he basically coerced her into this agreement, she wasn't like the other women he met and he mentally punched himself for falsely calling her out at the Kelman party. He could probably get used to her, he thought to himself. During the interview, he noticed she couldn't hold his gaze for long, and she kept fiddling with her fingers. He wondered whether he had the same effect on her that he had with other women, he couldn't tell, Lucia always seemed so feisty and able to hold her own around him, she didn't fall at his feet or agree to every word he said, unlike other women, who would have jumped at the opportunity to be his wife, whether fake or not, even for a second. It worried him a bit, that she might give away their whole act and ruin his plan. And as he got into the shower, he tried to reassure himself about Lucia, "she'll comply, they always do", but somewhere at the back of his mind, he feared that he could be wrong.
*****************************
Lucia didn't have much to pack, "what does one take to a place like Monaco?", she paused, "wait what does one take on their fake marriage holiday?" she asked herself as she threw open her closet doors in search of outfits. Her phone rang, it was Janine, "hey what's up?".
"Oh nothing Lucia, just yunno, checking up, and Jenna and some of our friends are going to the Hamptons for the weekend, wanna come?",
Just then it occurred to Lucia that the twins had no idea about her agreement with Stefan, "umm, no, I've got a work thing",
"You people work on weekends?",
"Umm yeah",
"Okay, weird, but okay, I guess we'll see you later then".
"Cool", and when the call ended she couldn't help but feel bad about lying to her friends, but she wasn't sure what she was getting herself into if she broke the terms of that contract, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and continued packing.
Her phone rang again, "ugghhh", she picked up the phone and saw it was her father, "oh hey dad",
"Hey Lue, how are you?",
"Good I guess, what's up?",
"Oh, I just wanted to see how you were doing you know",
"Why does everyone wanna see how I'm doing all of a sudden?", first it was Janine, now her dad? "Is something wrong?".
"You weren't told?", he sounded concerned.
"About what?",
"Micheal", she froze. Her heart started racing.
"What about Micheal?" she asked slowly.
"He's been out for like a week now".
"What?!", no wonder she had been getting emails from him, he was out and he really was coming for her, her mouth suddenly became dry, "why didn't anyone tell me about this", she sounded panicky. "Tranquilo bebecito, it's alright, breathe in, breathe out, he can't get to you, you still have that restraining order filed and you're all the way in Seattle, you're okay alright?" her dad said, trying to calm her down. She took deep breaths and tried to remain calm, then she thought about how much farther she would be from him when she goes with Stefan to Monaco tomorrow, "thanks dad, I gotta go", she ended the call and placed a call to Stefan's Phone, "Lucia?",
"Stefan, how early can we leave tomorrow?", she asked. "I see you're eager to meet the parents", he sounded more sarcastic than funny, "like hell I am", she retorted. There was a pause, then he chuckled and said, "Lucia we leave for Monaco whenever I say we leave for Monaco, got it babycakes?". Infuriated, she hung up and threw her phone against her bed, it landed next to her laptop.
Ding!
Her laptop chimed signaling that an email had come in, she stared at it momentarily hoping it wasn't who she thought it was. As she opened it, her heart skipped a beat;
[San Francisco is great this time of year, I wonder how the weather is over there in Seattle.
M].
*************************
The ride the next morning was a quiet one, Stefan had sent his driver to pick Lucia from her apartment, she exchanged pleasantries with him and asked a few questions to which he gave monotonous answers and an occasional grunt. When they reached where the jet was waiting for them, Lucia noticed there were several aircrafts parked there, she asked the driver, "which one is his?",
"All of them".
They got out of the car and the driver led her towards one of the Jets, she looked up and saw Stefan coming out of the jet, those beautiful dark green eyes of his found hers and stayed on them, her breath caught in her lungs and she couldn't help but stare back.
Stefan heard the scrunching of tires on the tarmac and came out to see if his driver had arrived. He was greeted with the sight of Lucia stepping out of the car in a blue sundress that pooled around her feet. Her hair, already ruffled by the early morning breeze, hung loosely around her shoulders. Her hazel-brown eyes looked up at him and he held her gaze. She really was beautiful, he thought. "Welcome Ms. Delgado", he said softly as she got on the jet, "thank you", she muttered her reply and followed him as he led her into the jet.