Irresistible Love is complete and my heart is breaking, but it also excites me for the next book, Imperial Love, that continues the Arie+Leo=#Arieo ship and their very much incomplete and crazy love story. I know I ended Irresistible Love with cliffhangers and in a very tense place, but you'll love what I have planned in Imperial Love.

My focus will be on this book now mostly and not on Imperial Love because a lot of things that happen here to Athena, Leo, and possibly even Arie (still debating on her appearance) will be very much relevant there and by starting to write it already, I don't want to spoil anything. I may update Imperial Love slowly though.

Moving on, this book has gotten over 35k! Thank you so much! I adore you guys. Please comment because I love replying to them and I also want to know what's dancing in your pretty little heads.

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(Eros' POV)

Her vulnerable side doesn't fail to crawl into my mind every time I close my eyes even when I'm sitting here in the conference room. The ruckus and loud chattering between editors and writers of the magazine continues with the ladies hovering around my chair.

I'd like to say there're only a couple people here, but the entire room is full and all the seats are occupied. Many are standing against the wall waiting for the boss lady to show up. She asked me to call for a meeting with them this morning and hasn't shown up to work yet.

          Clouds rumble outside, the sky painted in a gray shade all over. In the midst, females gossip and giggle to themselves, trying to get my attention, so I give it to them. "Hello, ladies!" I smirk, rising from my my seat and heading towards them. "Got something to say?"

"Your name is Eros, right?" A beautiful, petite brunette asks, a sudden tilt in her posture whose name I think is Vanity. Her fingers nervously begin toying with her strands, her gaze trained on me along with all her colleagues standing close by.

          "Do you know any other Eros?" I take a step forward, tipping my head to the side, watching the woman intently.

          "Eros like the Greek God of love?" Another woman next to her queries whilst flinging her blonde hair back and squinting her eyes in attempts to look sexy, but she instead looks like an old woman trying to read thin text without her granny glasses.

"I'm much better," I wink and take the third woman's hand into mine who stands silently, not saying a word. Her gray eyes light up at the sudden touch of my lips to the back of her hand. Crimson color rushes up to her cheeks immediately as she swallows hard. "Those glasses don't do a fine job at hiding your enchanting eyes that I'm currently lost in."

          "Oh!" Her mouth hangs open before she shakes her shock away and stutters. "Th-Thank you."

          "Quit it, Mr. Azallion," Ms. Estle finally barges in through the door with Janet and Jack behind her as usual. All eyes immediately turn to the graceful woman, all conversations halting at once. "You're impressing no one," she rolls her eyes and walks past me towards the head of the table.

          "I'm impressed," whispers Vanity with a hint of excitement in her tone. Ms. Estle stops in her tracks, turning around to face the girl who dares to speak against her. I smile to myself and wait for the catfight to begin. Who doesn't love a good catfight!

"What was that?" Ms. Estle crosses her arms, glaring at the girl and waiting for her to respond.

"Nothing, Ms. Estle," Vanity answers quickly, hanging her head low in fear of her boss.

"You're fired," she declares causing everyone to tense under her authority. Catfight is what I wanted, not the loss of the girl's job because of me.

"What?" The look of horror on the Vanity's face says it all. Her eyes begin to mist up, her hands shaking.

"Get out!" Ms. Estle's firm tone startles the girl visibly. "Don't make me say it again, Vanity. Pick your shit up and leave before I kick your ass out myself."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Estle," Vanity whimpers out, a tear rolling down her red cheek as she looks at her friends, the blondie and gray eyed girl with the glasses.

"I hate apologies." The boss lady turns around and saunters over to the head chair, her heels and Vanity's soft cries the only sound echoing in the massive room. "Now!" Vanity slowly begins walking out without a glance back. "Anyone else got something to say?" No one dares to even look at her with their eyes glued to the floor. "Good. So, let's do this."

          Walking over to my chair next to her, I seat myself down, opposite from Janet and ready myself to take notes. "The World Fashion Gala is in two weeks. Before that event happens, I need something different and exciting this time for the magazine, so shoot some ideas right now."

"We could do one on STDs," Lola, a writer, shouts out.

          "We are not doing an article on your Syphilis, Lola." Janet rolls her eyes and barks. "Sit your sexually diseased ass down." Everyone chuckles at the poor girl and I couldn't help myself from frowning at Janet's shameless rudeness. Ms. Estle looks over at her friend, causing her to apologize immediately. "Sorry, Lola. I was kidding. We all know you're an innocent virgin."

          More suggestions keep popping, but they get shut down immediately, a few taken into regard. Now, there are only two more slots left to fill. Boring ideas are thrown into the mix when one pops into my head. It may be racy, but whatever.

"Sex!" I blurt out and grab everyone's attention, especially the ladies'.

"Care to elaborate, Mr. Azallion?" Ms. Estle cocks her brow at me in annoyance.

"I know this may be crazy, but what if something wrote about their first time. Not an erotica, but the emotions that they go through in each moment," I suggest and the look on the boss' face was beginning to make me regret opening my mouth, so I nervously start sliding water down my throat.

"I like that," she surprises everyone and looks around the room. "Mr. Azallion will sleep with a virgin in this room."

The water from my mouth spews right out onto Janet's face. "What!" I cough out and wipe the water away from my chin.

Ms. Estle chuckles at the whole pathetic situation here while Janet glares at me from across the table, water dripping down her face. "Eros," she speaks slowly, her face reddening in anger. "I'm going to fucking kill you."

"Shut up, Jay." Ms. Estle lays her hand flat next to head as a snickering Jack places a handkerchief in her palm. "Wipe yourself," she hands the little fabric over to Janet whose death stare on me doesn't falter one bit. "Who's a virgin in here?"

"You can't do that!" I whisper vigorously, leaning towards her. "This is just messed up."

"It's your idea, Mr. Azallion," she says nonchalantly and winks. "You do as I say, remember?" Well, fuck my life!

Multiple hands swing up in the air, volunteering to sleep with me and all I can do is shake my head in dread. I've never been with a virgin before and I sure as hell don't want to take someone's virginity from them over an article that will presumably sell millions.

          "Victoria," Janet looks at the blondie who was flirting with me earlier. "Put that skanky hand down. We all know you screwed many men in the room itself. Wonder how many cocks you fondled with." Victoria gapes at the accusatory woman while Janet just looks at the other girls. "Bethany and Isha, you cocksuckers," Janet shakes her head at them. "Why the hell are your slutty hands up?"

          "Jackson," Ms. Estle glowers at Janet in rage. "Can you get me a bar of soap in here because I'm going to shove it down her throat."

          "That'd be my pleasure, Ms. Estle," Jacks replies in relief, shaking his head at Janet.

          "Fine!" Janet throws her hands in the air before tucking her blonde strands back. "I won't say a word."

          "If you do, I'll kick you out just like Vanity." Ms. Estle doesn't bother looking at her appalled friend as her eyes begin scanning through the many ladies who still had their hands up before her gaze narrows down to a girl who doesn't have her hand up. "Lola, would you like to volunteer?"

          "Huh?" Lola looks up in fright, her brown eyes ready to pop out of her head.

(Nina Dobrev as Lola Kuhn)

          "Are you up for it? If not, that's perfectly okay too. The article will be signed as anonymous. No one out of this room will know and if anyone from here wishes to discuss this with anyone, they'll find my hand around their neck."

          "Umm..." Lola croaks out, notably flustered.

          "It's just a yes or no question. Just a question. Say no and I'll move on to someone else who is willing to do it," Ms. Estle says softly. "I'm not going to force you. I know this is a lot to ask and virginity is not just a thing up for show. Just say no if you don't want to do it."

          "It's not that," Lola's fingers fiddle with one another. "I-I have always been in this bubble where I never did anything. Nothing."

          "Okay," Ms. Estle nods in acknowledgment. "It's a no then."

          Before Ms. Estle could ask someone else, Lola quickly speaks up. "It's a yes. I'm up to do it for an article."

          "Are you sure?" The boss asks with a raised brow. "Lola, think about it again. I don't want to force it on you."

"I'm sure," she nods, finalizing the deal.

"Brilliant," Ms. Estle smiles. "You'll both have to sign some paperwork regarding that in case any of you tries to sue me for this," she cheekily winks at me. Only if I could sue her, I would. "So, we now have one last slot open."

"We could do a high profile interview with a celebrity no one knows anything about," a man shouts out from the back of the room and continues. "We could make it scandalous by picking a notorious one. Our sales will be off the charts."

Ms. Estle hums in response, pondering the idea while another writer chirps up. "I mean we could do Freddie Guzman. He has had a rough past. Aggressive with opponent players and he hasn't talked about it, so we could do that."

          "Or we could do Leo Bonferroni," suggests another writer whose name I think is Bryan.

          "No," Ms. Estle refuses immediately without giving it any thought.

          "I mean people have heard about him, but most of the world hasn't seen that man. No picture on him on the internet," Bryan informs us. "We know he's the youngest billionaire businessman with multiple hotels, casinos, and clubs all over the world making millions upon millions a day."

          "I heard he attended a social event for the first time as a chief guest. A graduation at Columbia University where no one could take pictures until he got off the stage after the ceremony," Victoria speaks up. "That's mysterious and sexy."

"I have a picture of him. I'm not completely sure, but I think it's him." A girl jumps up from her seat and begins scrolling through her phone. "Right here," she says dreamily admiring the photo and showing it to the other female colleagues who drool the same which piques my curiosity. "He's really handsome."

Victoria gasps, her pupils dilating. "I've seen him in this building before. He's more than handsome." Her hand finds her heart as she sighs in admiration. "Hot, sexy, and classy is what comes to my mind."

"Let me see," Ms. Estle demands and the girl doesn't waste a moment to oblige with the boss. Grasping the phone from the girl's hand, she looks over it for a second as I steal a little peek at the man.

(I can never stop drooling over my boys! 😍)

"Mr. Bonferroni is a sexy mysterious man," Janet smiles to herself before a fearful look engulfs her features. "He sounds sexy and mysterious, I mean. Very intimidating." She gulps. "And ladies, knock it off. Leo Bonferroni is off the shelf."

Placing the phone on the floor, Ms. Estle slams her heel through the screen, breaking the device before picking it back up and snapping it in half. "I said no," her voice bellows through the room, forcing everyone to tense. "If any of you have differing opinions on that, you may follow Vanity's lead outside." The feared look on all their faces is a sight which makes me laugh. A glare from the boss lady halts my chuckle, compelling me to clear my throat. "That's what I thought."

"Ms. Estle?" A man in the back raises his hand like a first grader.

          "Who are you?" She shakes her head at the nervous man.

          "It's K-Kurt," he stammers before clearing his throat. "One of your writers. Kurt, one of your writers. Yes. That's me."

          A little chuckle escapes my mouth as Janet leans down to Ms. Estle and whispers loud enough. "The boy likes you. He's all flustered and flushed."

          Ms. Estle shoots her a scowl and turns her gaze back to Kurt. "I don't care about your name because I won't remember it. I forgot it already. What do you want, Burt?"

          "It's K-" the man's sentence is left unfinished after he realizes that the boss doesn't care. "I was thinking about Maddox Laird."

          "We cannot interview ghosts, Hurt." She narrows her eyes at the man while snickers erupt throughout the room.

          "That's the thing, Ms. Estle," Kurt smiles excitedly like a child and steps forward from his position. "No one knows what happened to the man. He fell off the face of the Earth, so people assumed he was dead." My eyes suddenly fall on Ms. Estle's hand that is clenched tight into a fist as Kurt goes on. "A little scout told me that he was seen in Scotland last week planning to disclose his existence and get back up. What better platform than ours. This will be in headlines. We'll be in headlines."

"What's your name again? Fart?" She queries as a laughter breaks through me. I apologize and cover my mouth.

"It's Kurt Bells," he says.

"I'll try to remember your name." She rises from her seat, her body still tense and her fists balled up. "You will set up a meeting will Maddox Laird now. It's your job to score that interview, if not, then you're fired."

          Her fists open up as they begin to shake slightly. She walks out with me, Jack, and Janet right behind her. My eyes can't help themselves to notice every single detail on her. The tight black dress wrapping around her body perfectly accentuates all her beautiful curves, but it also seems as if she attended a funeral earlier. Now walking beside her, I can see her flushed face and flared nostrils as if trying to hold something back.

"Why does your face look like you're trying so hard not to shit yourself?" Like a dumbass my mouth blurts out and I soon regret it. Stopping in her tracks, she slowly turns to me. Janet shaking her head at me and Jack face palming at my idiocy. Now is the time I would like to dig my grave and go rest in it forever because she might send me there herself. Wrong timing, Eros!

          "Ms. Estle?" Jack tries to grab her attention as her feet slowly begin to inch towards me, backing my body up to the wall.

          The rage that swirls in her fiery eyes crawls my skin itself. Scorching holes is what they bare into my body, but they aren't craving my blood. They see someone else like the other night when she almost killed me. Crimson color of her face goes darker with each step she takes to reach me and before I know it, she clutches my throat and squeezes tight, forcing my eyes to bulge out of my head. My ears block out all the noise and all I can hear right now are the erratic beats of my heart. The tight grip starts the numbing tingles in my feet as my knees begin to weaken.

          "Easy there, tigress!" A man suddenly rips her off me, her nails leaving scratch marks as they leave. I soothe my throat instantly whilst coughing my lungs out. Realization of what she was about to do strikes her, but the rage in her eyes doesn't subside. "You can't kill my escort." What the hell?

          "Don't touch me, Vincent," she hisses, brushing off the man's hold with her eyes fixed on me. "Watch your bloody tongue," she warns me and clasps my jaw. "I'll rip your throat out next time." The hell fire that burns within her hazel eyes assures me that the anger wasn't because of me, but it also did assure me that she might live up to her word of killing me someday.

          "What the hell were you looking at, Jackson?" The man sneers at Jack while running a hand down Ms. Estle's shaky arm. "Tigress here was about to release her inner beast."

"Sir, I was going to-" Jack tries to explain himself to the man when the scary boss lady halts their chattering with a single look.

"Did you find him?" She asks and begins walking away towards the elevator while I stayed back trying to regain my lost breath.

"After the funeral, Mike and I went to one of the hotels and the boss was down in the underworld drinking his pain away," the man's voice sounds distant, but not enough to completely shut out their chattering. She did go to a funeral this morning. "Mike went in and talked to him about work because that's how he's dealing with the loss and you won't believe who the hell I found," he squeals excitedly, wrapping his arm around Ms. Estle's shoulder and leaning down to whisper something in her ear.

"What?" She yells in shock and stares at the smiling man. "How's that even possible?"

"I have no idea," he laughs. "She's resting right now and the boss is by her side. This feels like a damn movie."

***

I sit in my office, gulping down bottles of water one after another to regain the strength that was knocked out of me earlier. The look in her eyes still makes me shudder internally. There's something about her, something horrible in her past that she doesn't want anyone to see or know, however, she's trying her best to keep it under the covers.

I try to gain courage to demand some boundaries. I can't have her trying to kill me every now and then. Leaving my office, I walk across the hall and knock on her door. "Wait a second." Emotions pour heavy in her voice which worries a part of me. "Come in." Opening up the door slowly, I step in and notice her eyes watching me intently and sympathetically, but they also hold redness like she was... crying? "What do you want, Mr. Azallion?"

          I clear my throat and close the door before walking closer to her desk. "I want you to add a clause to our contract where you can't touch me."

          "Already on it." She pulls out a document from a drawer and walks around the desk. "This will possibly help me control myself because I just might kill you one day." Her eyes lower down to the marks she left on my neck. She frowns as she reaches forward to touch them, but I step away. "Relax! I'm not going to strangle you right now."

          She steps up to me and runs her gentle fingertips along my neck before whispering softly. "I'm sorry." Her soft lips place a warm kiss on my cheek before her hands caresses it away. "For today and the other day. I didn't mean for it to happen." I smile into her touch and at witnessing this caring side of her. I know it isn't much, but it's something.

          "Okay, knock that smile off and sign the damn papers now," she smirks at me and saunters back to her seat. "You have another paper to sign after that. The sex deal with Lola." I groan in frustration as she chuckles, that cute sound bringing a smile to my face. "Lola is a good girl. Be gentle with her when you do the act. You have less than two weeks. Get to know her and if she doesn't want to do it, then it won't happen. That deal ends there with her refusal."

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I know this chapter took a while. Sorry about that. Was this chapter hell yeah or bleh?

Who do you think is Maddox Laird?

What do you guys think about the deal with Lola and Eros? Will it happen?

Much love ❤️
~Reet