- When She Had Her Orientation -

Nina

I brush my hands over my black pencil skirt and straighten my sleeveless white top as I smile checking my reflection through the elevator door.

Brushing my bangs to cover my forehead, I quickly make my way out of the metal box once it reaches the designated floor.

My four inch black stilettos makes a 'click' sound as I walk, waving at Ginger as she comes into my view.

"Hey." I whisper softly, leaning my body against her desk.

"Hi." She leans over her desk and gives me a quick hug.

"Is Lucien in?" I ask, once she settles back on her chair.

"Mmh. Eager, are we?" She says, wiggling her eyebrows.

I roll my eyes and huff, "I just don't wanna be late for my orientation."

She snorts, "Right. Orientation." She rolls her eyes.

"What is it now?" I ask irritated.

"Oh nothing." She waves her hand in a shrugging gesture and continues, "It's just that nobody else received this special orientation offer by Mr. Coop himself."

She blinks innocently and says, "You must be pretty special."

I try controlling my blush and whisper yell, "It's just an orientation."

She chuckles and murmurs sarcastically, "And I just poop butterflies."

I narrow my eyes at her, suspiciously, "By the way, what's going on with you and JT?"

She coughs, knowing my question caught her off guard.

"Aren't you late for your orientation?" She mumbles cheerfully.

I point two fingers to my eyes and then at her in an 'I'm watching you' gesture.

"I'll leave you and JT alone." I see her visibly relax, so I continue, "For now. See you around."

I start walking backwards, waving at her.

She gives me a mischievous grin and yells out, "Don't do things I wouldn't do."

I roll my eyes, "Real mature!"

I turn around just to stumble into a hard body whose hands immediately covers my waist preventing me from falling.

I look up to see a guy with light brown hair and black eyes watching me intently.

I place my hand on his chest and pull away, mumbling softly, "I'm sorry."

He smiles softly, "No problem."

I give him a tight smile and walk past him only to be pulled back by a hand over my elbow.

I turn around, alarmed.

He quickly moves his hand away and says, "Sorry... but I haven't seen you here before. You new here?"

I chuckle, trying to calm my heart down. There's something about this guy that just seems off.

'Maybe you're just eager to see Lucien.' My subconscious murmurs.

Mmh... that's probably true.

I smile at the guy and say, "Uh no. I haven't started working yet. Tomorrow's my first day. I'm just here for the orientation."

He gives me a confused look at the word 'orientation' and holds out his hand, "I'm Kyler Devereaux, department supervisor."

I smile and shake it, "Nicolina Stark. Nice to meet you."

He grins, "Nice to meet you too."

He watches me intently and murmurs, "I could show you around if you don't mind..."

I may have looked a little pale because he suddenly realized that he still hasn't let go off my hand.

"Sorry... I didn't notice." He chuckles in embarrassment.

Hold your horses, Nina...

He's just trying to be friendly.

"So... about me showing you around?" He smiles.

"Hey! There you are!" I feel two large hands wrap around my waist as I get pulled backwards.

I look up to see Lucien grinning at me as he places a kiss on my cheek.

"Hey sweetheart." He whispers, giving me a boyish grin.

My lips unconsciously curve into a soft smile as I lean back against him and whisper, "Hey."

I suddenly feel someone waving their hands in my peripheral sight.

I look around to see Ginger waving at me through her desk and mouthing, "What are you guys doing? Look around."

I suddenly blink twice and look around the office to see everyone looking at us, especially at Lucien's hands around my waist as I see their eyes register thousand questions.

I slump my shoulders.

Great! Now I'm gonna be known as the slut who slept with her boss.

Isn't that just peachy?

I pull away from him and stand beside him, awkwardly.

"Mr. Cooper, I didn't know you were coming in today." Kyler speaks, breaking the silence.

Lucien looks at him and nods, "I'll be going soon. I just wanted to welcome Miss Stark here."

Kyler looks at me and says, "I was just talking to Nicky here about showing her around."

Nicky?

What the fu-?

I mean... hello! Have you ever heard of something called 'manners'?

You can't give a nickname to someone you met five seconds ago...

Lucien stiffens besides me and says, "No need Mr. Devereaux. I'll be showing Miss Stark around myself. Now if you'll excuse us."

He doesn't give the guy a chance to reply and leads me towards his office by placing a hand on the small of my back.

I try pulling away from his grasp by mumbling softly, "Everyone's watching us."

He leans down, hovering his lips over my ear and whispers, "Don't give a fuck."

I shiver inwardly and goose bumps break out in my arms, making him smile, arrogantly.

Hmph. That bugger!

He opens his office door for me, as I walk past him while he closes the door behind us.

"Before we start, I wanna to say something." He murmurs.

I blink twice and ask, "Say what?"

In a swift motion, he pins me back against the door and places both of his hands over my hips.

I gasp,"What are you doing?"

He grins, "I wanted to say the thing that was on my mind since I saw you for the first time today in my office."

"And that is?" I ask, hoarsely.

Seriously, dude... try to sound more breathless.

Could I be more obvious?

My subconscious shakes her head making a tsk sound.

He lifts his hand and places it on my cheek while his thumb traces the outline of my bottom lip making me part my lip unconsciously.

"When I saw you today, talking to Ginger, all I could think was, 'Fuck me, you're gorgeous.'" He whispers huskily.

I let out a shaky breath and blush inwardly.

Chuckling softly, I murmur, "Frick me, you're gorgeous too, sexy."

He rewards me with a half smirk and a wink as he pulls away.

I smile back and check him out, taking in his simple white button down shirt which traced his muscles and abs like a second skin as a thin black tie hung loosely around his neck. His outfit completed with black slacks and formal shoes and his always present big black watch on his wrist.

Damn, he's sexy.

"You done, sweetness? Take a picture of me, it would last longer." He murmurs, amused.

I look up at him and blink twice, my cheeks flushing.

"Mmh. Wait a minute." He makes a thinking face and takes his cell out of his pocket and clicks the camera option.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he puts his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him.

"There's a reason why we're both wearing black and white today. Now hush and smile." He murmurs.

I roll my eyes and comply.

"Don't forget to show off that sexy dimple of yours." He whispers against my ear, making me shiver.

I shoot him a look, "Stop distracting me and click the damn photo."

"My my, so bossy..." He mumbles making me smile and roll my eyes.

He clicks a few photos whilst making silly expressions, making me burst out laughing every time.

As his thumb hovers over the button, I quickly pull his tie, making his face lean towards me and kiss his cheek just in time for the photo.

He chuckles and shoots me a heated look and takes a few more selfies, before quickly leaning down and biting my earlobe softly, making me gasp in surprise just as he clicks the photo.

I mumble, "Sneaky bum!" under my breath making him laugh out loud.

Tightening his arm around my waist, he picks me up from behind and sits down on the nearby chair with me on his lap before I could even say 'Oh La La'.

I sit down making a 'Hmph' sound and open my mouth to protest when he continues clicking away photos from his cell until a warning sign flashes over the wallpaper with the words:

No more storage space.

Try deleting some photos.

I frown and snatch his cell away from him and mumble, "Take some in mine."

I open my handbag and hand him my iPhone.

Instead of clicking on the camera option, he stares at the wallpaper intently.

"Luke?"

Instead of answering, he recites out loud, "Fuck Prince Charming, give me a bad boy with sexy tattoos."

I gasp, suddenly remembering the quote written on the wallpaper on my cell.

Grinning ear to ear, he whispers, "You got something you wanna tell me, sweetness?"

I snatch my cell from his hand and mumble, "Not really. It's just a picture from tumblr that I liked. That's it. It has no hidden meaning. Got it?"

Smiling widely, he murmurs in a singsong voice, "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

"Hmph." I mumble annoyed.

Pulling me into him, he whispers, "Come on now, sweetheart. Show me that cheeky smile of yours, come on. You know you want to." He says, leaning forward and giving me small pecks on my cheeks, making me smile softly and relax into his lap.

He takes the cell out of my hands and starts clicking another round of photos and sneaking kisses on my face every two to three photos, while I try to look irritated but fail miserably.

Damn him!

"If I didn't know you better, I would've thought you were a thirteen-year old girl obsessed with taking selfies." I mumble, shifting in his lap to get comfortable.

Before I could mumble another word, my eyes widen when I notice something big connected to him poking my inner thigh.

I look at him, to see him grinning sheepishly while murmuring, "Like I said, I can't control my Lieutenant around you."

I chuckle and shake my head as I lean into him and mumble, "Definitely not a thirteen-year old girl."

He kisses the top of my head and mumbles, "Definitely not."

After another fifteen minutes of selfies, he sighs and mumbles, "I guess, I should show you the office or something."

I raise my eyebrow, "I sure hope so! Unless the new definition of orientation is to click thousand of selfies with your new boss."

He grins sheepishly, "I guess I got a little carried away..."

"Sure. Just a little!" I mumble sarcastically making him chuckle.

He gets up, making me pulls away from him as he clears his throat and gives me a polite smile and says, "I'm Lucien Cooper, your new boss. Nice to meet you."

He holds out his hand which I shake willingly while giving him a wry look, but playing along and murmuring, "Nicolina Stark. Nice meeting you too."

He smiles widely before making a thinking face and mumbling, "I guess I should introduce you to other employees."

"Whatever you say, boss." I shrug casually.

He stares at me, intently making me chuckle and mumble, "You just got a little turned on because I called you 'boss', didn't you?"

He smirks and says, "You know me too well. Come on now, let's get this over with."

He leads me out of his office towards the other room surrounded by nearly twenty cubicles as he calls out, "Attention everyone!"

I look at him to see his face stoic, his expression calm as his body turns rigid in an authoritative state making me wanna lick him up.

And looking around the room, at the faces of the female employees, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

He's just too sexy for his own good.

He pulls me forward and continues, "This is Nicolina Stark. She's gonna start her new job tomorrow as my executive assistant. And I want you all to welcome her into this family."

I smile politely at the warm faces of the other employees.

Maybe working here won't be so bad.

That's exactly what I thought until...

"... And just for precautions, I want only the female employees talking to her. If I saw any male employees lurking around her, it calls for immediate termination of those employees, do you understand me? I want to make it clear for everyone that anyone who messes with her, messes with me. So be sure to be on Nicolina's good side, got it?" Lucien ends his speech, glaring at the nearby employees who immediately nod and mumble, 'Got it!'

I slump my shoulder down and start glaring at Lucien.

"Excuse us for a second." I announce out loud, finally gathering the attention of the employees who were staring timidly at Lucien who looked like he could transform into a monster any time now.

I tug on his suit and pull him with me to a corner.

"You better fix this, sexy!" I grumble at him.

Not giving him a chance to respond, I walk away and stand in the position as before; in front of the employees.

After a few seconds, I feel him stand beside me as he sighs out loud and announce, "Okay fine! I take back what I said before. Male employees can talk to Nicolina, but they have to maintain at least five feet distance from her. I won't change this clause under any circumstances."

He tugs on his tie as if even saying those words had made him uncomfortable.

Meh! He'll live.

Clearing his throat, he continues, "Anyway, so be sure to give our new member a warm welcome. Thank you. And guys... five feet distance from her or you're fired."

He gives them a curt nod and leads me away and opens the door to the room next to his office and closes the door behind him.

Before I could even process what's happening, he crushes me against his chest and hugs me tight, burying his face in my neck.

"Uh... Luke?" I mumble out loud.

"Gimme a second, sweetheart." He whispers into my neck, sending vibrations up my spine, "Let me calm down, before I go and kill everyone out there who stared at you like you're their favourite meal."

"Um, I don't think anyone was looking at me that way, Luke." I say, confused.

His hand tightens around my waist as he whispers, "Every guy around you wants you to be his, sweetheart. You're just that beautiful."

I blush and bite my lip, smiling softly.

Making a rumbling sound against my neck, he says, "Now, come on. Calm me down, before I go out there and bash everyone's head against the wall."

I sigh and put my arms around him and pat his back and mumble, "There, there."

He pulls away, just to look at my face and whispers, "Did you just say, 'there, there'?" He quickly bites his lip as if to prevent himself from laughing and raises his eyebrow.

I huff and mumble, "I don't know any other way to calm you down."

He hugs me back and mumble, "Think of a way. And fast. Bee-tee-dubbs, totally unrelated... but you smell so fucking good."

I groan and start running my brain.

"Come on, sweetheart. Distract me!" He whispers against my ear.

I pull away slightly and place my hand over his chest and when he seemed to relax under my touch, an idea struck me.

I immediately pinch his nipple. Hard. Taking him by surprise.

"Ow! Son of a-" He pulls back immediately placing a hand over his throbbing nipple.

Uh oh.

Bad idea alert!

I chuckle awkwardly and mumble, scratching my head, "Oopsie?"

"Why the hell did you do that?" He groans, rubbing his fingers over his chest in a soothing motion.

I wince and groan, "I don't know. You were all like, 'Come on, sweetheart! Calm me down, distract me! Distract me!' So I did the first thing that came to my mind!"

"And that was to pinch my nipple!?" He groans in pain.

At my nod, he continues, "How can you go from thinking nothing to thinking about pinching my nipple?"

"Well..." I drawl out and ramble, "You see, at first I thought about the thing you said about green apples. Then from green, I thought about colours. From colours, my mind thought about the original colours, you know; black and white. From black and white, my brain imagined a bowl of vanilla ice cream with choco-chips sprinkled over it. Then from ice cream, I thought of cream. And what is cream made of?! Milk. From milk, I thought of breastfeeding babies. And from that, I thought of nipples. Hence, I pinched your nipple."

I look up at him to see him, blink twice and open his mouth as if he wanted to say something but immediately closing it. Opening and closing again.

Making a thinking face, he mumbles, "That makes sense...?"

Oh boy...

Groaning out loud, I bury my face in my hands and croak out, "Please tell me you didn't hear any of that. Oh my God! Could this get any more embarrassing!?"

I hear his chuckle as I felt him hug me and pat me on my back, whilst mumbling, sarcastically, "There, there!"

I look up and shoot him a look, "This is so not funny!"

Biting his lip to prevent himself from bursting into laughter, he nods, "Not funny."

"Not even a little bit!" I counter.

"Not even a little bit."

"It wasn't funny at all!"

"It wasn't funny at all."

"Oh! Who am I kidding? Your face is getting red trying to control your laughter. You can laugh it up." I mumble, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Thank fuck!" He chokes out before bursting out laughing.

"That was so funny! I seriously didn't know whether to laugh at you or be jealous of the way your mind works!" He says, once his laughter dies down.

"Whatever!" I huff in annoyance.

He pulls my cheeks and coos, "You're just so adorable."

Pulling away, he clears his throat and says, "By the way, you have to apologize to Duke for pinching him."

I look at him, confused, "Whose Duke?"

He raises his arm and points to his right nipple, murmuring, "Duke meet Nina... Nina meet Duke."

I blink. Once. Twice.

Trying to process this new 'information', I blurt out, "You name your body parts?"

He gives me a look with an expression which clearly implied, 'Of course I do.'

Grinning, he continues, "The one in my pants is, as you know, Lieutenant Cooper. This is Duke." He points to his right nipple and continues, "And the other one is Aiden."

"Um... nice to meet you?" I mumble.

Looking up at him, I narrow my eyes, "Has anyone told you that you're a weirdo?"

Grinning cheekily, he mumbles, "But I'm a sexy weirdo."

Mmh. He sure is.

Our moment is interrupted, when his office phone rings.

He quickly paces up to his desk and picks up the phone and barks, "Cooper!"

Is he always rude to people other than me?

I don't know how I feel about that.

"I'll be right out with Ginger." I mumble and kiss his cheek as he nods and smiles at me and I slip out of the door.

Walking towards her desk, I stop when I hear a familiar voice call out, "Nintendo?"

I turn around and come face to face with a familiar pair of blue eyes surrounded by light brown hair that falls over it, totally covering his forehead and a lean muscular body belonging to my best friend Rachel's husband.

"Colton!? What are you doing here?" I blurt out as he picks me up in his familiar brotherly hug.

"Long time no see, Shortie!" He mumbles placing me back on my feet.

I roll my eyes and mumble, "I saw you last Saturday. Remember when you dumped your two children into my lap and ran away with your wife for a romantic getaway?"

He chuckles sheepishly, "What can I say? You know how my kids are... the moment I start kissing Rachel, one of them calls us or start crying. It's like they have this weird radar that beeps every time I touch my wife." He mumbles, pouting.

"My, what a lovely father!" I murmur sarcastically and wipe a fake tear.

"What are you doing here?" We both ask each other at the same time.

He gives me a 'duh' expression and says, "I work here. I mean, on the upper floor under Mr. Levi... didn't you know that?"

Oh... I did know that.

I shrug sheepishly, "I forgot. And I'm starting tomorrow. Working as Lucien's new executive assistant."

He narrows his eyes, suspiciously, "Lucien, huh? Not Mr. Cooper or Mr. Lucien... just Lucien. Tell me more about him."

I groan and slump my shoulders once I feel him wrap his hand around my shoulders, "Not you too! I have enough uber protective male figures in my life already! Asher, Gavin... my actual brother Nate. Not you too!"

"Fine!" He rolls his eyes, "I won't ask anything about him. Only if you do something for me in return."

I groan. Already knowing where this conversation is heading.

"You want me to babysit your children again, don't you? So that you and Rachel could go on a date and indulge in some consensual hanky panky." I grumble.

He gives me a cheeky smile and ruffles my hair, "Why yes, Nancy Drew. My, my, your detection skills are just too splendid."

He wipes a fake tear and places his hand over his heart and murmurs melodramatically, "They grow up so fast. It's like just yesterday we were in high school and I was pulling your ponytail and calling you Shortie!"

I roll my eyes and grumble, "You still call me Shortie, you doofus!"

Giving me an adorable boyish grin, he murmurs in a singsong voice, "But you love me!"

I roll my eyes and sigh, "Yeah, I love you Coco."

"What's going on over here!?" I turn around at the sound of an angry voice directed towards me.

I turn around to come face to face with angry Lucien. No, a livid Lucien.

Like hot-smokes-blowing-out-of-his-ears angry.

Uh oh.

"Hey, Lu-" I murmur when I get interrupted when he grabs my elbow and leads me away from Colton without saying a word.

I look back at Colton and give him a wave and a reassuring smile who in response, taps something in his cell and Jealous by Nick Jonas plays out loud from the speakers as he waves me, mouthing "Boo bye."

Ugh. Silly guy.

Insert face-palm.

Lucien pulls me into his office and slams the door behind him.

"Um Lu-"

He interrupts me again my pinning me to the door with his hands on either side of my face as I look up into his angry green eyes.

"Have you ever slept with him?" He rasps out.

"Wh-what?" I mumble.

"Have. You. Ever. Slept. With. Him?" He repeats, clenching his jaw.

How dare he?

I place my hand over his chest and push him away.

When he doesn't budge an inch, I look him dead in the eyes and say, "Move!"

I promised myself after that incident in my past that I won't ever let a man bully me. Ever.

"Get away from me." I say, looking straight at me.

"Answer my question first." He says, leaning closer.

And for a moment, I don't see Lucien in front of me, any more.

I see Cannon Matthews.

Pushing me in a corner.

Spitting those harsh words at me.

Punishing me for the only mistake I ever did; being alive.

And I do what I've always done... I fight back.

"I told you before, Luke. I can only allow myself to be friends with you. Friends, nothing more! So you don't get a chance to act like a possessive boyfriend. And lastly, who I sleep with; is none of your damn business!" I whisper yell.

He breathes hoarsely staring at me. Hard.

"Fine!"

I blink twice as Cannon's face fades as reality sets in and I see Lucien pulling away from me.

Lucien walks back to his desk and sits down, straighten his tie.

I look back at him to see my friendly warm Lucien transformed into a cold businessman-like.

"I guess this concludes the orientation. If you don't have any other questions, you may leave. I'll see you tomorrow." He says, coldly.

"But sexy-"

"I don't think calling your new boss 'sexy' is appropriate. I prefer to be called Mr. Cooper. And like I said, if you don't have any questions, you may leave." He murmurs curtly.

Ouch. That hurt!

I sigh and whisper softly, "Fine, Mr. Cooper. I'll see you tomorrow."

I pick up my bag and head towards the door when I hear:

"And I need a cup of black coffee on my desk tomorrow at sharp 8 a.m. Surely you can do that, can't you, Miss Stark?" He says, looking straight at me.

I nod, "Of course, Mr. Cooper."

He gives me a curt nod and says, "Shut the door on your way out."

And just like that... I'm dismissed.

I open the door and slam it behind me with an extra force.

That jerko!

What just happened in there?

I sigh and rub my face with my hands, suddenly feeling exhausted.

If he think I'll break if he acts all cold and formal with me; he's so wrong.

So damn wrong.

If he wants a fight; he has it coming.

And he's sure gonna lose.

But seriously... what just happened?

***