- When They Have The Whole Office Fiasco -

Nina

Who's the jerk!?

Luuucienn...

Who's the arrogant one?

Luuucienn...

Who thinks he can just throw a few bucks away and expect me to work for him?

Luuucienn....

That's right!

Who do I wanna punch?

Luuucienn...

Who's arse am I gonna karate-chop?

Luuucienn...

Who's the sexy one?

Luuuc—

Damn it, hormones!

Who's the stupidest of all?

Luuucienn...

Damn right!

Repeating these questions in my mind, I find myself walking to his office, to punch the hell out of him.

I mean, what kind of a person pays fifty freaking millions to my boss and expects me to work for him?

Did he just expect me to drop to my feet and shower him with hugs and kisses, once I found out about this?

'Men!' My subconscious sighs, shaking her head.

As the elevator door opens, I look around and take one calculated step at a time and head towards a cheery blonde girl with 'Receptionist' written in big bold letters on the wall behind her.

As I finally reach her, I immediately find myself questioning my decision to meet Lucien.

Do I really wanna meet him?

Or should I just leave?

Looking back and forth between the elevator and the receptionist, I scrunch up my brows, thinking.

"Hello! What can I do for you?" A cheery voice pulls me away from my thoughts.

I turn at the sound of her voice, to see the receptionist looking at me anxiously, her grey eyes scanning my outfit.

Well, I don't blame her.

I mean, who wears a simple black T-shirt and jeans with converse to a billionaire firm?

My subconscious points both of her thumbs towards me and yells out, 'This girl!'

That's right!

I am in no way, letting Lucien think that I have dressed up for him.

He can get really cocky sometimes.

"Miss?" The blonde says, distracting me from my thoughts.

I smile at her and murmur, confidently, "I'm here to see Mr. Cooper."

She scrunches up her eyebrows, "Mr. Lucien or Mr. Levi?"

"Lucien." I answer.

She blinks twice and slightly tilts her head and asks, "Do you have an appointment?"

Crap!

I shake my head, wincing.

She nods to herself and asks, "Does Mr. Coop know beforehand that you're here to see him?"

Double Crap!

"Um... no." I wheeze out.

She looks at me apologetically and whispers, "Then, I'm sorry, Miss. I cannot allow you to go see him."

Well, that went well...

I nod to myself and shrug, "I understand."

So much for karate-chopping his arse.

As I start walking away, she immediately calls out, "But you could give me your name or any message, that you want me to forward to him."

I look back at her and whisper, thinking out loud, "Just tell him to meet me at lunch."

She nods and writes it down on her notepad, "And... you're name is?"

"Nicolina."

"Nicol-" She immediately stops scribbling on her notepad and looks at me wide eyed. "Nicolina?" She repeats.

I nod, confused.

"Nicolina Stark?"

I nod again.

She closes her eyes and curse out loud, "Crudsikles!"

I look at her and raise my eyebrow.

She puts down her notepad and quickly proclaims, "You can go in, Miss Stark."

Say what now?

"Huh?" I mumble, blinking my eyes at her.

She looks at me, shyly and whispers, "Mr. Coop specifically told me to allow you in, wherever you drop by. He said you're a very important person."

He said that?

Huh.

She looks at me, shyly and whispers, "And would you please leave out the part where I asked you to leave when I didn't know your name?"

She leans forward with a horrific expression on her face, "Mr. Coop can be really scary sometimes."

I start to laugh but it dies on my throat as I look at her expression which clearly said that she wasn't kidding.

Hmm... Lucien can be intimidating sometimes.

I shake off my thoughts and make a zipping motion over my lips and murmur, smiling, "My lips are sealed."

She immediately relaxes and sighs out loud, "Cool beans."

I blink twice.

Cool beans?

We look at each other and burst out laughing.

She holds her hand forward and says, "I'm Ginger."

I clasp my hand in hers and murmur, "Call me Nina."

She nods to herself and smiles softly.

"See you around." I wave at her as I start walking towards his office.

As I reach a big glass door, I look at my reflection and do a mental count:

Mascara. Check.

Red lipstick - the colour of which shows how angry I am. Check.

High ponytail. Check.

Hmm, I wonder what people actually wear when they really wanna karate chop someone's arse.

Anyhoo...

I look at my reflection once again and sigh.

All systems go.

I turn the knob on the door and peek inside.

I see Lucien on his phone with his back to me, looking through the floor to ceiling windows behind his desk.

I open the door all the way and step in and turn back around and close it.

Lucien turns around at the sound of the door shutting and immediately his eyes registers surprise before he runs his eyes over my body and he smirks, satisfied.

I roll my eyes and wait for him to finish checking me out.

As his gaze finally returns to mine, he smiles.

And to just show him how angry I am, I glare at him. Hard.

He just chuckles at my expression and quickly bites his lower lip, trying to control his laughter.

Oh no he didn't just laugh at me!

I cross my arms over my chest and start tapping my foot, repeatedly over the white tiles just to show how impatient I am.

He smiles in amusement and waves his hand over the chairs on the other side of his desk, gesturing me to take a seat.

I narrow my eyes at him, as if proclaiming, 'Hell no!'

Just to annoy him, instead of sitting in one of the chair, I walk towards the couch on the left side of his office and sit down, triumphantly.

He just looks at me, amused. His green eyes dancing with humour and he shakes his head, smiling at my antiquity.

Damn! Why isn't he getting annoyed?

Am I losing my touch of getting people irritated?

I shrug it off and look back at him just in time to see him gesturing one minute with his hand as he talks over the phone.

I give him a curt nod, to which he grins and concentrates back on the phone call.

I take this as an opportunity to finally check him out.

He had worn a dark grey button down shirt, untucked with a pair of black slacks and formal shoes. A thin black tie was tied loosely around his neck, as the top two buttons of his shirt was unbuttoned, showing off the top of his tanned chest. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up showing off his muscular arms and his sleeve tattoo peeking out of his left arm.

Damn, he's yummy!

I turn my attention back on his face and sigh dreamily when I see his dark blonde hair all messy and mused up, with that just-out-of-bed look.

His green eyes immediately darken the moment he turns towards me and sees me staring back at him.

"No!" He scowls at the phone in his hand. "I said five hundred millions. We aren't gonna settle for anything less than that!"

I shiver at the sound of his dominating voice.

He hears the person speak on the other end on the phone and his scowl deepens.

I sure don't wanna be that guy right now.

Cutting the other person off, Luke snaps, "Five hundred million dollars or no deal. Got it!?"

Before the other person could responds, he hangs up the phone.

Is it weird I'm getting turned on watching him in his element... all controlling and domineering?

Hmph.

He takes a deep breath, most probably to calm himself and then turns towards me.

He runs his hands through his hair and bites his lower lip while looking at me softly.

Sweet mother of God!

Is it just me or is this room getting hot?

He walks right up to me, standing in front of my position on the couch and looks down at me.

I make no move to stand up. I narrow my eyes at him, and cross my arms over my chest.

I hear him sigh as he sits beside me, placing his back against the armrest of the couch so that he could face me.

Before I could register anything, his large hands comes in contact with my knees and he pulls me into him, making my legs go around his waist and me sitting on his lap.

I gasp and look at his face, wide-eyed which was a mere two inches from me.

I immediately start wiggling my butt, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.

He tightens his arms around my waist and murmurs, "Stop resisting, sweetheart. I'm not letting you go."

I look up at him at the sound of his voice.

Somehow, I could feel some deeper meaning behind his words.

Shaking off my thoughts, I place my hands over his muscular chest and try pushing him away, "What the hell are you doing? Get away from me!"

He chuckles and murmurs, casually; in ease, as if he knows all my strength of pushing him is in vain, "Somehow, I don't think you wanna get away from me."

I shoot him a look and start wiggling again. Just to make sure, I'm using all my strength, I punch his chest twice.

He chuckles, relaxing and whispers sarcastically, "Ouch! That hurts!"

He smirks and sighs, waiting for me to finish my wiggling.

I try...

And try...

And try...

And try again...

And guess what?

He doesn't even bulge.

I place my hands over his chest and breathe hard, panting. Relaxing in his embrace, my head falls on his shoulder and I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

I feel his hands tighten around my waist as he looks down at me and whispers, "You done, sweetheart?"

I take a deep breath and pull my face away from his shoulder and narrow my eyes at him and declare, "Never!"

And... I start all over again.

I hear him sigh, and in one swift motion, he pushes me backwards, laying me on the couch as he takes both of my hands and pins it above my head as he covers my body with his, hovering over me.

I gasp at the realization and look at him, trying to free my hands.

I look at him and yell, "Get off me, you big bully!"

He sighs and leans his face near me and places his forehead against mine.

I immediate stop my wiggling and look back at his darkened green eyes, with one thing on my mind:

So much for karate-chopping his arse.

"Stop resisting, sweetheart. Relax." He whispers huskily, his voice edged with some amount of control.

I look at him and wiggle my hands once and sigh - what other option do I have?

Damn him!

I close my eyes and take a deep breath and remove all the pressure I had been focusing on my hands, trying to get free and relax my body beneath his, making my soft curves go mush against his hard muscles.

He leans up and kisses my forehead and whispers against it, "That's it, sweetness. Just relax."

I slowly open my eyes and look at him, to see him staring down at me, his eyes all soft and warm.

He removes one of his hands from my wrist and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, in a tender gesture.

How can he go from alpha male-y to sweet in one second flat?

His hand travels down my body over my hip bone as he looks at me and raises his eyebrow, as if asking for permission.

His lip twitches with humour, making me realize how well we can read each others' minds.

His hand travels around my waist, placing his palm flat against the small of my back.

I gasp and shiver when his hand comes in contact with my bare flesh.

I look down wide-eyed to see my T-shirt ridden upwards, showing off my bellybutton during my attempts to get free.

I gasp when I notice a flicker of light reflecting from my stomach.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who noticed it.

Lucien looks at me and grins cheekily, "Well, well, well... what do we have here?"

He shoots me a boyish smile and starts making his way down, towards my waist.

"Luke! No! Don't!" I yell in embarrassment.

He immediately stops and leans up again and places his index finger on my lips and whispers, "Hush, baby. Relax. I don't bite."

Grinning wolfishly, he continues, "Unless you want me to."

I huff and roll my eyes.

Man! Does he only think about the dirty things all the time?

He takes my silence as an opportunity to move his body down, leaning his face near my stomach.

I quickly move my now freed hands towards him, trying to push him away when he commands, "Keep your hands above your head."

I take a sharp breath and look down at me to see him staring back at me with darkened eyes full of control.

"What?" I mumble, dumbfounded.

"Move your hands above your head and keep it there, sweetheart. Don't move." He orders.

I... er... huh?

"But-" I start to protest but he quickly cuts me off, whispering, "Give in, babe. You won't regret this."

And again, I feel his words having a deeper meaning.

I huff and move my hands back, above my head and wait.

His hot breath tickles my skin as he chuckles and murmurs, "I thought you'd put up a fight. This is way too easy."

I snort, "Don't think that I'm doing this because you went all Christian Grey on me and I liked it... I did this because I didn't have a choice."

Poking my tongue out at him, I grumble, "Like I said you're a mean big bully!"

He chuckles as his hands tighten on my hips and he murmurs, casually, "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

He shakes his head as if clearing his thoughts and concentrates on the topic in hand.

Caressing my stomach softly with his large fingers, he murmurs amused, "I never pegged you for a girl who had this."

I roll my eyes, knowing exactly what he is talking about.

I shrug and whisper, "It's just a navel piercing."

I look down to see him staring at my small violet coloured stud pierced over my navel with an intense, smouldering expression.

"Mmh." He makes a sound in approval. "Interesting."

He tilts his face up, looking at me with darkened green eyes full of hunger and lust and whispers huskily, "Very interesting."

I shiver at the intensity of heat in his voice and bite my lower lip, breathing hard.

He immediately leans up, covering my body with his and softly brushes his thumb over my lower lip, without breaking our eye contact.

I let out shaky breath and lick my lip unconsciously, making him groan.

"Tickles." I whisper softly.

"What?" He asks, confused, fanning his breath over my lips.

"Your tie is tickling my stomach." I whisper, explaining.

"Oh." He mumbles and takes off his tie in one quick motion and moves back in the same position as before with me under him.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you look today?" He whispers softly, staring at me with warm and tender eyes.

I blink twice and blush.

He sighs and places his hand over my cheek, caressing his thumb over my pink skin.

"I have never seen you wear something casual before. You look so young and innocent." He murmurs in observation.

I narrow my eyes at him and grumble, "I'm 25! I am young!"

He chuckles and whispers, "It was just a compliment, mio amore..."

I roll my eyes and huff. "Fine!"

I look at him and whisper softly, "Thank you." And just -just- for being polite, I continue, "You look good too."

He grins boyishly and kisses my cheeks, "Thanks sweetheart."

I shrug, feeling my cheeks flush under his gaze.

He leans down, kissing my cheek again and moves lower, brushing his lips over my jaw line when...

"Hey, Mr. Coop! Danny told me you needed these files so, here they-" We both turn our head at the sound of a familiar voice to see Ginger staring at us, wide-eyed.

She clears her throat and quickly turns her back to us.

Lucien scowls at her, "Don't you ever knock!?" But doesn't make a move to pull away from me.

Ginger chuckles in embarrassment and mumbles, "I'm sorry, Mr. Coop. You know, I keep forgetting such things."

She starts moving towards her right, still keeping her back to us and drops the files on his desk.

"I'll see you later, Mr. Coop!" She bids cheerfully and runs to the door.

Just as she reaches the door, she looks at me and winks and gives me a thumbs up and slams the door shut.

I groan out loud.

This can't get any more embarrassing!

Taking advantage of Lucien's distracted mind, I push him and back away from him as far as possible.

He scowls at me but doesn't argue.

Sighing, he runs his fingers through his hair and says, "Sorry for the interruption. She's-"

"Ginger. I know." I cut him off.

He nods to himself and frowns, "Maybe I should just fire her. She's the worst employee one could ever have."

I frown at him, "Don't you dare fire her! She's really nice."

Looking back at the door, I continue, "I like her."

I look back at Lucien to see him frowning and scowling at the door.

"What?" I ask him.

He shakes his head, and to my utter disbelief... he pouts.

Like a literal pout.

Like the most sexy pout.

I sigh softy and tilt my head slightly to the side, "What is it?"

He shakes his head again and walks towards his desk and sits down in his chair.

"Honey?" I whisper softly, following him.

He looks up at me, blinking adorably and mumbles, "I've been trying to get you to admit that you like me for weeks. And now... you just spend few minutes with Ginger and you already confessed that you like her."

Throwing a pen across his table, he pouts, "That's just not fair!"

I bite my lip to hold back my giggle, "Luke?" I whisper, "Are you jealous of Ginger?"

He grumbles annoyed, looking cute as hell, "Of course I'm jealous. I don't care it's irrational or childish. As long as it concerns you, I don't care about anything else any more."

Aww.

Looking up at me, he smiles shyly and runs his fingers through his hair and says, "Don't worry. I'll get over this whole jealously thing soon."

I shake my head at him, smiling inwardly.

Standing up, he walks towards me and places his hand over my chin and whispers, "So... where were we?"

I blink twice and quickly back away, before I could get hypnotized by his gorgeous green eyes.

"Nuh uh, mister! I need to have at least five feet distance between us if we're gonna discuss what's really bothering me." I say, narrowing my eyes at him.

He chuckles and holds his hands up in surrender and leans against the edge of his desk and raises his eyebrow, asking me to continue.

I take a deep breath and prepare myself to enter into the 'forbidden territory' which sure as hell is gonna result in us arguing.

"Why did you do it, Luke?" I ask softly.

He blinks twice, and bats his eyelashes innocently and asks, "I don't know what are you taking about!"

I narrow my eyes at him, "Yes, you do! You just paid Asher to fire me so that I could work for you!"

He shrugs, "I don't remember doing such an awful thing." He grins, mischievously.

Oh hell he won't get away from this!

I take the paper put of my pocket and shove it in his face, "What about this? Do you remember signing a check for twenty five million dollars to Asher... the exact half of what you promised to pay him once he fires me."

Shoving the Xerox copy of the check back in my pocket, I place my hands on my hips, "How's that for an evidence?"

His lip twitches and he murmurs in amusement, "Evidence?"

I blink twice. I scratch my neck, shyly and mumble, "I've been watching too many detective shows lately."

Clearing my head, I glare at him, "But that's not the point! How could you do-"

I stop when he cuts me off with, "So... do you watch Criminal Minds?"

I nod, confused.

He smiles and ask, casually, "Who's you favourite character?"

I blink twice and answer cheerfully, going in my full fan-girl mode, "Like you even have to ask! Of course, it's Spencer Reid."

Sighing dreamily, I mumble, "He's just so cute for his own good. I mean, he's just-"

I stop when the realization finally hits me. "Oh my God! Stop trying to distract me!" I squeak.

He grins mischievously.

Sobering up, I say, "I can't believe you would resort to such a cheap way to get me to work for you."

He gasps dramatically, and acts offended, "You call it cheap? I mean hello? I just gave away fifty million dollars. Fifty millions!"

I force myself not to smile and give him a stern look.

"Why did you do this, Luke?" I ask, softly.

He smiles softly, "I think you know why I did it."

"No, Luke! You cannot do this! You cannot force me to act like you want me to!" I yell in frustration.

He groans frustrated and yells back, "I did not force you to do a thing, Nina!"

"Yes you did!" I retort back.

He breathes hard and blinks, "I did?"

I nod, vigorously and pace around in circles and yell out, "Yes you did! All of this: paying Asher, offering me a job, this was all your choice!"

Walking towards him, I look at him and yell, "It's like you don't even care what I want! If I had accepted your job proposal, I would've worked for you! If I had rejected it, you would still have gone behind my back and done this whole thing anyway, resulting in me working for you!"

I glare at him, "So where is my choice in this, huh? Can't you see... you didn't give a freaking choice!"

He just shakes his head, and replies back with his jaw clenched, "I did what I thought was best for you!"

Glaring at him, I yell back, "And how do you know what's best for me, huh?"

"I just know it, okay? I don't know why this is bothering you so much!" He retorts in frustration.

"Because you went behind my back, dammit! You didn't even ask how I felt about this! It's like my opinions doesn't even matter to you!" I grumble in annoyance.

"So what if I did? I did all these things for you! Tell me the truth! Why is it bothering you so much!?" He stares at me, expectantly and grabs both of my arms.

"I just told you, Luke! You didn't care about my opinions!" I yell at him, struggling to get free.

He tightens his hold and asks again, "Why is it bothering you so much?"

Pushing him away, I scream out, "Because you made me feel like a fucking toy!"

He gasps and looks at me wide-eyed.

I groan out loud.

Holy crap, I just used to F-word!

'Well... there is a first time for everything.' My subconscious shrugs.

I look up at him to see his eyes reflecting guilt and confusion, "When did I ever make you feel that way?" He whispers softly.

Blinking back the tears in my eyes, I answer softly, "Don't you see it, Luke? You just paid someone so that I could be near you. Don't you know how does that make me feel?"

A mask of lost and hurt crosses his features.

"How does it make you feel?" He whispers so softly, that it was barely audible.

Looking up at him, I shrug sadly, "Like you just brought me, Luke! I feel like a toy who could just be brought, played with, used and then-"

I stiffen when he walks right up to me in a quick motion and places both of his hands on my cheeks.

Looking at me with his eyes hard and angry, "Don't you ever compare yourself to a fucking toy ever again!"

I just look up at him and whisper, "That's just it, Luke."

Pulling away from him, I smile sadly and whisper, "You've already compared me to a toy when you had decided to pay Asher."

Before he could reply, his office phone rings.

He groans in frustration and rubs his face with his hand, "Gimme a sec." He murmurs, his eyes pleading to me.

I shrug.

He quickly picks up the phone and barks, "Cooper!"

Listening to the other end, he rubs his forehead, "Sure, go ahead. Talk to me. I'm free right now."

Closing my eyes, I try to ease the pain in my chest.

His words are all the answers I need right now.

Picking up my handbag, I head towards the door.

Looking back, one last time, I see him staring back at me with an unreadable expression.

I smile sadly and whisper, "Goodbye Lucien."

Opening the door, I quickly exit the room, trying to calm the pang in my beating heart.

Just as I wait for the elevator, I feel a small hand over my elbow.

I turn around to see Ginger holding my elbow whilst yelling out at a tall lanky guy, "Hey Danny! I need you to cover for me for a bit! I'm having woman issues."

Ginger giggles when the Danny guy cringes and makes some comment about TMI.

She leads me with her arm on my elbow to the nearby washroom and checks the stalls and locks the main door once she notices there's no one else in the washroom.

"Are you okay?" She asks, finally looking at me, her grey eyes blinking in concern.

I clear my throat and whisper, "I'm fine, Ginger. Why do you ask?"

She winces and murmurs, "I heard you guys fighting and Nina, honey... you're crying."

I blink twice and turn around to face the mirror to see my mascara running down and my nose pink.

I groan and put on the best fake smile I could offer and mumble, "I'm not crying. I haven't worn my glasses and these lights are really getting to me." I lie through my teeth.

She nods to herself, knowing well that I have lied but doesn't comment on it.

She hops over the counter between two basins with her legs dangling in air.

I take my time to wash my face and remove the remains of the mascara on my cheeks.

"So... what really happened?" She asks, curiously.

I groan and grumble, "Don't you have to work or something?"

She chuckles, "I know Mr. Coop would have probably told you that I'm the worst employee he has."

She waves her hand in a shrugging motion and says, "Meh! He'll get over it!"

I look at her and ask, concerned, "Aren't you afraid he's gonna fire you?"

She snorts, "He wouldn't dare fire me. He's family!"

"Huh?"

She explains, "My sister Elena is Mr. Coop's brother Levi's fiancée. Mr. Coop's basically my family."

I scrunch up my brows, "Why do you call him Mr. Coop?"

She chuckles mischievously, "Because he hates that! I finally have a brother whom I can annoy the hell outta! And I love annoying him."

She holds her hand up for a fist bump and I chuckle and do the same.

"So... let me ask you again. How bad did my bro screw up?" She asks with seriously.

"How bad?" I make a thinking face and whisper, "Like someone ripped a hundred bandages off my skin at once."

She winces and whispers, "That bad?"

I nod in agreement, "That bad."

"I know you're not going to tell me what exactly happened between you two... but let me ask you one thing." She starts.

At my nod, she continues, "Do you think Coop has hurt you intentionally?"

I think back his expression when I told him about how I felt.

"No. He hasn't hurt me intentionally." I whisper softly.

Tilting her head, slightly, she whispers back, "And do you think he would ever hurt you intentionally?"

I shake my head, "No. He would never."

She nods to herself and says, "I dunno what he has done to hurt you. And I know I shouldn't stick up to him but... I know him, Nina... He's a good guy. A little moody and grumbles a lot, but he is a good guy."

"I know." I smile at her.

She hops off the counter and walks up to me, "So here what you'll do."

I wait for her to finish, "You let him grovel around for a little bit. If he really likes you, he'll be there for you. And if he doesn't grovel... you'll get your answer."

That... sounds like a plan.

"Okay." I nod at her.

"But before all that... you have to do some thinking. Because if you don't plan on being with him... if both of your intentions are different then you have to break up with him as soon as possible."

She sighs, looking serious as hell, "Because at the end of the day, he's my brother. And I don't ever wanna see him get hurt."

I nod, "I understand."

I groan and grumble, "But he really is an idiot."

She snorts, "Of course he is!"

She looks at me, shyly and whispers, "I think we'll get along just fine."

I bite my lip and smile back.

***

Parking my car in my building garage, I shut the engine and sigh.

I plan on making him grovel a little bit but... what if he isn't interested in me any more?

What if he has changed his mind and wondered whether I was really worth all this trouble?

I sigh and shake my head.

No, Nina! You cannot think like this.

Grumbling, I get out of my car and head to my apartment.

Putting the key in the key hole, I open the door and immediately feel something's... different.

Prince hasn't jumped on me the second I opened the door.

He does it every freaking time.

Removing my shoes, to be as silent as possible, I walk inside the apartment in full alertness.

A soft gasp escapes me when I step on something soft and smooth.

I close my eyes and cross my fingers, and whisper horrified, "Oh God! Please don't tell me I'm walking on Prince's blood with his body laying somewhere around here."

I hear a sound of a faint chuckle and a familiar husky voice murmurs, "It's not blood, sweetness."

I open my eyes and gasp and stare wide-eyed at the living room which was covered in all types and species of flowers one could ever find.

They were everywhere... Everywhere!

The floor was covered in petals and some heart shaped balloons in the corners.

All the lights in the apartment was switched off, just candles everywhere, making the whole living room glow softly.

I turn my attention back to the person standing a mere five feet away from me and whisper, "What are you doing here?"

He shrugs and scratches the back of his neck and murmurs, "I was gonna come here as soon as I was finished for the day."

Taking a calculated step towards him, I whisper, "What changed your mind? It's still noon."

"Ginger told me you were crying." He murmurs, hoarsely. "And I just couldn't wait any more... I just had to see you."

Before I could reply, he closes the distance between us and places his hands on my cheeks and whispers with his voice raw with emotion, "I am so fucking sorry. I never meant to make you feel that way. I am... so sorry."

Suddenly overwhelmed with everything that has happened lately, a tear escapes my eye, moistening my cheek.

"Shit! Bella! Don't cry. I can't stand it." He wipes away my tear with his thumb.

I place my hand over his and take a step back, stumbling while doing so.

"Nina... what's wrong?" He asks looking at me wide-eyed.

"Huh?" I mumble.

"You're face is turning pale, cara. What is it?" He says, trying to hold me up.

I groan and scrunch my eyebrows.

The exhaustion due to the happenings of the week seems to be finally taking over me.

"Luke!" I mumble, hoarsely, trying to stand straight and failing miserably.

He wraps one hand around my waist and his other hand goes to the back of my head making me tilt my face upwards to look at him.

"What's happening?" He whispers, blinking his moist eyes.

Feeling my eyelids getting heavily, my eyes close automatically.

My mind suddenly focuses on the events revolving around Lucien.

And it becomes too much to bear...

I wanna stop picturing my horrible past over and over again.

I want to... just stop.

I use all my strength to open my eyes and look at him.

I smile softly at him, blinking back my tears.

"Nina! No... Don't close your eyes. Stay with me, sweetheart!" He says, frantically.

I lean my hand up and place it over his stubbled cheek and softly caress it. He leans his face into my hands and breathes deeply.

I wrap my hands around his neck and chuckle, "I'm not going anywhere, you doofus!"

He stares at me confused and whispers, "What's going on?"

I lean back and take a good look at his face. I softly clear the hair fallen over his forehead and mumble, "I haven't slept in 48 hours, Luke... I'm not fainting."

Steadying myself, I smile goofily, "I'm falling asleep!"

His hands tighten around my waist and he picks me up. I wrap my legs around his waist and lay my head on his shoulder.

"Is that so?" He whisper, his voice finally relaxing.

"Mmh." I murmur in approval.

He chuckles, "So what was all that? The whole 'fainting in my arms' thing?"

I smile into his neck and whisper, "You know me. I love being dramatic."

He kisses my hair and breathes deeply, "Scared the hell outta me, baby."

I nuzzle his neck and murmur, "Would it be too harsh for me to say, 'Gotcha'?"

He chuckles, sending vibrations over my spine, "Yes it would."

"Okay." I whisper, "I won't say it." I tighten my arms around his neck and sigh.

"Don't let me go okay?" I whisper, talking about my position in his arms as well as the other... deeper thing.

He turns around and walks towards my bedroom, with me in his arms and whispers, "Never."

I smile and close my eyes, finally giving into sleep, with the thought in my mind...

He's here...

He's really here...

And he isn't letting me go...

***