Chapter 8

Although I missed lying in bed and letting fine men flaunt themselves around me while bringing food and other goodies that life had to offer, I really missed working and I was so pumped to get working again.

When I stepped into my office, I took a deep breath; it smelled like all my years of hard work and success, I liked it—no, I loved it. Everything looked the same, apart from the fact that there were a lot, and I mean, a lot of bunches of different flowers. You know that thing I said about my office smelling like hard work and success? Yeah, that was bull crap; my office smelled like a fucking flower shop! Like, who the hell put so many flowers in my office? And all the flowers smelled fresh, so it meant that someone may have tipped the whole office that I was resuming work, because the flowers were from all the male population of the company, and let me tell you, we’re talking a lot of men!!! Fucking Pete!

I spent half an hour packing away all those flowers away from my office, and since I was the most hated female in the whole building by other females, no female tried to help me and the poor nice men that tried to help had jobs and meeting to go for, so I pretty much did all the work myself.

I never really got the idea of that female hate thing. I thought we agreed that women helped uplift women. What made me so different from other women? The fact that I was hot? Too sexy to handle? Was that it?

Anyway, I tried to get some work done after turning my workspace back to the fucking perfect office it was, and believe me, after all the shit I went through with the flowers, Stone had better kiss my ass for having the decency to even do my appointed work.

“Hey,” A deep voice, followed by a knock came in. I looked up from my laptop to see Jones smiling awkwardly at me, leaning on my door frame like that was supposed to make me swoon over him or something.

“Yes Jones, can I help you?” I asked him, with not so much as a smile on my face.

“It’s nice to have you back Melanie,” Jones smiled.

“Yes, I think the flowers you dropped on my desk told me that already,” I mumbled under my breath.

“I don’t know Jones, is there something you need? Can I help you?” I asked the man. His standing there was becoming creepy, not to talk of the smile he still had on. Like why were all the men in this company so whipped? Ew!

“Well, not me. Mr. Stone wants you in his office,” Jones said.

“And since when did you become his message boy?” I laughed.

“I just wanted to see that you’re okay, so I offered to come.” Aw, now I felt bad for being so rude to him.

“Thank you, Jones, really, thank you,” I smiled at the man, grabbed my phone, and went over to Mr. Stone Jnr’s office. Lord knows I hated the little prick that liked to feel like he owned the whole world, just because he took over his father’s hard work, but I couldn’t particularly say anything.

Jared Stone was the kind of man I ate for breakfast; completely oblivious to how the real world worked and stuff. The man like to throw his money about, and because I am a gold digger, it’s the kind of thing I’m attracted to, but the only reason why I didn’t take Jared’s money was because I kinda put work into making the money, and although taking more was my thing, I just felt keeping things professional was the best for me.

Jared looked a lot like his father, oh sweet Jeffery Stone. They had the same curly brown hair, the same striking green eyes, the only difference was that Jared’s father, Jeffery, was actually nice to look at. Jared just looked like he had a monster truck run over his face, but like a thousand times. The only good thing about him was that he made up for his face by dressing up real nice.

“You wanted to see me?” I smiled lightly when I entered the large office. It was big and too cliche, it looked like any CEO office from a movie.

“Melanie,” Jared smiled, opening his arms to me. Ew! We don’t do that.

“Jared,” I smiled awkwardly, going under Jared's arms to escape the hug.

“When you called in sick, you could’ve told me how serious your injury was. If it wasn’t for that man that called, we would’ve lost the best computer programmer in the city,” Jared gave me a poor smile.

A man called?

“Who? Who is the man?” I asked him.

“He didn’t say who he was, but he said he got the company’s contact from your card from your bag so I’m guessing a nurse?” Jared said with his thinking face.

That was no bloody nurse. That had to be...Reeves? He really did that?

I didn’t quite know what to do with this new information I was given, but what I did know was that I had to go see this “mysterious man” that called the company.

“It’s good to have you back Melanie,” Jared smiled genuinely.

“Of course, thank you Jared,” I returned the smile, but not as genuine.

Walking out of Jared’s office, I pulled out my phone, going straight to my gallery and to the picture I took of Reeves. Looking at the very angry Reeves that stared back at me from my phone's screen, I figured out the perfect way I could see him and maybe give him a little bit of my time.

“Mel, do you want to have lunch with m—”

“Sorry Pete, I have lunch plans,” I turned the man down before he could even finish his sentence. I was rushing out of the company when Pete saw me; a part of me wished he would pretend he didn’t see me, but the other whoring, attention-loving part of me just loved that I couldn’t walk past him without him noticing.

I got into my car and headed for Vanni enterprises. As I passed the famous cafe where I offered my life for the greater purpose of getting Reeves attention, I laughed and shook my head. I was really crazy for thinking about doing that, and even crazier for actually doing it.

“Hi, good day, welcome to Vanni Enterprises. How may I help you?” The receptionist asked me. I knew it was her job, but why did she have to stop me like that? It’s not like I planned on stealing something.

“Hi...” I looked down at the very pretty badge on the receptionist. She had a good face, and a great body, but I wasn’t about to spend my precious time explaining to some receptionist why I came to the company.

I had visited a lot of companies to know how things like this worked.

“Hi Stephanie, I’m here to see Reeves,” I gave her my Don’t-you-dare-mess-with-me stare. It was one of my best traits. I could intimidate anyone with just one look, and it always worked.

“Do I let him know you’re here?” She asked me.

“No need, it’s a surprise,” I smiled at her. I looked around the company to find my way.

“Take the left elevator to the fifth floor,” Stephanie offered.

“Uhm, can I just say that I love your dress,” Stephanie added. I genuinely smiled at someone for the first time in a while.

I looked down at my light blue dress that clung tightly against my body, thinking that I made the right choice.

“Thank you, Stephanie,” I said and followed the directions I was given.

I got the fifth floor and was greeted with the fresh scent of Reeves. There was something about the way he smelled, I liked it. Smell/Scent was one thing I was particular about in men, I loved it when a man smelled good, it was like an icing on a cake for me.

I walked further down the hallway and was greeted with a very fancy secretary office.

“Ms. Bin?” River’s deep voice sounded. Finally, a familiar face.

“It’s you,” I pointed at River, pretending I couldn’t remember his name.

“River. I came to see you a few times at the hospital,” River explained.

I gave him a tight-lipped smile in response.

“You’re here for Mr. Giovanni. I’ll let him know you’re here,” River offered.

“No need. I’m already here, I’d just like to go in. Nice seeing you again, Rain,” Men are very particular about their name, and till today, it’s a myth to me, but I used it to my advantage all the time. Calling River, Rain was like reminding him that I wasn’t on his level, and we could never be friends.

I smiled at River as I walked towards the door that separated me from Reeves. I took a deep breath and pushed the thick brown doors open, letting myself in.

“Hey hotshot,” I smiled as I strutted into an office that did not in any way belong to me.

Reeves looked up from his computer in complete shock, and God! If not for the fact that I was on a mission, lord knows I would’ve been on my knees for the man.

Reeves had sexy reading glasses hanging sexily from his nose, his sleeves were rolled up neatly to his elbow, and his beautiful hair was packed into a messy bun on the top of his head. God damn! God sure does have favorites.

“What the hell is this? Why are you here?” Reeves deep voice brought me back to life.

“Oh, hi Reeves, it’s nice to see you too,” I smiled at him. For some twisted reason, I had a feeling he was going to say those words to me.

“How did you get in here?” He asked me.

“Your people just seem to love me so much,” I smiled and made myself comfortable on the black couch at the corner of the office. The couch was soft and very comfortable. I guess you could say I found my favorite thing in the office.

Reeves office wasn’t as large as all those cliche CEO offices that were always on the top floor. No, Reeves office had a humble size, but I guess it worked for him. It had all the essentials, like a large desk, cabinets, a soft couch, and a good view, nothing extra, just simple and sweet.

“I never said you could—never mind, you’re just going to do whatever you want anyway. What do you want?” Reeves asked.

“That’s a very tricky question sir, I don’t think you want to be asking me that right now. What I’ll do though is tell you why I’m here. I came to formally thank you for doing the right thing to do when you hit someone on the road,” I started.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He asked.

“No interruptions,” I interjected.

“Secondly, a little birdie told you were the one that called my company to let them know I was hospitalized. Thank you for that,” I smiled at him.

Reeves kept his eyes on me for a few seconds, took in a light breath and nodded.

“You’re welcome.” So, he was really the one that called.

“So, have lunch with me,” I offered.

“I’m working as you can see,” Reeves rejected. Luckily for him though, I usually never took “no” for an answer.

“You kinda have to,” I sat up right from the couch. Reeves didn’t spare me a glance, he just kept working.

“Look, you don’t want me here, I get; but if you don’t answer me, I’ll be here for a while, so you kinda don’t have a choice?” I smiled. I still got nothing from him.

I took out my phone from my purse and walked over to the fine man, scrolling through my pictures for that one picture of him that I had.

“You know I noticed that there are hardly any pictures of you anywhere on the internet; and coincidentally, I managed to get one very scandalous picture of you,” I started. That seemed to get Reeves attention.

Reeves looked up from his laptop to me, but I couldn’t read his eyes. They had so much at once.

“Have lunch with me or I’ll post it and claim we’re in a relationship or something, personally I don’t care about the attention it’ll bring me, but I’m not sure that’s something you want, is it?” I smiled innocently.

“River!” Reeves yelled while keeping eye contact with me.

“Yes sir?” River came running in, looking from me to his boss. I flashed the man with a small smile.

“Ms. Bin is hungry, get her whatever it is she wants for lunch,” Reeves gave in, with his eyes still locked on mine. I bit my lips in excitement while still smiling and keeping eye contact with him.

I never thought getting Reeves to do anything for me would be this easy. I mean I thought it would take more than just a scandal scare to get him; but am I complaining? No! I liked it.

“Thank you darling, but you know lunch is for you and me,” I smiled, looking over at River, who had a confused smile on his pretty face.

“Do whatever you want,” Reeves rolled his eyes, pushing his reading glasses back and continuing with his work.

I liked that my hard work on Reeves was finally paying off, even if he didn’t like me, I still could get stuff from him, it is even better this way. Right?