Chapter 20

Samantha's POV:

"Ouch!" I retracted my hand from the pan immediately as it was still hot. After taking it down from the stove carefully, I tasted my sweet corn soup and sighed in relief. It wasn't that bad. I was running late already and Nate would be here in 10 mins. I removed my apron and rushed towards the balcony with my soup to check if everything else was perfect. Feeling satisfied with my work, I let out a huge sigh and made my way towards my bedroom. Just when I was about to cross the living room, I heard my phone go off and I picked it up from the coffee table.

It was Tabitha.

"Hey, can we discuss this later? I'm kinda running late," I rushed, looking at the clock that was hanging on the wall in front of me.

"Are you sure? Because this is super important."

She had my attention now. I was indeed eager to know what happened with my laptop.

"Alright, go on. Did you find anything?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck. I was feeling tired doing all the cooking and wanted to sit down for a while.

"Yes. Someone is trying to frame you, Sam. They have accessed your laptop through a pirate app. I was able to back-track and get the IP address of the computer."

"What? That's impossible. My laptop is well protected." I replied confidently, still trying to process what she said.

It was impossible.

"Then I guess this person must know how to break through all kinds of firewall security."

"Ummm...just send me the details of the IP address. I'll ask someone from IT to trace the computer. Thank you so much, Tab." I muttered under my breath and cut the call abruptly. I was confused and angry now.

Why would someone try to sabotage my career?

What could this possibly mean?

The elevator incident?

Was it planned too?

My thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell and I mentally face-palmed myself. I was still in my jeans and t-shirt, all sweaty and looking like crap.

"Coming," I placed my phone in my jean pocket and rushed to open the door and there he was, my man, dressed in all black, looking sexy as fuck.

And just like that, all my worries flew away. I wanted his arms to be wrapped around me tightly but I kept staring at him, soaking in his hotness.

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" he teased me as soon as I opened the door. I rolled my eyes, opening the door wider.

"I was cooking. I'll go change and come back in five minutes," I tried to walk past him but he pulled me closer, flush against his chest.

"I was kidding, babe. You look beautiful as always." He smiled, pushing the hair away from my face, and I blushed a deep shade of red. "Listen...ummm...about this morning, I don't want you to think that you are under any kind of pressure or anything. I know I took you by surprise, and—" I interrupted him by placing a finger on his lips.

"Shush now. You talk way too much sometimes. Wait here, I'll be right back." I winked and ran towards my bedroom where I had my outfit laid out. I quickly got out of my jeans and wore my little black dress that left very little to the imagination.

While combining through my hair, I heard my phone's notification sound. It was Tabitha and she had sent me the IP address. I could have sent it to the IT team later but I was so curious that I forwarded that message to the company's IT team, asking them to fetch me the details of the person responsible for the asset. Clearing out my mind, I took a deep breath and straighten out my dress.

This is it.

I was ready to tell him that I loved him.

I walked outside my bedroom, trying to hide my nervousness, and found him playing some game on his phone. He paid me no mind.

How rude!

I cleared my throat to get his attention but still had his nose attached to his phone.

"One second, baby girl." I stood in front of him with my arms folded and he stole a quick glance at me before going back to his game but stopped abruptly.

"Woah! Dude, time out." He responded to someone in the game and threw his phone on the couch.

"Fuck! Wha—? How did you—? Why are you wearing that?" he finally formed a proper sentence, making me laugh. I was mentally freaking out at his reaction but tried to maintain my cool. The dress was too daring, even for me, showing an ample amount of my cleavage and stopping just below my ass.

"I told you I had a surprise." I grinned widely, walking towards him and he ran his hands through his hair.

"I'm already loving this little surprise of yours," he whispered, pulling me closer and placed his hand on my ass.

"There is more." I wrapped my arms around his neck and he squeezed my ass, making me gasp.

"Can we get to it later? Because I wanna fuck you so hard right now," he nuzzled against my neck and a small moan slipped through my lips involuntarily.

"Uh-huh." I moved my neck to the other side to give him better access and closed my eyes, loving the feel of his lips on my skin.

"Nate...we should really have dinner first," I giggled as his beard tickled my skin.

"I am having my dinner." He wiggled his eyebrows and I rolled my eyes.

"You are nasty. Come on, follow me." I took his hands and guided him towards my balcony.

"What is going on?" he chuckled behind me and stopped dead on his tracks when he found the candle light dinner set up that I had arranged. It wasn't much but it was something I could do with what u had at home.

"Do you like it?" I asked excitedly and he flicked his eyes to meet my gaze while I was looking at him expectedly.

"Did you do all of this?" he asked in disbelief, gesturing towards the set-up. I had moved the dining table, along with two chairs, outside to the balcony and decorated the entire place with scented candles and flowers. I gave him a small nod. He came closer towards me and took my face between both of his hands.

"You are amazing, you know that? I mean...you cooked and did all this for me?" his voice broke a bit, and I pulled him closer, crashing my lips to his. He kissed me back, feverishly, nibbling on my lower lip while his arms moved down to my waist. We kept brushing our lips against each other softly and I could sense him smiling. I pulled back, resting my forehead against his, and let out a small satisfied sigh.

"And I will continue to do all this, and even more, for you and only you," I whispered against his lips, "because I love you too, Nate Wilson." I added with a smile and felt him freeze for a second. I pulled back to see his face and noticed his eyes going wide.

"What?" he asked in shock and I swallowed hard.

"I don't know if you said it by mistake or you really meant it but I'm telling you anyway. I love you and your freaking ass so damn much," I chuckled, my voice breaking a bit and my eyes were filled with unshed tears.

"Oh god, no. I did mean it. Fuck, I was scared that you might freak out, baby. I was surprised as well in the morning, but then I realized that," he paused, smiling at me, "I do love you—and your freaking ass too. And not just your ass, your boobs as well." He winked, making me laugh hard.

"You know something, you are the first person in my life that I've said this to," I replied, getting a bit emotional and he looked at me with such warmth in his eyes.

"And I will make sure that doesn't change at all forever." He replied, making me smile. I hugged him tightly, and we stayed like that for a while. It felt so damn good to be his arms after the kind of day I had and I felt like I could get through anything if he was with me.

"You are in for one more surprise," I pulled away from him and walked towards the table, "I made garlic bread all by myself." I beamed proudly, holding a plate full of it.

"But you hate garlic, baby." He had a concerned look on his face, taking the plate from my hands, "Why did you go through so much trouble?" he pouted and I couldn't help but admire how cute he was being, all concerned and worried about me.

"Well, I also happen to like it because of a certain someone." I replied with a sly look on my face and he raised his eyebrows.

"Man, what would I do without you?" he sighed, kissing my forehead. I was so happy that moment that I wanted to stay like that forever but we were interrupted by a notification from my phone which was on the table right next to him.

"I forgot to put it on silent." I immediately pulled away from him and tried to switch it off before he could see something and find out that I was fired. I didn't want our dinner to be ruined by anything but when I saw the notification on the lock screen of my phone, blood drained from my face and I froze.

I knew things were too good to be true.