He was working on one of his accounts when his door opened. He was surprised, since no one ever walked into his office without either calling first, or at least knocking. He was about to bite the intruders head off, for the gall of interrupting him in his current mood, when Nicole flowed through the doorway.
"Has no one taught you manners? You should knock before walking into someone's office. I could've been in an important meeting," he snapped at her. She raised her brows at him and the smirk on her face wasn't helping his mood. "Where the hell is my secretary anyway, she should have stopped you."
"You've obviously been terrorizing your office staff and I told your secretary we were meeting for lunch and there was no need to buzz you. If you have a problem with that then you can take it out on me and not her. I think if you blow up at the poor woman one more time, she's going to walk out the door, while telling you where you can stick your bad attitude," she told him with arrogance.
"So, I guess you're telling me how to run my offices now?" he questioned her.
"Obviously, someone needs to," she gave right back.
"You drive me to the point of madness," he snapped.
"Well that makes two of us. I don't see why you want to continue this arrangement when we are both so miserable. You're the one who insisted I come down here," she yelled. He knew his staff was getting bits and pieces of their conversation and he really didn't care.
"I'm hungry, let's go," he commanded and walked out the door, not trusting himself to touch her. He was in a foul mood and he'd end up throwing her over his desk. He wanted to bend her to his will but at the same time, part of his immense attraction for her was the fact she wasn't just another whimpering female, wanting only to please him. He wouldn't mind a little bit of appreciation from her, though.
"Yes sir," she mumbled. He pretended not to hear her. It was better for both of them that way. As he crossed the offices he noticed his employees weren't making eye contact with him. He started to feel a bit badly about that. He normally wasn't a bear and people loved to work for him. He really was going to have to try not to take his frustrations out on his employees. He looked over to his secretary and waited until he got her attention.
"Order lunch for everybody today and use my credit card. After lunch, those who don't have immediate things to be finished tonight can have the rest of the afternoon off," he said and walked toward the elevators. He smiled as his employees faces lit up.
"Thank you, Mr. Titan," a few different people shouted out to him as he entered the elevator. He nodded his head before the doors shut, locking him and Nicole into the small space.
"That was really sweet of you," Nicole told him. Her entire demeanor had relaxed with those few words he'd uttered. He looked at her with surprise. She threw thousand dollar gifts back in his face with contempt but he spends a few hundred dollars on lunch for strangers and she gets all warm and fuzzy. He couldn't understand her.
"I'm a nice guy," he said with a leer. He then couldn't take the space between them anymore, so he reached out and pulled her into his arms. She stiffened for about two seconds, then her body melted into his. Sexual chemistry wasn't something they were lacking. He kissed her with all his pent up anger and need and by the time the elevator reached the bottom floor, they were both panting.
His security staff acted as if they hadn't seen anything, thankfully. He knew the cameras in the elevators had given them quite a show. If Nicole knew that, she would've been mortified. He was going to speak to his staff and have a panel put in the elevator because he suddenly needed to have a way to turn off those monitors.
He pulled her out into the busy Seattle streets and led her to a small diner. There were so many great little cafés with excellent food in the city he was constantly being surprised. Nicole thawed out and they enjoyed a nice lunch together.
When she didn't have herself armed against him she would actually relax and he could see pieces of the teenage girl he'd been in love with so many years before. That had to be the reason he couldn't yet let go of her. He simply had to purge himself of those long ago teenager fantasies. He'd be fine once he'd done that.
"Let's do some shopping," he told her. She wore the same clothing over and over again and not that she looked bad in anything she wore but he was an incredibly wealthy man and he wouldn't be made a fool.
"I don't want to leave Patsy for too long," she told him, as she followed him from the table to the car waiting for them. She hadn't even heard him call for his driver.
"Patsy has round the clock care and will be fine for a few hours," he said with frustration. She looked for any excuse to get away from him and he wasn't going to allow it.