HYEON GRINNED WHEN Nyla walked past her. "So how was the date? I need details!"

Nyla ducked not her office but Hyeon was relentless and she followed it. "Where did he take you?"

Knowing that Hyeon wouldn't leave before she got all the details, Nyla leaned back in her chair. "We went to watch the orchestra and then had dinner at some fancy French restaurant."

Hyeon frowned. "Couldn't that man be a little more imaginative? Hell, if he asked me for suggestions, I would have given it to him."

"It wasn't bad." Nyla said defensively.

Hyeon simply gave her pitiful smile. "You don't need to lie to me, you were probably bored out of your mind."

"I wasn't." Nyla said firmly. "A good date doesn't need to have the best location. All it needs are people who are interested and have chemistry."

"Oh, is that what you and Mr. Giordano have? Chemistry?"

A coy smile was present on Hyeon's lips and that's when Nyla knew that her secretary had been playing her the entire time. She gave her a stare that scared most people—but not Hyeon. "Not funny."

Hyeon grinned cheekily. "You have to admit that I have excellent acting skills."

"You must have lost your true calling." Nyla replied sarcastically. She made a shooing hand motion. "You've gotten your answers, now let me have some peace."

"To think about Mr. Giordano's dreamy eyes?"

"Hyeon!"

"Fine, I'll stop." Hyeon said with a smile but her tone morphed into something more serious. "George was in here earlier, asking to speak with you."

Nyla sighed. When was there ever a time where nobody needed her? "I'll go to his office."

Hyeon nodded before shutting the office door behind her. Her phone pinged and she opened it to receive a text from Darius.

There was a picture of a kiss and a note underneath. In case last nights kiss wasn't enough.

Nyla looked at the message and burst into laughter.

She replied quickly.

I think the chocolates need to be with me, instead of you.

There was no message for a couple of minutes.

You're right. Next time I'll bring lots of kisses 😉

Still smiling, Nyla shook her putting her phone back into her pocket. It was time for her to focus now and the first thing she needed to do was speak with George.

Nyla slipped out of the room and walked to her COO's office. When she neared, she saw that the door wasn't fully closed, and she could hear George screaming.

George's voice was audible. "It was a fucking stupid idea!"

Nyla frowned; she didn't know who he was yelling at.

"Because of you, I've had to take on more work to make sure that nobody fucking notices!"

Nyla knocked on the door and there was silence.

"Someone's here. I'll see you later tonight."

George opened the door and his faced morphed into surprise. "Nyla, what are you doing here?" I wasn't expecting you."

"Hyeon told me that you stopped by earlier?"

George gave her a pained smile that didn't seem sincere at all. "Sorry, come in. There was something that I needed to talk to you about anyways."

Nyla sat down, surprised to see George's office a mess. He was usually very clean and organized but it was clear that something was bothering him.

"I didn't mean to pry, but I heard shouting before I came in. Is everything alright?"

George gave her the same fake smile. "Everything's wonderful."

Nyla decided to drop the matter. It was clear that her wasn't going to confide in her. "If you need anything, I'm here. Honestly, I don't know how I would run this place without you."

"You wouldn't run it very well, that's for sure." George joked.

Nyla smiled. "What did you want to talk about?"

George took a seat and his face turned serious. "We need to add more security and keep an eye on employees. After the whole Bill fiasco, it's clear that we don't know what's going on with our employees. That's why, I came up with a foolproof plan."

Nyla folded her hands. "I'm listening."

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Nyla's fingers tingled as she held them over Darius'. He fixed his blue eyes on her, "Ready?"

Nyla nodded and together they cut the red ribbon that was blocking the table full of their new vitamin line. A cheer went up from the crowd and Nyla's face morphed into a smile.

"We did it," Darius said softly.

"Yes, we did." Nyla replied.

It had taken months for them to get to this point and finally they were launching a new product line that they were both satisfied with. All the blood sweat and tears they'd put was worth it.

"We have a lot of activity on the website already." Everly, her new Marketing head reported.

Nyla smiled and looked at Darius. "Something tells me that this is going to be a good night."

The launch party was in a full swing. It was actually Zoey who had come up with the idea of merging both a New Year's Eve party and the vitamin launch into one big event. Economically, it also made sense. Executives from both companies were mingling and seeing that made Nyla smile.

They came so far. Once upon a time, they hadn't trusted one another but now it was nice to see everyone as a cohesive group. Darius touched her shoulder lightly. "I'm going to get a drink; do you want me to get you something?"

"A glass of champagne would be nice."

Darius nodded and Nyla watched him walk towards the bar. He was dressed in a stunning black and emerald tuxedo that fit his broad shoulders quite snuggly. She couldn't believe that he was actually hers. A few minutes later, Darius returned with her drink.

They raised their glasses to one another. "To a good year."

Darius blue eyes softened before clinking his glass with hers. "To a good lifetime."

They watched as the countdown to the New Years began and when the clock hit twelve, Darius lips met hers. She sighed in relief before sinking into the kiss. This was a great way to start the new year.

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Nyla watched as the last of the catering staff left the venue. A heavy weight settled upon her shoulder and she looked up to see that Darius had placed the black coat on her back. She gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

He nodded, already wearing his own coat and twirling his keys between his fingers. "You ready to leave?"

"Yes," she said.

Darius lead her to the parking garage where is Bugatti didn't look out of place amongst the other fancy cars. Nyla slipped into the passenger seat as the engine began to rumble. They had no trouble exiting the garage, it was only after they were outside Nyla realized that there was no way Darius was going to be able to drop her home before returning to his place. She glanced sideways and sure enough, Darius jaws were clenched.

"I forgot how driving on New Year's Eve is a nightmare." His fingers tapped impatiently on the wheel. "At this rate we will be lucky to reach your condo by sunrise."

Nyla was silent for a minute before she formulated a plan. "Isn't your place much close to here?"

Darius nodded. "It's about a ten-minute ride which will probably take an hour in this traffic."

"Then let's just go there," Nyla suggested. "I can stay over for the night."

Darius inhaled sharply and Nyla held her own breath. "Are you sure? I could still drop you off at your place."

Nyla placed a palm on Darius' hand that was by the centre console. His hand felt soft underneath hers even though she knew he put in a lot of handwork. However, Darius also took care of himself. Darius' eyes met hers and even in the dark they were shinning at her.

"Okay," he breathed and interlocked their fingers. "To my place we go."

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Nyla opened her eyes to see a pair of emerald eyes starring at her and she screamed.

There was a loud bang and she looked to her right to see Darius knee jammed against the headboard.

"Get it away for me!" she repeated and tugged the sheets around her body tighter.

She was only wearing Darius' old grey shirt and she was aware of it. She was also aware of the animal trying to crawl its way onto her skin. Darius was still rubbing his eyes, trying to make sense of everything and Nyla knew she wouldn't be getting any help.

"Shoo!" She made rapid hand waving motions.

The cat continued staring at her and licked its paw, as if it was bored of the entire conversation itself.

"Darius, get that thing away from me now before I hit it with a pillow."

As if noticing the change in her tone, Darius moved into action.

"Come Jazzy," he cooed at the cat. "I'll grab you some food and we can leave this cat hater alone."

Nyla took a pillow from beside her and swung so quickly at Darius that he didn't have time to dodge it. It hit him squarely in the face.

The surprised look on his face made Nyla burst out laughing and she momentarily forgot about the cat peering at her intensely.

"You'll pay for that!" Darius took a pillow before he began whacking Nyla who tried her best to dodge the incoming attack.

When Darius took a breath, Nyla began hitting him with the pillows near her and thus began an unexpected pillow fight. Darius pinned Nyla down between his legs and Nyla laughed between breaths "I give up."

Darius raised an eyebrow, "Do you?"

She nodded and before she even had time to comprehend what was going on, Darius eyes darkened, and he kissed her passionately. Her fingers weaved into his dark hair and she sighed, leaning back into the pillows.

A loud meow broke them apart and Nyla swung her gaze to see the cat staring at them.

"It seems Jazzy isn't a fan of kissing." Darius said with a chuckle before releasing Nyla.

She immediately missed the warmth of his body.

"Where the fuck did the cat even come from?"

Darius looked at her offended. "She's mine—I've had her for three years now."

"Well she wasn't here when I was here the last time you were sick."

"She was at Vincent's place because he picked her up from the groomer."

"Cat's need to be groomed?"

Darius ran his fingers through the cat's white fur. "Of course, they do." He caught her eyes. "You should pet her."

Nyla grimaced. "I think I'm good where I am."

"Are you afraid?" Darius mocked her.

Nyla was afraid. She didn't have any pets growing up and something about the cat made her want to stay far away as possible. Unfortunately, the cat had other ideas as it decided to stroll towards Nyla. She promptly jumped out of the bed only to nearly slip on a pile of blankets and pillow on the floor.

"What is all of this?"

Darius gave her an annoyed glare. "This is you kicking me off my own bed in the middle of the night."

Heat rushed to Nyla's cheeks. "I did not do that."

Darius snorted. "You stole most of my blanket, moved to my side of the pillow, and then kicked me in the ribs. It was the worse sleep of my life." he admitted.

"Well I slept wonderfully." Nyla said with a cheerful smile she was sure would annoy him.

"And my back aches."

Nyla jumped of the bed, "Stop being such a baby." She winked at him before strolling to the bathroom. "I'll give you a massage later on."

The last thing she saw were Darius' eyes darkening. Once she got out of the bathroom, she was surprised to see that he had fixed breakfast for the two of them. They both ate in silent, reading their respective newspapers and basking in each others company. Once breakfast was done, Nyla cleared up her plate and turned to Darius. "I need to head back to my apartment to catch up on work."

Darius shrugged his shoulders. "Stay here and do it."

Nyla opened her mouth and closed it.

"If your worried about me distracting you, I won't. I have some files I need to look at as well." He gave her a charming smile. "We can be work buddies."

Nyla flung the dishtowel on his butt but smiled. "I'm in."

---------------

There are only five chapters left in the story. :(