Chapter 17

Amelia's pov.

After our a little moment, I quickly got off his lap and straighten out my dress. As I'm about to walk over to my desk, I feel a light slap on my bum and I jump in surprise before turning around to glare at Mr. Stone. He looks at me with a smirk and gives me a teasing wink.

"Asshole" I grumble shaking my head emitting a laugh from him as I walk away.

I take a seat and begin focus on my work. I pick up the post it note with Jason's number on it and dial before putting it on speaker in case Ivan wanted to listen. Someone answers on the third ring:

"Jason Maxwell speaking" said a deep voice from the other end.

"Yes Mr. Maxwell, this is Amelia Winters calling to arrange a meeting between you and my boss Mr. Stone" I reply curtly slowly glancing at Ivan to see him already gazing at me intensely.

"Oh yes Amelia, how's life been treating you" he asks, his voice expressing his sudden interest.

"I'm doing well sir thank you but I was calling about a meeting with Mr. Stone" I ask trying to keep the conversation as short as possible once I see Ivan's nostrils flare in annoyance.

"When was he looking to meet me? I'm free 3:30pm today if that's ok" he responds back in business mode and I glance over to Ivan for approval which he gives me a short nod.

"Alright then, three-thirty it is" I answer getting ready to hang up.

"I'll be looking forward to seeing you again Ms. Winters" he flirts before the line goes dead. I roll my eyes at his blatant flirting and turn my chair to look at Mr. Stone. His eyes were piercing and held an air of intensity that frightened me a bit.

"W-we'll be meeting him at 3:30" I confirm to him before turning towards my laptop, not wanting to be the center of his apparent annoyance. I begin typing away at my laptop trying to stay focused on the task at hand but find it very difficult with someone's constant staring. Feeling fed up, I swing my chair around to face him before speaking.

"Do you have a staring problem or something, because it seems to be all your doing today" I snap making sure my annoyance was very evident in my tone.

"Not my fault when all you seem to do is tempt me mia cara" he responds unfazed but his eyes darken slightly.

"If you're tempted with me just sitting here and doing my work that YOU assigned me then I think you have a major problem" I bite back making sure to put emphasis on the you.

"Mia cara, you could look completely shit faced and I'd still find you tempting" he says back with a small smirk and I blush causing his smirk to widen.

"Well quit it, you're distracting me" I mutter pathetically not having anything else to say.

I turn back to my laptop after my response and I hear him slightly chuckle before I hear a shuffling of papers notifying me of him going back to work. Deciding to do the same, I start typing up a couple of documents trying to stay focused. The documents were for future meetings and Ivan wanted me to put them in the filing cabinet once I was done. I print them out once I'm finished and walk over to begin putting them in the cabinets. It took about a half hour to finish typing and putting them away.

After that I was suppose to print up a contract that would be signed by Jason during the small meeting later today. The contract basically sealed the partnership between Maxwell and Stone Industries as they continued to work in major projects together. As time went on, the room remained completely silent both of us indulged in our work.

"Do you want to head out now" Ivan asks disrupting the silence. I close my laptop after hitting print and turn to nod at him before standing up to fix my dress.

I run my fingers through my hair quickly and walk towards the printer to grab the contract. The warm, freshly printed paper makes contact with my cold hands as I quickly put it in a manilla folder and slip in a pen. Turning around, I make my way over to Ivan and set the folder into his awaiting hands. He gives me a smile, and yanks me into his embrace causing me to stumble forward. I take in his expensive cologne before sighing contently. He rubs his hands up and down my sides soothingly making me hum in content. We stay in each other's embrace for what felt like a few minutes but was probably longer.

"We should get going" I tell him tilting my head up slightly to look up into his gorgeous hazel eyes. He nods before leaning down to peck me on the lips sweetly before stepping back.

We walk to the elevator together and step in while I'm making sure I have everything for the meeting. Ivan was looking through his phone and I assume he was reading emails. The elevator dings and the doors open as we both step out. We make our way into the lobby and I immediately spot Connor and he begins making his way over to us.

"And where is my Latina fire cracker heading off to" Connor asks me with a smile completely ignoring Mr. Stone. I giggle before punching him lightly on the shoulder.

"I'm off to a meeting with Mr. Stone and I told you not to call me that" I inform him making sure to glare playfully at the end. Connor finally acknowledges Mr. Stone and the look on his face was priceless.

"H-hello sir, I didn't see you there. I'm sorry for wasting your time" he stutters out looking like he's about ready to shit his pants. I try my hardest to contain my fits of laughter but fail completely.

"Well then, what're you still doing here" Mr. Stone spits out rudely and I immediately sober up before elbowing him in the rib discretely. He glances down at me and I give him a pointed look to which he completely brushes off. Not wanting to stay in this situation any longer, I chose to speak.

"Well Connor, we have a meeting to get to but I promise we can get lunch another time" I say apologetically adding a smile at the end before walking out the door with Mr. Stone hot on my trail. I walk towards the limo to see Ivan's chauffeur holding the door open. Giving him a smile to which he returns, I slide into the limo making sure to scoot all the way by the window. Shortly after, Ivan gets inside and the door is shut behind him. We sit in silence until we pull of the curb and Ivan begins to speak.

"I don't like you being alone with other males who obviously fancy you" he grumbles out.

"Oh don't be such a baby, we're only friends" I tell him not taking my eyes off the window.

"You're very oblivious if you can't see he likes you and I don't want to have to worry about some boy taking you away from me" he responds possessively and I take the time to look at his expression. His eyes were lit with jealousy and my insides flutter at how much he cared. I scoot closer to him before taking his face in between my hands and looking him dead in the eye.

"No ones gonna take me away from you anytime soon and you have nothing to worry about. Connor and I are just friends, nothing will ever happen between us" I assure him making sure my expression showed my sincerity. I lean in and kiss him to which he responds, rapidly taking over. He lays me down on the seat and gets on top of me not once breaking the kiss. He uses one hand to hold himself up and uses the other to trail across my body teasingly. I shutter under his touch and I feel him smile into the kiss before he trails his tongue across my bottom lip. Giving him entrance, our tongues fight for dominance and I can't help but let out moans.

We're so engrossed into each other, we don't feel the car stop or the door open or even see the flashes of light coming from outside. Ivan gets off me immediately to get out of the limo and I sit up to try to compose myself. Stepping out, I'm instantly blinded by flashes and all I heard was shouting. Once my eyes readjust, I realize that I was standing in front of a group of reporters looking like a hot mess. I'm quickly bombarded with question but I chose to keep quite.

"Shit" I mutter before using my hand to cover my face and following Ivan as he pushed through the sea of reporters. As we're walking through the crowd I focus in on what the reporters were shouting.

"Can you give us a brief summary of who you are and what you do for a living" someone asks while shoving a recorder in my face.

"What's your relation to Ivan Stone" one voice says to the left of me.

"Are you guys romantically involved" another asks somewhere towards the right.

"Are you the newest bed warmer for Mr. Stone" one asks from behind. The question took me off guard and left me baffled at how quick they were to judge me but slightly angered me at how many women Ivan had relations with. I ignore the question and the flashes but continue to walk forward. We step into a restaurant and I immediately run to the bathroom ignoring Ivan shouting my name.

I burst inside and lean against the wall trying to calm my rapid breathing. My mind immediately goes to the reporters and how they took so many pictures of Ivan on top of me. I refrain from loosing my shit and walk over to the mirrors to observe my appearance. My hair was a mess and my lips were swollen with smeared red lipstick making me look a clown. I run my fingers through my hair trying to tame it but give up and settle on putting it in a low bun. I pull some strands out to frame my face and look through my purse for some make up wipes. Taking them out, I take off my lipstick and applied some lip balm before deeming myself ready to go back outside.

Giving myself a nod in the mirror, I walk out with my head held high and dismiss the thought of running out of here like a crazy women. I walk over to Ivan and Jason with a smile on my face looking professional.

"I'm sorry about my sudden departure, I needed to freshen up real quick" I apologize with a smile focusing my attention on Jason.

"No worries, just so long as I get to see your pretty face again" Jason flirts and I try my best to bite my tongue.

"Shall we take a seat and get on with the meeting then" a voice butts in and we both turn our attention to Mr. Stone who looked annoyed. We both nod and walk over to a table to sit down at. I sit down beside Ivan and resist the urge to cuss him out in Spanish for earlier. Instead, I pull out my notebook, pen and prepare myself to take notes.

The meeting begins and I busy myself with taking notes forgetting about the earlier incident for the time being. The two men discussed their partnership and what their first order of business was once the contract was signed. Both men ignored me as the meeting went on but their were times where Jason would subtly look at me. The meeting was coming to an end and I take out the contract from the manilla folder before setting it down in front of Jason. He signs it without hesitation and we all get up, the two men shaking hands as we parted ways.

"It was nice seeing you again Amelia" Jason says to me tenderly kissing my hand to which I yank it away quickly.

"I'd say likewise but then I'd be lying" I snap fed up with his relentless flirting. I leave both men standing in the restaurant and rush to the limo covering my face once I see more reporters.

Once I'm inside, I close my eyes and lean my head against the cool window focusing on my breathing.  I ignore Ivan as he gets in, fuming at the fact that I'd be headlining all over every newspaper as "Ivan's new play toy."

"Amelia" he says trying to get my attention but I ignore him, keeping my eyes closed.

"Amelia listen to me" he says, this time with more power but yet again I ignore him.

"Damn it Amelia, I didn't know they'd be here" he snaps angrily but I chose not to respond. I know I was being childish but I couldn't find the strength in me to care.

"I'll sue them if they release those pictures mia cara, just please talk to me" he tells me softly and I open my eyes to look at him.

"I don't want people to think I slept my way up to becoming your assistant" I whisper tiredly to him.

"No one will release those pictures and I'll make sure of it" he replies fiercely while stroking my cheek. I nod and lean against his hand enjoying the contact. He pulls me into his side and I rest my head against his shoulders slowly beginning to doze off as he plays with my hair. The last thing I remember is being cuddled up to Ivan in the limo before I welcome the sleep.

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Chapter 17 complete!! I'm sorry about not updating in awhile, my life has been pretty hectic lately. Look forward to me updating a ton in the next few days!! Make sure to comment, share and vote if you like the book so far!

Love y'all<3

A.O