Even though she was confused, her lips still tingled, she needed to find Mr. Walter, and she needed to do that real quick.
But how? When Mr. He-calls-himself-Damon won't even let her go. He was sitting next to the door.
"Uhm, Mr …." She paused
"Damon," He offered helpfully with a smile and his dimples deepened as he gave her his usual smiley smirk. She was sure he wasn't trying to be friendly with her.
She wanted to touch him, she wanted to touch his dimples.
𝐺𝑜𝑠ℎ 𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑎, 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑎 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑝.
She looked away and summoned up all her stoicness, and in a sassy tone…
"I don't know why you are doing this, but .."
"I'm not doing anything," Damon denied. "You should bother about why my father is doing this."
"Your father?"
"The well-known, Mr. S. Walter, you know? The older version of me," he told her. " The man who hired you,"
"To take care of a little Damon,"
"To take care of Damon," he poked his chest "Me"
"This is unbelievable" Lucia was visibly getting frustrated.
"I know right," he muttered. His smile faded and suddenly he rubbed his head fiercely as he felt a sharp pain. "Damn!"
Lucia frowned. She looked at him with concern, maybe he wasn't totally mad at all. He looked like he was having a migraine. Probably he has a head injury that made him claim to be Damon.
He looked like a war escapee. His left leg was in a cast, and he held one arm close as if protecting his chest. He also had fresh scars on his forehead. Plus, his eyes were a dark shade of purple.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"What do you think?" He said as he lifted his gaze to her.
The bluntness in his tone startled her. It also made her think. She knew he wasn't just talking about his physical condition. There was more to that question than hitting the ears. She was suddenly scared. Was he telling the truth?
She swallowed a lump in her throat and pushed the thought away. Chiding herself yet again for thinking about that.
Mr. S. Walter employed her to be a nanny for his son. His little boy! She knew he had a little boy. She had seen his picture in his office the first time she came here.
"Is that Damon? She had asked him.
He smiled proudly. "That's my son."
Damon, she had thought.
Now that she thought about it, he didn't really say that the little boy in the picture was Damon.
And the devilishly handsome man sitting across from her was….
Ohmygod!! Damon!
"You are Damon?" She asked faintly. "You are not kidding?"
His hazel eyes met hers and he shook his head affirmatively. "I'm not kidding."
Outside, Lucia could hear the gabble of cheery women.
"But it doesn't make sense. I mean why would he …?" Her voice faltered
"It's his way of making his point clearer to him that I am useless. Wasting my life. He thinks I don't want to be a part of the family's inheritance." She noticed his tone became colder.
She didn't care, because as a nanny she knew that she wasn't to let her guard down. 'Don't let them intimidate you' as her motto says.
She wasn't thinking she was his nanny, was she?
It was a joke. Mr. S. Walter would walk in any moment from now, and take her to the child she would be caring for.
She needed this job, her aunts would be out on the street if she did not keep this job. She was sure that Mr. S . Walter called her two days ago and asked her to commence work as soon as possible.
He had seen her in magazines. He had praised her for her past deeds.
"He must have been joking."
"No,"
"But …"
"He employed you to change me."
Lucia wanted to deny it, but she couldn't. She had an awful feeling that it was true.
"I can't …"
"Of course, you can't!" He said harshly. "So get your silly ass up and tell him you can't."
"What do you mean,"
"Tell him the pay is way too small, that it's not enough. He can't give you anything above ten thousand dollars,"
She thought about her aunts at home.
"No." She said, "I can't."
"Why not?" Damon scowled at her.
"Because I need this job."
"I'll offer you more than what he's offered you, just leave."
Now that …. was tempting, really tempting.
But still, she shook her head. "I can't,"
He glared at her
"What do you mean by you can't?"
She fisted her fingers. "My reputation is at stake."
"What?" He thundered at her.
"I have a professional reputation, as I said before," she said clumsily. "You can't understand. Just understand that this job means a lot to me."
His jaw clenched. They stared at each other, hard.
Lucia's heart was beating frantically.
"All you have to do is to be reformed and maybe he'll stop."
"That would be the worst thing that would happen to me, I can't succumb to his threats!"
.
"Yes, maybe," she took a careful breath. "Maybe you can,"
He paused. He was tired of arguing and begging her to leave.
"In essence, you are staying, Ms. Lucia?"
'𝑆𝑎𝑦 𝑛𝑜,' ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟. '𝑊𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑜𝑢𝑡. 𝑇𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 à𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 ℎ𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑠sed you! 𝑊𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 o𝑓 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑙𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑎?
She didn't know. She couldn't explain it. She only knew something flipped in her when Damon Walter kissed her. She had never been kissed before. Heavens! she had been engaged before. But when Damon Walter kissed her it had been both thrilling and exciting, but in a few seconds it was all gone.
The taste of him was part of her after the kiss. And somewhere deep inside it was like he had struck a chord in her.
She has never felt such an electric spark before. She suddenly wanted to know more, to experience more.
Despite her reputation and personality, she agreed to stay.
She took a deep breath, "yes!"
She has lost her mind.
A twenty-five-year-old virgin who had never felt any tingle or spark from the opposite sex. Not even a kiss from the man she had been engaged to.
She had to commit herself to this, and she didn't know why. She had no choice.
She had never been the type of girl to melt at the touch of a man. Which was the reason her fiance broke up with her three months ago.
"You want to know why I am breaking up with you?" Wilfred had asked her the last time they spoke.
She nodded.
"It's because you are too cold, I want to make love to you. I want to make you moan and groan. But when I kiss you, you don't respond."
"Oh! Sorry, Wilfred! I am not a slut. Or should I wear your clothes and not mine, when we aren't even married?" She replied sharply. She was hurt and heartbroken
"You don't even loosen up a little when I touch you," He snarled.
"I'm so sorry for saying that. You are a beautiful lady. It's not your fault. You are not just… passionate,"
"I can't remember this passion of yours setting the house on fire!" Lucia stung back at him.
"With you? Nah!" He agreed.
Which means he and his newfound lover, shawl the twenty-three years old lady he was dumping her for, have been setting the house on fire?
Well fine! Good for him. Let him have her. Together they could burn up the walls as they wanted, and probably the entire house too.
She didn't care!
As much as she wanted to deny it, Wilfred's accusations still made her think something was wrong with her. What do other girls and ladies possess that she doesn't? What was she lacking?
This afternoon proved it all wrong. Out of the blue, she had felt a spark, something deep, strong, and passionate coming from inside of her.
She sighed.
"How old are you?" She asked a glaring Damon as she came into the cottage with her luggage.
"Thirty-two" he growled as he watched her come in with her luggage.
Huh? A thirty-two-year-old Playboy? Thirty-two years with those heavenly features? Unbelievable!
She shook her head.
Damon had been wondering also. He was sitting right where she left him, scowling at her. While she went out to bring her luggage in he changed into a pair of shorts and t-shirts.
Still, he looked very breathtaking. Very masculine and very intimidating as he sprawled on the floor. He stared like a child that was denied chocolates or some snack.
"How old are you?" He asked rudely.
She lifted her head as she answered.
"Twenty-five,"
"You don't kiss like you are twenty-five" he cried out loud.
Her blood ran to her cheeks making them flush. The feeling of letting down her guard surfaced in her head again.
Thomas, who helped her carry her luggage, made a disapproving sound at what Damon said.
Lucia felt more embarrassed. She wanted to know if Damon felt the same thing. She looked him in the eyes, and Immediately he looked away.
Yes! He had felt it! She suddenly felt a feeling of triumph. Hugging herself and doing a happy dance in her head.
"Don't mind him, he is just sulking."
"I'm not sulking!" He sulked again.
His outburst made Lucia smile.
"You can take them through here," She said to Thomas, ignoring Damon.
She started towards the hallway that led away from the small living room, then looked back,
"That's where the bedrooms are," She said over her shoulder.
Damon grunted something. His dark and cold face glared at her.
"Did he kiss you, miss?" Thomas asked worriedly.
"Oh, yes." She tried to sound neutral and indifferent.
"She's not really good at plain kisses, maybe some french kisses would do," Damon said aloud.
"I can see why your father thinks you need a nanny," Lucia said. "You need to learn how to behave."
She walked away down the hallway.
"A nanny?" Thomas asked, wide-eyed.
"Mr. Damon is quite a handful," Lucia said, ignoring the inquisitive gaze from Thomas.
"Oh, which room is missing?"
"She can sleep with me," Damon said behind her.
"Mr. Walter!" Mr. Thomas chastised.
"Aye Thomas, no need to bother. She loves it when I talk dirty."
Thomas choked on his spit.
"Children misbehave when they think we are watching just to get the attention of the elders around," She said firmly. "I advise you to ignore him. Come along, we have a room to find."
In the hallway, Lucia saw three bedrooms. The biggest, with a view of the garden below. She saw a king-sized room, which she guessed belonged to Damon.
It was surprisingly neat with his laptop placed on his bed. It was royally painted in white and brown, with a hint of black.
Harsh,
Just like its occupant.
"One would think you would like to share the bed, I won't share with a log." He taunted her
She ignored him and the bed. But the thought of sharing the bed with Damon was tempting to the mind. She could imagine him naked against those duvets, his cold and hard skin on her soft ones.
Oh, girl! Stop this! She must come out from this daydreaming. She could never be in that position. She was cursed.
She turned and left the room.
She found another empty bedroom which had an office and sofas. She could have stayed in this room but she didn't want to be close to Damon.
Maybe it was because she didn't want to seem desperate to him or her trust issues or she didn't just trust the whole thing.
Fortunately, there was another bedroom far from the back of the house. It was a long, narrow room.
"Put my things here ?" She went over to the window and looked out. She could view the lower houses down the hills, and she could hear the sound of waves.
"Miss?"
She turned to see that Thomas had dropped her cases and was now looking at her.
"I just want to let you know that he isn't as bad as Mr. Walter says."
"Yeah right," Lucia said dryly as she rolled her eyes.
"I know he has been an asshole but he'll try."
"That would be interesting." Lucia agreed. "But tell me, Thomas. Do you know about this arrangement between Mr. Walter and I?"
Silence.