“Do you admit defeat, Miss Rachel?” He folded his arms on his shoulders.
But before I could think of a smart retort to that question, my phone rang out.
Whipping it out, I raised my eyebrows as I saw the caller I.D.
Why would dad be calling me now?
“Yes, dad?” I spoke into the phone, as I walked towards Richard and placed a hand on his shoulder, an apologetic look on my face. He smiled and clasped his hand over mine, telling me it was okay.
Although I was his only child, dad and I weren’t on very good speaking terms. And it all centered on my mother, who lived thousands of miles away from both of us. They’d separated early on when I was still a toddler so I didn’t get to know her very well. Yet, for some reason he absolutely refused to tell me, he wouldn’t let me go look for her. He wouldn’t even tell me where she was, even though I’d begged him over and over again.
And did I mention that he could be extra protective?
He called so often just to know where I was, just like he was currently doing.
“I’m fine, dad. When I get back, I’ll come to visit you at the company, okay? Bye now. Talk to you later.” I said into the receiver as I cut the call, noting that Richard looked at me with a strange, fleeting smile on his face.
“He owns a company?” He asked as we began to walk towards the gate to the park.
I sighed, “Yeah, he does. But, honestly, I don’t really care much for it. There’s a lot of unnecessary baggage that comes with being known as the daughter of the C.E.O. of Tysone Corp, especially…” I paused, lowering my voice as I spoke the next words, “…the media… Richard?”
He wasn’t walking beside me anymore. Turning around, I raised my eyebrows as I saw him standing a few paces away with widened eyes, his mouth opening and closing in something uncomfortably akin to shock.
“Y-your father is…” he paused, swallowing, “…the C.E.O. of Tysone Corp?”
His voice was strange. Low and somewhat shaky. What made me pause was the look on his face. His forehead was wrinkled, eyes darkened, teeth bared and fists clenched. What was going on?
“Is there a problem with that?” I asked, apprehension slowly creeping up my heart.
He didn’t say anything, just stood there looking at me. But at that moment, I felt an irreversible thing shift between us.
Chapter Five
Richard
If I thought I was a scumbag before, well I hadn’t seen anything yet, especially the Richard of the present. Over the years, I had done shitty things, broken women's hearts, gotten my heart broken in return, to the point I vowed to stay off women forever.
But one thing I never did was sink to the point where I let myself sleep with my close friend’s daughter.
Granted, the first time I slept with her, I didn’t know who she was. But she’d revealed it to me the next day at the park, hadn’t she? She indirectly told me her father was Tom Ivy, the C.E.O. of Tysone Corp – and a man with whom I’d been enjoying a close friendship for over a year.
Why hadn’t I seen the connection in the first place?
Tom was older than me. When I met him a year ago, I’d had a rare moment when I was actually impressed by him. Men who moved in high circles tended to be pompous or arrogant, but Tom was neither. He’d been straightforward, saying what he needed to say and I’d respected that. Impressed by his knowledge, I’d agreed to have one or two drinks with him. One thing led to another and before I knew it, we were so close that he’d asked me to join an exclusive club he found. And I’d readily agreed.
I didn’t actually know about the terms and conditions, the part about not falling in love, until much later, but I didn’t mind anyway because I wasn’t planning to do it.
‘The Merry Men’ met often and consisted of five billionaires – Tom, his childhood friend Frank, that investment guru called Jack who was also the guy who got me to come here in the first place, a science-geek-turned-billionaire called Kevin and I. I just spoke to them barely a week ago.
So what would Tom say when he knew I was sleeping with his daughter?
Right now, I was in front of the mirror, a haggard look on my face as I stared at myself, wondering what the hell I was going to do.
Just call the relationship off.
That was the rational thing to do, right? Then why did I find it so difficult? There’d been so many times during the past day, even while we were still in the amusement park, when the voice of reason had told me to open my mouth and tell her the truth – that it had been fun, yeah, but we couldn’t keep doing this, whatever it was.
Yet every time I turn to her, I’d see her eyes, her pretty blue eyes crinkling up as she smiled or laughed at something, her hair – as golden as the sun itself – splaying down her shoulders – and oh my goodness… her lips. Those full, sinful, plump and damn kissable rosy lips that I just couldn’t get out of my head.
She had bewitched me. Point blank. I was over a decade older than her. She was my close friend’s daughter. This was wrong on so many levels. Yet, I didn’t know what I was going to do about it.
I just couldn’t let her go. Not yet.
***
Rachel
“Richard?” I spoke into the phone, smiling as I heard his voice.
“Hey, wanna come over?” His deep voice sent thrills down my spine and I bit my lip, my eyes sparkling as I remembered the night we spent together. I left his room barely two hours ago, and he
