"Mmm!" A satisfied sigh, followed by a bright smile, escaped his lips when he felt her body wrapped against him when he woke up.
Although it was late by the time he drifted off, he still felt as if last night had been the best sleep he had ever had in years. He attributed that to the warm body sleeping next to him.
What was it about her that made him feel so relaxed and at ease around her? Honestly, he barely knew her. Except for the information his men had gathered about her, she was still practically a stranger.
Yet, a part of him sensed that familiarity which he could not explain.
"Who are you, Sophia?" He asked, wondering why, every time he looked at her, he found himself thinking about Amelia.
Was it her eyes? He swore they were surprisingly identical. But the shade of their hair and the shape of their face were definitely not the same. Then, the rest of their features were just different.
Perhaps it was her character. To some extent, he probably saw some similarity in them. After hearing what Sophia did for his mother, it immediately reminded him of Amelia.
"But, of course, you are not Amelia."
Regardless, finding Sophia in Caleb's room, cradling his son lovingly in her arms while he soundly slept, made him think of Amelia.
"Amelia, where are you?" Then, he thought of their son. "How is he?" What did you name our son?
Several questions ran through his mind, but until he found Amelia, he knew he would never have answers.
If Amelia only loved him, he would have married her right then and there. He would have given her everything she ever wanted. They would have been a happy family by now.
What about Sophia? Why did he marry her?
Was it because of Caleb or his mother? Was it because he was attracted to her?
Undeniably, Sophia had stirred something deep inside him that he had never felt for a long time. Not with the countless women his mother threw at him. Definitely not with his ex-wife, Hazel.
Only one woman made him feel this way.
Amelia.
"Sir..."
"Mr. Morton..."
"Sir... The meeting is over." He heard his secretary's voice, forcing him to snap out of his dreamlike trance.
All of a sudden, he found himself surrounded by ten pairs of eyes, clearly anxious, confused, and curious as they patiently waited for his reaction to the presentation.
But damn if he heard any of it. Obviously, his mind was elsewhere.
"I have to think about it." He finally told them. Luckily, he was the boss, or he would have fired himself for not paying attention to his job.
What was wrong with him? Why was he acting like a schoolboy, thinking about his crush?
"Let's wrap this up." Clearly, his mind was not doing what it was supposed to do.
"If there are no more issues...?" He was ready to leave.
After a few clarifications, he adjourned the meeting and returned to his office. He just had a few loose ends to tidy up, then he could finally call it a day.
Was he really looking forward to this honeymoon? On spending some alone time with this woman?
At first, the only reason he had agreed to his mother, who had arranged this extravagant trip, was because he thought it was necessary.
Afterward, he believed he could use this time to get to know the woman he had married.
But after last night and waking up beside her, he knew that he wanted something else. Something more from this relationship.
"Damn, don't be stupid, Oliver." He reprimanded himself. "If you're not careful, you'll end up..." But his words died on his lips when a soft knock interrupted him.
"Excuse me, Mr. Morton, but your next meeting is already here. Shall I send her in?" Tessa, his secretary, asked.
After he nodded, Tessa signaled for whoever was waiting outside to go right in.
"Thank you, Mr. Morton, for seeing me. I know this is short notice." The woman walked confidently into his room, stopping only when she reached the front of his desk.
As an heiress to the Winston fortune, he was not surprised by her commanding presence. She certainly possessed a brazen and presumptuous personality.
"I'm Elizabeth Winston, your new intern." She leaned forward as she extended her hand to him.
Obviously, it was intentional, exposing a large portion of her cleavage into his view.
Truthfully, any warm-blooded male would find this woman attractive. Her face, body, and height could easily pass as those of an actress, a model, or even a beauty queen.
But she was not his type.
"Well, my father didn't exactly give me much of a choice." Ignoring her blatant attempt to seduce him. "Please take a seat, Ms. Winston." He politely offered, pointing to one of the empty chairs.
"Call me Elizabeth." She offered, unfazed by his glaring rejection of her advances. "...or whatever you prefer, Oliver." She added with a suggestive smile and a provocative tone.
Damn! What was his father thinking?
Instantly, he knew that his father must have set this up.
"Let's just stick to Mr. Morton, and I'll call you Ms. Winston." He frankly said, not intending to entertain anything but an employer-employee relationship.
Quickly, he took note of the folder that his assistant had left on his desk that morning. It was her very short resume.
To be honest, she might have graduated from a reputable university, but she didn't have enough qualifications to be his intern. However, he could not deny her application to work for him. But it didn't mean that she had to work directly under him.
"You are here because of my father's high recommendation." And he could not disappoint her father, Mr. Gregory Winston, who was one of their long-time partners. "So, I expect that you'll perform your duties accordingly if you want to learn from this company."
"Tessa." He called his secretary. "As we have discussed earlier, please assist Ms. Winston to her desk."
Turning to his new intern. "From now on, you'll be getting all your instructions from Tessa. She'll be mentoring you, and you'll be shadowing all her work."
"What?" Ms. Winston appeared shocked and offended. "You want me to follow her around." Her voice had raised several octaves higher. Her face clearly opposed to what she deemed as his unfair treatment.
"But I'm supposed to learn from you." She added. "Your father..."
"Well, I am not my father. I have no time for interns. If you don't agree to my terms, you're more than welcome to find somewhere else to learn." He pointed to the door, not at all affected by her childish tantrum.
"Tessa, kindly show Ms. Winston out of my office." He ordered, but before Tessa could ask the other women to follow her, his unwanted guest hastily stormed out.
"I guess that settles it." Tessa playfully remarked when the woman disappeared from their view. "You have no other appointments for the day. Do you need anything else?"
"I'm not sure if that's the last time we'll hear from Ms. Winston, but I'm good for now." He smiled at his secretary, who had been working for him for five years.
Tessa grabbed the files that he had finished signing on his desk and said, "I hope you'll have a wonderful time on your honeymoon," and she gave him a heart-warming smile.
After firing almost one secretary per week for almost two months, he finally settled with Tessa. She was not only very competent and reliable in her job, but she was also the only one who never tried to seduce him. She had always been professional and ethical in her work.
"Thanks, Tessa." He said. Then, she left.
In the meantime, he packed up his things and walked straight to the elevator, feeling giddy and excited about his upcoming trip.
"Fuck! Get yourself together." He mentally talked to himself, finding his behavior strange and uncharacteristically unlike him.
Was he truly looking forward to this fake honeymoon? Damn! Had he completely lost it? Had he fallen into her web?
Soon, he was riding in the backseat of his car, being driven by his most trusted driver and bodyguard, toward home.
When—
Kring! Kring! Kring!
Upon seeing the caller, he thought of ignoring it. But as it rang continuously, he finally gave in and pressed the answer button.
"Who gave you the right to disrespect Gregory's daughter?" His father's voice boomed inside the confines of his car.
Of course, Ms. Winston had already complained to his father, just as he had expected she would.
"I offered her a job just as you wanted, but she refused it. That's not my problem anymore." He responded calmly, pinching the bridge of his nose to stop his headache from getting worse.
"I told you to take her under your wings. Show her the ropes. Do not pass her off to your secretary." Maximus insisted. Actually, he ordered, acting as if he still held the power over him.
"Dad, I'm sorry. But this is now my company, and I will run it the way I see fit." He made sure that his voice carried the same intensity. "Now, if she doesn't like it. She's always welcome to work for someone else."
In truth, he was only doing this to appease his father, but he would not let him use him as a pawn in one of his games ever again.
The last thing he would do was make the same mistake again.
"Goodbye, Dad." Ending the call before his father could say no more.
Although his mother was the one who pushed him to marry Hazel, he discovered later on that his father was the one pulling all the strings behind it.
This time, he was not falling into his father's trap anymore.
But what about Sophia?
Honestly, he didn't buy her reason for marrying him. His instincts told him that she was not in this arrangement for the money. She wanted something else.
But what?
Was she working alone? Or was there someone else at the helm, steering the wheel?
So, who was the mastermind behind her scheme?