Ari was good with computers, so writing on one was not a hard task for her, but before long, her fingers hurt. By the time the meeting ended, her arms were weary and tired. 

The instant she got back to the hotel, Ari fell on her bed and dozed off. She had not slept for up to three minutes before her phone rang by her side. Stretching her hand, she weakly picked the call without looking at the caller.

”Hello?”

“Come up to my room. I need you to do something briefly. “Ari frowned and looked at her phone and she sat up when she saw it was Xavier, before she could say anything, he had ended the call.

There were other staff who were more competent than she was. Why would he ask her to come to his room?

Ari grudgingly stood up and left for Xavier’s room. When she got to the penthouse, she raised her hand to press the doorbell, but stopped when she saw the door was already opened.

Walking in quietly, she shut it after her.

Exquisite.

Was just the perfect word to describe the penthouse.

From the upholstery down to the tiniest flower vase, everything screamed luxury. Ari admired the penthouse as she walked in. There was a living room and a stair leading upstairs to what was most likely the bedroom.

Just as she thought about it, Xavier walked down the stairs in light steps.

He was wearing pants with a robe over his body and no shirt on. Ari’s eyes drank in his well-toned body before pulling her eyes to his face.

His hair looked damp, as though he just stepped out of the shower.

“You’re here.” He said with a wistful smile on his chin.

Ari did not reply. She just smiled thinly as she waited for him to tell her why he had called for her.

Xavier walked to the center table and picked up a document, then handed it to her.

“You’ll see the highlighted areas. Type it as quickly as you can. I need it before 9 pm tonight.”

Xavier said, as he pointed at the laptop sitting lazily on the couch.

Ari glanced at the document in her hand. It was bulky, and there were a lot of highlighted pages, and he wanted her to finish typing before 9 pm.

She took in a deep breath as she watched him take long strides towards the stairs.

The last time she checked, she was not his secretary. Why was she doing his job?

“Can I go to my room and bring it when I’m done?”

“No, you’ll have to stay here so I can make sure there are no mistakes.”

Ari nodded and sat down, a low sigh leaving her lips.

Was he still punishing her for what she did earlier that day?

She wondered, everyone else was retired, and even he had gone up to sleep, why did he have to keep her awake?

And the next day he would still expect her to be up early when she had had no rest!

In that instant, Ari wished she had turned down the request to go to Paris. She had not even had the chance to take any pictures or see the city. She was just locked up in here, working her ass out!

She fumed as she grabbed the laptop and began copying. The more she copied, the more she hated Xavier.

After some minutes, she heard his footsteps on the stairs.

Ari glanced at him briefly and turned her eyes back to the screen. Xavier walked to where she was and peeked at what she was doing.

As he bent down, his cologne wafted into her nostrils.

Ari had a weakness for men who smelled good, and oh God, Xavier smelt so good.

Musky… woody…,

Her senses involuntarily picked up his scent,

She felt like hugging him and burying her nose in his chest. She was sure she would sleep off the second she did that, cause she was tired as hell.

Ari bit her lower lip involuntarily as she tried to concentrate on what she was doing, quickly reminding herself what a jackass he was,

“You spelled that wrongly.”

Xavier commented as he pointed at the screen of the laptop, snapping Ari out of her daze.

“Oh…” she mumbled as she corrected her mistake. Xavier smiled at her before sitting down on the couch opposite her.

Ari breathed out in relief the moment he was out of her airspace.

“Do you want anything? Have you had anything to eat?”

He asked once he sat down.

She had nothing yet, but she did not want to eat there either. The earlier she finished with what she was doing, the better for her. When she retired to her room, she would have something.

“Yes, I have.”

She lied. But it seemed her stomach was not in agreement, because her lie was followed by a rather too loud a growl in her stomach.

Sadly, the room was quiet, so Xavier heard it loud and clear.

Ari cursed beneath her breath as she touched her stomach. Xavier chuckled softly as he picked the telephone.

“what would you have?”

“I’ll eat when I go back to my room.”

She objected, but Xavier was not having it. “I don’t bite Maria, and I won’t let you work on an empty stomach. As long as you’re here, I’m responsible for you. So, what are you going to eat?”

Ari sighed, “whatever you’re having.”

First, she was too tired to argue, and second, she was indeed starving.

In a few minutes, the servers walked in, pushing trays of food.

After they set the dining table, Xavier called her to come and eat.

“Wow,” Ari exclaimed involuntarily, Xavier had ordered a banquet.

There were so many dishes on the table, although they looked delicious. She was sure they could not even eat a quarter.

“Rich people just don’t know what to do with money.”

Ari commented as she sat down. Even though she was a little glad she would taste so many dishes she had not tasted before, she still found it wasteful to spend so much money on what they would not finish.

Xavier smiled thinly. He had actually ordered so much because he did not know what she liked exactly. So, in case she did not like any, she would have others to choose from, but it seemed his efforts had thoroughly gone unnoticed.

“Thank you for the meal,” Ari said halfheartedly, as she took a plate and served herself.