Chapter 7 : Lessons From the Past

Mia doesn’t need to respond, whatever level of restraint she has been displaying just snaps.

Instantly, they are connected, lips colliding with a fevered passion that leaves Mia breathless.

Elon’s hand slips behind the nape of her neck, bringing her as close to him as possible. The bare touch of his skin on her is almost enough to make her let out a moan.

He takes the opportunity to slip his tongue in between her slightly parted lips, deepening the kiss until Mia feels like she is seeing stars.

All the strength slowly saps from her body as he softly groans into her mouth. Mia’s fingers desperately grasp at the fabric of his shirt as she forgets about every single thing she told herself to convince her mind that this is insane.

Kissing Elon is insane. Allowing this to be more than an employee-employer relationship is insane. But having Elon hold her like this is more than enough for her to drop her conviction.

The way his lips devour her, the way his fingers grip her tightly but also gently, makes Mia think about things that are definitely not appropriate for a lady. Maybe she's just lonely. It's been a while since she had any sort of intimacy with anyone, and the last time she had, it was with her cheater ex-fiancé. It's not a good memory for sure.

When they finally pull away for air, Mia can see every feeling swirling in Elon’s eyes. Lust, desire, whatever you want to call it. And it is as if reality has returned to her mind like a gulp of fresh air on a hot day.

She can't do this. He's her boss. She can't lose this job, and if she's being completely honest with herself, there's no way this can end nicely.

Elon is about to pull her back in when she holds out a single hand against his chest.

He opens his mouth to speak but Mia squeezes her eyes shut and steadies her breathing.

“I don’t… I can’t do this.” Mia pulls herself away from his embrace and flees from the room and the mansion without looking back. She doesn't even remember to check if Shir is anywhere around. All she wants to do is go home.

She doesn’t stop until her car reaches her house before she can finally let herself exhale.

She crawls into bed, completely drained of energy as she burrows herself in her blanket. Her eyes already feel like lead as she lets a wave of sleep wash over her. Her last thought is of the look of confusion on Elon’s face before she fled the room.

***

As Mia unlocks her door, an unsettled feeling instantly blankets her. It’s too quiet.

She left work earlier than normal, hoping to surprise her fiancé for a romantic night in. She had been more than a little preoccupied in the last few months, trying to get everything ready for their upcoming wedding.

Mia was never one to have the strongest gut feelings, but she instantly knew that this was one that demanded that she listen to it.

“Mateo? Are you home, cariño?” she calls out, peeking her head around the corner.

Instantly, she hears a crash followed by the sound of muffled arguing. Mia’s stomach plummets.

She reaches into her purse, pulling out a compact can of bear mace. If there is more than one intruder, she will most likely be overwhelmed, but she hadn’t taken years of kickboxing classes for nothing. She never got into a physical altercation before, but if it means keeping herself and the man she loves safe, she will do anything.

Mia braces herself as she steps quietly into the living room. It is empty, and everything still looks like it is in place.

Everything except…two glasses of wine placed on the kitchen island.

Mia’s stomach twists in a whole new way as she sees a tie thrown carelessly on the floor leading toward their bedroom door. She sets the mace down and follows the tie to the doorway. The door is haphazardly closed, but she can tell it isn’t locked.

As she pushes the door open and looks into her room, her worst fears are confirmed. Mateo stands, using their comforter to cover himself as his head whips to look over at Mia. There’s a woman still in their bed, hiding her face behind a pillow.

“Mia! You— You’re home early.” He tries to laugh, but the sound dies in his throat. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

Mia stares at him, not remembering how to blink.

Before her heart can settle on just one emotion, she looks over at the woman and sees long coral nails clutching the pillow. These were nails she knew well because she was there when they had gotten done two days ago.

Mia’s moving before she knows it, pushing past Mateo to rip the pillow out of the woman's hands.

Her best friend since middle school, Isabel, looks back at her, shaking.

“I didn’t mean to, Mi… I’m so—”

Mia grabs her by the arm, dragging her out of her bed so they’re standing face to face.

Isabel was wearing one of her signature matching bra and underwear sets, the ones she used to tell Mia were a “guarantee” that she could have any guy that she wanted.

Now, that confident woman has disappeared, replaced by a coward that wouldn’t even look at Mia.

“Look at me.” Mia’s voice is detached, with not a hint of emotion.

“It’s not my fault—”

Mia slaps her as hard as she can across the face.

Isabel goes careening backward, clutching her face and gasping.

“Get the fuck out of my house.”

Isabel skitters out of the room, and she hears the door click behind her.

She feels Mateo behind her, waiting on bated breath for what comes next. When she turns around to face him, he’s already shrugged on a pair of pants.

Mia watches him staring at her as if she was a wild animal that was about to tear him to shreds.

“Mia—”

“Are you in love with her?” It is the only thing she's able to think of right now. Not that it matters. He was dead to her the moment she entered the room anyway.

Mateo laughs; Mia doesn’t remember it sounding this cold before.

“No. That isn’t…what that was.” His body posture changes, and suddenly Mia feels two feet tall. “It was just sex.”

“Why?” Her voice breaks, desperation seething out of the single word.

Mateo shakes her head. “I don’t think you want to hear that. All it’s going to do is hurt you.”

Mia scoffs. “Too late. Tell me now.”

Mateo sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “We’re supposed to be getting married, Mia.”

“Yeah. I actually feel like I’m the only one of the two of us that actually cared about that,” she spits back.

“No, I mean…You aren’t really happy about it. You aren’t happy about…anything, honestly.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” she barks through clenched teeth. Is he trying to put this on her? Blame her for cheating?

“It means,” Mateo takes a deep breath, “ever since your mom died, you’re barely a person anymore.”

Mia jerks her head back.

Her mom had died two years ago. She hadn’t been taking it well, but she thought she had been at least hiding it well.

“What?”

“You aren’t moving on, Mia. I thought that proposing would give you something else to focus on, but you’ve dragged the planning on for over a year. Weddings are supposed to make girls happy, but you’re just going through the motions.”

Mia is speechless, but the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together.

“When did it start?”

Mateo closes his eyes. “Isabel misses you too, you know. I’m not the only person you’ve been pulling away from.”

“When, Mateo?” Mia raises her voice.

“The day I proposed.” He has the decency to sound ashamed.

Mia feels like throwing up.

“Before or after?” she manages to ask.

Mateo sighs loudly. “Before, Mia. Is that what you want to hear? Are you happy now?”

A pit of anger is growing so fast in Mia’s stomach she feels like she’s going to explode.

“I can't believe you fucked my best friend behind my back. What is wrong with you, Mateo?” She looks deeply into his eyes, shaking her head vehemently. “Did you… Did you ever even love me at all?”

Mateo sits down on the foot of their bed. “I…don’t know. I think I did, once. I hope I did.”

A tear trails down Mia’s face. “But not anymore, right?”

“I would have stayed with you for the rest of my life, Mia. I want you to know that. It just got too hard.”

“Real love isn’t supposed to be easy, Mateo.”

***

Mia wakes up in the middle of the night, staring up at the pitch blackness. She replays the kiss with Elon in her head over and over again, her nightmare still heavy in her mind.

It was a mistake, clearly. Someone like Elon couldn’t be seen with someone like Mia in public. What did that leave her as? Some secret lover that he laughs about with his friends? A mistress that accepts that she’ll never be equal to him?

She can hear Mateo’s cold laugh all over again when she asked him if he loved Isabel. Is that supposed to be her life now?

Mia respects herself more than that.

Some girls are clearly comfortable being someone’s secret, but Mia can’t bring herself to consider it.

She can’t help but wonder what Elon had been thinking. That kind of passion couldn’t be faked, right?

His touch is seared into her mind; everywhere that his fingers grazed still feels electrified.

She doesn’t know anything about his dating life in the past, but she is sure there must have been lines of women that waited just for the chance to kiss Elon Dahan.

Why would Elon bother to kiss someone like her? Is this his way into every woman's pants? It can't be. She refuses to believe he is that kind of man.

None of this makes sense to Mia, but she knows one thing for certain, Elon Dahan is not someone that she can have.

Her heart doesn’t seem to be getting the memo, however. If her heart had its way, she would still be on that couch with him.

Why? Why does Elon have this much of an effect on her?

Mia wishes she could talk to her mom just one last time. She always had the best advice, and she knew how to just…listen.

Her mom would have liked Elon, more than Mateo at least.

Mia thinks about the way Elon looked at her only a few hours ago, the way his face lit up with concern for only her. Then, she remembers the look of burning desire that overtook him completely.

She wants to see more of his expressions, the ever-so-composed billionaire breaking his aloof facade for just her.

Her thoughts are going to be the death of her. She needs a confidant, and she certainly can’t imagine asking either of her grandparents what they think of the situation.

The only other person that really speaks to her is Sabrina, who might actually strangle her if she ever found out she kissed Elon.

She supposes the only person that she can actually talk to about it is Elon himself. He will be able to give her some clarity, certainly. He will at least be able to tell her what he meant by it, and what he wants from her now.

Mia knows that if she is going to talk to Elon again, she is going to need to be firm on what she wants first.

No matter what her fickle heart says, she knows deep down that she can’t stay at this job for much longer because if she does, it will be inevitable that their relationship will get more complicated the longer she spends around him.