Carys lifted her chin stubbornly as she pressed her lips together.“It’s better if I explain while standing so that the rest of the team can see,” she argued, then continued.
He had to admit the ideas were brilliant.Not just the concept, but the application of the concept was different than anything done before.It was simple, and yet just a little outrageous.The colors on the story board started off subtle, only to intensify as the product came into focus.By the end of the explanation, even Rafi was ready to buy them.
This new campaign was going to be a raging success.He would need to revise his quarterly estimates upwards, possibly by about twenty or twenty-five percent, just because of the marketing ideas.
When the rest of the team finished explaining, Rafi nodded, smiling his approval.“It’s incredible,” he announced, his look incorporating everyone on the marketing team, and lingering on Carys.“It’s truly a brilliant concept and I appreciate the way that everyone on the team helped bring the idea to fruition so quickly.”
He stood up and everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.“Carys, could I speak to you privately?”
Rafi turned, not bothering to wait for her agreement.He walked out of the conference room and into his private office, then turned, leaning against his desk as he waited for Carys to follow.
Chapter 27
Carys stormed into Rafi’s office, her temper rising.She didn’t pause when she stepped through the doorway, but dumped her files onto the table, then slammed his office door shut.
“Did you break into my apartment this weekend?”
Rafi’s face dropped.His relaxed pose tensed and Carys knew she was right.
“I didnot,” he snapped.
He drew in a breath to continue, but she didn’t want to hear it.Carys stepped closer, but not too close.She stabbed the air in his direction, her temper igniting at the terror he’d caused her.“Don’t quibble over the details, Rafi!If you didn’t, then one of your bodyguards did.Am I right?”His expression answered her question and she kept going.“How could you?”She spun around on the heel of her leather boot.“How could you terrify me like that?And why?Was humiliating me not enough?You had to add breaking and entering to the mix just to make sure that I was appropriately scared of you?’
“Why would you think I wanted to terrify you?And how did I humiliate you?”He came around so that he was standing in front of her again, needing to see her expression.
She snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.“Don’t even try it, Rafi!I saw you!You’re a lying bastard who would…” she stopped when her voice cracked.But at the softening of his expression, she stepped backward.“Don’t!”she hissed, lifting a hand, palm out.“Don’t youdarecome closer.I knew someone had been in my place but I hadn’t thought that you would do that to me.I never considered that you would violate my privacy like that!”She paused but before he could defend himself, she shook her head.“Stop breaking into my apartment, Rafi.You made your choice.Leave me alone.”She turned on her heel and grabbed her files.She thought about resigning, but Carys didn’t have another job waiting to go to.And she had rent to pay.She couldn’t afford to quit her current job until she had a new one.
She walked over to the door but before she opened it, she turned.“It would be really nice if you or your goon squad could return my stuff.I don’t know what excuse you’ll offer for the thefts, nor do I understand why you would do something so irritating, but it has to stop!”
Before he could respond, Carys jerked the door open and walked out.She offered a tight smile to the man sitting at the desk outside, refusing to laugh at the young man’s shocked expression.
Carys returned to her cubicle, wondering why Rafi, or his bodyguards, felt the need to break into her apartment at all.
Chapter 28
Rafi stared at the empty doorway, wondering how Carys would react if he caught up with her.They needed to hash this out.He’d been so worried about her this morning, then so relieved that she was at work, apparently safe and sound, that he hadn’t remembered to ask her about her possible pregnancy.
Was she?Pregnant, that is?Was his precious, if furious, Carys pregnant with their first child?And yes, he knew that there would be more.Carys was too sweet and loveable to stop at one.He was so relieved that Carys was safe and unharmed that he couldn’t hold onto his anger, which melted away.
But, he did need get to the bottom of her absence this weekend.What had she said?She was angry that someone had broken into her apartment?
Rafi rubbed the back of his neck.He’d done that.He’d ordered his bodyguards to slip into her apartment to make sure that she wasn’t alone and hurt, needing help and unable to call for it.
Then what had she said?To be honest, after that comment, she’d turned and walked away.Rafi had allowed his eyes to stray down over her delectably curvy figure and…he’d noticed that she wore his favorite leather boots.They were the same boots she’d been wearing the first time he’d seen her and his mind had blanked.If he’d been more on his game, Rafi would have listened more intently.But the boots…
Thefts!
Yeah, that’s what she’d said.Something about thefts in her apartment.She’d accused his bodyguards of stealing from her apartment?Why?His bodyguards were extremely well paid.They worked long hours in difficult situations, were highly trained, and were loyal to a fault.He appreciated every damn one of them.
They wouldn’t steal.And they definitely wouldn’t steal minor items from Carys’s apartment.So what the hell had she meant by that statement?
“Amir!”he called out.
His head of security immediately stepped into Rafi’s office.The guard didn’t respond with the usual “Yes, Your Highness” because he’d forbidden the use of his title when they weren’t on official business outside of Lativa.It wasn’t a secret that he and his brother were princes.It’s just that he and his family didn’t advertise the fact that they were members of the royal family when it wasn’t necessary.
“Yes, sir?”Amir inquired, his body language alert and ready for anything.
“You put a guard on Carys during the work day, correct?”Rafi asked, which was the question at the top of his mind.
