A T H E N A

"I'm trying not to think about you. I'm trying not to give into you. All my feelings on fire, guess I'm a bad liar"

° ° °

While I lean against the cold tiles in the shower, guilt starts overwhelming me. What have I done? I cheated on Chris. Chris, the perfect boyfriend, who gave me so much love. I groan and lean my head against the tiles while silent tears stream over my face.

How could I do this to Chris? What is he going to do when he finds out?

Should I tell him?

What is his reaction going to be? Is he going to be angry?

Of course, dumbass.

But, will he forgive me?

What if he never wants to see—

"Athena?" Vincenzo's voice interrupts my thoughts. I look up, staring at the door where he stands behind and clear my throat.

"Yes?" I ask, trying my best to hide my trembling voice. "Can I enter? I just want to drop your clean clothes off," he asks. 

"Y-yes," I say, and quickly wipe my tears away. I hear the door open, and thank the heavens that the shower stall is fogged up, so he can't see my naked body.

"You really sure I don't have to join you, mia cara?" he asks me, a smirk clear in his voice.

"I'm sure," I say, trying to keep my voice from trembling. "Alright," he says, and then the door slams shut. I let out a trembling sigh, my body conflicted. 

I loved every single touch of his, it made me anticipate for more and it had me on edge. Which is why I don't want him to touch me again, because I'm afraid of what I might let him do to me. 

I get up from the floor and finish my shower before I get out and dry myself with the towel I put on the sink.

I love Vincenzo's bathroom. It's all in marble and the shower stall is huge. The bath stands on the other side of the room. Before I got into the shower I looked in it, and it was huge enough for two people, hence, three people could fit in it. It looks really comfortable to relax in. 

There are two sinks next to the door, and honestly, I like Vincenzo's bathroom more than the one I changed in yesterday.

This one is a bit bigger. I put on my clothes from yesterday, and smile as I see one of Vincenzo's boxers lying on top of my clothes. 

With pink cheeks, I put it on, and find it surprisingly comfortable to walk around in. Then follow my jeans and my sweater. As I look in the mirror above the sink, I see that my eyes are a little puffy from all the crying.

"Get over yourself," I mutter at my reflection. After combing my hair, I walk back into Vincenzo's room, to see him sitting on his bed scrolling through his phone. He's wearing a black suit, but his blazer is off and his tie is hanging loosely around his neck. The sleeves are rolled up to his elbow, and the veins in his arms are popping out. It's a mouthwatering sight.

When he hears me entering the room, a beautiful smile forms around his lips, and I can't help it but my breath hitches in my throat, and I admire how handsome he is.

"You done?" he asks. I nod, and stare at my feet. He stands up and walks over to me. "I hope you enjoyed the shower," he says and lifts my chin up so that I can look into his dark, captivating eyes.

"I did," I lie, because in reality I did not. I just sat there crying and feeling guilty.

He narrows his eyes. "I know you're lying, baby girl. Don't try that with me. But I'll let it slide for this time," he says and leans down, pecking my cheek.

I swallow and nod. "I think I should go home," I whisper to him, and cautiously step away from him. "Yeah, I was expected at work 20 minutes ago," he chuckles. I smile. "Then you should hurry," I say.

"I'm the boss, bella. I can do whatever the fuck I want," he says with an evil glint in his eyes. I blush at his dirty words. "Right. Well, if you don't mind, I have a family at home that are worried sick about me, so I should probably get there before they're going to call the police," I laugh. He grins. "I'll walk you out."

We both start making our way downstairs.

Is it sick that we're both ignoring the fact that I have a boyfriend?

Of course it's sick.

Doesn't he think that it's not appropriate to make a move on a taken person? And why didn't I stop him last night? I should've done more for Chris. I should've kicked him out the minute he stepped in the room with me.

We reach the bottom of the stairs and walk to the front door.

"You didn't bring a jacket with you so... I guess this is where our ways part," he says.

I grin, ignoring how much I love the sound of his voice.

He opens the door, and I mutter a quiet goodbye to him and want to walk away when a hand catches my wrist. "You didn't plan to leave without a goodbye kiss, did you?" he asks.

I swallow and shake my head. I stand on my tiptoes and lean over to him, to peck him quickly on the lips and draw away. "Bye," I whisper against his lips, and then scurry away from him, to unlock my car and drive away.

Once I'm driving and reach the road, I start breathing heavily.

What on earth just happened?

What did we do? This is so wrong, on so many levels.

He's older than me, and I have a boyfriend.

Oh God... I'm cheating on Chris.

Instantly, his baby-blue eyes appear in front of my eyes, and I can't imagine the hurt in them when I'm going to tell him the truth.

If I'm going to tell him the truth...

And what would dad and mom think of this? They would never look at me the same. And Lucy... honestly, I don't know what her reaction would be. She'll probably cheer me on, and then compliment me about how I fixed myself an older man. 

I groan and rake a hand through my hair, completely lost in my thoughts and not knowing what I should do. When I get home, I step out of the car and walk up to the front door. Right when I want to open the door, the door swings open and my mom pulls me in for a hug.

"Oh honey! We were so worried about you! Did you survive the storm? Didn't have any troubles on the road?" she asks and checks my face before her eyes scan my body. "I'm fine mom! I can take care for myself, I was with Lucy."

She nods, and dad appears from behind her. Two warm arms wrap around me, and I hug him back. "I'm glad you're fine," he whispers in my hair, and lets me go. After being questioned for literally 20 minutes, they let me go to my room.

Dad left for work 5 minutes ago, and mom is downstairs doing God knows what. She's an English teacher, so now she doesn't have to work now when it's summer vacation. Lying on my bed, a frown has settled on my face, and it's not planning on leaving soon. There's a weight on my shoulders, and the guilt is unbearable.

Swallowing back the tears, I stand up from my bed and grab my phone. I open the messages between Chris and I, and almost ask him if he can come over to my house. But I can't bring myself to press the send-button. I just can't.

I can't tell him right now, not when the things between Vincenzo and I aren't cleared up. Then a plan pops up in my mind. I rush to my closet, open it and pull out a grey skirt and a wine-red jumper. Putting on the fresh clothes, I discard the clothes from yesterday and put on my new ones.

Time to say hi to Vincenzo.

° ° °

With a knot in my stomach, I walk up to the giant building. My hands are shaking with nerves, and when I enter the building, I almost can't breathe.

When I get this done, I can face Chris and tell him the whole truth. Then I hope that we can leave this behind us, and move on with our lives – together.

I walk up to the reception and greet the lady who's seated behind it. It's another one than the last time.

As I approach her, I put on my best smile. She looks up, and her kind brown eyes meet mine. "Hello, with what may I help you?" she asks politely once she sees me. "I came to have lunch with my dad," I say, and trail off, hoping that she'll know what I mean. She smiles. "Of course, you can go up. You know the floor and the place?"

I nod. "Alright, enjoy your meal," she smiles. I smile back, and make my way to the elevator. I press the button and wait till it opens. Right when I enter, I feel a presence behind me and look up. 

"Nate! It's so funny to see you here," I say when we're standing in the elevator. He stands next to me, and he has to look twice before he recognizes me. 

"Oh hey! We meet again in the elevator. Athena, right?" he asks, and I nod. "So, what are you doing here? Another lunch with your dad?" he chuckles. I shake my head with a smile. 

"I have to say something important to Vinc—Mr. Amoretto," I say, quickly correcting myself, and hoping he didn't catch the mistake I just made. He nods, a slight frown appearing between his eyes before it disappears. 

"Oh right, do you know the way to his office?" he asks. Blushing, I look down to my feet. "Actually, I don't. I was wondering if you could show me the way?" I ask and look up to him.

"Of course, I've got nothing better to do anyway," he smiles.

He presses the button of the highest floor.

"So, how did you meet Mr. Amoretto actually?" Nate asks.

"He's an old friend of my dad, and a few weeks ago he invited us over for dinner, so that's how I met him. And since then I only saw him when I accidently ran into him, or when he comes over for my parents," I explain.

Nate hums.

After that we make a bit small talk. "So now I'm in my last year of college, and I can't wait to graduate," he says, with a happy glint in his eyes. My eyes widen.

"You're still in college? Wait, how old are you?"

"24, you?"

He seems much older, but I don't say anything about it.

"18."

"Wow, I thought you were something like, 20."

I shake my head. "Nope. Younger."

And then the ping sounds, mentioning we reached our destination. "Here we are," he says as the doors open.

We walk out and he starts walking ahead of me. On our way to Vincenzo's office, he greets the receptionist and she smiles at him while she throws her hair over her shoulder. 

Rolling my eyes, I continue to walk behind Nate and look in different directions. On this floor, there are all different offices with women and men working and taking calls, and also who are reading scripts and typing away on computers. They have their own little room with a little desk.

It must've taken a lot of time to build this, and a lot of money. It's really impressive how Vincenzo knew how to accomplish this.

And—God, how big is this floor?

We keep turning around corners and walk into hallways.

And suddenly we stop in front of a giant door. Nate knocks twice, and we hear a gruff 'come in'. Nate opens the door, revealing a big office, with a dark floor and a huge desk in the middle, where that beautiful man is seated behind. 

A Mac is placed in front of him, pens and papers are all scattered across his desk with a cup of coffee – I assume – next to it. "Hey boss," Nate greets him.

He's writing something down and speaks without looking up.

"What do you want Nate? You know you should never disturb me," he says, a frown coming up on his features. His blazer is off, hanging on his chair where he's sitting on. The sleeves of his shirt are rolled up and his tie is hanging loosely around his neck, the top buttons of his shirt unbuttoned.

"You have a guest," Nate says, and gently pushes me forward, into the big office. Now I can get a better look. There's a couch on the left side of the room, and there are three seats placed in front of Vincenzo's desk, with a little coffee table. When Vincenzo looks up, his features soften.

"Athena," he says, and I can feel all the butterflies in my belly fly around.

Stay put, you stupid butterflies! They belong to Chris.

"Hi," I mutter out with a shy smile. He stands up and smoothens out his suit. "Thank you, Nate. You know the way out," Vincenzo says, but keeps his gaze on me. I say goodbye to Nate and thank him for leading the way.

He smiles, "You're welcome, Athena. I hope to see you again soon."

I smile back, and he closes the door behind him. I turn back to Vincenzo, and my breath hitches in my throat when I see him walking towards me. 

"I'm happy that you came to visit me, Athena," he says and keeps walking. I take a step back, hoping that he'll realize that I don't want him to come closer. 

"To what do I owe your beautiful presence?" he asks once he stands in front of me. I open my mouth to reply, but can't, because his scent is too distracting, his presence and that panty-dropping smirk aren't helping either. 

I shake my head and walk around him, towards his desk. Once I face him, I look at him with determination in my eyes. 

"I came here to tell you something," I say, trying to sound firm. He chuckles. "And that is?" he asks, raising his eyebrows. I take a deep breath, and look him in the eye. 

"What we did can't happen again," I say, clasping my hands in front of me. Amusement dances in his eyes, and he lets out a chuckle. I frown; what's so funny? "That's what you said this morning, bella, right before you were moaning my name."

I blush a bright red, and look down to my feet before I look him back in the eyes. "I know, and that was wrong of me. I mean, I have a boyfriend! It has to stop, Vincenzo," I say. He frowns.

"But what if I don't want to stop?"

My eyes widen. "Well, it has to. It's so wrong, in so many ways. We have to stop this."

He takes a couple of large steps, and then he stands in front of me. A surprised gasp leaves my mouth, and I look up in those dark eyes. He softly grabs my chin, leans in and pecks my lips. Surprised, I just look at him with wide eyes.

"You really want to stop this, mia cara?" he whispers against my lips. My throat suddenly becomes dry, and I can't swallow. 

"Y-yes," I whisper, not strong enough to step away from him. His hands slide down to my waist, he hoists me up and places me on his desk. He starts placing soft kisses in my neck, and I find myself tilting my head a bit back for him to have better access. 

He starts kissing up my jaw, my cheeks, the corner of my mouth, and then I feel soft lips cover mine. His hands slide down, further down my waist till they reach my ass, where they give a light squeeze before moving further. 

On their own accord, my hands find their way around his neck, where they tangle together and push his head closer to mine. I open my mouth, letting his tongue enter. His hands slide down to my knees, where they find their way under my skirt. It's when his hand is dangerously close to my core that I realize what I'm doing.

"Vincenzo," I mutter against his lips and slide my hands down to his chest in an attempt to push him away. He draws away and opens his eyes, licking his lips. His hand is now lingering on my inner thigh, while his other is grabbing my ass-cheek in his hands, squeezing it, hard. I gasp, and look up to him.

"You have to stop this," I whisper to him. "So why do you keep giving in? If you really wanted to stop this, you would've pushed me away, hell, this all wouldn't have happened in the first place if you really didn't want this. And yet, here we are," he whispers, a lock of dark hair falling in front of his eyes. Swallowing, I try to argue back, but know that he's right. "Really, Vincenzo, you should--"

A moan leaves my mouth, as his finger touches my sex. He smirks, and lets his finger swipe against my panty covered heat again. "Vincenzo," I bring out.

"What did you say?" he asks, raising his eyebrows in amusement. I grit my teeth together.

That son of a...

"Oh!" I gasp, as his hand pushes my panty away, and touches my lower lips. He growls. "So wet," he grunts, and closes his hand around the cloth covering my sex, and gives it a jerk. I feel a light sting, and I wince from the uneasiness, to realize that he has ripped my panty off. I gasp.

"Vincenzo! You can't do that!" I say, trying to lecture him. "Then you should've thought things through when you decided to wear this skirt," he growls, and starts planting kisses in my neck. 

His hand cups my pussy. My eyes roll back in their sockets, and I buck my hips against his hand. His finger swipes against my slit, and again, and again till he's rubbing both his fingers up and down. His thumb starts drawing circles around my clit, and a loud moan escapes my lips.

I've never felt this way. I never touched myself down there, because I didn't feel comfortable with it, and I've never felt comfortable with the idea of Chris doing these things to me, but now that Vincenzo is standing in front of me, squeezing my ass and licking up and down my neck, with my hands gripping on his shoulders and his fingers working on me, I don't know why I never tried it.

"Vincenzo," I moan, and close my eyes. My hands tangle in his dark hair, messing it up, but I don't care. I grab his jaw and push his face up, bringing his lips to mine, not caring about the triumphant smirk plastered across his lips.

Nipping on his lips, I let his tongue enter my mouth. His fingers slide down, to my entrance. I hesitate for a moment, before I nod. I feel one finger enter, and unconsciously I clench around him, trying to get used to this foreign feeling.

"So tight," he grunt against my mouth. He adds a second finger, and I wince from the pain. "I'm sorry, amore mio. I can't help it, you're so fucking tight," he growls, and slowly starts pumping in and out. His thumb keeps circling around my clit, pressing against it. It kind of soothes the pain of his fingers in me.

I'm trying to feel the pleasure in this, but can't.

It stings, but the more he pumps his finger in and out, the more I start enjoying the feeling of his rough and slender fingers sliding in and out of me.

"I can't wait till I get a taste of your sweet pussy, Athena. I'm looking forward to that moment."

I start moaning his name, moving my hips against his fingers. "Faster," I whisper against his lips. "Please, Vincenzo!" I cry out in frustration, as he slows his pace. His tongue slips out, and he licks my bottom lip. 

Bucking my hips on his fingers, I murmur something that I don't even know what that has to mean, and start moving up and down his fingers.

"Start working with me," I groan against his lips as he doesn't move his fingers.

"What's my name, dolcezza?"

Groaning I mutter his name. "Couldn't hear you," he says mockingly, and lightly curls his fingers. I cry out in pleasure and throw my head back.

"Vincenzo," I whisper. "Louder," he demands. "Vincenzo!" I say, raising my voice.

His starts moving his fingers, rubbing the pad of his thumb against my clit. "Oh, Vince—ah!"

He curls his fingers, hitting a spot where I can see stars. The more he moves his finger, the more I feel like I'm at a point where I'm almost reaching something.

Something that feels so... good. But so wrong at the same time. His thumb starts moving faster around my clit, and I think I'm going crazy. I think I'm at the brink of orgasming, as Lucy likes to say, it's the most beautiful feeling that exists. And I think I'm about to experience it.

Right when I think I can see the white lights from Heaven, Vincenzo draws away.

His fingers leave, his thumb leaves my bundle of nerves, leaving a cold place. His mouth leaves my skin, his hand leaves my ass-cheek and suddenly I'm cold, sitting on his desk with my skirt riled up to my waist. His presence leaves mine, his cologne is still lingering in the air around me. 

"What was that?" I ask him, suddenly so annoyed. A tiny smirk danced around his beautifully sculpted lips.

"I was just thinking that you didn't want this. Because that's what you said, right?" he asks. I clench my jaw, and take a breath through my nose.

"You can't do this to me! I was so close!" I say angrily. He shrugs. 

"Not my problem. You said it yourself, Chris can make you feel the same way," he says, repeating my previous statement from this morning. Grinding my teeth together, I huff. I stand up from his desk and pull my skirt down, straightening it out. I can't put on my panties, because he ripped it off. That annoys me even further.

"Fine! I'll go to him, he'll probably know how to satisfy my needs," I say, knowing it will upset him and walk past him, planning on walking out of that door and leave this building. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he says, stopping me in my tracks. I turn around and face him.

"You said it yourself," I say, "I should go to Chris, because he's my boyfriend."

Vincenzo smirks and rakes a hand through his hair, before straightening out his suit. I swallow, still annoyed about that stunt he pulled off. "He can't make you feel like I do," he whispers, and takes a step closer to me.

He lifts his hand, and caresses my cheek with the back of his fingers. "You should go, because if you keep looking at me with that look in your eyes I might bend you over and fuck you from behind, and I don't want to take your virginity like that, cara," he says, and rakes his eyes up and down my body.

"If you get to take my virginity," I say challengingly. He laughs, and the sound goes through my body.

So rich and deep... like liquid gold. 

"Oh, baby girl, believe me if I say that I'm the one who's going to have the honor of entering that sweet pussy of yours, and breaking that barrier," he says. 

And again, his tongue slips out to wet his bottom lip, and I can't help but follow the movement with my eyes. Clearing my throat, I rip my eyes away and bring them up to his eyes.

"Eh... yeah... I should go," I whisper and take a step back from him. He smiles, showing off those pearly whites and winks in my direction. Without smiling back, I turn around and practically run out of his office without saying goodbye. I manage to catch his laughter when I close the door, and lean my head against it.

Why must this happen to me?