The Billionaire's Forgotten Wife

8 On the job.

That dream again, Larissa sat up in bed. She looked around her feeling a little disoriented. Her dream always made her feel like that, even though she could barely remember what the dream was about. One thing was the same though. In the dream she felt lost, and she couldn’t move or speak. But she couldn’t remember the other stuff that happened in the dream.

Larissa breathed in and out slowly. It took her a minute to remember where she was.

She was in Bruce Tak’s house, she thought lying back down. She looked out the window. It was still dark. She reached for her phone on the bed and checked the time. Morning was two hours away. She closed her eyes, she could still sleep for a little.

She needed all the rest she could get, because she was ready to give a hundred percent to the job. Bruce won’t know what hit him.

In the morning, Larissa woke up as early. She got cleaned up in the bathroom, putting the sweatpants and top back on. She will go back home for her clothes later. Now, she needed to show Bruce Tak that she was serious about her job. She made her way downstairs, making note of every bedroom, window and door that an intruder could use to enter the house. She checked his security system for any weaknesses. His bodyguards were at their stations. They stared at her weird as she made her rounds getting acquainted with the house.

It was a big house, which made it easy for anyone to come in. But his security system was top notch. The intruder shouldn’t have been able to get in and manage to strangle him in his office, without anyone seeing anything.

Whoever was trying to kill him was definitely someone very close. Someone who knew the house, and its security. 

Larissa entered his office and looked around the space. She walked to the window, and opened it. She was amazed at the gorgeous garden that greeted her. Wow, she didn’t think that the house had a big backyard like that. She leaned over the window sill breathing in the wonderful scent of flowers in the breeze.

“When I said we will start on work today, I didn’t mean that you should case my house,” Bruce said behind her. Larissa startled, losing her hold on the sill falling forward out of the window. She opened her mouth to scream as she saw a clump of flowers rushing towards her. 

Her scream was cut off as an arm came around her, and pulled her back. Larissa groaned as she slammed against his hard chest.

For a second no one moved. And she could feel every inch of him. Heat washed over her. And she couldn’t breathe.

No.

Larissa pushed away from him.

“Thanks,” she said smoothing her hands over her arms as tingles ran all over them.

“Are you this clumsy. I don’t think I can spend every day saving you,” he said moving to the desk. He sat down.

“No, I am not. You startled me.” Larissa moved around the room feeling uncomfortable. She really needed to stop reacting to him like this. She needed to focus on her work that’s what she needed to do. “I checked your house. I don’t see how the intruder got in and out without anyone seeing anything.”

“I know. It doesn’t make sense,” he said. “But…”

“Can you make me a list of everyone who is in the house at any given time? If we can eliminate the people who work for you, we will know where to go from there,” Larissa said pacing from the door to the desk. “A list of the people you suspect to be the stalker would be nice too. I can run a background check of them too.”

“Okay,” Bruce said making a note of everything. “Now. Can we get to our agenda for today?”

Larissa turned to him surprised. “I thought we were doing that.”

“No. I said we have to work on making you my wife.”

“Uhhh…that,” Larissa said scratching the back of her neck. She didn’t know why she was reluctant to get that part of their deal moving. Marriage in general felt like a huge step to her. And marrying Bruce Tak…that was just… Larissa shook her head. She knew it should be simple. It was her job after all. But something was holding her back. It didn’t feel right. And she didn’t understand why he insisted on it. She could solve his stalker issue without being married to him.

“Yes that. You forget that I don’t want another bodyguard or detective in my house. That will spook the stalker. I want him caught this time. If he sees you walking around and checking my security, he might not come at me again. And I can’t afford that. I want this over,” he said his eyes blazing with anger. Larissa looked away from him. There was something about his eyes. They made her feel weird inside.

“Okay,” she gave in. “What do you want me to do?”

Bruce looked at him from head to toe. “I am going to transform you,” he said making her heart skip a beat. “Let’s go,” he said getting his feet and walking out. From that moment on their day became a whirlwind of shopping, being dolled up by stylists and hairdressers. By the time they were done Larissa didn’t even look like herself. And she looked nothing like the women Bruce dated. She looked beautiful and glamorous – like some rich heiress from an exotic country.

Paparazzi followed them everywhere they went. Larissa didn’t know how Bruce could bear it. He moved around like they didn’t exist. Larissa tried her best to ignore them, but it got exhausting because they were everywhere.

“Can we please go now,” she begged him as they visited another shoe store. She couldn’t take it anymore. The constant noise and flashes were giving her a massive headache. She rubbed at her temples as they moved through the crowd. Bruce took her hand as he walked her to the car.

“Are you alright?” he asked from the driver’s seat. Larissa looked at him, and she could see the concern in his eyes. It was more than it should be. They didn’t know each other that well for him to look so worried about her.

“I’m fine,” she said feeling uncomfortable as he continued to stare at her. A few seconds ticked by without him moving, and then he turned away starting the car.

He drove them back home. He helped her take in the paper bags full of clothes to her room. Larissa breathed out in relief when he left her alone. She didn’t know how she was going to survive spending days with him. She groaned as she kicked at the bags next to the bed.

You hate him, she reminded herself. But she was starting to feel like she didn’t. And that was strange.