She looked at him as if he'd spoken in another language, one she didn't understand.

“Come again… what did you say?

He looked at her with annoyance and held out his hand.

"Your leg, now!"

"You're very bossy!" She ended up speaking aloud and when she realized it, she covered her mouth with her hands. Hernan clicked his tongue and shook his hand. She swallowed and lifted her leg.

Hernan braced her leg on his leg and lifted her dress, brushing the skin on the way. Danika sighed. She was attracted to Hernan and of course, having never been touched by a man, his movement was making her feel more than she should.

He, in turn, even though he was already an experienced man at 34 years of age, was feeling a heat rising up his arm and spreading through his whole body. He looked at her knee and saw that it was slightly grated and red.

"Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt, I'm sorry!" Lazlo said, quickly turning away from them. Danika tried to pull her leg, startled, but Hernan wouldn't let her.

“Alright grandpa. I'm just checking my wife's knee." He looked at Danika and slowly, or so it seemed to her, he replaced her dress and placed her leg carefully back on the floor.

“Can I turn around?” Lazlo asked.

“Yes, sure.”

Lazlo turned and smiled at them.

"Is everything fine?"

“All perfectly fine. Both with her and with our son.”

“I am very happy to hear that!” Lazlo said and looked from Hernan to Danika and back to his grandson. “And also because of the fact that no change will be necessary in our company's CEO chair. Now I have to go. Hope you come to dinner this week!”

He didn't wait for an answer and left. Hernan turned to Danika.

“Do you want to go home or sleep here?”

“Sleep here? I don't… I didn't come ready for this. I'd rather go home.” She answered and he nodded in agreement. "Oh, I just wish I could go to the ladies room first."

"Right. I'll wait here."

She left, accompanied by one of the security guards. When she was on her way back, she heard the voices of Xandros and Lazlo.

“This can only be a goddamn joke, grandpa!”

“No, it's not a joke. Hernan won't get out of his position He can have children, clearly. And he will continue our lineage.”

"He's a bastard!"

“Bend your tongue to speak of him! He is your big brother!”

"That doesn't change the fact that he's not legit."

"Course he is! He is very well registered as an Allaband, which is what he is! And so will his son!”

"But…"

“This behavior of yours just proves how immature you are and how not ready you are to deal with a company. You can't even handle yourself!"

She heard Lazlo's footsteps moving away and decided to turn around, but not before hearing Catriona.

“I bet this woman isn't even pregnant with your brother's child. Hernan doesn't work from the waist down!! It’s impossible that he got her pregnant!”

Danika walked forward, and managed to notice that the troublesome couple were heading the same way as hers. They were separated by a wall.

'They must be going to talk to Hernan!', she thought and decided to do something.

Hernan was checking his watch every few minutes, huffing. He hated waiting and Danika was taking forever to get back from the restroom!

When she appeared, she seemed to be in a hurry.

"Is anything the matter?" he asked, frowning, but then, she did something he didn't expect.

Danika lifted her dress and pushed his wheelchair against the wall so it wouldn't run. She swung a leg over Hernan's so she could sit on him, legs spread, straddled.

"What…"

She didn't give him time to say anything else, as she took his face in both hands and kissed him, placing one of his hands on her waist.

Hernan completely forgot how to argue and pulled her to him. He brought his other hand to the back of her head and deepened the kiss. The hand on her waist pulled her down. She moaned and it built the fire inside him.

"Oh!" They heard a woman's voice, definitely surprised in a bad way.

Hernan didn’t want to end the kiss. It had not only been a long time since he last kissed a woman, let alone one that tasted so sweet.

Danika had never kissed a man. One kissed her but… that was not a kiss, for real. That was an assault.

Because of what happened to her, she thought she would never be able to kiss a man the way she was kissing Hernan. He was soft, passionate, tasted like champagne and when he bit her lower lip, she couldn’t hold back a moan.

Someone cleared the throat and Danika finally realized she was making out with her husband in front of family members. She stopped kissing Hernan and they looked at each other.

She was flushed, her hair disheveled and her clothes thorne, not to mention her erratic breathing. Hernan smirked and gave her a peek on the lips, before turning his head to those inconvenient people.

“What is it?” he asked, irritated.

“Have you lost your manners?” Xandros asked.

“Well, I am a newly married man. What did you expect?” His tone was more than annoyed. Danika was so embarrassed! Especially because Hernan squeezed her waist with his hands and she was well aware of a certain volume under her. She looked at him, surprised.

“This is no place! Have you no respect for the elders?” Xandros continued. “And by the way… how much have you paid her to do that?”

“What?” Hernan asked, inhaling furiously. “Take that back!”

“No… why would I? It must be true. After all…” Xandros looked Hernan up and down. “Why would a woman want a crippled?”

“I love him!” Danika blurted out. “I married him because I love him! And he is not a crippled!” Hernan was shocked. She was defending him and… her words seemed pretty real.

“Yes he is, my dear. I’m sorry, but.. “

“Enough!” Lazlo said, furious. “You both stop right now and you, Xandros… I’m ashamed of your behavior. Danika, dear, I’m so very sorry!”

“It is not your fault, Mr. Allaband.”

He motioned for the others to leave. Catriona was the last one to move. She kept staring at Danika and at Hernan.

Hernan had loved that woman very much. He was crazy about her. If Catriona asked something, no matter what, he would find a way to give exactly what she wanted.

The look on her face made his heart sink. It was true that she left him, and he became bitter and said he hated her. But, he didn’t. He would avoid the woman at all costs, and now, when she saw him with Danika, she made a face as if he had just cheated on him and that made him uneasy.

Finally Catriona turned around with a hurtful look and Hernan frowned, pushing Danika away from him as soon as they were alone.

“Ouch!” She said. “Careful!”

He was not brute enough to make her fall, but harsh enough to make her move away from him.

He grabbed her arm and pulled her down, to be closer to his face. Looking into her eyes, he was more than cold and Danika knew that.

“Don’t you ever dare to touch me like that again, do you hear me?” He asked and she was the one with the hurtful look now.

It confused Hernan. Because he felt bad for Catriona, but.. he felt even worse for Danika, who then squinted her eyes at him and yanked her arm once she felt he had loosen the grip.

“Ungrateful! They were mocking you and the fact that I am pregnant!” She said, feeling the anger boiling inside. “They think this baby is not yours, Mr. Allaband! And don’t you worry, for I won’t touch you again!”

She turned around and started walking away. She didn’t wait for him and Hernan swallowed hard.

“Damn it! Women are so damn complicated!”

Inside the car, silence. Cassius didn’t know what happened, because they seemed to be quite ok before. Now, Danika seemed to be more than aggrieved and was looking out the window, not because she was interested in the view, but because she was crossed with his boss.

They arrived at her building and she didn’t even say goodbye to Hernan, but smiled sweetly at Cassius, since he had nothing to do with that.

“Good night, Cassius! Thanks for tonight! Have a great day off tomorrow!”

She gave him a peek on the cheeks and walked inside the building. Hernan was red with rage. How the hell Danika knew that Cassius was going to have a day off the next? Sometimes he worked on Sundays…

Before Cassius closed the back door, Hernan called him inside.

“But..”

“Let the other drive!” He said and the bodyguard on the passenger seat nodded and did as he was told. “Get in!” he said between gritted teeth.

“Yes, sir?” Cassius said once inside.

“What have I told you before I left the car for the party, Cassius?”

The assistant frowned and then, he remembered.

“To keep my sweet words, my eyes and my hand off of Miss… I mean, Mrs. Allaband.”

“She kissed you.”

“...”

“Don’t let that happen again. And have you been chatting a lot with her?”

“Sir, I’m sorry, but.. I don’t understand what is going on.”

“Oh, you don’t know?” Hernan asked and chuckled. “She is my wife, do you understand it? She is not available!”

Cassius wanted to laugh, but he could not.

“Yes, sir, I know it.” He said. “I was just making her comfortable. She is quite… lonely;”

Hernan blinked.

“Lonely?”

“Yes, sir. She has one friend, but the woman is always busy. And there is me. I don’t mind listening to her sometimes.”

Hernan looked coldly at Cassius. The man was doing his job. Then, he smirked. He had an idea.

While he was going home, Danika was furiously taking off her dress.

“That idiot!” She thought. “I can’t believe I kissed him! I should have let him be mocked! I should never have defended him. I even said I loved him!”

She could never, and she knew that deep inside, but she was fuming at that moment.

“I’ll take a cold shower!” She stomped her foot and went to the bathroom.

Next morning, she woke up with the buzz of the doorbell ringing.