Imperfect Match (Elixir Bachelor Billionaires #1)

Daisy: I’m at the café grabbing a latte. Since you canceled all the meetings, I figured we must have some super crisis. I’m just refueling with caffeine to be most useful for you, boss.

Thank fuck she’s safe. But as much as I love her sass, there are quite a few things I don’t like in her text. First and foremost, I didn’t know she still goes to that overly crowded ground-floor café to get herself coffee. She’s my wife now, for heaven’s sake.

And then she referred to me as “boss.” After hearing “husband” from her sultry voice, I don’t want her to call me anything else.

My fingers dig into the phone in my hand as I wait a second and then another before marching back into the elevator.

I step out in the ground-floor lobby, and for a beat, nothing changes until my staff realizes it’s me.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Hawthorne.”

There’s a round of collective greetings, and the sound of casual conversations die away. I reply with a nod, keeping my gaze straight ahead as I make my way to the café with hurried steps.

Heads continue to turn in my direction, often accompanied by a surprised gasp. Of course they’re surprised. Except for on opening day, I don’t remember setting foot in this establishment. Even that day, I stayed only long enough to cut the ribbon and receive the first cup of coffee.

My eyes scan the area, and there she is. With her back toward me, Daisy is busy talking to someone. I’d recognize her anywhere since she’s wearing her statement hair clip with a butterfly today.

I take a step forward to walk closer to her where she’s standing in a queue. As I approach, the line starts to shorten as people make space for me, and it only takes a few more beats before Daisy takes note of the dying noise around her. She finally looks over her shoulder, and I’m right behind her.

“Charles? What are you doing here?” Her voice is laced with surprise and a touch of disapproval, as if I’ve made a huge mistake subtly reminding my staff that they’re paid to work and not to squander their time.

I raise a brow, aware that we have some not-so-discreet spectators who are doing a poor job of minding their own business. For once, I don’t hate it. Maybe it’s because I’m in Hawthorne Tower—my territory—or maybe it’s because my heart knows she’s right here.

Daisy’s eyes go wide as I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She’s so still, like a statue, as if my hand drifting toward her cheeks is a bomb ready to detonate any second. I almost want to laugh.

“I have to tell you something. Let’s go.”

My words seem to break her stupor, and she rolls her shoulders back.

“But I haven’t placed my order yet. Why don’t you go ahead and I’ll join you soon.” She squints her eyes.

Why did I think she’d ever make it easy?

“Mrs. Hawthorne. You’re leaving with me right now. I’ll make sure your favorite latte is waiting for you at your desk before you’re there.”

“Charles, you can’t—”

Her rebuttal gets trapped in her throat as I hold her face and kiss her, effectively shutting her down.

The moment my lips touch her, she stiffens, but I don’t stop. I kiss her until she melts in my arms and her soft hands clutch my suit jacket.

In this very instant, I don’t care that I’m standing in a room full of people. I don’t care that I’m kissing my assistant-slash-wife in front of my whole staff.

When I pull back, she makes a whining sound that goes straight to my cock like a well-aimed bullet.

“Are you done being difficult?” I whisper.

“Y-you kissed me. You freaking kissed me in front of everyone.” Her voice matches mine.

Knowing she’ll soon find her bearings and once again make it difficult for me to take her away, I grab her hand and pull her toward the elevators. Her blazing eyes meet mine in the mirrored walls.

“You better have a really good reason to do that, otherwise I’m going to kill you.”

Her anger has the opposite effect on me, and I smirk. “How are you not scared of me, my dear wife?”

But she doesn’t entertain my words. Daisy places her hands over her hips. “Tell me, what’s so urgent that it couldn’t even wait until I had a cup of coffee?”

“I never said urgent. It’s important. There’s a difference between the two.”