Sweet CEO's First Love

Preview of a novel that takes place in this world, read it here on webnovel too! Our Faked Love, CEO Don't Kiss Me!

Chapter 1 Don't look away

"Ugh, Hunter is here?" Stacey watched the man two tables away from them in the loud bar. 

The music was blaring so loudly he was sure that the people four blocks over and down the street had throbbing eardrums. And yet, the moment those words had left his lips, he instantly knew it was a mistake. Hunter's head swiveled over, completely ignoring the men and women lounging around him and hanging off his every word. Instead, his eyes searched until they landed on Stacey, locking in with that unnerving gaze. 

'O, shit,'

'He heard me. but he can't have... it's too loud in here.' Stacey thought 

"He is staring at us," Stacey commented. His friend Kaylen sipped on his drink, then scoffed and put it back down on the large table in front of them. The table sat covered in a plethora of drinks and empty glasses filled with the remnants of someone else's liquor. They were the last couple of people left over from their work event, everyone else bailed to go off and do something else. To head home, to vomit in the streets. Go on crazy secapades. Literally everyone was gone, just the two of them left from the entire thing. But the table still showed all the signs of the damage and excitement that had been going on a little over an hour before.

"Not us, you. He is staring at you." Kaylen corrected. 

'Well everyone but Hunter.'

Stacey watched Hunter, carefully, meticulously, but unable to argue with Kaylen's statement. Hunter grinned deviously at him and raised a singular  eyebrow. 

Stacey's stomach rolled forward with a satisfying growl and a lurching jump that he couldn't quite understand.

"Honestly, what is wrong with guys like that. They pull the attention of everyone in the room, but couldn't give a rats ass there is anyone there but themselves." Stacey snapped, aggravation pulling at the edges of his temper.

"That's exactly it, you summed it up right there. They," Kaylen stated, pointing at Hunter and his table full of bigshots. The huge names, with their tons of money, the kinda guys who worked with numbers so big it would make your head spin. He pointed at all of those goody two shoes. Making sure his gesture encompassed all of them. 

"Theyyyy, well they don't care one iota about anything. None of them. Especially, Hunter."

"You have been working at Pennington Pharmaceuticals for what five years now? You work in the same office as him, and have your lunch like thirty feet away, with only a glass wall between you guys. Yet, the dude has never even been able to remember your name.

"He can't remember you either. Kay." Stacey pointed out flatly..

"That's because the only face and name someone like Hunter remembers is himself. Or some huge clientele. There is over thirty million dollars in revenue being made in a single fiscal year. He doesn't have time to remember the person who works on the floor below in research and development. Even if you do share the same coffee and lounge room as him."

Stacey nodded, still stirring uneasily in his chair. Hunter had begun talking to someone beside him, but Stacey could see he wasn't even pretending to keep up decorum and was eagle-eyed, his peripherals glued to Stacey instead.

"True. Very true," He said slowly, sipping his drink.

"Still, it's odd he came to one of these again. He normally only comes to the Christmas event and that disgusting Valentine's Party."

"Actually, right now, it's not that odd. See the girl next to him, that's Hailey Lane,"

"The daughter of Blaire Lane?" Stacey's eyebrows shot up, interest piqued.

"Yes, the heiress herself is here to cement daddy dearest's possible investment. And I am sure Hunter thought that would mean partying and clubbing would be enough. He is probably not wrong. They don't even need to court them at all. Everyone already knows they are a shoo-in for twenty percent equity already. The niceties are just that. Heck, this is probably just a way for Hunter to get into the girl's pants. Or maybe that's what showing someone a good time means nowadays. Honestly, the Lane's aren't doing this for capital anyway. They don't need stakes in the company, they have enough money already. Everyone knows the way to Hunter is through his visceral urges. No doubt this is a ploy at an acquisition of a different sort. One that ends in either Hunter hunting, or a Hunter being tied up... In holy matrimony."

"You, sure know how to put things, Kay. Your assessment is almost too honest."

"It's high stakes, and it's not dog eat dog, it's serial killer kills the dog and shows off carcass as the prize."

Stacey grimaced. "Is Hunter really so twisted? I mean, why steal someone else's cake if you have a perfectly good one in front of you already."

"Because you don't say no to a man like Hunter... So if he wants his cake, your cake, and everyone elses you damn well better give it to him.

Stacey nodded, realizing he had no other choice but to agree with Kaylen's assessment. Stacey watched Hunter's hand, the way his fingers slid across the glass lithely and chic even in the small movement. Watching as Hunter threw his long dark locks back, shaking his head before uncrossing his legs and raising an eyebrow. He leaned forward for a second, and Stacey's stomach lurched as he followed the movement carefully, caught in the way his arms moved.

'There is sort of a silent beauty about him, a strong, majestic feeling.' Stacey groaned and shot back his drink quickly.

'What am I even thinking about right now?' Stacey wondered, rubbing the palms of his hands on his pants. Hunter seemed to notice the small movement, and he no longer watched passively through his peripheral but turned to stare straight on again. He noticed Stacey staring and smirked.

Hunter's long, thick arms were riddled with muscles that bulged and flexed when he reached out to the side, and Stacey watched every one of them with a growing passion he couldn't justify. It was almost like Hunter knew it, and without breaking eye contact, he reached out and pulled someone to him. 

Stacey didn't even get a chance to breathe, and neither did the poor person before Hunter's lips had fallen onto their own wet ones. Stacey watched as Hunter dug into them fiercely, as hungrily and demanding as his name depicted.

'Why are you looking at me when you are kissing them?" Stacey wondered, staring in morbid fascination as Hunter's lips pressed against someone else's. 

'They look plump, strong. Why do I feel like they would be relentless in their pursuit?' Stacey shivered.

Stacey turned away, breaking their game of chicken.

His stomach jumped forward, and his thighs tightened as a strictly, normal feeling of excitement buzzed through his entire body. 

'What is wrong with me? Why did watching him make out with someone in front of me clearly, just turn me on?' Stacey stopped and thought about that for a minute. Before ruffling his hair and shaking his head with a sigh.

'Seriously, what is wrong with me?' He thought.

"You stopped." Hunter's heavy warm baritone spoke into the noise. Stacey's ears twitched in response like a happy puppy waiting for the sound of its owner and losing it's cool the moment they picked up even the tiniest trace of them.

"Excuse me?" Stacey asked, looking up only to be staring into Hunter's face from mere inches away.

"You stopped watching."

Stacey blinked up at Hunter confused. Hunter leaned forward his suit jacket dangling around Stacey like a big hug.

"Uhm, yeah, that's what all normal people would do when they observe something intimate. They look away."

"Don't"

"What?" Stacey asked, confused, but feeling uncomfortable by how much of a presence Hunter exuded just by being close to him.

"Don't look away."

WIP