32 Chapter Thirty One: Nathaniel's bastard children

As the darkness of night made way for the bright morning, the rays of sunlight peeked at her through the cracks of the curtains that covered the window, indicating it was time to wake up but Becca didn't want to. She wanted to get a couple more minutes of sleep and perhaps get married to her bed in the process. Moving to a more comfortable spot, Becca continued snuggling with her pillow and was about to drift back to sleep when a memory of what happened yesterday resurfaced in her mind, making her face instantly turn red.

Becca fanned her face in an attempt to cool it down, recalling all Leo's shameless acts and words that still sent shivers through her. It was annoying, she was attracted to him but at the same time didn't want to be. She didn't want him to think she was that easy to score one with and hoped he couldn't guess how much he affected her.

She wanted to blame her attraction towards Leo on some kind of psychological syndrome but she couldn't think of any. Was there even one that made women fall for their extremely handsome business partners? Guess not.

She just had to face it, the guy was hot, Handsome, sexy with a voice made for late-night radio and dirty words or even better, dirty acts.

Becca dragged herself off the bed and got ready for work. She was about to exit her apartment when she got a text from Kristina, saying she would be in New York again next week for some photoshoot and was wondering if they could hang out. Well, of course, it was a yes, how could Becca refuse her sister? Despite Kristina's teasing nature and the fact that she was kind of a pain in the ass sometimes, Becca still loved spending time with her.

They were family and Becca adored her sister. Kristina was Becca's idol and one of Becca's greatest well-wishers who would do anything for her. Although they haven't always been this close before because of some past sibling rivalry but soon became inseparable. In the past, Kristina used to be mean to Becca. She used to say that Becca didn't belong in their family because she was illegitimate and also used to call her hurtful names like ' their father's unwanted mistake'. Kristina didn't even like looking at Becca's face before, she detested her and the only sibling who always treated Becca well was Johnny. Even Becca's other stepfamily didn't like her much and her grandparents from both sides were worse.

Becca's father's parents tagged her as their son's bastard and her mother's parents saw her as the mistake their daughter made out of foolishness. This was why Becca always refused whenever her mother asked her to come live with her. Becca didn't want to be an inconvenience to her mother's new family so she chose to stay away. And that left Johnny, Regina, and her father who actually loved her from the start so she decided to stay with them instead.

Life hadn't always been rainbows and unicorns for Becca. She had to face a lot of shit that people threw at her, a lot of negative words, bad vibes and though Regina alongside her husband tried their best to shield Becca from all the harsh critics, they really couldn't stop people from speaking their minds. It wasn't only Becca who got criticized but Regina as well. After Regina accepted to raise her husband's illegitimate child as her own, her parents were greatly disappointed in her. They thought she had gone soft and called her a fool. Saying that she was blinded by the love she had for her husband and was being turned into a nanny for Nathaniel's bastard children. And as hurtful as it was to listen to crap like that from her parents, Regina still raised Becca and after Nathaniel repented from his cheating ways, Regina forgave him but still held on to the grudge she had towards Becca's mother.

On arriving at her company's building, Becca was warmly greeted and welcomed by her employees who had bright smiles plastered on their faces. With a bright smile also on her face, Becca handed out the treats and gifts that she had bought them. After they all gratefully accepted the gifts, Becca walked over to Navaya's office.

As she reached Navaya's office, Becca pushed the door open without even bothering to knock first and saw Navaya sitting on her chair with her phone to her ear but dropped it when she saw Becca barging into her office. At first Navaya's face was filled with shock and surprise but then a big smile curved her lips.

" Miss me?" Becca asked, shaking the four gift bags in her hands.

" You know I did," Navaya responded and jumped out of her chair to give Becca a bone-crushing hug. A hug so tight, Becca found herself struggling to breathe.

" There there." Becca patted Navaya's back. " If you don't let go of me I won't hand over the presents I got you." Becca playfully threatened and Navaya instantly let go.

" Yeee! What did you get me?" Navaya excitedly asked with her eyes filled with curiosity as they moved to the bags in Becca's hands. She tried to grab hold of one of the bags but Becca quickly moved her hands away.

Becca planned to give her bestie the gifts but not before a quick tease session.

" Hey!" Navaya whined when Becca moved her hands away, pouting like the spoiled child she was. Becca ignored the puppy dog eyes Navaya was giving her and sat down on her chair. Crossing one leg over the other, Becca leaned back on Navaya's chair while her bestie kept staring at her as if she had stolen her candy.

" That's my chair!" Navaya whined, folding her arms over her chest.

" And this is my company," Becca responded, smirking at Navaya's facial expression which was a mixture of happiness and annoyance.

It was incredibly amusing to watch.

" That I helped you establish." Navaya retorted.

" Oh, big whoop." Becca playfully rolled her eyes.

" Just face it, I'm awesome. I'm the best thing that has ever happened to you. So if you don't mind I will like to have my gifts now, thank you." Navaya said and her sly hands snaked to the bags Becca placed on the table, taking them before Becca could even stop her. She smirked as Becca shot her a glare and started opening the first bag.

The smirk on Navaya's face widen into a bright smile that almost touched her forehead when she saw what was inside the first bag.

" Awww... Sweetie, you remembered!" She happily exclaimed. Taking out the Patek Nautilus watch from its box, staring at it in awe. Becca always knew how much her friend also wanted one but couldn't buy it because she was also saving up for a new house and at the time buying the watch would just be an unnecessary expenditure.

Just like Becca, Navaya also wanted to make a name for herself without her parent's influence and though the Coles weren't as influential as the Ramus family, they were still pretty well off.

" Do you like it?" Becca asked with a smile on her face and Navaya threw herself on her bestie, hugging her tightly again.

" Of course I like it. I love it, thank you so much." She responded, again hugging Becca's breath away. " Wait, let me keep the rest of the bags aside. I will open them later. Now I need the full gist of what happened last night, I got your text and want to know everything that took place. Every single detail and I will know if you leave anything out, so don't you even dare." Navaya urged and put the rest of the bags aside while Becca let out a sigh.

Becca knew her bestie wouldn't let go of such juicy gossip so she yielded and told her everything starting from when she saw Leo on the plane to the time he kissed her in front of her apartment. While narrating the incident, Becca noticed her friend's facial expression changed from excited to amazed then shocked with her jaw dropping to the floor.

You would be surprised how Becca managed to get work done when she had a gossip-loving friend like Navaya.

" Oh my God!" Navaya exclaimed with one hand on her chest and the other one fanning her cheeks. " He really did that?"

" Yes, I just told you," Becca responded, a slight blush tainting her cheeks. Soon after that, navaya burst into a fit of laughter.

" Damn Becca, you hit a jackpot! To think I was going to help with fishing but you ended up catching a shark. What kind of bait did you even use?" Navaya said in between her laughs.

" What are you even saying? I'm starting to think that you are really going crazy. What's all this talk about going fishing? I never said I wanted a boyfriend, I don't like Mr. Kane and most especially not affected by his caveman antics." Becca stated with her cheeks becoming an even brighter shade of red, completely exposing her obvious lie in the process.

" Oh, but your blushing face says otherwise. why is that?" Navaya asked grinning. Then started stroking her chin, probably thinking of something completely absurd.

" Hey! What are you thinking of? I hope it isn't something utterly useless, is it?" Becca asked, shooting a sharp glare at her friend.

" No, absolutely not. I was just wondering since you don't like Leo Kane and claim not to be affected by his caveman antics, why did you let him do all those things he did to you? You didn't try to slap him, kick his nuts or even use that pepper spray you always keep in your purse. It's not like you had a problem using those methods to get rid of the previous guys that approached you so why didn't you do it to him as well?" Navaya asked, staring at her friend with questioning eyes while Becca looked away.

" I don't know what you are talking about." Becca denied, refusing to acknowledge the truth.

" Of course you don't, how would you? All I'm saying is that what I got from your explanation was Leo Kane not once, not twice but repeatedly got close to you to the point that he was in your space and you didn't try to smash his balls even once. You practically let him do it despite being a person who loves social distancing from others." Navaya said and Becca's eyes looked everywhere but at her friend. " Don't lie to me, Becca. Do you like Leo Kane? It's perfectly fine if you do."

" I don't! I just find him attractive, that's all." Becca said, again denying her obvious feelings.

" I also find a lot of men attractive but you don't see me letting them kiss me, twice," Navaya said and Becca let out a defeated sigh.

" What do you want me to say?" Becca asked, not knowing what to say to her friend.

" Tell me why you don't want to accept that you like Leo Kane. Are you still afraid of getting into a relationship?" Navaya calmly asked and Becca gave a weak nod.

"Plus Leo Kane is forbidden fruit. We are business partners now and should keep things strictly professional between us. I don't want to look like a gold-digging leech to people if we eventually get into a relationship." Becca confessed and covered her face with her hands in shame. This was the first time Becca ever felt this way and she didn't like it. She hated herself for liking Leo Kane and hated Leo Kane even more for making her feel like this. If Becca had known that meeting Leo Kane would give her such feelings then she would have never attended that business meeting in the first place.

Navaya moved to where Becca sat and patted her back.

" Hey, it's just feelings not the end of the world. Don't worry, you won't feel like this for long. If it's nothing more than a simple crush then those feelings would be gone before you know it." Navaya reassured Becca who nodded in response. " But really? You and Leo Kane? Cupid must have outdone himself this time. I can only imagine how good-looking your baby together would be." Navaya shamelessly said, making Becca's eyes bulge out.

" Baby! Who the hell said anything about having babies? I can't believe this, I tell you that Leo Kane was just harmlessly flirting with me and you are already thinking as far as having kids!" Becca huffed at Navaya for being so shameless.

" Why? It's not like he's incapable, just by looking at him I'm sure he is very capable of making as many babies as he wants. And from what you told me, I'm certain he was doing much more than just harmlessly flirting. He was fucking staking his claim on you." Navaya said and Becca rolled her eyes.

" No, he wasn't." Becca instantly denied which made Navaya grin.

" Okay, I wouldn't force you to accept the truth. All I have to do is sit back and enjoy the rest of the show." Navaya said as she picked up a file and flipped through it.

" Whatever just get back to work," Becca said and Navaya gave her a salute.

" Yes ma'am." Navaya grinned.

Though what Navaya said sounded like utter rubbish, Becca couldn't help thinking about it. Was Leo Kane going after her? Was he staking his claim? Surely he was bound to give up after a couple more rejections from her, right?

Becca didn't like the feelings she had for Leo, it scared her and the thought of being in a relationship terrified her even more. She had never been in a relationship before but from all the telenovelas Navaya made her watch, she knew it was just a bunch of stress and heartbreaks. A complete waste of time for both parties.