Chapter 3. Kiss One, Failed

Dana gets off the plane feeling very nervous about seeing her mother after four years, but she heads toward the airport exit because Kristine told her that a driver would be waiting for her.

On the one hand, she felt relieved not to have to see her, but on the other, she was disappointed that she hadn't come to pick her up. She was her mother; she should have given her a different kind of welcome. The young woman shakes her head and keeps walking until she sees her last name on a sign held by a man.

Dana exhales and heads towards him.

After a few minutes of driving in silence, Dana sees the driver pull the car into a huge, impressive house. She admires the place with her eyes wide open, a terrible knot in her stomach that she can't control.

As the car stops, the door of the house opens and Kristine comes out. Dana watches her from inside the car, unable to believe that this woman is her mother. It couldn't be possible that she was her mom.

The driver opens the door, and as she gets out, she notices her mother smiling broadly. She looks happy, but Dana doesn't feel the same way.

"Dana!" she says, smiling even more as she walks toward her in her fine clothes. "Oh, my daughter!" Kristine ends up hugging her, which makes her feel uncomfortable.

"Hi, Mom..." she says expressionlessly.

"You look so beautiful, look how big you are. You're all grown up now!"

She flatters her as she steps back a little to look her up and down. Dana couldn't find the words to say at that moment; the truth is, she didn't have much to say.

"How was your flight? Everything okay?"

Dana looks at her mother's face, noticing that she hasn't had a hard time in a long time. Her makeup is perfect, and the clothes she is wearing are very fine and elegant. She is a far cry from the woman she was five years ago.

"Everything was fine..." Kristine's smile faded a little, but she looked at her daughter with great tenderness.

"In that case, let's go inside. I'll take you to the room where you'll be sleeping."

"Okay."

"I want you to feel comfortable at home. You won't have any problems here. I promise."

The young woman followed her mother up a huge staircase. The interior of the house was impressive. It was too luxurious; she never thought her mother would get this far. She felt like a fish out of water in that place; even her clothes didn't match anything in that house.

Her mother opens a door and lets her in.

"I had this room prepared for you. It's very comfortable and cool. You even have a balcony," she points to it.

"It's very nice."

"I'm glad you like it. You have your own bathroom, and here's an extra room to store your clothes."

The young woman looked around the room and realized that the closet was the same size as her old bedroom.

"I don't think I'll use it much."

Kristine looks at her daughter's small suitcase and thinks she may have made a mistake, then smiles again, sensing that the atmosphere is a little tense.

"You can take a shower and get changed, then come down for dinner, okay?" Dana remains silent.

With no other choice, she nods, not very convinced.

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you."

"Thanks."

Once she is alone in the room, Dana lets out a breath she had been holding. That encounter was much more awkward than she had imagined. She licks her lips and begins to wander around the room. The bathroom is huge and the view from the balcony is beautiful.

Dana sits on the corner of the bed, finding it really comfortable, and on top of that, it was huge. She looks ahead and thinks that she should find a job to support herself and not depend on her mother.

"Damn..."

[...]

Kristine kept looking at the stairs. Her daughter wasn't coming down, and she was starting to get impatient.

"Kristine, honey, you have to take it easy. Give her time, she'll come down when she's ready."

"I don't want her to feel uncomfortable in the house," she said with a worried voice.

"She'll adapt soon."

Just then, they heard the sound of a door, which made them look up and toward the stairs to see her coming down.

Dana looks at her mother and husband at the table and feels a terrible knot in her stomach. She bites the inside of her cheek, but continues walking toward the table where her mother is waiting for her with a big smile.

"Are you feeling better?"

"I'm a little tired."

"Well, after dinner you can go to bed." Dana nods, but at that moment she notices her mother's husband, and Kristine realizes it. "Oh, dear!" She quickly stands up to offer her hand to the young woman. "This is Oliver Verchot."

Dana had never met her mother's new husband before. It was the first time they had seen each other, and she found it strange. She looked at the man, who looked at her in a very fatherly way, and that confused her greatly.

He was an older man, but quite well-preserved. And his demeanor was very elegant, even though they were just having dinner. You could tell what social class he belonged to, including her mother.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you, Dana. Your mother always talks about you."

"Hello," was all she had to say, since she had never liked this man.

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to talk and get to know each other better. Now sit down and eat something."

She nodded, noticing that they were both being very kind to her, but she couldn't stop thinking about everything she had gone through during those four years without her mother.

Luckily, dinner was somewhat quiet. Every now and then, Kristine would ask her a question, and she would give a half-hearted answer. She hardly looked up from her plate; she felt uncomfortable having dinner with these two people.

She remembers her father and thinks that if he were alive, he would be very angry with her.

"Would you mind if I left now?" she finally asked, looking up.

"I've ordered your favorite dessert. Don't you want to wait for it?" Dana looks at her mother and feels a deep urge to run away.

"Can I go?" she insists.

Oliver looks at his wife's expression and then at his stepdaughter's. It's clear that Kristine is pressuring her daughter, and that's not right.

"We don't have a problem, you can go to bed. If you want dessert, it will be sent to your room," Oliver finally says, earning a look from his wife.

"Thank you, excuse me..."

Dana stands up, feeling amazed by her mother's husband's response. But it was best for her to go back to her room.

"Oliver..."

"You have to be patient, give her space, Kristine. If you pressure her, she'll leave home," she looked up at her husband.

"I don't know how to deal with my daughter. I feel like she hates me, and I have no idea how to change that."

"Everything will get better little by little, you can't rush things."

Kristine nodded. Her husband was right. She was trying to make things work, but Dana needed time to adjust. She looked up at the stairs and sighed. At least she had her at home with her.

[...]

Dana closes the door and her eyes. She tried to behave, but she couldn't hide the sun with a finger. Her stay in that house was going to be quite difficult.

"Damn it, how did I end up here?

She walks over to the bed to lie down and think about what she should do to solve her problem. She couldn't stay in that house forever at the expense of her mother and husband.

"I need a job..."

[...]

Lukas turned off the car, feeling really tired and frustrated. The blond man got out of the car and headed inside the house. It was already very late, and everyone was probably asleep by now.

As he climbed the stairs, he shook his head from side to side. It had been a very difficult day, and that meeting at his father's company had been a complete waste of time.

"Damn, he wastes my time."

He looks at the time on his watch as he walks to his room. He needed a shower and a good night's sleep. The CEO grabs the doorknob of his room when, out of nowhere, the door of the room opposite his opens.

Lukas is surprised because he knows that there was no one else on that floor but him and his father and his wife, but their room was at the far end, quite a distance from his room. He stops to wait and see who the hell was coming out of that room when, out of nowhere, a redhead with bare legs and pronounced hips appears.

She stood in the doorway while he continued to hold the handle like an idiot. Lukas blinked several times when he saw that freckled redhead with brown eyes and an incredible body standing in front of him.

The girl looked at him as if he were a pervert, which made him wonder who the hell she was. Then he took a closer look at her clothes, noticing that she wasn't wearing a bra, her nipples clearly visible, which made him hallucinate and even sweat.

Her delicate skin and girlish face were unsettling him... Lukas turns around completely to face the woman who was throwing him off balance.

"Who are you?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Dana was stunned as she looked at the huge blond man with blue eyes in front of her. He was so tall and big that she had to look up. She looked both ways, noticing that the hallway was completely empty and cold.

This reminded her that she wasn't wearing a bra, causing her to look down at her erect nipples. She immediately crossed her arms and looked up again.

"I think I've already seen them, you don't need to cover them up," the man's haughty voice annoyed her. "Who are you? A new maid hired by Kristine?

"Maid?" She frowned at the man's arrogance.

"Yes, you must be. What I don't understand is why you were coming out of that room. You shouldn't be sleeping up here."

Dana swallowed hard as she noticed him walking toward her in a threatening manner.

"Whoever you are, what's your name?" Lukas walked toward her, his eyes fixed on her sensual, voluptuous body.

The truth was that this woman caught his attention, those freckles, that hair, and those curves were to die for. At that moment, he imagined her sucking his cock with those full lips and immediately became very aroused.

"I think you're mistaken," Dana said, backing away and pressing her body against the door.

"Wrong? No, I'm not wrong..."

The CEO placed one hand against the door and with the other brushed a wavy strand of her hair.

"What are you doing up here?" he murmurs, slowly running his fingers down her neck until he reaches the fabric of her nightgown.

"What are you doing?" she asks, filled with fear and panic, unable to move.

She figured this man must be a friend of her mother's husband; there was no other explanation for him not knowing she was Kristine's daughter.

"I don't know..." Lukas brushes her lips with his knuckles while keeping his eyes fixed on her. "I really don't know..."

Lukas leaned toward the young woman's face and lightly brushed her lips with his own. It was just a small caress, but she felt her body electrified. As he moved to intensify the kiss, the redhead burst into the room.

"But... what the hell...!"

He gestures with his hands that he doesn't understand how she got away from him, left alone in the hallway with a damn erection under his damn pants.

"Damn it!" he mutters angrily.