HIS STRIPPER, HIS WIFE novel Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Bianca

“Traffic sir,” I said, setting my bag down at my desk.

“Of course.”

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That was it, no mention or sign of the rain, the wine, the bed, the way he had whispered my name like it meant something. Just traffic and a slight nod before he returned to his files.

I told myself this was fine, this was exactly what I wanted. Professional distance, the wall back up where it belonged.

The morning moved fast after that, three meetings packed close together, one with the marketing team about the new campaign, one with finance going over numbers I barely processed because my mind kept drifting back to things it had no business drifting to during a budget review, and one with a potential client who wanted reassurances about delivery/ timelines.

Adrian was flawless in all three, commanding and charming in that effortless way that made people lean in and agree with whatever he proposed. I sat beside him taking notes, answering when addressed, smiling at appropriate moments, the perfect assistant.

It was unbearable, every time his hand reached for his coffee cup, I remembered the way those same hands had moved over me last night. Every time he leaned slightly toward the table to make a point, I remembered the weight of him pressing me into the mattress.

I hated how my body refused to forget even while my face stayed composed, nodding along to quarterly projections like none of it mattered.

By the time the third meeting ended, my professionalism felt like a costume two sizes too tight.

Amanda caught up to me as we walked out of the conference room, her heels clicking fast against the marble floor to match my pace. She had that look on her face, the one that meant she had noticed something and was not going to let it go.

“You good?” she asked.

“Fine,” I said. “Just tired.”

She raised an eyebrow but did not push, not yet. We grabbed our usual table near the window in the small cafeteria on the fourth floor. I ordered a coffee I did not need, given how wired I already felt, and Amanda got her usual salad she would complain about halfway through.

We talked about nothing for a while, the new intern who kept calling everyone by the wrong name, the office gossip about someone in accounting getting fired for expensing a yacht weekend as a business trip. Normal, easy conversation. I let myself relax slightly, thinking maybe I had gotten away with it, whatever it was.

Then Amanda set her fork down, tilted her head, and looked at me with that sharp expression she always wore right before she said something I did not want to hear.

“Did something happen between you two?”

My hand was already lifting the coffee cup to my mouth. My fingers tightened around it so fast,the cup nearly slipping from my grip as hot coffee sloshed dangerously close to the rim.

What NO NO, nothing happened,” I said, maybe a little too fast.

Amanda did not say anything right away. She just looked at me with that face, the one where her mouth stayed still but her eyes did all the talking

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Chapter 43

“Wait, why did you even ask that?” I asked, trying to sound normal.

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The energy just seemed off between you two,” she said, stabbing a piece of cucumber like it had personally offended her.

“Are we supposed to have a type of energy?” I laughed, hoping it came out light.

She rolled her eyes so hard I was surprised they did not get stuck that way. “You forget, we are boss and worker.” I added, for good measure, like saying it twice would make it more true.

“I know what I’m saying,” she said simply, chewing on another piece of vegetable like she had all the patience in the world to

wait me out.

I could not bring myself to tell her, not yet. Amanda was my work bestie, the one person in this building who knew when I was having a bad day just from the way I walked into the office, but she had this face that looked completely innocent while her mouth said the least innocent things. If I told her even half of what has happened since I met the CEO, down to last night. I’m signing up for a long ride.

“How is your sister doing?” she asked, and I almost sighed out loud in relief. Finally, a change in subject.

“She’s good.” I said. “Should be discharged soon.”

“That’s great. let me know when she’s home so I can visit, and girl…” She trailed off in that exact way she always did right before she said something that would ruin my evening plans.

“We are partying tonight.” she said, “and…”

“NO NO Amanda, I am not… I tried to cut her off, but she barely let the words leave my mouth before she steamrolled right through them.

“I’m not taking no for an answer. You are coming with me, and that’s final.” There was no point arguing once Amanda used the word final.

“You cannot be this sexy and be sleeping at home every night,” she muttered under her breath, not even looking up from her plate, not after what that stupid guy did to you.”

I smiled, always knowing exactly which buttons to press. We finished up not long after that, the cafeteria slowly filling with the lunch crowd, voices rising around us in that comfortable office noise. Before I had even made it back to my desk to start clearing it for the day, my phone buzzed with a message from Amanda.

“Don’t keep me waiting.”

I read it and smiled, locking my phone and slipping it into my bag. There was something about her bluntness that always made me laugh, even when she was bullying me into things I had not signed up for.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to focus, but my mind kept splitting in two directions. One half was still stuck on the night before, on Adrian’s voice low in my ear, on the way he had looked at me like something changed. The other half was already dreading whatever Amanda had planned for tonight, because her idea of a good time usually came with decisions I regretted by morning.

By the time the office started thinning out, the energy on the floor had shifted into that familiar end of day hum, people packing bags. I gathered my things quickly, eager to get out before anyone else could stop me for one more question or one more task.

I was just zipping my bag shut when Adrian’s voice came from behind me.

“Are you going somewhere?”

I stopped, my hand still on the strap of my bag. I turned slightly, just enough to see him now standing by the office door. sleeves still rolled up from earlier, looking at me like the question was simple even though nothing about today had felt

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Chapter 43

simple at all.

Yes, I said. “I need to be somewhere with a friend.”

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I waited a second, half expecting him to say something else, maybe ask where, maybe even just look at me the way he had this morning before his face closed off completely. But there was nothing. No reply, no change in his expression, just that same composed look he wore for board meetings.

So I turned and walked out, my heels clicking against the floor a little faster than necessary, like I was trying to outrun the silence behind me.

Amanda was already waiting by the elevator when I reached the corridor, leaning against the wall with her bag slung over one shoulder and that triumphant smile she always wore when she knew she had won.

“I wasn’t planning on risking it.” she said as we walked together. “If you go home, I know that’s the end. You will lock your door and pretend you fell asleep.”

I laughed because she was not even lying. Ever since I tried that trick once, claiming exhaustion just to avoid one of her outings. Amanda stopped giving me the chance to escape. Now she forced me straight to her place first, made sure I got dressed there under her watch, like she was personally responsible for making sure I left the house looking like a human being and not someone who had given up on fun completely.

“You could at least pretend this is a hardship for you,” I said as we stepped into the elevator.

“Oh, it is,” she said, completely deadpan. “Dragging beautiful women out to enjoy their lives is exhausting work. I should be paid for this

The elevator dinged and opened onto the lobby, the evening crowd already spilling out through the glass doors into the orange wash of sunset outside. We crossed the lobby together, our footsteps falling into the same rhythm, and for a moment I let myself forget about meetings and budget reviews and a certain CEO whose silence was making me go crazy.

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Amanda’s car was parked just past the entrance, sleek and a little too flashy for someone who complained about gas prices every other week.

“Ohh tonight, we party,” she said loudly, almost singing it, as she pulled open the driver’s door. I slid into the passenger seat, my bag dropping by my feet, and reached for my seatbelt, already bracing myself for whatever playlist she had queued up for the drive. My phone buzzed once in my bag, a small vibration against my ankle that I almost ignored.

I dug it out anyway, more out of habit than anything else, and the screen lit up with a message from a new number.

“I think you forgot something at my house.”

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