The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella) novel Chapter 32

That morning, Isabelle’s department had a meeting, but her mind was barely in the room as various teams presented their reports.

She was busy trying to untangle the puzzle that the previous night had left in her mind. No matter how hard she tried to urge herself to not think about it, it didn’t take long before her thoughts slid back to that territory.

What had she been thinking? She had asked herself that question about a hundred times since she left the house in the morning, but she still had no answer. So she settled on the only one reason that made sense: the alcohol. It was the alcohol that was to blame for her behaviour. Otherwise, she never would have dreamed of clinging to Jacob the way she had, leave alone kiss him.

It was true that he was a handsome man, and she thought he was attractive, and maybe he was totally her type, but she was in no position to be lusting after him. Or acting on that lust. The alcohol had done away with not only her sense of propriety, but also her sanity, and that was the only reason she crossed the boundaries they had drawn.

From now on, she would be careful to not go anywhere near him drunk. Or to drink, at all. That was if she grew past her embarrassment and could face him after the little show she had pulled that morning.

Every time she thought of how she had accused him of taking advantage of her, she felt her face flame with shame. She would have to get over it at some point, and she hoped he too would let it go. Otherwise, living under the same roof was going to be a lot more tricky than it had ever been.

Someone nudged her arm and she jolted out of her mind trip and looked to the side. It was one of her coworkers, who was giving her a curious gaze. “You zoned out,” she said, “Mr Grayson is about to announce the design that has been selected for the autumn and winter exhibition.”

“Oh, thanks,” she told her colleague, switching her attention to Mr Grayson, who was seated at the head of the conference table. Everybody’s eyes were on him as they awaited the announcement.

Having your design selected for the exhibition was a big deal, and while Isabelle had submitted one, but she didn’t have high hopes of getting selected. When she joined the company, everybody else had already been working on their designs. She hadn’t had as much time to work on hers, so she was positive others had done a better job.

Which was why it caught her by surprise when Mr Grayson said, “The design that has been selected for the autumn and winter series exhibition was submitted by Ms Cruz.”

Isabelle blinked, feeling like she was dreaming. But as everybody’s attention turned to her, it sank in. her design had really been chosen.

“Congratulations, Ms Cruz,” Mr Grayson said, beaming at her. “You haven’t been with us for long, but you’ve already proven to be an important part of this department. Keep up the good work.”

“Thank you, sir,” she said humbly, not knowing what else to say. She hadn’t expected anything like this. Everything seemed to be working in her favour, and she was grateful. Just last week she had landed the client who had paid fifty thousand dollars for a necklace, and now, her design had been selected for the next series exhibition. She had known joining the Larson Group would be good for her career, and so far, so good.

“The rest of you,” Mr Grayson said, turning to the others, “you’ll need to work harder if you still want to be part of this department. Having worked for our company longer than Ms Cruz, I would have expected you all to have something better to offer. If she wasn’t here, I don’t think we would have gotten a design to exhibit from our department for this series. Learn from her if its what it takes you to do better.”