Kept

Chapter 14. Taylor's Epiphany

Three months passed by and Taylor hadn't bothered to touch her since that night in the hotel. It was as if nothing had ever happened between them. What did happen was that he turned into a tyrant overnight. He had no consideration for her social life and didn't seem to care if she slept or ate. Her life had suddenly become all about him. To be fair, she had to admit that he had warned her about how hard he would work her, but she never thought it would be so extreme. When he told her she would eat, sleep, and breathe him, he hadn't been kidding. The man's voice stayed in her ear spouting out arrogant orders on the wireless headset she wore all day. When he did come home, her name was the first thing he'd bellow throughout the house and no matter where she was at; she had to run to his side. She was constantly beside him like a damn shadow. He started taking her everywhere with him, his job, making her meet him at the airport when he went on his business trips, at social events, he even had her jog with him one Sunday morning so he could talk to her about next week's agenda and then had the nerves to scold her when she wasn't in shape to keep up with him.

He continued to see Ashly and to Kaitlyn's surprise a few other women. She had no idea he was such a playboy. She felt sorry for any woman that got involved with his obnoxious ass. Taylor could be utterly charming when he wanted to be. She had seen that side of him only a few times, the first when he talked her into working for him and the second when they spent that one Saturday together touring San Francisco. He could also be demanding along with that charm making it hard for anyone to say no to him. She'd experienced that first hand when he managed to seduce her...twice. However, now it seemed as if he was a completely different person, at least around her, he rarely showed her anything of the man she knew him to be, except to snap orders at her and constantly call her name. She was beginning to hate her own name because of him.

She supposed it was good that he seemed to have lost interest in her; he was her boss after all. She should have felt relieved about it, instead of the sharp pain of jealousy and rejection whenever she saw him with another woman. She understood she had no place with a man like him except to only work for him. He'd made that clear. All that bullshit about her being his was said in the heat of the moment, he hadn't meant it. She had offered herself to him and he had rejected her or so she thought.

There were things that he did that were questionable that made her think he still felt "something" towards her, like his refusal to take her on business trips even though it was part of her job to travel with him. Even though she stayed by his side, he made sure to put a nice distance between them so they wouldn't mistakenly touch, and the rare times they did, his entire body would tense and move away from her as if she'd burnt him. She still brought him tea, but he immediately dismissed her as if he couldn't stand to be alone with her at night.

The man gave her headaches just being in his presence and yet she still found herself doing something very dangerous. She was falling in love with him. She couldn't help it, despite the way he treated her, there was just something about the man that made her heart jump in her chest whenever he called her name. Despite his attitude, he was beginning to depend on her whether he knew it or not. It seemed a day didn't go by without him having some kind of contact with her. And then, there was the way those brown eyes stared at her so hard at times. There were a lot of hidden emotions in those eyes when he looked into hers, which was another thing that made her wonder if she was just making it all up.

There were a lot of new things Kaitlyn learned about Taylor over the past three months. The most major and surprising was that the company he worked at was actually his! He had approached her as a CEO and had worked as one also, but she never thought he actually owned the company. He refused to let the people who worked for him run it, he had to be in the midst of it himself which showed just how much of a control freak he truly was. The second surprise was that Taylor didn't even need to work. The man was so rich, he could have just led a life of leisure which made Kaitlyn think that despite all the people he knew and the women he dated, there was no purpose to his life unless he was working. The last surprise - something she should have learned much earlier - was that Taylor knew everyone in San Francisco including the mayor. He was like a celebrity. Everywhere they went people knew who he was and they treated him with respect. Sometimes she felt like a small speck standing in his shadow because of the larger than life appearance he gave off, and because she was nearly always by his side, everyone began to know her as well. She wasn't too comfortable becoming so popular, but what could she do when realized she'd been sucked into working for one of the most powerful and influential men in the city?