They had to cancel their original Friday night plans as Mikayla was not feeling all that well. With a smile, Damien entered into his master bedroom, a hot water bottle in his hand that he had encased in a cute quilted purple cover. In his other hand, he carried a tray of pretzel sticks and jar of Nutella.

"Here you go," he said, as he placed the hot water bottle on Mikayla's stomach before handing her the snacks.

Once he was sure that she was comfortable, he kissed her temple, then made his way to the other side of the bed.

Mikayla smiled, feeling her cheeks heat at his thoughtful gestures, "I'm sorry that I disrupted our weekend plans."

"It's fine love, Paris is right there. We can always see my parents next weekend." Damien said as he laid down in the bed, getting a remote from his side table.

He pressed a button and a slim flat screen tv descended from the ceiling as he added, "Besides, I rather our first Paris treat be mother nature free, no red barons allowed."

A laugh erupted from Mikayla, causing her to wince a bit, as another period cramp wracked through her. She suffered from PCOS and as a result, had been using birth control pills for the last few years to regularise her period. Some months were normal and pain free. However, there were times when the cramps would be more intense than usual.

"Of course, it all boils down to one thing huh?" she said as she playfully rolled her eyes, dipping a pretzel stick into the jar of Nutella.

"You know that's not true, having your period will not stop me from making love to you, that's what showers are for," Damien said with a mischief glint in his aquamarine eyes.

Shaking her head, Mikayla exclaimed, "Oh... My... Geed! Gosh you're so nasty!"

"Perhaps, but I'm your nastiness remember?" he leaned down and gave her a kiss, his tongue cleaning the bit of Nutella that had gathered at the corner of her lips, "Plus I heard that orgasms are good for the cramps."

"Of course, you'd know that," she sighed softly at the feel of his tongue against her lips. "So, you like to run through red lights huh? I didn't peg you as that kind of person."

"Beep beep," Damien mimicked a car horn. He laughed softly before he went onto say, "I've never done anything like that before, but I'd do anything for you."

"Well I'm good with some cuddles and a hot water bottle, and maybe some coffee éclairs," she pouted at the end.

"Fair enough, I'll be sure to get some coffee éclairs for you tomorrow." Damien said with a smile as he snuggled up close to her, "Plus I did promise your mother that I'd take care of you so I needed to get all the necessary information."

Mikayla kissed his cheek, loving how thoughtful he was.

Damien turned the television on and opened up a plethora of movie options, "Let me guess, something animated yea?"

"Yes please!" Mikayla said excitedly.

If someone would have told Damien four months ago, that he would be soon be spending his Friday nights watching a children's cartoon, while helping to nurse the period cramps of his girlfriend, he'd have not believed a word of it. However, now that he was here, there wasn't anywhere else that he'd rather be.

Being with Mikayla had turned out to be better than anything that he could have imagined. He loved spending time with her, enjoying their witty banters. The way she bossed him around in the kitchen, while she prepared Caribbean dishes had become a highlight for him.

He loved that she often created a fusion mix of Trinbagonian and French cuisine, his favourite being saltfish with croissants. When she first suggested the combination, he thought it was blasphemy. However, the minute he took a bite, his taste buds instantly fell in love.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Damien looked over at Mikayla and asked, "Will Hannah be coming over on Sunday?"

"Oh! I wanted to talk to you about that. Since we're living together now, she wasn't sure if she'd be overstepping if she came over." Mikayla said.

Using his hand to gently rub across her stomach, he said, "She's your best friend, why would I stop her from coming over?"

His words warmed her heart, "In that case I'll tell her it's a go for Sunday then. When do I get to meet your best friend? What was his name, Tahir?"

"Tariq," Damien corrected her, "wow, you really do listen to me when I talk huh," his lips twitching with a slight smile.

"Oi! You mentioned him once when we had that consultation with that company that dealt with software for oil companies. All I managed to get was that he was a geologist. You rattled his name off and everything else so damn fast, I barely had time to catch any information before we had to go into the meeting," she defended herself.

Nodding his head as he remembered, "Fair enough. Well Tariq Maalouf, is my best friend whom I meet at boarding school. He was born in Qatar..."

Mikayla interrupted him, "Qatar? He's not French?"

"Mikayla, your judgy side is showing," he teased her, "so because I'm French my best friend should automatically be French?"

She bit her lips as her cheeks flamed with slight embarrassment, "I suppose I just assumed it'd be a fellow Frenchman."

"He is, sort of. His mother is French, but his father is from Qatar. Their family own an oil company near Halul Island, but Tariq was more interested in getting his hands dirty, literally. As a result, he pursued geology so that way he could still contribute to the family business while following his own dreams and having his own life." Damien said as he stole a pretzel.

"Interesting, so when can I meet this geologist," she asked as she dipped a pretzel in Nutella before feeding it to him.

Damien took the pretzel that Mikayla offered him, his tongue licking her fingers, "I will have to see. As you can imagine, we're both busy, so we usually set aside some times to see each other, about 4 times a year."

"Only four? That doesn't seem like a lot, I guess trying to set Hannah up is out of the question then," she giggled.

Hearing Mikayla's joke made Damien roar with laughter, "Hannah and Tariq?! Ha!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean, what's wrong with Hannah?" Mikayla pouted.

Kissing at her pout Damien said, "Nothing. It's just that she's a wild card. She's very carefree and nothing is wrong with that, but Tariq's father is Muslim. Therefore, Tariq follows a few of their practices. Even though he used to be my wing-man when we were younger, he still adheres to certain beliefs of how a proper woman should act. He's not a chauvinist pig or anything but some people in his family insist that he date a good Muslim or Catholic woman. And while Hannah may be Catholic, she might not necessarily be what he's looking for."

"I'm not saying they should get married! Geez! But a double date could be fun. Besides it's not like Hannah is looking to be tied down to anyone right now anyway." Mikayla huffed.

Damien chuckled softly as he replied, "Tariq is a great friend and I think you two would get along splendidly. I won't lie though; it would be interesting to see how Hannah would interact with him though."

"Agreed," Mikayla laughed softly.

She stuffed some more Nutella covered pretzels into her mouth, as her eyes refocused on the tv ahead.

————— ▲ —————

The sound of Mikayla's grumbling stomach could be heard over the sound of her typing, "Alright! I heard you the first five times, I'm going to lunch!" she scolded her abdomen as she saved her document and got up from her desk.

Damien was on a conference call and Mikayla sent him a text to let him know that she was stepping out of the building. She was going to go and grab a sandwich from her favourite shop and wanted to know if he'd like something. He quickly messaged her back and let her know that he would be grateful if she could.

She smiled as she read his text while exiting the elevator. As she left the lobby and walked onto the pavement, she heard someone calling her name. It was Bethany. With a silent inward groan, Mikayla stopped and turned around.

"Hi Mikayla!" Bethany chirped, her hazel eyes bright, "Are you heading to lunch too? May I join you please?"

Not wanting to be rude, Mikayla reluctantly agreed. She figured she'd use the opportunity to get to the bottom of the mystery that surrounded the young woman, "Sure."

They walked to one of Mikayla's favourite sandwich deli shops. The old Italian man created some amazing sandwiches. One of her favourites was the grilled portobello mushroom burger, which she was craving today. Mikayla particularly enjoyed the homemade red pepper tapenade, baby spinach and fresh mozzarella that was added to the burger.

She decided that she'd get a roasted chicken caprese sandwich for Damien, knowing that he'd enjoy the flavours of arugula, fresh basil, mozzarella pearls, and truffle mustard. Mikayla took her order and stood to the side, waiting on Bethany, who ordered a Porchetta sandwich.

"Good choice!" Mikayla said as the brunette walked over, "Let's go eat in the park yea?"

"Sounds good." Bethany said, as they walked a short distance away to the park that was situated near the Arnauld Tech Corporation building.

They ate in silence for a bit before they idly chatted in between bites. They spoke about how their experiences had been since they were employed at the company.

While exchanging some general information about each other, Mikayla found out that Bethany was from Liverpool, that she had a twin brother, owned a dog called Ribbit and was 27 years old.

Mikayla choked on her water a bit, "You're 27? No way! You don't look a day over 20!"

"Thank you," she smiled a bit, a slight blush coming over her cheeks, "I don't think the fact that I'm 5'2 helps."

Bethany had such a youthful face as well that she was often mistaken for a teenager.

After a while, Mikayla could see that Bethany was trying hard not to hold back from saying something and so she decided to put the woman out of her misery. "What is it Bethany? You look like you really want to ask something."

Bethany's entire face went red this time, having been caught, "I'm sorry. I just can't seem to contain my curiousity."

"You do know that curiousity can kill right?" Mikayla replied half-jokingly.

Gulping slightly, Bethany nodded, "I know, forget I said anything." she said shyly before taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Pfft, now you definitely have to tell me!" Mikayla implored playfully, as she waited, finding that she had started to enjoy the woman's company.

Bethany took a drink of her juice as though needing to gather some courage, "Forgive my intrusion but I couldn't help but notice you and Mr Arnauld arrived in the same car yesterday." she said somewhat reservedly, hoping she did not overstep.

Well that enjoyment did not last too long, Mikayla thought dryly. Taking a deep breath, Mikayla closed her eyes for a moment, she knew that people would have seen them arriving together and may have been inquisitive.

"Well, that's because we live together."

Bethany's eyes widened with surprise.

"No! I mean we live in the same flat building." Mikayla rushed to correct her meaning.

"Ah! That makes more sense," Bethany added, "I heard that he lives in a very exclusive part of town. How is it that you're able to afford such if you don't mind me asking?"

Frowning slightly, Mikayla stood as she began packing up, "I do mind actually. But if you must know, it was included as part of my employment contract."

"Oh, that seems rather convenient, must be nice to be his personal assistant huh? All those extra perks," Bethany said, her voice having a suspicious tone as she stood as well gathering her things.

"I'm sorry Bethany, what exactly are you trying to imply?" Mikayla did her best to keep her tone neutral.

The brunette shrugged, "Nothing, I mean you're an attractive young woman, what better way to try and prey on you than have you living so close–"

Mikayla cut her off, "I beg your pardon! Damien is not like that!"

"No? What is Mr. Arnauld like Mikayla?" Bethany adjusted her handbag on her shoulder.

Shaking her head in slight disgust as to where the conversation had turned, she all but spat out her next words, "Perhaps you should ask him yourself Ms. Mitchell."

"He doesn't particularly interest me honestly," she replied, her hazel eyes travelling over Mikayla's body before firmly fixing her gaze on Mikayla's face.

Missing the way Bethany checked her out, Mikayla replied, "Could have fooled me my dear, with all these questions. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading back into the office."

She walked past Bethany, leaving the woman standing in the park. So much for enjoying her company, there was no way that she could be cordial with Bethany. She really just rubbed her the wrong way.

As she stepped into Damien's private elevator, Mikayla closed her eyes and counted to ten, trying her best to calm her nerves. It did not help much and, by the time she stepped onto the executive floor, she all but barged into Damien's office, forgetting to knock.

Damien had been staring out the window, his attention moving to the door at the sudden intrusion.

"Mikayla? What's wrong?" he asked as he immediately walked towards her, noting the look of slight distress on her face.

Closing the door behind her, she went willingly into his arms and hugged him, "Mudda ass Bethany Mitchell," her words full of venom.

"Whoa! What happened?" his aquamarine eyes were full of concern as he looked down at her while leading her to sit on the couch.

Mikayla took his lunch out of her bag and handed it to him as she replayed the conversation, a permanent frown on her face.

Placing the sandwich on the table, he thanked Mikayla and sat back listening to everything that she had to say.

When she finished speaking, he could not help but burst out laughing, "I'm sorry to laugh but she clearly has the hots for you."

"What? Are you insane?" she denied.

Shaking his head, he pulled her onto his lap, kissing her neck a bit, hoping to calm her down. "Think about it, she's clearly been observing us more closely since she saw us at breakfast two weeks ago. She claims she's not interested in me, so clearly that only leaves you." Damien said against her skin, as he pressed kisses in-between his words, "It's obvious that she fancies you and is trying to figure out if you're banging your boss or not."

Mikayla moaned softly at Damien's kisses, her hands holding onto his shoulders.

"I mean if that kiss that I did in front of that restaurant didn't say it, then maybe I need to spread you across my table and leave the door open," he teased as he rubbed his pelvis against hers.

A soft whimper escaped her lips at his words, "You're so shameless."

Smacking her ass playfully, enjoying the feel of it in his palms, "What can I say, I want to protect what is mine."

Mikayla's reply was silenced by Damien's lips as he proceeded to claim her as his and remove all thoughts of Bethany from her mind.

——————————

AN: The term "PCOS" refers to Polycystic ovary syndrome, and is a condition that affects a woman's hormone levels. Women with PCOS produce higher-than-normal amounts of male hormones. This hormone imbalance causes them to skip menstrual periods and makes it harder for them to get pregnant.