It was Sunday before Rhys even had an opportunity to bring up what had actually been happening at work. The night before he had been unable to get Feyre alone until very late and by then she was too tired to hold any sort of serious conversation. And he had to admit, he didn't want to anger her before bed if she did get angry about it. He didn't want to argue late into the night and he didn't want her to sleep apart from him. It was a bit selfish but he also justified that she would need her rest so he was truly doing her a favor.
In the morning he had intended to wake up early to go buy some fresh coffee cake and bring home some special coffee to start buttering her up, but Feyre was awake before he had even thought to get up and she was already in the kitchen eating a cold piece of pizza when he did locate her.
"Working on classes?" Rhys asked when he saw her laptop open.
"Reading through your schedule for the week," she replied. "I didn't want to come in tomorrow and be so lost that I missed something important, like an 8 AM meeting with some important executive." She pointed to the schedule that she clearly still had access to.
Rhys sighed wishing that he had at least had his coffee before starting this conversation but if Feyre wanted to bring things up this early, then he had to also be prepared. He rubbed at his face while he thoughts about how to approach the subject.
"What's wrong? Not looking forward to the meeting?" Feyre asked. "It can't be that bad, can it?" Her blue-gray eyes were trained on him and he knew she was well too aware of his moods to even give him much of a moment to figure out how he wanted to say it. But it seemed like he had to do it directly.
"Feyre, Darling, I need you to hear me out before you get mad," he started and instantly saw her eyes narrow.
"I'm not taking another week off. I'm fine," she snapped immediately. Alright, this wasn't going to go well.
"I'm not asking you to take another week off," he shifted and then went to stand in front of her. "I needed help while you were healing up. You know I've come to value everything you do and with splitting my time between work and being here with you, and with everything going on I couldn't sacrifice that extra help." He watched her eyes narrow further. "So I hired someone to take the place of my personal assistant while you were gone."
"Who is she?" Feyre almost growled out and Rhys laughed. Feyre was jealous. He hadn't expected that but he did understand. As Tamlin's personal assistant she had become his sex toy. As Rhys' she had become his girlfriend. He knew if she stopped to truly think about it, she would know he wouldn't have an attraction to just anyone but he had hired her based on his attraction to her. Perhaps she thought he had done it again.
"He," Rhys emphasized the gender, "is someone you know. I'm hoping you can forgive me for it but I hired Lucien Vanserra when he came looking for somewhere else to call home after Tamlin went under scrutiny for his role with what happened to you." He waited, expecting a slap or anything. Lucien had helped abduct her and as far as he knew, they hadn't spoken since Lucien had been the one to give the evidence needed to save her.
"Oh," Feyre breathed out after a moment. "So, I'm fired then?" He saw the hurt flash across her face as she looked down at her lap and immediately moved to cup her cheeks to make her face him again.
"I have much bigger things planned for you than you staying my assistant for the rest of your days," he pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"So what happens when I get to work tomorrow?" She asked finally.
"You come to my office, and we have a full meeting about what I expect from you in the future at work," he bent to kiss her nose.
"What about your meeting at 8?" She asked.
"You are my meeting at 8," he started to kiss her cheek and then trail to her ear where he knew she loved attention.
"The meeting note says something about a Velaris Incorporated executive," Feyre prompted, her breath becoming somewhat labored.
"Do you have an objection to becoming the main person in charge of Velaris?" He started to nibble on the point of her ear and moved down slowly to the lobe in a way that made her arch her back.
"Doesn't that position traditionally go to your wife?" She asked. "It was your mother's and then your grandmother's before that."
"Do you want me to deny what you are to me, Feyre?" He moved to the place behind her ear that had her chest pressing against his stomach. "I'd go out and buy you a ring right now if I didn't think I was pushing my luck."
"You're a shameless prick for using seduction to avoid the fact you hid this from me for weeks," she breathed out.
"I don't believe I've hidden how I feel about you, Darling," he pulled back to look at her.
"I'm talking about Lucien and giving my job away," she raised an eyebrow at him. "I'll be in my studio getting it set up. We can discuss the details of my new position tomorrow morning, Mr. Nox." Her voice had dropped down to the very seductive tones he loved hearing out of her. She paused in her walking away and glanced back at him in a way that made him believe he should start thinking about losing his clothes and how to best remove hers quickly. She made for the fridge and took out a bottle of water. Then she turned and gave him a little quirked smile. "And about that ring," he froze at the words. She was about to crush him for admitting he wanted to marry her. "I don't like diamonds." Then she was out the door headed for the stairs.
Rhys sat stunned in the kitchen long after Feyre had completely retreated upstairs. He had to have dreamed up that Feyre had just accepted he planned to buy her a ring. He had to have dreamed it up that Feyre had given him a preference in the matter as if she had possibly thought about it. He was insane for wanting to marry her so quickly, he knew that. But it had never been a possibility in his mind that she might feel the same so soon as well.
Eventually, Rhys pulled himself from his stupor and took a page from Feyre's book by raiding the left-over pizza and took a cup of coffee up to his office. Feyre's studio door was wide open and he could hear her moving belongings around. Part of dinner the night before had been Mor and Amren insisting they help to and they had helped carry supplies up and had teamed up with Feyre to set up the drafting table and easel that he been bought for Feyre. Copious amounts of wine had been involved but Azriel had checked it out before he had left and had declared both to be properly assembled though he wasn't sure how.
He paused at his doorway listening to her. There was a chance, a good chance, she was mad about everything and she was keeping away from him for the day because she was mad. It wasn't like he was banned from her studio but he didn't want to enter her space without her permission either. He had given it to her, he wasn't going to intrude. If she was mad, there was a chance it was in his best interest to give her some space, so he went into his office but left the door wide open. She likely already knew he was up in the room next to his.
His intentions in his office were to start typing up his proposal to Feyre to explain her position but also the benefits and pay she would receive. But his mind kept going back to that moment in the kitchen when she had said she didn't want a diamond, and slowly his word processor became jewelry websites where he started to browse styles that might be of interest to him.
Somewhere along the way he sent a message to Mor asking for opinions and had received back a very clear reminder that he already had a ring that would likely be perfect. He had inherited his mother's jewelry along with everything else his family had owed. It all sat at his family's estate well outside the main city, but he rarely visited it. Servants kept it running if he ever had half a mind to go there and it was where everyone thought he actually lived, but he hadn't been able to live there since his family had passed away. Not only was the place far too big and lonely for one person, it was also filled with the reminders of his mother, father, and sister wherever he looked.
I'll fetch the jewelry box for you so you can look, was Mor's reply when he had expressed his dislike of the idea of digging through his mother's room for the ring despite the idea resonating deep inside of him. His mother would have wanted him to pass on her ring if it hadn't gone to his sister.
"Rhys?" Feyre's voice came from the door and he blinked at his screen and closed down the browser before turning to face her. She looked utterly beautiful with paint dotting her hair, t-shirt, and leggings. "Are you hungry? I was thinking about lunch."
"How about Sevinda's?" He pushed back his chair fully hoping this was a true sign she wasn't mad at him.
"I'm not really okay to go out," she waved at her appearance and Rhys scoffed. "I'm a little dirty."
"My Darling, you could be wearing only paint and you'd still be fit to go out," he moved to take her in his arms and kissed her fully. She hesitated and he knew, absolutely knew she was still upset with him based on that alone. "You know my hiring of a new assistant does not mean that I am replacing you at all, right?"
"He can do more for you. He has a better education and knows a lot," she murmured, her cheeks staining red. "And he's attractive."
"Look at me," Rhys instructed, noting her eyes were drifting to the floor. She didn't oblige so he pressed a hand under her chin to tilt her face upwards. "You did more for me than I ever expected as my assistant. You raised my expectations further than I ever dreamed for the position. You're brilliant and talented and a formal education might benefit you, but it wouldn't begin to touch on what you can and cannot do." He bent to pressed his lips to her forehead. "And yes, Lucien is an attractive man, and I have been attracted to men before. But, Feyre, I have you and I have absolutely no intention of ever letting you go."
He heard her breathing stutter slightly and he pulled her in closer, letting her bury her face in his chest. She left out another stuttering breath and he realized she was likely crying, which was fine. She was upset and had every right to be. He should have spoken to her when he had hired Lucien. He should have told her exactly what he was doing, but he hadn't wanted to stress her while she was healing.
"And I doubt I could ever find myself attracted to a red-head again," he pressed and earned a watery laugh.
"So you don't want to bend him over your desk?" She asked into his chest. A probing question and some of her usual snark coming out, a sign she was starting to understand.
"The only one I want bent over my desk, Feyre Darling, is you. And right now with you so coated in paint, I'd be more interested in rolling you out on a canvas to see what kind of art we could make together," he pulled back to examine where paint had found its way into her hair. "Can I see what you're working on?"
"Nothing as exciting as what you just suggested," she told him as she broke away. Her hand stayed tightly in his as she pulled him out of his office and toward her studio. He had expected her to be painting the walls or something along those lines. Instead he found the canvas she had been sketching on two nights before.
He broke away from her as he went to inspect the white lines that made up the rough mountain range and the splattering of white paint in the background marking the starry sky, but only the three stars about the mountain peak were truly visible.
"I want this," he told her after a moment. "I want it in my office where I can see it every day." He turned to see her staring at him. "And I want to use the design for our company logo."
"You're joking," she breathed out.
"No, I'm not. I'll pay you well for it too." He turned to pull her into his arms and to kiss her thoroughly. His Feyre. She was so cauldron talented. "Mother Bless Me, do you even want to come back to work for me? You could paint all the time, get a gallery, show your work. You'd probably make a name for yourself fairly quickly."
Feyre simply laughed at the prospect but he was serious. She was talented and when he looked to the other paintings she had laying against the walls, he realized how talented. He wasn't sure what he had expected when he had discovered she liked to paint and went to community art classes. It wasn't mountain scenes, and colorful night skies, and forests in the winter. He certainly wasn't expecting her to be able to capture so much detail and make it look so eye-catching.
"Tarquin hasn't offered to buy your paintings?" He asked when she continued to laugh.
"He searches out beachy scenes to set the mood for his resorts," she sobered quickly. "No one has ever been interested in my work, Rhys, so I'll be coming back to work for you."
"I'm interested in your work, and as soon as we negotiate a contract for use of it for Nox Industries to use it as a logo, everyone in Prythian will know your work too, and likely want it." He bent down to kiss her thoroughly. "Lunch and then we can come back and you can decide if you want to paint me nude on a canvas, or just splatter paint on my nude."
Feyre laughed but caught his hand and tugged him out of the studio. The twinkle in her eye told him she might actually be considering which option she wanted and he couldn't say he'd be disappointed if she picked one over the other.