Rhys paced in the conference room nervously. He knew he could have the meeting with Feyre in his office but he wanted it to be formal. He needed it to be formal so she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was serious. Even after trying again to get her to list a price for her work while they had eaten lunch, she had scoffed at him.
He had meant to speak with her again after dinner but she had surprised him with a very different sort of painting. Inspired by his comment about rolling her painted body around to see what would be created, she had found a white sheet somewhere and had carefully taped it down to the studio floor stretched taunt. She had stripped naked then, had pulled him from his work at his desk with very little effort once he had a view of her delicious body, and had proceeded to bring out paint for them to cover themselves in to 'paint' the sheet. The results had been a three-hour love making session that had left the sheet completely covered in paint, both of them completely exhausted, and covered in paint in places he hadn't ever imagined one could get paint. Even after a pre-sleep shower, he had been washing paint off of him when he had showered again in the morning.
Feyre hadn't fared as well as him; she was far more exhausted by their session than he was. A testament to the hours of training he still tried to fit into his busy life. After re-examining his schedule for the day, he had let her sleep in and had promised a lunch meeting instead and promised to send a driver for her to give her the extra time she needed.
As he made a sweep by the door once more, he heard the elevator open and looked out of the glass to see Lucien hurry in with a bag on his arm. A lunch meeting required lunch and while Rhys had been perfectly fine in having one delivered in, Lucien had insisted he go get it himself. Rhys suspected he was more nervous about Feyre returning than he was letting on and had needed to go waste the nervous energy outside of the office.
Lucien came into the conference room and hastily started pulling out containers of food and covered drinks. The movements were jerky enough that Rhys laid a hand on his shoulder, causing the red head to flinch almost imperceptibly. A growl rose up in Rhys that he swallowed down. Since Lucien had started working for him, it had become apparent that Tamlin had broken him just as much as he had broken Feyre if not in a different way. It would take time for Lucien to understand there wouldn't be painful consequences whenever his boss was stressed.
"I can set this up," Rhys explained as he pulled his hand away.
"How are you not nervous about this?" Lucien demanded as he stepped away.
"I am nervous," Rhys retorted. "But Feyre can be reasoned with and we talked about some of it yesterday. She knows you're here. She knows I intend to keep you in this position. Beside feeling displaced her biggest concern seemed to be that I would end up wanting you." He let out a soft chuckle at the thought still. He doubted he'd have the energy to put up with anyone on top of Feyre even if he couldn't even imagine wanting anyone else.
"Wanting me? Wanting me to do what?" Lucien frowned for a moment and Rhys only smirked at him. Then Lucien's eyes, one russet and the other golden, both widened and Lucien paled considerably. "The answer is no."
"It was never a question," Rhys laughed. "Feyre is all I'll ever want or need and hopefully she'll realize that soon." He started organizing the food containers so Feyre's sat in the seat next to his and nothing would accidentally drip on the paperwork he had spent the morning researching and drawing up with Amren's help.
"Is that purple paint on your neck?" Lucien asked suddenly. "Why would you have paint there?"
Rhys felt a blush rise up his cheeks before he fought it back and cleared his throat. "My beautiful girlfriend is an artist. It's a hazard of being a very supportive boyfriend." A hazard he would happily face again if she decided she liked the art they had created and wanted to make more to sell it. "Have you spoken to Feyre at all since everything?"
"No," Lucien shook his head. "I wanted to give her space. She didn't-doesn't need me reminding her of bad things." Lucien frowned down at the glass table and Rhys felt the guilt rolling off of him.
"You're not just talking about Amarantha," he observed.
"No. I know exactly what Tamlin did to her. There's not a moment I don't remember what happened in the conference room that day or how broken she became after. Or how easily you spotted the damage left behind," Lucien glanced up at him. "At yet, somehow, Tamlin always convinced me that you were worse for her."
"I don't portray a very nice person to the rest of the world," Rhys shrugged. He waited a moment, glanced at the doors, and then asked the question that had been in his mind since Lucien had paled at the thought of Rhys possibly wanting him sexually. "Did Tamlin ever have you take Feyre's place in regard to what he did to her body?"
Lucien froze, his eyes staring off at something far away though they were locked on the table. Rhys had his answer then. Yes. Tamlin had moved his attentions to someone else after Feyre had gone.
"Only once," Lucien whispered. "Before he and Ianthe started a consensual relationship."
"That won't happen here," Rhys assured him. "You can rest easily knowing I only want to abuse your skills and mind, not your body."
"You abuse Feyre's body," Lucien shot back, a grin on his face.
"I worship her body. It's quite different," Rhys chuckled. "The only screaming she does for me is when she screams out my name and she's not begging me to stop either." His grin widened as he heard the elevator doors open once more. Feyre stepped out looking stunning as ever in a pencil skirt and a tight fitted blouse he would love taking off of her when they got home. She saw his smile and returned it readily. But she didn't come straight for him, instead she made a bee-line for Lucien and threw her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.
"I'm so glad you're here," she told him. "You're going to be a true asset to the company."
Lucien returned her embrace, a blush on his cheeks, but he said nothing in return as he released her and retreated from the conference room.
"You're in a good mood," Rhys commented when the door closed.
"Why shouldn't I be?" Feyre closed the distance between them and kissed him soundly on the lips. "Shall we get down to business?"
"Well, first, I ordered us lunch," he waved at the table and held out a chair for her.
What followed lunch was easily one of the most interesting meetings he had had in his life. The discussed her position first, and his hope that she would personally go out and introduce herself to every Velaris listed business as well as scout for new businesses or artists, and manage the existing businesses as needed. Feyre expressed only two major concerns of hers throughout the first part of the meeting. The first being that she was undereducated for such a position which he replied she was welcome to work on her schooling at work as part of her job. In fact, he would welcome her to do her schooling completely at work if she chose.
The second issue was one he hadn't even thought of because it wasn't much of an issue. Feyre couldn't drive. She had never had the time or money to learn such a skill. Her sisters had learned before they had been too broke for Feyre to even attend school, but she hadn't been given the same opportunity. It was something she spoke of with a bit of shame though it was nothing to be ashamed of. There was quite a large population in Prythian that didn't know a thing about driving. They relied on public transit as Feyre had done.
"Your ability to drive or not isn't an issue. I can assign a driver to you that will be ready to go whenever you are," he promised.
"I feel like that would make it harder to scout out new businesses," Feyre replied. "I would feel like I need to be scheduled with a driver, not that I can just see a business and go right to it."
"Right," Rhys admitted. He loved being able to drive himself for anything that wasn't super official Nox Industries business. He liked having that freedom. "It will be a temporary solution until we can get you driving on your own then." He considered for a moment. He could teach her but there was a possibility that learning from him wouldn't go well. Even during this meeting he was having a hard time keeping his mind on the task at hand. His mind kept drifting to how she had writhed under him the night before and how he planned to find more ways to make her moan his name so loudly he was sure the neighbors had heard it. "Perhaps we should look into actual driving instructors for you though. I wouldn't recommend Mor or Cassian to teach you as both have wrecked a fair number of vehicles. Az would be a good teacher, but he might be pressed for time right now."
"You don't want to teach me?" She asked, an eyebrow quirked.
"As much as I would love to be your instructor, Feyre Darling, I'm afraid my mind is far more focused on burying myself inside of you," he admitted.
"Will it stop?" Feyre asked softly as her cheeks burned red. He quirked an eyebrow back at her. "This need to have you."
"I hope to the Mother it doesn't," Rhys informed her. He loved how bluntly honest she was about pretty much everything. The only things she had a hard time admitting were when she wanted things for herself, except sex. She couldn't hide when she wanted that and it was some sort of blessing from the Cauldron how well they fit together in that regard. He wanted her, to be buried in her, to taste her, nearly every moment. Enough that he was already considering taking another week off of work to take her far away from distractions where they could lay in bed all day and play. But there were other things he needed to do first, like finish this meeting. "Now, on to the other matter at hand before I lose focus completely."
"Other matter?" Feyre narrowed her eyes at him.
Rhys pulled out the papers from Amren that would give Nox Industries the right to the image Feyre had created. It was all legal jargon that meant Feyre was signing over the rights to its use and couldn't argue how it was displayed, but that was another matter entirely. He would be questioning her every step of the way on how she best thought to use the image. By the time Rhys had produced the check for Feyre to see he was indeed serious, tears were filling her eyes.
"You're serious?" She asked. "You weren't joking last night."
"No, and I wasn't joking about wanting to hang that in my office either. I think it's perfect and I want it. If you don't feel this is enough, I can see where else I can pull funding from." He held her gaze.
"No," she whispered as she wiped at her eyes. "This is too much."
"No, it's not. It's what I would pay any other artist for their work to be used in such a way," he stood and pressed the check into her hand. Then he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'd like to see what other work you have as well."
"I love you," she whispered.
"And I love you. Now let's go see which office you want and then we can talk about what changes you want," he offered a hand down to her.
"What do you mean 'changes'?" She asked, taking his hand and letting him lead her from the conference room.
"Well, the offices haven't been used in a long time. They are severely outdated in style. And I understand you might not want to be closed in," he spoke softly as he touched on the subject. Whether Feyre knew all the glass walls had been because of her, he didn't know. They certainly hadn't discussed it but Lucien had commented on it the first day. But there was more to it now. Feyre had a hard time with small spaces. She was getting better in cars, especially if she could have the windows down. But rooms with walls were harder on her. He would never forget the day he had left the bathroom while she was showering and he had closed the door. He had been at work for nearly twenty minutes when he had gotten a frantic call from Nuala that Feyre was curled up on the shower floor sobbing. It had become something he had actively reminded himself of every time he left a room Feyre was in. No closed doors unless he was in there too.
He kept her hand in his as he pulled her from the conference room, letting go only to wrap an arm around her waist. The hallway led them to door after door of offices that he had left unlocked. He had shown them to her in her initial tour but now they truly looked at them. Feyre examined every piece of each room from the view out the windows, to the old style desks his father's executives had preferred, to the dated and worn carpet beneath their feet.
Then they got to the one Rhys both wanted her to take and didn't want her to take. It was a corner office with windows stretching on two sides and extra space to move about. It would give her that much more open feeling she needed. It had traditionally belonged to whoever was second in command to each CEO of his line. With his father, it had been Rhys' while he was learning the business. An office to 'make him feel like he was actually learning to be in charge' his father had declared.
It was still decorated the way he had liked it with the solid L shaped oak desk facing the door and a window in the center of the room alone with bookshelves, a comfortable desk chair, an old couch against one wall, and slightly newer carpeting than the other offices. It would be perfect for Feyre with a few updates, but it was the furthest office from his on this floor. Too far away for his own liking.
"This one feels different," Feyre noted out loud. "Like the person in it last wasn't a corrupt bastard."
"Why thank you, Darling," Rhys chuckled. "I try not to stain the world with my brooding." She shot him a bright smile.
"I like this one," she told him. "I might change out the carpet and that couch looks a little far gone. Maybe something more updated might be in order," she spun around looking. "But otherwise I don't think I'll need to change the walls to be glass like yours." A sly look slid onto her face and he was partially worried. "It might be nice to have some place private here."
"Oh?" He asked, still unsure of what she was thinking. Perhaps a door she could lock Cassian out of or a place she could shut out the noise of the day. But then her eyes turned to him, bright and… hungry.
"Care to help me make a claim to this office?"
There was no mistaking her meaning as she bit her lip and Rhys had the sense to close the door and lock it before he walked Feyre back against the wall. Not over the desk like he would have wanted, but that was for her to decide when she was comfortable with that particular position. It was a matter of a few simple moves to lift her skirt, remove her underwear, and unleash himself before he took her fully against the wall, hard enough that the one framed piece of art, an old print of a boat in the water, fell.
It took more than a few moments to sort themselves out afterwards, but Feyre was practically glowing with how happy she was, with how happy he had made her. It was enough that Rhys wanted to jump her again but a quiet knock at the door had him opening it to look at a very sheepish Lucien.
"Your 2:30 is on their way up," was the only thing Lucien said before he turned back down the hall.
With a sigh, Rhys realized that ravishing Feyre again would have to wait. He was meeting with Kallias about a new health insurance for his workers and that did need to happen.
"What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Rhys asked as he led Feyre towards the lobby.
"I'm thinking I'm going to work from home since my office isn't ready," she announced. "After I take this check to the bank, that is," she produced the folded check from a pocket he wasn't aware she had.
"I can take care of that part," he took the check. It would take him all of a moment to transfer the money from the business account to her private account rather than have her trek to any of the banking locations in Prythian.
"Then I think I'll start looking at our businesses and mapping out a visiting plan," she stopped in the lobby to offer him one kiss that left him smiling down at her. She turned her bright smile on Kallias as he came off the elevator before entering it herself.
"I'll be home for dinner tonight!" He called after her.
"Bring home something good then," was the only thing she called back as the doors closed.
Rhys couldn't help the smile that stretched across his face even as the elevator was gone and took Feyre with it. When he did finally turn to Kallias, he caught the knowing look on the man's face.
"I still get the same feeling with my wife whenever she deems it appropriate to come visit my office throughout the day, even if it's to tell me I'm wrong," came the quiet man's confession. "Shall we get on with the meeting."
"Yes, right this way," Rhys waved at the conference room. It had already been cleared and reset by Lucien for him to sit and speak about insurance plans. The meeting was nowhere close to how he wished he had spent his afternoon but it had to be done, even if his mind kept wandering right back to Feyre moaning against his shoulder while he had pounded her against the wall and how he wished he hadn't scheduled any meetings for the rest of the day.