Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 250: Kaleidoscope

Chapter 250: Kaleidoscope

Back when they had been in bed together after an epic orgasm. Emily had looked over at Derek, who had been laying right next to her and had thought, I love you, I love you, I love you.

Back then she had thought nothing of it. After all, thoughts that one had during and shortly after fantastic sex were not to be taken too seriously. But even after the post-orgasmic haze had faded and they had gotten on with ordinary everyday life. The single phrase had persisted in Emily’s head.

Not leaving until she had finally been forced to acknowledge it. To accept the fact that she did not just tolerate Derek because he was her boss. That she did not just like him because they had recently started dating.

No, what she felt for him was deeper than that.

Emily Molson loved Derek Haven.

Not only did she love him. It was not the normal everyday type of love that couples who were in their honeymoon phase went through. The type that fizzled out after a while.

It also was not that temporary love that people tended to assign to everything. From the love of their friends that faded almost as soon as they no longer saw that person on a regular basis. Or the love of long-distance couples who quickly discovered that they did not care for each other all that much. Once they actually met and had to spend prolonged periods of time with one another.

Emily had been knowing Derek for quite some time. She knew him at his best. Knew him at his worst, and had also seen him at some very low points in his life. She knew the different sides of Derek.

Emily knew Derek the businessman, strong and capable. She knew the negotiator in the boardroom, cold and cut throat, not backing down. She also knew the spoiled brat side of him that sometimes showed when he could not understand why he was not getting his way. Like that time at the motel.

But even with that, there was also the side of him that was the son. That Derek never had a bad word to say about his mother. He never forgot her birthday. And even though he would sometimes groan and complain, whenever she was in the city and happened to call. If he could, Derek would make sure to at least find time in his busy schedule to go with her wherever it was that she wanted to visit.

There were many other facets to him too. Things that Emily had only had the privilege of seeing because she was his personal assistant, meaning that she spent more time with him, than anybody else.

So unlike most girlfriends who were still feeling their way around their relationship. Emily already knew what to expect and she knew that all that Derek brought with him. She willingly and gratefully embraced it all. She loved him for who he was.

and would never ever try to change a single thing about him.

But just because to herself, Emily was able to come out with the truth and admit that she was head over heels for her boyfriend. That did not mean that it was so easy to just tell him.

It was extremely hard.

Emily had agonized over what exactly to say. From the moment that she had realized that her love of Derek was not something that would sort itself out. She actively had to tell him. Otherwise he would never know, and as far as Emily was concerned.

That would be a horrible fate to have.

For someone to love you, and for them to never have the courage to say anything about it. It was not just enough for people to be loved. They had to be told that they were loved. One could not just assume when it came to matters of the heart.

So Emily had resolved to tell Derek exactly how she felt. But how? That had been where she had hit a stumbling block.

"Derek, I love you." That was the easy thing to say. But she could not just yell out those words from across the room, and hope that he understood that she meant them. Or tell him point blank like she were reading him his schedule.

Then there was also the fact that Derek came from money to consider. Despite the fact that Derek was significantly more well off than she was, money had never been an issue between the two of them.

His generational wealth did not interest her.

Nor was he one of those types who constantly had to remind their partner that they bought everything for them. But even if that were so. The fact that Derek came from money limited Emily in certain aspects.

She could not just go out and buy him a pair of cufflinks. Then use it as an excuse to confess. What she would deem as expensive. To him would be something well below his usual price range. He might accept it, but she would know that it was just a pity acceptance.

Not something that he was genuinely happy to have. And that would make it hard for her to say how she felt. Any other confession plan that centered on her doing something that required money also had Emily feeling a bit helpless.

So she had cancelled all of that. There would be nothing monetary involved.

Instead, she had decided to go for something simple. Something that was true to her. And she knew that Derek would understand just by seeing it. For you see, embroidery was Emily’s thing.

She was very good at it. So good in fact that she had just finished the complex piece that she had been working on. The one that represented the two of them and their struggles. But Derek did not yet know that she was done with it, and instead of alerting him to that fact.

Emily had decided to use the old piece as a cover for her latest project. Unlike the piece with the boat and the waters in the night sky. The one that she was currently working on was not as complicated. In fact, it was very easy.

It was a heart, plain and simple.

Where the first piece was meant to represent their struggles and the peace that they had finally found in realizing they were in the same boat together. Her heart was simple. She would give it to Derek and tell him that she was giving him a bit of herself.

Confessing her love for him. And that would be true in the physical and the metaphorical sense. She would literally be giving him the heart that she had embroidered. As well as her heart.

The very place where all of her love was held. She would be sharing that with him. Her greatest weakness and her greatest strength.

At first, Emily had wanted to just embroider a simple red heart, but then she had decided that not only was that too cliché, but it also did not represent exactly how she felt whenever she saw Derek.

The closest that she could come to describing it was just an explosion of color. And so Emily had gone for threads that represented the various shades of the rainbow. And that fit because thanks to her love for Derek Haven, her heart was a kaleidoscope of emotions.