The Billionaire and His PA novel Chapter 70

When Felix pulled up to the Peters’ home, he saw that it had been decorated for Halloween. A trio of small hollowed out pumpkins, each with a unique design, sat on the steps leading to the door. The door itself was adorned with a wreath made of autumn leaves, pinecones and faux spiders. A life-sized skeleton beside the door appeared to be waving to passersby.

When Cassie had heard that he had never been trick-or-treating after the twins had invited him to come with them, he had seen the mild shock and pity on her face at his admission. His mother had never allowed him to do so while he had been growing up. Bethany was the kind of mother that had used every possible holiday to either throw or attend lavish parties most of which she would force Felix to attend with her so that she could show him off to her friends. She would state all of Felix’s achievements and dare her friends to even try to make their own children be remotely as good as Felix. It was kind of an ironic gesture as behind closed doors, she kept reminding him of just how much of a waste of space he was.

Usually, he would have still been at work but he had left early so that he could make it to Cassie’s place in time. He knew that if his mum found out about it, she was going to be livid but he had recently discovered that her opinions about him didn’t matter as much as they used to.

He made a fist and knocked. He had barely brought his hand down when the door was flung open and he came face to face with Isabel. As she had on a simple sweatshirt and pajama bottoms, Felix guessed that she wouldn’t be coming with them.

She smirked at him and turned inside. “Cassie! Your prince is here.” She yelled and then stepped aside for him to walk in.

“Stop being cheeky, Isabel.” Cassie’s disembodied voice warned from the kitchen.

The inside of the house smelt like cinnamon and pumpkin and was even more decorated than the outside. There were faux cobwebs in the corner, spider shaped paper bunting strung across the walls and a life sized rag doll which had plumped one of the dining room chairs with a broom beside it. A large plastic bowl on the coffee table contained varieties of sweets and chocolates for the trick-or-treaters. Dressed as a fairy and toy soldier respectively, Lily and Aaron barely pulled their gaze from their movie to acknowledge his entrance.

He might not have shown it to Cassie but he was very excited to be going trick-or-treating. He had gone above and beyond to get a costume. He wore a long rich coat made of rich velvet with an intricate gold embroidery running down the front and at the edge of the sleeves. Underneath the coat, he wore a white blouse with more ruffles than he wished for on the collar and cuffs. The trousers were made of tight fitting supple leather and disappeared into the elegant leather boots that rose to his mid-calf. A replica of a rapier hung at his side from a baldric. A wide brimmed crimson hat with a feather plume completed his look. When he looked in the mirror at home, he found that he liked what he saw.

But when Cassie came out of the kitchen, bearing a tray of cinnamon rolls, he found that he more than liked what he saw. Her outfit was a replica of the late Princess Diana’s revenge dress. The black fabric of the dress hugged her curves in all the right places, accentuating her figure and elongating her toned legs. The off-shoulder neckline exposed her graceful shoulders and the slit at the bottom of the dress exposed just enough of her thigh to make him begin to wish that it exposed more. He realized he was staring and shifted his focus to the cinnamon rolls.

“He is not a prince. He’s a musketeer.” Cassie corrected, dropping the tray on the table to cool. Although with how Felix was dressed, he might have as well been a real life prince. She had no trouble admitting that Felix was good looking, but seeing him standing in her living room, dressed to impress, she was suddenly made aware of a warm feeling that was beginning to form inside of her. Was that the beginning of a crush? She would have to smother whatever feelings she thought she had for Felix. Their relationship would be inappropriate: he was her boss and was still grieving the loss of his fiancée, Hazel. Besides, he didn’t even like her like that.

“Aaron, Lily, put on your shoes and grab your bags. Isabel, please don’t let Snowflake eat anything she isn’t supposed to.” Cassie said. “It’s time to go trick-or-treating.”

*****

“You still haven’t told me what we’re doing here.” Felix said. In the middle of their trick-or-treating, Cassie had received a phone call and had dropped the twins off with Amanda who had looked like she had a lot of questions to ask Cassie and Felix but the twins had dragged her inside so they could show her the candy they had gotten.

They had then taken an Uber to a building that Felix thought looked oddly familiar. Their Uber driver had called them the most attractive couple he had seen all night, and rather than correct him, the two of them had muttered ‘thank you’.

“Sorry about that.” Cassie said. “You already know that I have other jobs. I work here in the evenings and my friend Diana was in a hurry to leave work and she didn’t lock up properly. She asked if I could help and since I was close by, I agreed.” She opened the front door and stepped in. That was why she had rushed over there quickly without giving Felix an explanation. Diana had been in such a hurry that she hadn’t even locked the front door. She also hadn’t turned off the karaoke machine as lyric-less music floated through the café. “I’m not going to take long.”

Felix followed after her.