The Faceless Billionaire Celebrity Wife-Chapter 318 - 72 Hours (3) Playing Cards.

Just then, he thought he felt lips against his ear and a whisper, "I love you, Mr DeLoach."

Ethan’s dark eyes shrouded in confusion as he turned the meet her gaze, her face just a few inches from his.

"Now is not the time for jokes, Princess," he said, a hint of warning in his voice.

"What?" Shikera frowned. "That wasn’t a joke. I wanted to tell you since we were on the island but I was keeping a secret from you...I thought you might think I was lying to you later on if you—"

Ethan cut her off, "Dare you to say that again when we’re out of here. The night’s still yours, isn’t it?"

Before Shikera could respond, Mignon chimed in, "So why are we here, Kera Cooper? There’s literally nothing you are enjoying as you sit there."

Shikera waved her hand as if to tell Mignon not to worry about her.

"You guys shouldn’t bother with me and drink to your fill. Even if I wasn’t pregnant, I wouldn’t have been able to drink anyways," she replied, adding after a short pause, "Except you, Ethan. Since I brought you here, I can decide whether or not you are allowed to drink."

"The petty side of you doesn’t want to buy drinks for your ex-husband?" Cyprian teased.

"Buy drinks? Who said I’m buying? Mr DeLoach here is," Shikera declared.

★★★

It was well past Ethan’s usual wake-up time, and he knew that even without a single glance at the grandfather clock hanging on the wall. He also knew he had to get out of bed now if he wanted to resume work early enough, but he just couldn’t.

He was scared she would wake up if he moved; the woman whose hands were sprawled across his chest. A smile tugging at the corner of his lips, he remembered how he got into this situation.

"I am sleeping with you tonight. You can’t refuse," Shikera had said the previous night the moment the two were alone in the car.

Ethan was speechless, completely having no idea of what reply to give to her words. However, the fact was that he had been looking forward to obeying her, only for him to find out an hour later when they got home that she meant to sleep with him literally. She had pulled him to his bed, pushed him down, climbed in after him and snuggled against him.

Here they were hours later and she was still sleeping soundly. Did pregnancy cause that too?

The shrill sound of his phone’s ringtone interrupted his thoughts as he gently removed Shikera’s hands to place by her side. If he didn’t do that, she would wake up from the loud sound of the phone ringing anyways.

Walking across the room to pick up the phone, he swiped the dial when he saw who the caller was.

"Will be down in ten minutes," he informed, "By the way, Ruth, make the doctors stay back for another week and if possible, gather more of those willing to take up challenging cases."

He waited for a second more to hear an affirmative reply from the other side, before hanging up.

★★★

"Who did you say you are here to visit?"

Shikera flashed a wide smile, her heart beating in anticipation at what she was preparing to do. Would Ethan get annoyed? She wasn’t sure; but at least she was not the one at fault here. He was the one who left the house when they already had an agreement to stay together for 72 hours.

"Ethan DeLoach," she replied the receptionist.

As expected, the lady snickered at Shikera’s request, only managing to compose herself after a few seconds had passed.

"Miss..." She looked down at the visitor’s log Shikera had recently filled and continued, "...Anderson, I regret to inform you this but not anyone can see our CEO just because they want to. In fact, he doesn’t make appointments with presidents of other Corporations either."

"Yeah, everyone knows his reputation as the masked CEO," Shikera nodded. "But I can assure you I am an exception. Would you like to call the secretary’s office up and tell them a Miss Anderson is here?"

Hesitantly, the receptionist gave a small hum of agreement and walked away to make the call. She was on the phone for more than a minute and when she came back, had a wide smile on her face.

Shikera returned the smile, sensing that the receptionist already had an idea of who she was.

"Don’t bother to escort me up. I can find my way—"

The receptionist cut her off, "No, Miss Anderson. Actually, I spoke with Miss Stone and uh...she asked to tell you she is so, so sorry but is unable to host you against the CEO’s."

Shikera halted, sucking in a whole mouthful of breath.

’Is he trying to use the Boss’s card now?’ she thought, laughing inwardly. Then...she should also be allowed to use the spoilt heiress’s card, shouldn’t she?

Maintaining eye contact with the receptionist, she slipped her hand into her bag and rumnaged through it, fishing out her black card.

"How about with this?" she slid it across the table to the receptionist, giving her the opportunity to examine the card and reveling in the shock that appeared in her eyes. "That is a Mega card, Miss. If you could just allow me go up..."

"But..."

Shikera needed no one to tell her before she could know that the receptionist’s resolve had weakened. If anything, her instincts were telling her the lady needed just one more slight push; and that was what she did.

"You know what? There’s a 98 percent chance this would not happen but if by any chance, I go up there and your boss decides to fire you, come to me. A good job with a three times better pay will be waiting," she assured.

The receptionist agreed immediately, "Of course, Miss Anderson! I assume you don’t need me to escort you, right?"

"That’s right," Shikera agreed. Picking up the black card, she replaced it with one of her business cards before walking off.