“I… want you…” Zachary gasped out. His eyes were clouded with desire, and his hands were slowly and deliberately kneading the curve of Jessica’s waist. She shivered, fingers clenching on instinct.
She hadn’t even fully come down from that searing kiss, and now, he was asking for more.
“Can I…” he asked hoarsely, his voice trembling with restraint and urgency.
Just as Jessica was gathering the strength to turn him down, his phone rang.
Zachary let out a long sigh, pressing his forehead harder against hers. The storm in his eyes
gaze. slowly brewed with fury, and she dared not meet his
Then came a whisper against her lips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
The phone went silent, and she felt like her entire heart had leaped into her throat. He released her slowly, but then his phone rang again. He turned and stepped out to the balcony to take the call.
A breath of relief escaped her before she hurriedly fixed her disheveled appearance.
“Speak.” Zachary’s tone was unmistakably sharp when he answered the call, like he was pissed that someone had interrupted a precious moment.
Meanwhile, Jessica used that opportunity to sneak away as fast as she could. All afternoon, she could feel his eyes on her, but she kept avoiding him.
Zachary, meanwhile, spent the rest of the afternoon tangled in meetings, handling clients, and working through proposals with Joshua. It wasn’t until dinner time that he finally left the study.
During the meal, Jessica received a message from Joshua.
“Hey, Queen Bee. Your husband seems to be in a great mood today. Did you get him those tulips?”
Even the ultimate gossip buzzkill couldn’t resist a bit of romantic gossip now and then.
“How did you know?”
“What have you been up to all day? Check your Instagram.”
What else had she done that day? She had gotten hot and heavy between the bookshelves in the morning, then spent the entire afternoon avoiding a certain man.
Jessica glanced at Zachary across from her, then drifted her gaze back to her phone before she
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hurriedly launched her Instagram app. Then, there it was a picture of the tulips, with the caption, “Not bad.”
Speechless, she took a bite of the ground beef chili and stole another glance at him. He looked as aloof as always.
“For the entirety of a 90–minute meeting, his eyes were barely focused on the screen and kept darting to the left. Were those damn tulips on the left side of his laptop?” Joshua wrote.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized it seemed that way.
“Be a detective. That’s my career advice for you,” she replied.
“You’re really something, Queen Bee. It looks like that cold rock of a man is finally starting to sprout feelings,” Joshua texted back.
Jessica stifled a laugh, quickly flipped her phone face down on the table, and went back to eating. Something had sprouted for sure.
Back at the office, she had overheard plenty of gossip about Zachary. Apparently, after graduating from university, he entered an organization, but returned to the country after hurting his leg.
His girlfriend of three years had left, and he had remained single ever since. Not just that, but rumor had it that he didn’t even let women near him. It seemed that he was completely
celibate.
“You’ve looked at me 13 times over the course of this meal. Is there something you want to ask?” Zachary piped up, looking up to meet her big, watery eyes.
The sudden conversation prompted Jessica to cough on the mildly spicy beef chili.
What kind of sharp eyes did he have? How did he even notice that? Was he some kind of detective? And how bored must he have been to keep count like that?
Zachary quickly went to the kitchen and poured her a cup of warm water. Jessica took it and gulped it down, while he naturally held a tissue to wipe the water off the corner of her mouth.
He didn’t rush to question her but kept eating, gazing squarely at her like he was waiting for her answer.
She glanced at the tissue in his hand, then nervously said, “Sorry. I just thought you looked so handsome, so I couldn’t stop looking.”
Nearby, Blake and Mary let out a giggle but quickly hushed themselves for fear that Zachary would reprimand them. They slipped out to the backyard, still chuckling softly,
Meanwhile, Jessica pressed her lips together, holding back a smile.
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Zachary was indeed good–looking. It hadn’t been a lie.
Among the many young men she knew, he stood out distinctly. His features were sharp and refined, with deep eyes, a close–cropped haircut, and a physique shaped by the hard work of his job–something she could clearly see.
However, at that moment, he wore the same cold, statue–like expression, staring blankly at
her.
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