Which is why—against my better instincts so as to not make a fool out of myself—I find my feet stupidly turning away from the exit that was two steps away. Then I walk back to the private door at the back that leads to the west garden, all while mentally cursing myself. “The fountain is closed this time of year.”
She jumps at the sound of my voice. A tiny yelp escaping her, pulling her attention away from the lazy perusal of the statue in the middle of the fountain.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” she grits out when she turns. A bitter scowl forms on her face. A small V between her brows that I immediately want to erase.
I clear my throat awkwardly before stepping closer to her.
She’s clutching the front of her coat tightly. “What do you want? I didn’t approach your precious Cece.Or even Levi. You can stand down.”
My lips part as another wave of uneasiness climbs up my cheeks. “I… would like to apologize for that.”
She frowns, looking adorably flustered for a second.
Fuck—no. Not adorably.Dammit.
“For…” she drawls then, her head shaking with mock-confusion.
She’s not going to make this easy on me. I can feel the way she’s slowly gained the knowledge that she has somewhat of an upper hand right now.
I sigh. “For cornering you. Talking to you the way I never… fuck. Listen, I shouldn’t have.”
Her frown softens a fraction and I find myself oddly motivated to remove it entirely.
I continue, my voice gentle. “I should’ve talked to you in a civil manner. And not let my frustrations run the show. It won’t happen again. I’m… sorry. Truly.”
Finally, the frown disappears. But what replaces it is something worse. That fucking smirk is back and I don’t think this bodes well for me.
“Are you, now?” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Thank you for apologizing, but that doesn’t erase the fact that you attacked my character. You’re entitled to your suspicions, Mr. Choi—”
Choy?What the hell? It’s not fuckingChoy. She pronounced it correctly before.
“—but you aren’t a cop demeaning me in the name of questioning. Had you properly asked, I would’ve given you straight answers.”
“I underst—”
“But you just had to run your mouth on false assumptions. Make me flustered in a public setting where I’m surrounded by my peers, my employer, andmy newest client. You just had to, didn’t you, Mr. Choi?”
Choy. Fucking hell—she’s doing this on purpose, isn’t she?
“It’s pronouncedChheand you know it,” I blurt out petulantly.
She snorts in amusement and I realize a few seconds too late that her tactic worked. She made me flustered and irritable. And I find myself trapped between annoyance and reluctant… admiration.
I huff softly, thoroughly amused by this woman’s impeccable skill at getting on my nerves. She’s watching me with curious eyes now, the anger from before melting down to a hesitant truce.
Or maybe I’m just imagining it.
I take a careful step toward her while maintaining a rather civil distance—hoping she recognizes that I won’t be repeating my stupidity from before. I won’t cage her… again.
Unless she wants you to.
??. I need to rein in my intrusive thoughts that surprisingly manage to slip past my rationality around this woman. (Fuck.)
I’ll admit. I spent a god awful amount of time looking her up after I realized she was the Miller-Moore consultant. Gathering her details, her personal and professional relationships—even going as far back as a decade.
I convinced myself that I was only looking out for Levi and gauging the risk for a potential scandal her presence could bring.
But that doesn’t explain why I know that she’s obsessed with Iced Passion Tango—no matter the weather. How her favorite flowers are no longerorchids from when she dated Levi. In fact, her choice kept changing until her niece was named after the Dahlia flower.
