Chapter 23 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“So cute and stubborn,” Benne murmured to himself with a grin.

Celsie tapped her pen on her desk impatiently as she tried to figure out what was bothering her and why she was unable to focus on the work in front of her. Thankfully, she didn’t have to try too hard. The answer jumped at her, Benne. Of course it had to be Benne, and her reaction to his scent and exposed chest.

Now that she knew the problem she had to figure out why she had reacted that way to him, as well as why she was feeling so unsettled by her reaction to him. This was of course the curse of an overthinker.

Even though Celsie knew she had a thing for hairy guys, she was hardly one to get carried away when looking at one in real life. She had been to the beach on a few occasions and had seen hairy guys, but never had she ogled at them that way, or been caught staring, so why was this different? Because he had been standing very close to her? Maybe. And maybe she had felt like sniffing his body too because she liked peopIe who smelt good generally, so it definitely wasn’t really about Benne, or was it? She wondered with a sigh. Maybe it was, since even though she liked peopIe smelling nice, she had never really thought of sniffing anyone like a dog before now.

Perhaps she had reacted that way with Benne and not with others because she didn’t know them, the way she knew Benne. Like she knew him in the biblical sense of the word. She hadn’t slept with the others, but she had slept with Benne, and that made all the difference. That had to explain why she kept wondering what it must have felt like running her hands over his hairy chest, or how he must have smelt like as they lay together on the bed.

Why couldn’t she remember other details of their night apart from him eating her honeypot? You can’t be thinking of the right now. You shouldn’t be thinking of it, she reminded herself desperately.

“Why? Why did he have to be my neighbor and my driver?” Celsie groaned out loud in frustration as she rested her head on her desk.

She sat up when she remembered how he had threatened to bring lunch, and narrowed her eyes. Maybe she could ask Mr Harry to give her a different driver? She could ask them not to fire him, but instead just give her someone else, or even offer to drive herself around. That would be a win-win for them both, since she was sure he wouldn’t be very comfortable with the idea of being her driver anyway.

Having come to that decision she stood up and straightened her blazers as she walked out of her office. She stopped by the desk of her secretary, “Amy, right?”

“Yes,” The young lady said with a pleased smile, glad that Celsie had remembered her name.

“How can I get to Mr Harry’s office?”

Amy looked at her, wondering if she should tell her staff was not usually allowed to go to the president’s floor, but then again, directors usually went there, and Celsie was a director.

“Do you want to submit something? I could take it to the receptionist and have someone deliver it to him at once,” she offered as she quickly stood up, but Celsie shook her head.

“I need to speak to him about something, and I don’t want to talk over the phone,” she added, knowing that Amy might suggest she give him a call.

“It’s on the left wing of the seventh floor, the second to last office,” Amy said with a polite smile, and Celsie thanked her before heading for the elevator.

Now that she had this plan to get rid of him as her driver, she would need to come up with a plan to get rid of him as her neighbor too, she thought as she got into the elevator.

For the time being she would endure living next to him and avoid running into him as much as she could, until she could find someone else who would possibly be willing to swap houses with her… that was possible, right?

She thought as the elevator stopped and she stepped out of it. Followong the description Amy had given her, she stopped in front of Harry’s office. There was a tag on the door, “Vice Chairman, Harry Jonas”

Before she could lift her hand to knock on the door, a door opened. It was the door to the last office which she suspected belonged to the president.

Harry stepped out of the office.

Immediately he saw her standing in front of his door, he raised a finger asking her to hold on, and then returned inside the office, “She is standing in front of my office,” Harry told Benne.

“By she I suppose you mean Celsie?” Benne asked, looking at him with a slightly raised brow.

“Yes.”

“So why are you still standing in my office when you should be attending to her? Leave. I’m busy.” Benne said before returning his head attention to his laptop.

“Would you like to listen in on the conversation?” Harry offered.

“I wouldn’t mind the noise. And don’t forget to tell her about the new rule concerning closing hours,” Benne reminded him.

Harry gave a nod before returning to join her, “Good morning Miss Miller. Sorry about that, I just remembered something I needed to tell the CEO.” Harry explained as he approached her, making Celsie wonder why he was explaining to her.

“It’s not a problem sir. Good morning sir,” Celsie greeted politely.

“Come with me,” Harry said as he walked into his office, and Celsie followed him. Celsie greeted Harry’s secretary as she walked past her desk.

“Have a seat, and tell me what brings you all the way here,” Harry said, looking at her curiously as he sat down behind his desk, and picked up his phone. He dialed Benne’s number, and as usual Benne received the call, and placed his phone on mute, so there would be no sound from his end.

Celsie wished he would give her a moment to look around his office and admire the decor, but quickly reminded herself that she was here for more important business and would have other times to admire his office.

She cleared her throat, “It’s about the driver.”

“Yeah? What about him?”

“I’m very thankful to you for being considerate enough to offer me a company car and driver, but I’m afraid I do not need the driver,” Celsie said, taking the straightforward approach.

“You don’t? And why is that? You don’t like your driver? Did he do or say something wrong?” Harry asked as he watched her with interest.

“No he didn’t. I’m just not comfortable with being driven around. I think I can manage well on my own, so if you don’t mind…”

“Are you saying we should fire him?”

“No! Of course not. I’m sure he needs the job, and I wouldn’t be so mean as to deny him his means of livelihood because of my personal reservations,” Celsie quickly explained.

“So if we can’t fire him, what do you expect us to do with him?”

“Assign him to someone else? Or fix him in a different position?” She asked with a frown.

“Everyone else who needs a driver has one, and this is the only position he is qualified for.”

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