Chapter 22 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“I forgot about that. Okay then, just have someone go around the offices tomorrow and find out the number of those who might be interested in having their lunch delivered directly to them.” Benne explained.

“Why do I feel like this about your neighbor? Or maybe I should call her your boss?” Harry asked, narrowing his eyes at him suspiciously.

“Can you just do as I asked?”

“No. Everyone is going to figure out something is off since most of the staff are already aware that they can easily order their preferred meal up to their office. The only person who doesn’t know this is obviously you and your boss.”

“Really?” Benne asked curiously. He had never really been interested in how his staff spent their lunch hour, so he had no idea they usually had their food delivered to them.

“Yes. So you can make the suggestion to her, or if you want to soften her up even faster, you can become her lunch delivery man.” Harry suggested with a grin.

“You think that would soften her up? I’m trying to be a bad boy, and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Bad boy?” Harry asked with a slightly raised brow wondering what had come over his friend.

“Yeah. Jade says good girls like bad boys, so I’m taking the bad boy approach.” Benne explained.

“You mean your younger sister Jade? You told her about this madness and she actually supported you and is even giving you tips on how to go about it?” Harry asked with a shake of his head.

“Yeah. I don’t see why not.”

“Well, you could be a bad boy lunch delivery man then. How about I get you hair dye, earrings and nose rings to suit the title?” Harry asked sarcastically, and then one look at Benne’s thoughtful expression he shook his head, “No! Don’t even think about it. I was just kidding!”

But it was too late, Benne was smiling already with a determined look in his eyes, “I don’t think that would look bad on me.”

“For crying out loud you’re thirty years old not eighteen!” Harry reminded him in alarm when he saw Benne considering his offer.

“Well, since I spent my teenage years being a genius and trying to make money, I can as well spend this time living like a teenager. Thanks for the suggestion, I think I’m going to try that out.” Benne said with a grin, tapping his friend’s back lightly.

He was going to get a bad boy makeover.

Celsie was surprised to see Benne already standing by the car the next morning. He had his left hand in his pocket, while leaning on the car with the right side of his body, and his right elbow was resting on top of the car. Seeing the way he was standing by the car, one would assume that he was the owner of the car, Celsie thought dryly.

She noticed he was smiling and followed his gaze to see what was giving him so much pleasure, and sighed when she noticed two young girls who looked like they were in their late teens, smiling flirtatiously and using a sprinkler to wet their tops, making their crop tops transparent enough to reveal their well defined boobs. How typical!

Benne winked at the girls, and turned around when he heard someone sigh, “Good morning ma’am!” He greeted with a polite bow and straightened himself as she approached the car.

That was when Celsie noticed what he was wearing. He was wearing a white floral print short sleeve button down shirt tucked into a gray colored pant with a black belt and shoe to go with it. But it wasn’t just his choice of clothes that got her attention, rather it was the fact that he had left about three or so of the top buttons of his shirt undone, revealing a bit of his chest which was just as hairy as his exposed arms.

Did she notice his hairy chest that night? Did she touch it? She was a sucker for hairy men… And though she had never really had anything to do with any one, she loved reading about them and seeing them on movies.

Benne noticed her eyes were fixed on his chest and suppressed the urge to smile. “Ahem!” He cleared his throat as he moved closer to her, and extended his had to take her handbag.

Celsie flashed him an awkward smile, pretending like she had been lost in thought as she tried to recall if he had said anything. As he got closer to her she perceived the scent of his cologne. It was really masculine and distracting. Not very strong, but strong enough to make her want to bury her nose on his chest and sniff his body like a dog.

“Good morning ma’am! May I have your bag?” Benne repeated when he noticed she still seemed lost.

‘Get a hold on yourself Celsie!’ She chided herself as she mentally shook her head to get rid of those unreasonable thoughts, “Sorry, did you say something? I zoned out thinking about an article I’m working on,” she said with a forced smile.

Benne looked at her with an amused smile but simply nodded, “It’s fine ma’am. I asked if I may have your bag,”

“Celsie is fine, and you don’t have to worry about my bag. I got it, thank you,” She said as she walked over to the car and got into the backseat and attached her seatbelt.

She had planned on riding in the front with him today, but seeing as he was dressed, and his chest was distracting her, she didn’t want to sit in front with him and have to keep staring at him as she knew she would.

“I hope you had a good night rest?” Benne asked as he got into the car, looking at her through the rearview mirror.

“Yes I did. How did your date go? I hope she wasn’t too mad at you for showing up late?” Celsie asked as she wind down the window before taking out her phone from her handbag, and then she busied herself by checking her mails and messages.

“She was really cool,” Benne assured her as he drove off, and waited for more questions about his date, but when he heard nothing, he looked through the rearview mirror and noticed that Celsie was already busy with her phone.

“Nice,” Celsie muttered after sometime, but Benne wasn’t sure if she was saying that in response to what he had said or to what she had seen on her phone, so he decided to mind his business since it was obvious they were in work mode right now, and there was no need acting too friendly with his boss.

The rest of the drive to the office was silent until he drove into the company’s parking lot, and then he cleared his throat to get her attention before she could get down, “I was thinking… What would you like to have for lunch? I could have it delivered to your office during lunchtime. That way you don’t have to skip lunch because you’re too busy,” Benne suggested.

“That isn’t part of your job description,” she pointed out.

“I never said it was. I just don’t want to have to be work extra time, past work hours again like last night. And don’t worry, I learnt the company offers free lunch to the staff, so I’m not spending money I don’t have. I’m only going to bring it to you since I’m your driver and have nothing doing at that time,” Benne said in a cool tone which made her feel like he was angry over helping her the previous evening.

“If this is about last night, I can assure you that you don’t have to worry. I won’t disturb you ever again,” she promised.

“Miss Miller…”

“I said Celsie is fine!”

“Yes you did, sorry. So what did you say I am getting you for lunch? Or would you rather I get you anything I think is nice?” Benne asked as though every other thing she had said since he asked the question was irrelevant and out of point.

“I just said, don’t worry about it,” Celsie said with a hint of irritation in her voice as she got out of the car and started heading for the building.

“I will get a bit of everything then,” Benne called after her, and chuckled when she turned around to glare at him before she disappeared.

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