Chapter 47 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“Good. That means you don’t have to drive us anywhere. I’m pretty sure you have more important things to do with your spare time instead of driving him around like his driver. It’s not like he is shooting any movies at the moment, so you can leave,” Sonia said, and Mia looked at Bryan uncertainly, waiting for his permission.

Although Bryan didn’t like that Sonia was giving his staff orders without first consulting him, as though she was his wife, but he also didn’t want to get into such a minor argument with her yet, so he gave Mia a nod. It was best to allow her to win the small arguments, while he did his best to win the major ones instead.

“You are free to leave,” Bryan said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, before getting out of the car to take the key from her.

“Thank you. I hope to see more of you,” Mia told Sonia with a wink before getting out of the car, and that earned her a glare from Bryan. Hope to see more of who? He was going to have to talk to everyone who worked for him. None of them were permitted to like Sonia or serve her. She had come here without invitation, and as such, she was on her own.

“You surely will,” Sonia assured Mia with a confident smile before she walked away.

Hearing the confidence in Sonia’s tone Bryan snorted as he got into the driver’s seat. He turned to look at Sonia who was still comfortably seated at the back seat, “I thought I was playing the role of your fiance, or am I getting the script mixed up?” He asked with a slightly raised brow.

Sonia giggled as she said, “How I love a man with an excellent sense of humor.”

She got out of the back seat with her handbag and joined him at the front before taking off her sandals, after that she buckled her seatbelt and glanced at him, “So?”

“So what?” Bryan asked, wondering what the question was as he turned on the ignition and drove off, leaving the paparazzi behind.

“We are alone now, you are free to say whatever you want to say to me. Don’t you have any questions for me?” Sonia asked as she opened her handbag and took out her journal and a pen.

Bryan watched as she held the pen over the note like she was waiting for him to say something so she would write it down. He decided that he wasn’t going to give her that satisfaction, “I don’t.”

He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t going to do it when she wanted him to. He wasn’t going to let her call the shots.

“You don’t? I’m very surprised you’re not asking me anything or growling. What is the catch?” Sonia asked, tapping the pen on the journal as she watched him with curious eyes.

“There is no catch. I have only decided to be a doting fiance to you,” Bryan said, flashing her an easy smile, “I’m glad you’re here by the way. Now I can worry less about you.. Thanks for coming,” Bryan said with a toothy smile.

Celsie’s cheeks flushed a deep shade of red, and she was certain she was likely going to die of embarrassment before the end of the evening. How in heaven’s name hadn’t she guessed that she was still ‘intact’? Was she really that naive?

Thankfully Benne’s phone chose to ring at that moment, sparing them both the awkward silence that would have followed Benne’s sexually implicit suggestion. Benne dropped his plate on the table and excused himself since he didn’t know who the caller was and if it was business-related.

Once he stepped outside he accepted the call, “Hey Benne! It’s Jas!” An excited feminine voice greeted from the other end of the line before he could say anything.

Even if she hasn’t mentioned her name, he would have guessed it was her from the way she talked. He had thought she sounded excited that morning because she had been exercising so she was breathless, but it seemed that was the way she always sounded. Chirpy.

“Oh! Hello!” Benne greeted, not knowing what else he was expected to say to her now. Though he had flirted with her earlier on, for Celsie’s benefit, he had no interest in her other than being temporary neighbors.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier as promised, I was caught up with something at work,” she said apologetically.

“It’s fine. I’m in the middle of something at the moment, could we talk tomorrow?” Benne asked, wanting to return inside to Celsie.

“Sure. I just wanted you to call as promised so you could have my phone number too, that’s all. Goodnight,” Jas said before hanging up.

Once he returned inside, he noticed that Celsie was still seated exactly the same way he left her, the only difference was that she was now slowly chewing her pizza with a distant look in her eyes, “That was Jas, the neighbor we were talking with this morning,” Benne informed Celsie who reluctantly glanced up at him.

Celsie was tempted to tell him he had been the one talking with her not ‘them’ but wasn’t what was important at the moment so she gave him an awkward smile and just said, “Oh! Okay.”

She continued taking bite after bite from her pizza since that was the only thing she could do at this point. At least that would keep her busy. At the moment she really didn’t know whether to be grateful that nothing had happened between them or to be embarrassed that she had been naive enough to think that something had happened or to be angry that he had led her to believe something had happened this whole time. Or perhaps he hadn’t led her to believe anything. She had been the one making all the assumptions the whole time. She had been the one judging him unfairly when she was the drunk who had forgotten everything that had transpired between them. The dominating emotion at the moment was shame and guilt.

She rushed to remind herself that even though there had been no penetration, he had made love to her with his tongue and fingers, so there was nothing to feel grateful for. It was the same thing… Well, almost the same thing, because now she was even more curious to know what penetration would feel like if his tongue and fingers had felt good. She really wished he had done it, and saved her all this stress and headache. She winced at her shameless thought. That wasn’t what she was supposed to be thinking about at the moment.

“Why do you look that way? What are you thinking about? Are you sad that I didn’t do it?” Benne asked curiously, making her choke on the pizza she had just swallowed.

Benne quickly poured some wine into one of the glasses and handed it to her. Once she sipped from it and calmed down a bit, she raised her head to look at Benne who was still staring at her but had a mischievous smile on his face.

“What?” She asked, wondering why he was smiling that way. Could he read her mind? She would kill herself if he so much as found out what she had been thinking.

“I’m still waiting for you to answer my question,” he said, making it clear he expected an answer, “Do you wish I had done it?” He asked again, and this time Celsie’s heart skipped a beat, and she swallowed nervously.

“I can’t answer that,” Celsie said without meeting his gaze, and Benne nodded.

He hadn’t expected her to answer anyway, this was Celsie after all. If she had answered it would have been out of character, “I guess that means you are conflicted,” Benne said, trying hard not to smile.

“Do you believe in fate?” He asked when she didn’t say anything.

Her brows pulled together, “What?”

Benne smiled at her, “Fate. I think maybe I’m fated to be your first lover,” he paused to allow the words to sink in.

Meanwhile, in another part of the country, Sonia narrowed her eyes at Bryan suspiciously. She could tell that he was up to something but she didn’t know what it was. She was certain it wasn’t something good, so she decided to stay on her toes and not let him get her unaware.

“Where are we going to?” Sonia asked curiously since he had been driving for a long time now since he picked her up from the airport.

“Why? Are you scared I’m going to take you somewhere far away, murder you and dump your body there?” Bryan asked making her laugh.

“You have a very active imagination. Maybe you should start writing your own stories,” Sonia said with a smile, “I’m not scared. Just curious.”

“S & G. It’s one of my favorite clubs in the city,” Bryan lied. Although he had heard a lot of things concerning the club which had a branch in almost every major city of the country, he had never been to any. Now he wanted to take her there to scare her off him before he would get the chance to invite Matt over.

“You mean Sodom and Gomorrah? That is your favorite club?” Sonia asked, eyes blazing with curiosity. S & G was known to be a den of sin as the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah were. All manner of evil took place down there as it wasn’t just a strippers club, but also had an underground casino.

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