Chapter 31 A Sly Smirk
“Yes… It’s me. I guess you were surprised,” Dave said calmly.
“Do you like them?” he added.
I looked at the bouquet again, then at the bags neatly arranged on the floor.
“I’ve not checked them,” I replied.
Then there was a brief pause at his end as if he was waiting for me to say something else. When I didn’t say anything else, he chuckled softly.
“You don’t sound impressed.”
“That’s because I’m confused. How did you even get my address and my phone number?” I asked, my brows furrowing.
“Well… I have my ways. That’s one of the perks of being well-connected,” he said lightly, as if he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Oh,” I muttered, not knowing what else to say.
Then I heard him smirk on the other end of the call.
“Let me know if you like them,” he said softly and dropped the call.
I dropped the phone from my ear slowly and turned to Lena, who had been watching me with far too much interest.
“That was Dave,” I said.
“Dave Wilton?” she asked, her eyes widening.
“Yes,” I replied simply.
“Wow!” Lena muttered, placing her hand on her slightly opened mouth as she moved to unpack the gifts.
“This perfume is so cute,” she said as she took out a perfume box.
“I don’t get it…” I started, my eyes wandering.
“Why would he send me all of this?” I added.
Lena dropped the small box she was holding and folded her arms, her lips twitching into a knowing smile.
“There’s only one explanation,” she said with that smile on her face.
“Which is?” I asked, frowning.
“He’s interested in you,” she replied, still smiling.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said, shaking my head immediately.
“You think so?” she chuckled.
Then she resumed unpacking the gifts.
“Return them to how they are… I can’t accept it,” I said.
“So what are you going to do?” Lena asked, turning to look at me.
“I will return everything to him,” I said firmly, glaring at the bouquet sitting on the table.
“The next time he comes to the site, I will give everything back to him.”
“All of it,” Lena said, almost loudly, as she raised her eyebrows.
“Yes, all of it,” I repeated.
The next morning, I packed the gifts into my trunk. The flowers went in last and I hesitated before closing the trunk, almost praying that Dave would show up at the site so that I could return the gifts.
When I got to work, Alex was already there.
Seeing him alone made me smile and eased something in my chest.
When I got close to him, his lips had already gone down and he seemed finer than he was the day I went to his place.
“Good morning,” he smiled as I approached.
I returned his greeting professionally. I couldn’t let my guard down just like that.
We started working and it wasn’t as awkward as it had been since we started working, even though we didn’t talk much. Our hands brushed once while reaching for the same document, but neither of us pulled away.
For once, I didn’t care who was watching.
Just as I was basking in my newfound peace, a familiar car rolled into the site.
“He came,” I whispered, my heart beating fast.
A few minutes later, a worker approached me.
“He’s asking for you,” he said.
Then I sighed softly and followed him.
Dave leaned on his car, looking too relaxed for someone who had done something questionable the previous day.
“I was hoping I would get feedback physically,” he smiled.
“I appreciated the gifts but…” I replied.
“I didn’t know what you would like so I just got a little bit of everything,” he said, subtly cutting me off.
“I’d like to return them,” I added, my face blank.
“Huh,” his smile faded just a little.
“I’m sorry if that upset you… that wasn’t my intention,” he said.
“It didn’t upset me, I just can’t… I can’t accept it,” I muttered, avoiding his gaze.
He studied my face for a few minutes and nodded slowly.
“I just wanted to do something cute… for you,” he said.
I didn’t know how to feel about what he said, so I just stayed there waiting for him to land. I couldn’t bring the gifts out from my trunk and hand them to him either. If I did, the whispers would start again.
“Why?” I asked.
“Maybe… just maybe because I like you,” he added, curling his lips into a light smirk.
“What?” I whispered.
I glanced around the site to be sure no one was nearby.
“I don’t want this to turn into something people talk about,” I said with a serious face as I turned to him.
“Why do you care? People will always talk,” he chuckled.
“Give me your address. I will send everything back,” I said and inhaled slowly.
“No, I won’t,” he said firmly.
“What? No?” I blinked.
“I won’t take them back. You can throw them out if you don’t want them,” he retorted.
“That’s not fair,” I said with furrowed brows.
“I don’t back down when I want something,” he leaned forward to me and whispered.
ALEX HART’S POV
I felt a knot tighten in my stomach when I saw Joan with Dave beside his car.
I told myself not to care but my eyes refused to leave them. My eyes tracked every shift in her expression and every small movement of Dave’s body.
It was too obvious that he liked her and the worst part was that Joan didn’t shut him down completely.
At that moment, I realized that if I didn’t act fast, he would win her over.
“No,” I said unknowingly.
I checked around to be sure no one heard me.
“I’d already lost her once, I can’t risk watching it happen again,” I thought to myself.
At that moment, Dave looked up and our eyes met across the site.
Neither of us took our eyes off.
Then his lips curved into a sly smirk, enough to tell me he knew exactly what he was doing.
Before I could stop myself, I felt my lips curve in response.
I smirked back, turned away from me, and pretended to be focused on the blueprint in front of me.
Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“He wants to see you,” one of the workers said.
“Who?” I asked.
“Mr. Wilton,” he replied.
“What is he trying to do?” I asked myself as I approached him and Joan.