Chapter 36 Making Exceptions
“Can I come in?” the voice repeated.
I stepped closer, peeping fully this time and it was Dave.
He stood there in a casual T-shirt and a perfectly tailored pair of trousers with clean beards and a taperfade hairstyle.
“Theo, let him in,” I said, gesturing to Theo to step aside.
Theo stepped aside immediately and gave me a knowing smile as Dave walked in.
He glanced at me, then at Dave as if he had lost something in our faces.
“I’m heading out now,” he said, pointing outside and winking as if he was waiting for me to tell him to stay.
I nodded absentmindedly and turned to face Dave.
Theo closed the door behind him, leaving just the two of us in the whole house.
“To whom do I owe this visit?” I asked, my brows slightly pulling together.
He looked at my face and smirked.
“I promise I’m not stalking you,” he said, raising both hands in mock surrender.
“Still I need to know how you got my address,” I said, folding my arms.
“I asked my assistant to get it from your file,” he said and chuckled softly, tucking his hands into his pocket.
I studied his face for a while before finally sighing and gesturing to the couch.
“Sit,” I said.
“Thank you,” he replied, sliding down onto the couch slowly.
I sat opposite him and for a brief second, we were both silent.
“Thank you for the gifts once again,” I muttered, breaking the silence.
“It’s my pleasure,” he smiled.
“So… the project is almost wrapped up,” he added.
“Yeah,” I replied with a nod.
“We are just left with some finishing touches and final inspection,” I continued.
“You did a great job,” he said in a sincere tone.
“Thank you,” I replied, bending my head a bit.
Then he leaned back and scanned my face.
“After the project ends… can we be friends?” he said, his gaze fixed on me.
“Friends?” I repeated, hesitantly.
He noticed my hesitation. Then he smirked and tilted his head.
“Just friends… don’t worry, I won’t push you,” he teased lightly.
“It’s not about that… I just don’t have any form of personal relationship with my clients,” I said quickly.
“Well… you have to make me an exception,” he muttered, his lips curving into a small smirk.
I let out a soft breath and nodded once.
“Fine,” I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Really?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear.
“We should go out to celebrate our friendship,” he added, still smiling.
“Out? Where?” I blinked.
“Anywhere. You look like you’ve been indoors all day,” he said, extending his hand to pull me up.
“I’m not dressed to go anywhere,” I said, rubbing the back of my ear.
“You are in your house, ma’am… I will wait for you to change,” he retorted, looking at me dramatically.
I took his hand and stood up.
“Give me five minutes,” I said and headed straight to my room.
When I got to my room, I leaned against the door and stood there for a while, debating whether I should go or not.
“He doesn’t look like he would take no for an answer though,” I mumbled to myself, rolled my eyes, and dragged my feet toward my closet.
After a few minutes, I stepped out of my room. He stood up immediately and smiled.
“Now you are ready to steal hearts.”
“We can go now,” I said, pretending not to hear his comment.
The drive was quiet but not awkward.
He played soft music with one of his hands on the wheel and his eyes glancing at me too many times.
I just sat there, wondering where he was taking me and hoping that I could excuse myself after a few minutes with him.
Minutes later, he pulled up in front of a cozy ice cream shop.
We got down, placed our orders, and took a seat by the window.
Just a few spoons into my ice cream, Dave cleared his throat.
“So… you and Alex.”
Upon hearing Alex’s name, I nearly choked, the spoon pausing halfway to my mouth.
Then I coughed lightly as I reached for a napkin.
“I’m sorry about that. That was just… sudden,” I said after swallowing.
“I just noticed you two are close,” he shrugged casually and continued licking his own ice cream.
I was just about to calm down when he spoke again.
“So… I wanted to know if anything is going on between you two.”
“What! No!” I said defensively, almost spitting the ice cream out for real this time.
“We are just friends,” I added.
No good would come from a client knowing about our relationship.
“Just friends?” he repeated.
“Yes,” I nodded, trying so hard to stay composed.
“Okay,” he muttered and gave a satisfactory smile.
ALEX HART’S POV
The next morning, I drove to work earlier than usual.
Partly because I know Joan would already be there and partly because I was happy we were almost done with the project.
I had just parked and stepped out when a car parked beside me.
It was Dave’s car. I recognized it almost immediately.
He turned off the engine of the car and rolled down the window like we were friends about to have a casual morning chat.
“Alex,” he called.
I walked closer to him, my expression unreadable.
“Morning,” I said curtly.
He didn’t respond to my greeting, instead, he leaned over to the passenger seat where he took out an earring from the small safe compartment built into his dashboard.
After that, he stretched his hand through the window.
Then I saw Joan’s earring.
I knew it was hers because I had seen her wear it to work more than once.
“Can you give this to Joan?” he said casually.
I didn’t take the earring, I glanced at the earring then back at his face.
“Oh, I’m actually not trying to send you on errands. I’m sorry about that. I actually came to drop this off… I’m going somewhere else from here,” he smirked.
Still, I didn’t move.
“It fell in my car yesterday,” he added.
“Yesterday? There was no work yesterday, so why did they meet?”
I kept having different thoughts and different ideas about why they met on the weekend.
I looked at his face and noticed that sly smirk again.
And this time, I imagined practicing some boxing skills on his flawless face.