So… he had witnessed the entire seating debacle as well?
Heat rushed to Khloe’s cheeks. Compared to his seasoned prowess, her speech felt like a child’s performance.
“I’m afraid I made a fool of myself.”
At that, his hands stilled. He turned his head, and his gaze held a rare trace of warmth.
“No. You were impressive.”
So impressive… it had genuinely surprised him.
Impressive enough that when he saw her cornered over the seating, he found himself curious-wanting to see how she would handle it.
“Thank you for the compliment,” Khloe murmured, her cheeks growing warmer.
But the same question echoed in her mind.
He had flown for ten hours through the night. It couldn’t possibly have been just for a meal.
Could it have been… for her?
Yet he offered no explanation, and she dared not press further.
Khloe understood well enough. They’d only met once before-there was no real connection between them.
His coming here tonight could only mean one thing: Nick was giving her respect, showing her she mattered.
Still, she couldn’t help feeling touched.
From the corner of his eye, Nick noticed the distance in her expression. His mind drifted back to the night before.
Khloe had suddenly sent him a message, and he hadn’t known how to respond. He rarely interacted with women and had no idea how to behave with someone he was meant to be engaged to.
So he’d asked Lenny for advice.
Lenny told him, “When a woman messages first, it usually means she’s saying, ‘I miss you.’
Nick was a man of action-decisive, straightforward. If she missed him, then he would simply come see her.
And so, as soon as work ended, he boarded a flight to Celosia.
The way Nick and Khloe leaned close, talking softly, drew quiet attention from nearby tables. No one dared to stare outright, but curiosity hummed through the room.
What exactly was going on between them? Did they have some kind of private relationship?
But that couldn’t be. No one had ever heard of Nick being close to any woman.
“Mr. Hunt, do you know Khloe?”
Finally, Veronica couldn’t stand it any longer. She leaned forward and asked the question outright.
Her voice was steady, but her heart was pounding. Nick’s presence was so commanding that even speaking to him made her uneasy, but she couldn’t just sit there in silence.
Two years ago, she had seen Nick once, from afar. Just one look had ruined her for every other man since. She had tried everything she could think of to form some connection to the Hunt family.
Even the time she’d fought Khloe over that apartment…
It wasn’t really about the property itself. It was because the unit Khlo? bought happened to be directly across from Chrystelle Tower-Nick’s office building.
But clearly, Khloe had no idea about any of that. She was just a woman who had inherited a fortune-an illegitimate daughter, a sudden heiress. How could someone like her catch Nick’s attention?
“I’ll be staying here tonight,” Nick said suddenly. “Leaving tomorrow morning. There’s a ball tonight. Will you come?”
Khloe turned toward Veronica, waiting for Nick’s answer, but he spoke again before she could say anything. He completely ignored Veronica’s question, as if she didn’t exist.
“I’m not very good at dancing,” Khloe said after a pause.
Since he was clearly avoiding the topic, she saw no reason to respond to Veronica either. Besides, from his demeanor, it was obvious he didn’t want whatever this was to be made public. Their marriage arrangement was still only verbal-nothing official yet.
“I’ll teach you.”
The words brushed past her ear, low and close. His breath grazed her neck, and something flickered through her chest like a spark catching fire. Heat spread from her ear to her face, and she quickly lifted her drink to hide the flush.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.