Chapter 423 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

It hadn’t helped either that her brothers, Sonia, and even her mother seemed to all think Harry was also into her, and in their own way, they all seemed very okay with the idea of her being with Harry, especially Benne, who was shipping them.

Her feelings for Harry had crept up on her like a thief, taking her unawares, and now it consumed her. Her heart felt like it was going to explode if she didn’t tell him how she felt, but she knew she couldn’t do so. At least not yet. She needed to make him feel the exact way she was feeling too, so that he would open up about his feelings and be more receptive to hers too.

How had he known she would come to the hotel anyway? She wondered as she rolled off the bed and went to the closet, which he had not let her go close to the last time. She giggled at the memory.

The closet was empty save for a navy blue t-shirt with a white design on the front, which was hanging on a hanger. She hadn’t expected the closet to be so empty as she had assumed he had some clothes here. So if there was nothing here, what had he been protecting so seriously?

The t-shirt was good enough for her, Jade thought as she took it out from the hanger and raised it to her nose.

She closed her eyes as she sniffed the t-shirt, which still smelled of Harry’s cologne, reminding her of how she had sniffed his body that night while he held her and led her out of the club that night.

“I would never have thought you were such a pervert, Jady,” she scolded herself as she opened her eyes, but her lips were curved in a smile.

Deciding to give him a call, she walked out of the bedroom and went to pick up her handbag, which she had left on the couch in the living room. Once she got there, she took out her phone from the handbag and dialed Harry’s line.

Meanwhile, in Harry’s home, he lay on the bed, which still smelt of Jade, in the room which she had slept in during her brief stay there, as different thoughts ran through his mind.

Thankfully he had been able to distract himself all day by keeping his mind busy, but now that he didn’t really have any pressing job to keep him occupied at the moment, his thoughts returned to her phone call to him earlier.

Did she desire him? Was that why she had kissed him? If that was the case, what did she want from him? A relationship? Or was she just physically attracted to him?

Try as he might to think straight, he couldn’t get past the words she had said about them kissing and doing a bit more than that in her dream. How was he going to be able to keep a clear head and think straight when she was saying things like that to him?

It was as if he didn’t own his brain anymore, and to prove it immediately after he got home from work, he had gone straight to the bedroom without even realizing where he was headed until he found himself struggling to breathe freely. The woman seemed to overwhelm him in every way, whether or not she was present.

As if to prove how much control she had over him, his phone started ringing, and the moment he saw Esquire displayed on the screen, his breath hitched as he sat bolt upright, and his heartbeat doubled as he continued to stare at his screen.

He closed his eyes for a second as he tried to bring his thoughts under control, but then again, he could hardly think straight when Jade was involved. From the first time he had met her, he had found himself doing things he wouldn’t ordinarily do, such as flirting with her.

Whether or not either of them was willing to admit it, that night, he had been flirting with her, and if her boyfriend hadn’t shown up when he did, he knew he would have kissed her, especially when she kept staring at him in a way that made him feel like she had also been feeling what he was feeling.

Back then, he wasn’t as worried or concerned about having anything to do with Benne’s younger sister as he now was. And leaving Benne’s home when he did and staying away from Jade for the last four years had helped him put himself together and give himself all the reasons why desiring her or wanting to have anything with her was a bad idea. That had helped him not to think about her… Until now.

She was making things difficult for him, and he was beginning to fear that he might be unable to hold on to his resolve not to get involved with her much longer. More than that, he didn’t want to be disappointed by her again.

How a distinguished man like himself, who could silence even the most difficult of men in the boardroom with a single look, could become such a scaredy-cat around a young girl like Jade was something he couldn’t bring himself to understand.

Before the call could disconnect, he cleared his throat and received it, “Hey!”

“I’m not interrupting work, am I?” Jade asked as she returned to the bedroom.

“Not at the moment. How was your flight? And when did you arrive?” Harry asked, wanting to keep the discussion light and easy.

“The flight was okay. Thanks for arranging it. We arrived at the hotel a while ago. I learned you informed them I was coming. Why were you so sure I was going to return to the hotel?” Jade asked as she walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

“You are a practical person. You are not the type to take Candace to the apartment where you know you could be easily attacked. The hotel would be the safest place for you to stay with her,” Harry said matter of factly, and Jade smiled as she got on the bed.

“You seem to know me well enough to predict my actions,” Jade observed.

“I just thought you would return there, so I thought it best to inform them just in case you showed up. I’m sorry if you feel…”

“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad to know you thought ahead of me,” Jade said, and Harry felt himself relax.

For a moment there, he had been worried that she might jump to the conclusion that he was being too forward or trying to control her life in a way.

“Where are you at the moment?” Jade asked curiously as she connected the phone to her airpod, and Harry stood up immediately as he looked around the bedroom.

There was no way he could tell her that he was in the bedroom where she had slept. How would he explain his reason for being there?

If he chose to walk out of the room before responding, that also would be suspicious, “I’m in my bedroom,” Harry said after a slight pause, reminding himself that he wasn’t exactly telling a lie. Whether it was the guest bedroom she had stayed in or any other bedroom under his roof, they were all his bedrooms.

“Good. Do you want to know where I am?” She teased him as she got off the bed and took off the shirt and trousers she was wearing, leaving just her undies.

Harry raised a brow, “Where are you?”

“I’m lying on your bed. The room still reeks of your scent,” Jade said as she took off her undies, and Harry felt something lodge in his throat.

He cleared his throat, “That’s probably because no one has been in there since I left,” Harry explained, while Jade busied herself with wearing the t-shirt over her naked body.

“What are you putting on?” Jade asked curiously as she returned to lie on the bed.

Harry looked down at his office clothes, which he was still wearing apart from his jacket and tie, which he had taken off and were lying down beside him on the bed, as he wondered why she was asking him such an intimate question which he knew was usually an opening for phone sex.

“My work clothes,” Harry said, curious to know what she was going to say next.

“That means you just came in from work,” Jade deduced, “Do you want to know what I’m wearing?” She asked, and Harry closed his eyes as he drew a deep breath.

“…”

“I’m putting on just your t-shirt. The one you left in your closet. It smells just like you,” Jade said, and Harry tried to block whatever image was flashing in his brain.

---