Compared to the horror of marrying that psycho, having a blind date with a potentially intimidating stranger suddenly seemed like a much, much better option.

“You rest here for a bit. I’ll go down and talk to him,” Ashley Dawson said, calming her niece down before leaving the room and heading downstairs.

She hadn’t told Alex over the phone that her niece had come with her. It was better to discuss this kind of thing face-to-face. Besides, before introducing her niece to him, it was best to lay down some conditions first.

Otherwise, things could get troublesome if this damn man decided to pretend nothing happened after… well, after. Though that possibility seemed unlikely.

After all, Ashley felt she had some say in whether Alex acknowledged things after.

Ashley met Alex in another hotel room downstairs.

She had booked this second room in advance when they arrived in City. She’d booked two – if the negotiations didn’t go well, there would be no need for Alex to go to the other room to meet her niece.

Since it was just one floor down, Ashley got to the room first. When Alex arrived and knocked, she quickly opened the door for him.

“You’re here.” The moment he stepped inside, Ashley threw herself into Alex’s arms, giving him an overwhelming embrace. She pressed close, breathing warmly against his neck.

Even though she had just come down from the top-floor suite where she’d left her niece, Ashley had still taken the time to freshen up again. Her hair was swept up into a bun, and she wore a loose white short-sleeved shirt with sheer, letter-patterned black stockings on her legs.

It created a tempting contrast.

At this moment, separated by just one floor: upstairs, Clara sat hugging her knees on the sofa; downstairs, Ashley sat hugging Alex on the sofa.

Upstairs and downstairs. Aunt and niece. Two very different scenes.

….

After some close cuddling on the sofa, she took Alex’s hand and pulled a contract out of her bag. “My partnership with the Wade Family succeeded thanks to your help. This is a thank-you gift.”

The contract detailed the profit-sharing agreement between Wade Company and Dawson. In this deal, Ashley had set aside a ten percent share for him.

Don’t underestimate ten percent. The final payout would likely amount to several ‘small goals’ (millions). While it wasn’t a fortune to him, free money was free money!

Alex was deeply moved. He always believed in repaying kindness generously. After glancing over the contract, he scooped Ashley Dawson up and headed towards the bedroom. He was going to reward her thoroughly, holding nothing back, giving her his all.

But just as he was getting busy, his phone rang.

Alex saw it was Riley calling. He immediately signaled Ashley to be quiet. Once the room was silent, he answered the call.

“Sir, what are you doing?” Her voice was as soft and sweet as ever. Although where she was from, is known for fiery tempers, her blood seemed to lack that ‘I’ll count to three!’ gene. Instead, she had the gentle softness of a woman.

Alex answered truthfully, “Working on someone.”

“Huh?” Riley sounded completely confused, but being simple-minded, she didn’t dwell on it. After a moment of confused “ah”-ing, she finally gathered her courage. “Boss, are you free tonight?”

Seeming afraid Alex might misunderstand, she quickly added, speeding up, “It’s Grandma! Grandma wants to treat you to dinner to thank you for saving her life.”

After saying this, her whole face flushed red. Her big, doll-like eyes blinked rapidly as she glanced around nervously. Only after confirming her grandma hadn’t noticed her acting strangely did she breathe a sigh of relief.

“Riley, I’m a bit tied up… with an urgent matter right now. I probably won’t have time tonight,” Alex quickly made up an excuse. “How about this: I’ll book a place for tomorrow and send someone to pick you and your grandma up.”

Riley definitely couldn’t find out about Ashley. He needed to get her and Sera together first before adding another person into the mix. Otherwise, this sweet, naive female lead might really get broken by all this.

Even leek farmers know you harvest leeks one batch at a time; you don’t do something stupid like digging up the roots.

Riley just said, “Okay, Boss, you focus on your work then,” and hung up. She was very considerate and wouldn’t disturb her boss during important work.

“Heh, you can actually multitask like this,” Ashley teased, brushing back her freshly loosened hair with a smile. Her hips swayed enticingly. If she didn’t lack a tail, Alex might suspect her hips belonged to a cat.

They were just too good at twisting.

Side to side, front to back.

Alex thought this woman really knew her stuff. No wonder she almost had a husband once.

The tricks a thirty-year-old experienced woman knew really weren’t comparable to what those barely-twenty female leads could manage.

Too bad you don’t give Collapse Points, Alex thought. Otherwise, I’d really like to let her taste a ‘Raging Bull Charge’.

While Alex and Ashley were busy… exchanging notes on whether a wild bull would go crazy seeing a tender pink color, upstairs, Clara paced around the room boredly. The neon lights outside seemed even brighter now.

“Why isn’t Auntie back yet?”

She sat perched on a tall stool, swinging her bare, pale feet. She stared intently at the hotel room door, desperate for it to open. But after waiting for a long time, the tightly shut door showed no sign of opening.

Time slowly ticked by. Over an hour passed like this. Suddenly, Clara panicked. “Did something happen to Auntie?”

‘What kind of talk takes over an hour?’

Just as Clara was seriously considering whether she should call the police, the phone she’d left on the table suddenly buzzed.

Clara leaped down from the tall stool in an instant, rushing over barefoot. She grabbed the phone, unlocked it, and saw it was a message from her aunt. A wave of relief washed over her.

Auntie’s okay… Then she opened the message. It was Ashley telling her she had finished talking with Alex, and he would be coming up right away.

“Ah!”