Cade was ushered to Ophelia’s office by Diana, who had been waiting to receive him; she had noticed the quick mood swings of Ophelia throughout the time that Cade had been away, and as much as they both wanted to deny their affection for each other, she could clearly see it through them. The only issue they had was that they had not yet found a way to nurture the love, so it was obvious to every other person.
“Does she know I am here?” Cade asked as he walked by, and the entire crowd stood in awe of him at the place. Someone was even making a video of him walking in, and he tried to convince himself that his plan worked.
“She does not; I kept it a secret like you asked me to,” Diana said, and he nodded. She knocked and pushed the door open. “You have a guest,” she said, causing Ophelia to lift her head to her from her desk.
“I have a visitor? I did not know I had a meeting now; send them in,” Ophelia said, slipping into her shoes and walking down to the sofa. Diana left the door frame, and Cade emerged from behind her.
“Do you want me to get you something to drink, ma’am?” Diana asked as Ophelia stood in shock at the appearance of Cade at the door.
“Not for now; if we need anything, it’s okay, you know,” she said, dismissing Diana, who stepped out and closed the door. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her eyes diverting to the glass walls around her and how people were pretending to work but in reality were just peeping at them. “Why did you come here?” she followed up.
“To see you,” he said, walking to her gently.
She was freaked out because she could not run away, even though that was all her mind told her to do at that moment. She could not let them have any intimate interaction because she did not trust herself one bit.
“Why?” she asked because her mind could not wrap around the fact that he would come here after she had asked that they do not have contact for the time being.
“You can come to my office unannounced, but I cannot come to yours,” he asked, stopping just before he reached her.
“When I… came to your office was… the only reason I did that was because…” she stammered, blinking rapidly as her mind did not know what to say. She wanted to tell him she did that out of concern that he was in danger, but he had no reason to come here. She would have seen him at home and then known he was back from his trip.
“I wanted to see you as soon as I came back.” Cade learned the hard way that truly there were feelings lingering in his heart for her. As much as Harper tried to push herself on him, the more he unravelled the feelings he had stuck in his heart.
“I don’t think that was necessary.”
He walked over to her, wrapped one hand around her waist, and pulled her closer. His eyes darted to the people who were looking at them from the glass walls. “Stay still and be happy to see me; people are watching,” he said and regardless of how much she acted and what others thoughts of this marriage, she stopped in his hands and leaned in. She turned her head to her idea so people could read her mouth and she murmured.
“You know that I asked that we reduce contact like this to the barest,” she said. “I might have to slip up again and cough to you.”
“Then I am sorry for this,” he said, pulling her head away and kissing her cheeks.
“What was that?” she asked wide-eyed at him.
“I am also sorry for this,” he said, capturing her lips. She found herself closing her eyes as she began to savour the kiss. Honestly, this was something she had anticipated, even though she told herself that there was nothing between them again. He pulled away after a while and she rested her head in his chest and murmured.
“You are a real jerk who is taking advantage of me,” she felt so well in her eyes, but instead of crying, she sniffed back so that she did not cry in front of him. He had no right to see her cry.
“I am sorry.”
“What for?” she asked, taking her head off his chest and looking up at him as he held her, refusing to let go.
“Can we talk?”
“About what?” she asked, trying to remain calm.
“About us”
“Then I guess we have nothing to talk about,” she said. You must be exhausted from the trip or you should go home and rest up,” she suggested as he still held on to her.
“Tkaking about us is nothing?” he asked.
“Can you let me go?” She asked back, and he looked her in the eyes and slowly loosened his hand on her waist. She took a step back before turning and going to her table and closing the blinds on the glass wall to keep out the eyes on them. “Better,” she murmured and came to stand before him.
“What else is there to talk about? We are together in this as husband and wife, and it is a contract that is supposed to last for ten years. I would help you take over the Vale company, and you help me take over the Frost empire, and after ten years we part ways,” she said, trying to remind him of their deal. “I forgot for a moment what our deal was and let emotions take over me, but thanks to you, I remembered it well, and now I cannot make the mistake again, so instead of us continuing this, let us just…”
She trailed off when he held her hand; she had not even noticed him move earlier. “What are you doing?” she asked, trying to yank her hand off his, holding onto her tighter.
“Remember when you lost the bet and I gained ten wishes?” he asked and she nodded.
“You have used two of them.”
“I want to sue the remaining eight of them.”
“At once?” he nodded.
“Now?” she followed, and he nodded again. “What is it?” she asked, wondering what absurd thing he could want that required eight wishes.
“Let us talk now about us.”
“You want to talk about us?” she asked, and he nodded. She sat on one of the couches and pointed to the one opposite her. “Let us talk,” she said.
“Can we do this at home?”