The Innocent Girl Who Stole His Heart

Chapter 3

The weather had swung dramatically. The sky, moments ago a clear expanse, was now a formless canvas of bruised twilight, swallowed by an encroaching darkness. Inside the sleek vehicle, the atmosphere was thick with a tense silence that stretched between the front and back seats.

"CEO, should we head home, or do you still want to return to the company?" Stephen, the driver, asked, his voice carefully neutral, a stark contrast to the storm brewing within the car.

"Let's head home". "I'm tired". "I need to rest," Adrian Sterling's voice came out in a low, gravelly tone, edged with a weariness that surprised me. I had expected a triumphant, gloating note after our restaurant debacle.

"Okay, CEO," Stephen replied, his hands expertly turning the steering wheel, guiding the luxurious car directly towards Adrian Sterling's home.

Then, a sudden, sharp command sliced through the air. "Halt!"

Adrian's voice, now devoid of weariness, was sharp, decisive. My head snapped up. Through the tinted windows, I saw the reason for his sudden order: me. Standing helplessly by my broken-down limo on the side of the road, a picture of pathetic indignation.

The tinted window screen slid down with a silent hum, and Adrian's head popped out, a predatory glint in his eyes. He called out, his voice laced with mocking amusement, "Look who we have here?"

A gasp escaped my lips, a combination of disbelief and utter exasperation. "You again!" That was the first statement that burst from my mouth, fueled by the universe's cruel sense of humor.

"Do you have a problem with me?" he taunted, his eyes twinkling with devilish amusement. "Perhaps you think it's one of your sugar daddies?" He didn't even wait for a response, just let the slander hang in the air like a noxious cloud.

This guy’s mouth is truly mean, I thought, gritting my teeth. He deserves to be given a medal for pure verbal savagery.

"What sugar daddies!" I retorted, my voice rising in pitch. "Are you nuts?" "How could you say such a thing?" It was a rhetorical question, of course, but the audacity of his insinuation was infuriating.

Adrian ignored my indignant outburst, his gaze sweeping over the darkening sky. "Time is no longer on our side. Any moment, the rain will descend on earth. Care for a ride?"

If someone else had heard the way he spoke, they would have thought of him. Benevolence, a true gentleman offering aid to a damsel in distress. But I knew better. This serpent, Adrian Sterling, always had something under his sleeve, a hidden agenda. Yet, I had no choice. If I refused his "generosity," the heavens would unleash a torrential downpour, and I'd be utterly drained, drenched and humiliated.

I exhaled sharply, a frustrated puff of air. "Don't try anything funny," I warned him, my gaze fixed on his deceptively polite expression, before reluctantly hopping inside his f*****g car. I eyed the opulent interior, the soft leather seats, the polished wood trim. "I'm sure this car isn't even his," I mused, settling into the front passenger seat. Maybe it belongs to a friend of his, or a company car he’s not supposed to use for personal errands.

I reached for the seatbelt, clicked it securely into place, and braced myself for the journey to begin. But there was no movement. The engine remained a low purr, the car still.

"What are you waiting for?" I snapped, glaring at Stephen, the driver.

"CE—" Stephen began, but he was sharply interrupted by Adrian's voice from the back.

"Tell that woman to come over and sit with me at the back."

"Ah!" I grunted, a sound of pure exasperation. Like seriously? This man is enjoying my misery.

"Miss, he asked you to join him at the back," Stephen rephrased Adrian's statement, his eyes darting nervously between us in the rearview mirror.

"Now, tell him back that I am comfortable here," I retorted, my lips pursed into a defiant pout.

Stephen's shoulders slumped. He was clearly troubled, caught between two battling egos, two sucklings, as I’d mentally labeled us, who kept ordering him to rephrase their petty squabbles. He would rather have kept mute, driven away, and forgotten this entire disastrous encounter.

The silence stretched, thick and pregnant, for a moment, then Adrian broke it, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. "Get out of my car, or sit with me at the back."

I inhaled sharply. Oh, my God, this man is a devil in human flesh! Had I known I would have to endure this, I wouldn't have agreed to ride in his borrowed car. My mind raced. Did he intend to toy with me? To prolong my agony?

"Are you there?" Adrian's impatient grumble cut through my thoughts.

With a defeated sigh, I unfastened my seat belt. Swung my legs out, and reluctantly slid out of the front seat. The cool air momentarily offered a reprieve before I opened the back door and slid in beside him. The rich leather of the back seat enveloped me, but it brought no comfort.

"Satisfied?" I asked, my tone dripping with rudeness. I was still balancing myself, adjusting my seating position, when Stephen, clearly eager to escape the tension, ignited the car with a sudden, unexpected lurch.

The jolt caught me completely off guard. I shook, tossed forward, and lost my balance, my hand instinctively reaching out to brace myself. My hand, it seemed, was against me tonight, because if not, it wouldn't have landed squarely on top of his d**k.

A strange, unreadable look flashed across Adrian's face. His eyes, usually so calculating and cold, widened slightly, a hint of genuine surprise mixed with something else I couldn't quite fathom. My own eyes widened in shock, my hand still resting on his... there.

"How is it?" he drawled, his voice a low, husky purr, laced with suggestive mockery. "I thought you had enough last Friday?" "Are you yearning for more?" He smirked, a wicked, triumphant curl of his lips.

Again. My face burned. I just embarrassed myself. Again.

"Your wish!" I scoffed, swiftly and narrowly withdrawing my hand as if it had touched something scalding hot. The journey resumed, the car gliding smoothly now, the silence between us even heavier than before, filled with the unspoken weight of what had just happened.

I gazed out the window, pretending to be interested in the blurred city scape, but my mind was replaying the horrifying encounter. The silence was deafening, but it wasn't peaceful. It was laced with an unspoken challenge, a simmering tension.

"Do you intend to follow me home?" Adrian's voice broke the quiet, startling me.

I had been trying to keep mute, to ignore him, to pretend he didn't exist. But this snake, this irritating man, wouldn't let me be.

"I would have loved to," I sneered, turning my head to face him, a defiant glint in my eyes, "but I remembered vividly how poor you were that night." I laid it on thick, knowing exactly how to poke the beast.

His body tensed. "Oh, let me remind you, men hate to be looked down upon, especially the arrogant ones, and mostly when you tell them they're weak in bed." His eyes narrowed, a dark storm brewing within them.

"How could you slander me and call me impotent?" Adrian's voice was low, trembling with barely suppressed rage. "I remember clearly, you came three times!"

From the front, I heard a choked sound. Stephen, the driver, was trying to suppress a chuckle.

Adrian's head snapped forward. "Why are you chuckling, Stephen?" "Have you found a new job that makes you so jovial?" His voice was cold, lethal.

"I—I don't dare, CEO," Stephen stammered, his hand flying to slap his own cheek, a comical gesture of self-punishment.

Adrian's gaze, now a pure horror show, returned to me. "I remembered clearly you came three times," he repeated, his voice unwavering, a challenging glint in his eyes.

"Big lies" "I didn't come at all!" I flared up, my cheeks burning with indignation. To deny that was unthinkable, yet the thought of him being right was even worse.

"Do you want me to tell you in details?" he pressed, his smirk returning, a glint of predatory amusement in his eyes.

"Jerk!" I cursed under my breath, my mind racing. I knew this guy was bound to embarrass me, and I was equally determined to return the favor. "Oh, I remembered you…"

Before I could complete my statement, Stephen, bless his soul, intentionally pressed the brake, a sudden, jarring halt. I, who wasn't holding firmly onto my purse, lurched forward, causing my bag to slip from my grasp and tumble onto the floor.

"Drive with sense, will you?" I barked at Stephen, my frustration boiling over.

"I'm sorry, Miss," Stephen apologized, his eyes wide in the review mirror, but I caught the subtle tremor in his shoulders. He was definitely trying not to laugh.

Adrian, however, knew Stephen was intentional. I saw the faint smirk that touched his lips, a fleeting shadow of amusement.

"Why did you smirk?" "You think this is funny?" I demanded, turning on him.

"Don't put the blame on others". "You're the clumsy one here," he taunted, his smirk widening.

"Hmph!" "I won't argue with you, rotten fellow!" I bent down to pick up my purse, my hand reaching for the strap. To my utter surprise, Adrian bent at the exact same time. Our hands, reaching for the same object, brushed against each other. Then, my fingers locked around his, our skin touching, a jolt of unexpected heat passing between us.

We were frozen there, our hands intertwined for a long moment, a silent, charged tableau in the confines of the luxurious car. I felt his thumb brush against my knuckles, a strangely intimate contact. Then, I pulled back, quickly regaining my seating position.

"Bring me the purse, since you're on it," I pouted, trying to sound nonchalant, but my heart was pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs.

I watched him, expecting him to hand it over. But Adrian didn't move an inch. He remained bent, his gaze fixed, not on the purse, but on something else entirely. "What took you so long?" I asked, a sliver of unease creeping in.

I followed his gaze, and my breath hitched. He was staring directly under my gown.

"Have you seen enough, you lustful animal?" I snapped, clamping my thighs together with a sharp slap that echoed in the car. The rain outside began to fall, a steady drumming on the roof, matching the chaotic beat of my furious heart.