Liar Liar Billionaires

13. Lots of dates

Knowing that her tired body would hesitate to get up in the middle of the night, Chloe made sure to set an alarm.

And it was currently piercing her ears, doing a great job of keeping her from hugging her pillow closer.

Seconds after pushing herself out of bed, her eyes landed on the scenery of the clear night, and her mind awakened to the reason she woke up.

The screams from earlier were trying to send a message, and she would not be able to fully understand what that message was until she found the source of the screams. Now, that was her main problem. There was no specific direction from which the screams came. One minute, it sounded far away. The next minute, it was close, so close that she could feel it in her bones.

Since this was the situation, Chloe decided to carry out the search in two ways. One, she would try to locate and trace any alternative or hidden paths that may connect to the rooms where she heard the screams. And the other option- easy yet difficult at the same time- would be laying her hands on the blueprint of the mansion.

“Okay,” she huffed, and her legs moved. “Let’s do this.”

In no time, she was strolling down the quiet corridors, approaching the lower part of the house, a flashlight in one hand. And as she moved, she noticed for the first time how lovely the house looked in low lights. The expensive arcs and designs seemed more vintage, and she was discovering details she had never noticed before.

Chloe scoffed at herself. Perhaps this was why Gabriel said she seemed like cupcakes with mean writings on them. She always moved with such seriousness and failed to notice the simplicity of her surroundings.

Chloe chuckled within herself because she found that quite ironic since she was a spy.

Moments later, after confirming that the dishes were clean and grabbing a bottle of water, she headed to Amir’s playroom.

The work she and Lucille put into the space was pleasing to the eye. After seconds of admiring the simple gaming setup Amir installed after they cleaned, she walked to the middle of the room and got to work.

She recalled where she stood when she heard the scream. It was clear that the other side of the room would provide a better answer to her questions. So, she approached the wall on her left.

As though it were a delicate thing, she gently placed her hands on the wall and began checking for vibrations. She thought to herself that if there was something or someone behind the walls, no matter how far away, there would be some vibrational evidence.

But nothing came.

Next, she pressed her ear to the wall. Nothing came either.

This lack of progress left Chloe with the choice of checking out the library. She quickly left the playroom before the large desktop could tease her into playing a game or two.

When she reached the library, Gabriel was thankfully not there. Usually, he woke up very early to sit in the library as though it were his shrine.

The small smile that tugged on her lips as she thought about Gabriel soon vanished, and she walked to the spot where she heard the scream. From that position, she surveyed the space as far as her eyes could while her ears patiently waited for the night breeze to reveal another round of screams.

Again, nothing came. But in the dim light, her eyes caught something.

Just a little forward on her right, beneath one of the huge shelves, she noticed a few scratches on the hardwood. From her little experience as a spy, it was clear that something had been moved a lot on the spot. So, slowly, her eyes traced the trail of the scratches to the nearest wall.

She knew better than to think that was all.

With the air feeling suspenseful, she approached the wall and began pressing at random points, her head racing with delight at the thought of finding something implicating.

Well, it worked.

As though it were a Jack-in-the-box toy, the wall popped open, and without delay, Chloe pulled the hidden door.

She shone the flashlight, and disappointment washed over her when she saw that nothing but a bookshelf was in the space.

“f**k this,” she found herself cursing as she walked into the small room and checked out the books sitting on the shelf. “Wow,” she said with her face scrunched with contemplation because all the books were genres related to murder.

“What are you doing awake?”

Chloe jumped.

As she turned and saw that it wasn’t Gabriel who had caught her rummaging through his library, she let out a sigh of relief. Then, carefully, she closed the wall and faced Nathaniel, who was waiting for her response.

“Uh… I couldn’t sleep.” He didn’t say anything, so she explained further. “When I’m restless, I tend to go through stuff. It’s a bad habit of mine. I can’t help it.”

His hands clasped behind him, and he observed her as though trying to figure out if she was lying. Then, he said, “Gabriel doesn’t want anyone going through that part of his library. So, unless he shares it with you- which I doubt- do not ever go near it again.”

“Never.” Chloe nodded while her brain reasoned that something was suspicious about Nathaniel’s response. “I will take note of that.” It was becoming a little bit more obvious that the men were truly hiding something huge.

“Hmm,” was all he replied with.

“So…” She decided to change the direction of the moment. “When’s our date?”

His brows frowned. “Date?”

“Uh… earlier today, this place was filled with placards and balloons that….”

“Wait, he really did that?”

“Who?” She was a bit confused.

Before he answered her, he pinched his nose as he seemed to recall something. “Yeah… I told Gabriel to come up with a grand idea that would help me ask you on a date. He suggested the balloon thing, but it was too cheesy. I didn’t even ask him to do it.”

“You know, asking me directly would have been a better option. And it would have worked.” Inwardly, Chloe wondered why she was being receptive, again, to the idea of dating this man.

“The whole thing was a bit weird, wasn’t it?”

Chloe nodded. “Very.” He gave a low groan. “But it was nice regardless. It made me smile.”

“Huh. I don’t like the sound of something I didn’t do making you smile,” he said. “Next time, I’ll take matters into my own hands.”

“Oh.” Chloe nearly choked. “There is…Next time?”

“Chloe.”With a low chuckle in response, Nathaniel stepped forward. In his eyes, never flickering away from hers, was a message. A message that made her swallow hard. “Do you hate the sound of having a next time? Rather, a next date?”

“Uh…” He was affecting her again. She didn’t want this, but she couldn’t fight it. “Am I alone in thinking that we could have lots of dates? Because there will be.”

“Until?” her low voice asked as she breathed him in and wondered if it would be sane of her to press her into his.

“Until…” Nathaniel’s head leaned in, and she let her gaze roam. They darted from his lips to his eyes continuously, as though it was a cycle needed for survival. “Until…” He repeated, but this time, his lips brushed hers.

And she jolted… in her mind. In reality, while her hands clenched to tame her desires, she waited to see if he would take her lips like he did at the party.

He did not.

He only brushed her lips again, to remind her of the warmth she felt when they kissed.

When Nathaniel stepped back, his lips were wide with a smile, and he reached for the base of her chin. Then, with his low, humming voice, he resumed, “Until I have you craving my touch and my presence, day and night.”

Her lips fell apart, but no words came out.

She truly did not expect that statement at all.

But before she could even summon a response, Nathaniel had already walked away. When he got to the exit, he said, “I hope to take you out on a date later today.”

Then, he left. And she was by herself, staring at nothing.

However, in her head and heart, many things were rousing.

His date invitation was a plus to her mission but a danger to her unwilling yet softening heart.

Surely, at that moment, what she needed was protection for her heart. Regardless of whether she ended up going on that date for mission-related purposes, she needed to find a way to make sure her heart wouldn’t sabotage her.

Well, being Chloe Pepper, a woman like no other, that simple task would not be too hard.