Zaria quickly slid her high heels on and picked the call. As expected, Desmond had arrived to pick her up and was waiting in the parking lot.
"I have to run. Please help me feed Des later." She kissed Ximena on the cheek.
"Go, go. Leave the little darling to me." Ximena urged her, and Zaria grabbed her purse to leave.
"You look so beautiful my love." Desmond couldn't hold back his admiration when he finally saw the woman he had been anticipating to see for hours. She looked happy, which made her beauty stand out all the more.
Her eyes brightened up as she closed in on him. "And don't you look handsome? How many accidents did you cause? The females on the road must have been charmed to death." She gushed, wanting to hide him so no one fell for him.
He took her hand and kissed the back of it gently. "I don't care how many women went crazy because I only want to charm you… not to death but into my bed."
"How naughty," She laughed, though she had to admit that she didn't mind being charmed into bed by him. On the contrary, she looked forward to it.
He opened the car door for her and when she settled down, closed it.
"This feels so wrong." She laughed as he started driving.
"What feels wrong?" He tilted his head to ask what she was talking about.
"You opening the door for me and all." She chuckled slightly at the absurdity of it. "Since when has it ever been the boss's turn to treat his employee as though she were his superior?"
"That, I don't know. But I'm not your boss tonight. I'm your boyfriend, and the primary role of a boyfriend is to pamper his girlfriend." He answered matter-of-factly, turning on the autonomous mode. In the next second, his hand slid down the cleavage of her dress to grab her boob.
"What are you doing?" She was shocked by his sudden move and swatted his hand away, not because she was displeased. "We are in the middle of the road!"
"I'm not driving." He shrugged.
"There are other people on the road." She looked around hoping that no one had seen what he had done, and he shrugged to that too.
"The windows are tinted. If they can see through the windscreen, they need to keep their eyes to themselves." After giving the indifferent answer, he moved closer to her and cupped her face to kiss her. He could barely keep his hands to himself and slid them down her body.
As expected, they were stopped by a traffic police not too long after
"Good day, officer." Desmond rolled down his window and waved at the older man in blue uniform as though he had done nothing wrong.
The man frowned at him and didn't bother to exchange words. He placed a ticket on Desmond's arm. "This is for public indecency."
The man took the ticket and smiled at it as though it was a reward, then looked back at the policeman. "Then, I may need more of these in advance. About five or six, thank you. My girlfriend and I can't keep our hands to ourselves."
Zaria was about to die in embarrassment. This shameless man!
"Then get a motel or something!" The police officer so badly wanted to teach the man a lesson. "Where's your driving license?"
"Why do you need it? I'm not driving." Desmond waved his hands to signify that he wasn't touching the steering wheel, and the officer lamented about how difficult it was to be a traffic police. He so badly wanted to teach the man a lesson but he looked too much like the famed Desmond Fort who had appeared in countless business magazines.
It would not be funny if a tycoon went after him for merely doing his job. The only way to find out the man's identity was using an identification document or a driving license, but the man had refused to submit his. Trying to keep out of trouble, he let Desmond leave with several warnings and a slap on the wrist.
"That for a first date was entertaining." Zaria shook her head as they drove off.
The man glanced at the ticket which now looked like it was for decoration. "Wasn't it? We should do it again. I'm sure there are other traffic guys after the turn up ahead."
"That's not what I meant." She wondered what had gotten into his head. His idea of fun was twisted.
She thought that they were going to his house when she saw the familiar routes but instead, he went to his private airstrip.
"Ready to go on this trip with me?" He held out a hand to her, and she placed her palm on it to let him help her out of the car. The helicopter was already waiting, which they boarded and it made her wonder just what kind of date he had in mind. She couldn't help looking forward to it.
When they landed at the place she found familiar, she finally realized where they were.
"Luxenville Royal Hotel?" She was pleasantly surprised.
"It's so beautiful that I wouldn't ignore it." He responded. Not to mention, he had noticed just how much she loved it, so he thought it would be the ideal place for the date.
It was such a good choice, she had to admit.
The man had booked a table at the corner, and had it decorated in black and red, in a simple yet beautiful theme.
"What would you like to drink?" He asked when they sat down. There was a pair of stem glasses on the table as well as three bottles of different wine to pick from and she noticed that they were her three most preferred wine brands.
She smiled and was yet to give her choice when someone appeared at their table.
"Mr. Su?" She was surprised to see the elderly patriarch of the Su family, Nathaniel Su.
The elderly man grinned all his teeth out as he tried to contain his joy. "It's nice to see you again. My dear, I already told you to just call me Nat."
"Old man, what do you want?" Desmond was displeased by the old patriarch who appeared out of thin air to hog Zaria to himself.
Nathaniel shot him a glare. "Don't be so unfriendly. I only want to catch up with little Zaria. It's not every day I randomly decide to have dinner at my former resort, then end up bumping into someone I know." He ignored the grumpy Desmond to chat with Zaria. "Little Zaria, did you miss me?"
"It's hard not to miss you." Zaria laughed, and still didn't comprehend why Nathaniel seemed eager to be so friendly to her. He certainly was unpredictable.
"Don't you have the sweetest tongue? This lucky punk." He lamented. "I should get going now. Enjoy your date."
Desmond frowned when the man left to go to his own table. He knew that they were on a date but still rushed eagerly to cause disturbance? "He's troublesome."
Zaria laughed at her jealous boyfriend. "It's hard to understand him but I think he's kinda cute."
"We are not going to talk about other people during our date, are we?" He lamented jealously, making Zaria burst into laughter.
_
Theodore worked overtime today, and he was about to leave the office when his new assistant came rushing into his office.
"What happened?" Theodore asked with a frown. He knew that his daughter was going on a date, so he had finished his work as fast as he could and was hurrying home to keep Des company.
"Boss! It's the biggest piece of news!" The slightly chubby young man with round framed spectacles announced. "It's Samantha Fort!"
"What about it?" He asked indifferently.
"She is dead! She was found dead in jail and although the police are trying to cover up and claim that she ate something she was allergic to, I followed up and found out that it was her brother, Jaime, who had the wadern feed her poisoned food." He explained in detail. "We have to publish it before the other agencies get wind of the truth!"
"Kiki, stop." Theodore stopped the man who was about to run to the editorial department.
"But why?" Kiki did not understand. Such explosive news, they should write it down in the shortest time possible.
"F&P Media shall not report anything related to the Fort Family or any of their allies. Haven't you learnt a lesson from the last time it happened?" He reprimanded his assistant, who was one of the people who previously suffered from the wrath of Desmond.
Although he was certain that Desmond would not sue him now that he was dating his daughter, upsetting that man was like poking a beehive. Not to mention, he was not about to start using his daughter to attract subscribers.