Chapter 74

74 Flying With Him

His hand didn’t stop caressing my hair playfully. Ace was really in a good mood and his positivity was starting to rub off on me. Suddenly, Ace took a lock of my hair and placed it against his lips. I watched as he kissed my hair tenderly as my heart skipped a beat and my chest clenched tightly.

“Ace...” I whispered his name softly.

“I don’t do this to my dog...” Ace mumbled as his eyes lingered on the lock of my hair that he held between his fingers.

“Or this...” Ace whispered.

My body froze when I felt the heat his hand on the side of my neck before he started stroking the side of my neck tenderly with the tips of his fingers. His face came closer to mine, and I soon felt the heat of his lips on my cheek. His kiss was soft and more playful than demanding. I felt heat rush to my face, and I knew that I had started to blush wildly.

“Or this...” Ace whispered again.

This time his lips approached mine. He’s going to kiss me...

“Please...no more...” I protested in a breathless whisper as I tried my best to push him away.

I can’t do this anymore. Any more of his teasing attention and I’m really going to lose control. I just decided this morning that I’ll try to keep my distance from him and look where I ended up. Despite the difficulty that I had to go through to steel my resolve, I found myself on a private jet all alone with Ace on the way on a trip that had no one else but us.

.....

I must be going crazy...

“You’re right. We can have some more fun later on. After all, this trip is a whole three days!” Ace declared happily.

“Three days?!” I cried out in shock.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you?” Ace said innocently before he smiled at me.

“You never tell me anything...” I muttered before sighing depressingly.

“Don’t be like that. I’ll make sure to tell you next time, ok?” Ace cooed like he was talking to a baby.

I didn’t know what to say to him anymore. Words won’t change anything. Since I’m on this trip with him anyways, I might as well make the most of it. Strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with this trip. We are going there to get some work done so this is a business trip and nothing more.

“It’s going to be quite a long flight. I suggest you get some sleep. Want a blanket?” Ace asked with a caring smile.

It’s so unfair when he smiles and acts all caring like that. It makes me feel so confused inside.

“No, thank you...” I replied before turning the other way.

...

The announcement from our pilot telling us that we are about to land woke me up from my sleep. I didn’t even remember when I had fallen asleep. Glancing over to where Ace was sitting, I found out that he was already awake and as alert as ever.

“Had a good rest?” Ace asked before smiling over at me.

“Yeah...” I murmured softly in reply.

I did manage to catch some sleep during the flight. It compensated very well for the lack of good sleep from the night before. I still felt slightly sleeping and dizzy but the excitement that I felt as I looked forward to the trip made me feel so pumped up.

“You look so excited...” Ace stated his observation with a teasing smile.

“That’s because I am,” I admitted honestly before returning his smile.

“I’m excited too. This trip with you is going to be fun...” Ace stated with certainty.

I wasn’t sure if we were looking forward to the same type of fun, but I was willing to let that slide for now. After landing at the airport, Ace rented a car so that we could drive around. To my surprise, Ace seemed to have everything planned out already.

“When did you have time to work on all this?” I asked in amazement after getting into the passenger seat of the car.

Ace was driving and I was his only passenger. It was a pleasant surprise that Ace seemed to know where we were going and what we had to do right off the bat.

“I’m efficient at my work,” he replied confidently.

“Aha...” I murmured without knowing what to say.

Says the guy who sneaks off to take naps and skip out on meetings at work.

“Let’s check in at the hotel first. We’ll be meeting our local guide there. As you’ve probably figured out already, most people don’t speak English here so we’re going to need a local guide who can take us around and also act as a translator,” Ace explained flawlessly.

“You’re right about that. Wow, you really have everything thought out...” I said in admiration.

I can’t believe the CEO of such a large company actually went to all the trouble of planning and preparing all of this.

“The dog meat trade business is a very local business with many small operators and markets. To really get to know how it works, we need a local to take us there,” Ace continued to explain as he kept his eyes on the road.

“Umm...I might need to stop over to buy some things,” I said a little shyly.

“We can do that. That’s not a problem. There are somethings that I got the hotel to prepare for you already, though. You can take a look at those first and then we can go buy whatever that you need,” Ace replied casually.

“Thank you for doing all this,” I thanked him wholeheartedly.

“No worries. Let’s just enjoy the trip together,” Ace replied carefreely.

It was quite a long ride to the hotel because the airport was located quite far from the city center. From the private jet to this overly luxurious hotel, I had a feeling that this trip was eating up quite a lot of the company’s budget. Ace looked extremely at home when we arrived at the hotel and the concierge politely greeted us. We arrived early in the afternoon so I hoped that we could get some work done today even if we didn’t have the whole day.

–To be continued...