Angela Su tried so hard not to cast her dark brown eyes down at Gael’s perfectly shaped pectorals underneath his unbuttoned white shirt. It was pretty obvious that the man takes care of his body like it was a masterpiece. Instead, she stared right at his own pair of grey eyes, unashamed that she was. She found them incredibly beautiful, reminding her of why she was attracted to him years ago in the first place.

Those were the same pair of grey eyes that she pictured in her head countless times while she wrote her first book, and even though she hates to admit it, it was still the same pair of eyes that she dreamed of seeing again. She was fascinated at who the man actually was and she wanted to know more about him then, yet because it was only a meaningless night, she often brushed her thoughts away.

She was well aware that he was staring at her too and she wondered what he was thinking at the moment until his question rang in her head again and she was forced to stop her daydream. “Yes, I am,” she openly admitted.

Her boldness made Gael chuckle. Tearing his gaze away from her, his gorgeous smile stayed on his face. “So honest.”

Angela melted at the sound of his sexy laugh, but she pretended to be unaffected and scoffed, “Don’t be so full of yourself. I just wanted to be aware of where you were so I can avoid you.” It was only partly true. She was indeed looking for him because she couldn’t lie to herself anymore — she was attracted to him. Who was she kidding? No one could blame her if they saw the guy. He was like a model who came straight out from a magazine. But he didn’t need to know that. Her thoughts were safe.

Amused, Gael tilted his head towards her. “Now why would you do that? I’m very curious as to why you would avoid me.”

“I just don’t want to be associated with you. What happened between us in the past was a one-time thing and it didn’t mean anything. And it should stay that way.” She wasn’t lying. Even if she was attracted to him, it still wouldn’t erase the fact that she used him for her book. So no—associating herself with this man was clearly a no-no.

“Really? It didn’t mean anything?” He arched a brow, his voice was light as he concealed his whimper of mirth at what she just said. “Why does it seem like what happened that night was actually everything to you?” His fingers playfully tapped the hardcover of Galatea K.S.’s bestselling novel, clawing her walls down and tempting them to crumble.

Angela didn’t know where he was hiding it — just a moment ago, she didn’t see it with him. Keeping her face straight, she kept her expression impassive as she uttered, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

As much as she tried to keep herself unreadable, Gael was far more skillful than she was and the slightest shift in her seat gave her away. Nonchalantly, he opened the book to a random page. The sky had already darkened yet the light from the lampposts at the beachfront was enough to illuminate the pages of the book. Seeing the familiar paragraph, he held himself from chuckling — it just so happened that he opened to a part where the story was a little spicy for the two main leads.

Scanning the text briefly, Gael’s eyes skimmed to the name of the male lead. The name was Nicco—it was short for Niccolo—he sneered at the chosen name before he started reading the portion of the book with a low, gruff voice, “Nicco skimmed my thighs and I shivered at his touch. His hands were slightly rough and firm against my skin. I wanted more and I wished that he would touch me in places I—”

His reading was interrupted when Angela suddenly attempted to grab the book from his hands. He stretched his hand to the side, moving the book away from her as she strived to steal it from him. Her reaction was expected and he could clearly see the horror on her face from the reading that he just did.

She could try to hide it from him… But only if he lets her.

Gael huffed mockingly, clearly entertained by her effort. Clicking his tongue, a glint flashed across his grey eyes as he darted them to hers and met her menacing stare. “I gotta say… You really wrote some pretty good stuff in here, Angela. Is this what you mean when you said that night didn’t mean anything to you?” Using only one large hand, he slammed the book shut — the action made a thud, causing her to blink.

He saw her swallow at his question and before she could even recover, he turned to face her, leaned forward until he was only inches away from her face and questioned, “Was that night so good for you that you glorified it and wrote a book about me?”

He was so close to her that she could smell his tasty, musky scent. And when she was supposed to back away from him, she didn’t move, allowing him to invade her personal space. She was too weak against him and she didn’t even try to guard herself. She was supposed to be afraid when his voice dipped lower that it warmed her core and sent shivers down her spine.

She felt his hand on her waist and she was almost satisfied. How odd was it that she was actually craving for him to touch her—as if that part from the book he just read to her was exactly what she was feeling at the moment. She wanted to refuse her inner desires yet she was frail under his hand, anticipating what he will do next as she gazed back at him. She didn’t even realize that her shawl loosened up and fell down, exposing her cleavage to him.

Gael glanced down briefly at the swell of her chest before leaning forward. He ran the tip of his nose along the line of her jaw and breathed against her ear, “Tell me, Angela… or should I call you, Galatea K.S.? How badly did you want me to touch you again for you to honor me in your book?”

Her eyes involuntarily closed, eager to feel the delicious sensation… She should be pushing him away, but Angela could only let out an audible breath, betraying her resolve.