The car stopped near a lighthouse. Only after speaking did Jessie Sterling realize that the sound of waves had begun to reach her ears.
They were on a coastal scenic route. Late on a sumr night, this area had no pedestrian paths, so there weren’t many people around, and few cars were on the road. For a mont, the world seed to fall silent, leaving only the sound of waves crashing against the shore.
"That’s good."
Just as Jessie Sterling was thinking it had grown unnaturally quiet in the car, Victor Morgan’s voice finally broke the silence.
But instead of bringing her relief, the voice that shattered the stillness in the car only made her more nervous.
As expected, Victor Morgan’s voice ca again a mont later.
"I just didn’t expect tonight to be such a bad ti to drop by." Unlike Jessie Sterling, Victor Morgan didn’t seem nervous at all. As he spoke, he even turned to et her gaze.
Jessie Sterling’s heart clenched. Her eyelashes fluttered with anxiety, like the rain-soaked wings of a butterfly, making her look rather pitiful.
"How was I supposed to know you were coming tonight..." Jessie Sterling mumbled. If she had known she would run into Victor Morgan, she never would have gone to the bar with Lynn Jennings.
Her words made the man beside her raise a sharp eyebrow. "So it’s my fault?" Victor Morgan’s tone was chilly.
Startled by his gaze, Jessie Sterling felt a sudden surge of rebelliousness, as if she’d finally hit her breaking point. In that instant, her courage swelled.
’We aren’t even married yet. What gives him the right to boss around?’
Jessie Sterling lifted her chin, her expression growing defiant. If she weren’t buckled into the passenger seat, she might have put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest like a proud duck. "So I was wrong? I just went to a bar with my friend at night! I-I didn’t even do anything shady, so why are you yelling at ?!"
Jessie Sterling rarely argued with anyone. Even when she had disagreents with Quincy Sterling or Lynn Jennings, it always ended with one of them patting her on the head.
She was easy to soothe.
Facing Victor Morgan now, however, was the first ti Jessie had ever felt so unsure of herself. As she spoke, she clutched the jacket she was wearing.
’Damn it, the jacket isn’t even mine. It’s not giving much courage.’
Victor Morgan had been feeling rather frustrated. He rarely interacted with won outside of professional collaborations.
Faced with Jessie Sterling’s tirade, even Victor Morgan’s ticulous mind went blank for a second.
’Yelled at her?’
’When did I yell at her?’
Victor Morgan almost wondered if his mory was failing him.
He looked at Jessie’s face, flushed with agitation, and her long, feathery lashes. His gaze finally settled on her full, pouting red lips.
Victor Morgan said, "...I didn’t yell at you."
"You did."
Victor Morgan: "..."
He certainly wasn’t about to get into a childish, pointless "No, I didn’t" argunt.
So—
"I’m sorry," Victor Morgan said. "You misunderstood."
Jessie Sterling, who had been steeling herself for a fight to the finish, could only say, "...Huh?"
’Her opponent completely threw her for a loop. She’d been ready for battle, but he had just raised a white flag and surrendered without a fight. What was she supposed to do now?’
’Now that her opponent was being so polite, wouldn’t she look terrible if she kept being unreasonable?’
"Oh..." Jessie Sterling stamred. "Well, as long as you know. I’m not... like this every night."
’Not every night?’ Victor Morgan thought. ’Does that an it’s a regular thing?’
The image of what he’d walked in on tonight flashed through his mind, and he found it difficult to keep his composure.
No man could see his fiancée surrounded by that many muscular guys and remain completely unfazed.
"Just this once," Jessie Sterling confessed before Victor Morgan could say anything else.
Victor Morgan’s eyes remained fixed on Jessie Sterling. His fiancée was petite, swallowed up by his large suit jacket, a sliver of her pale neck exposed. She looked like a child playing dress-up in her father’s clothes, which was surprisingly cute.
Victor Morgan didn’t doubt her words. "I don’t want to stop you from having fun. It’s just... a bar is one thing, but being surrounded by that many n could be trouble if the wrong person saw it."
"Especially for two young won without bodyguards. Bars are full of all sorts of people. If soone tried to take advantage of you, it would be hard to do anything about it in a place like that."
He just didn’t want Jessie Sterling to get hurt.
Jessie Sterling imdiately shifted the bla. "It wasn’t ! It was Lynn Jennings who ordered them!"
’Tonight was the first ti she’d ever seen anything like that!’
’Why did he make it sound like she was so kind of pro?’
’She wouldn’t stand for such an accusation.’
Seeing Jessie Sterling get so worked up she looked like she was about to start hopping, Victor Morgan couldn’t suppress a faint smile.
’Like a little lion cub with its fur on end.’
"I know," Victor Morgan soothed her.
Jessie’s ruffled feathers were quickly smoothed. "Besides, that bar is owned by a friend of Lynn Jennings’s brother. Nothing was going to happen. We know how to handle ourselves!"
Victor Morgan glanced at her. ’And now she’s getting cocky?’
"And aren’t you more experienced with this sort of thing than I am?" Jessie Sterling suddenly turned to et his gaze and challenged him.
She rembered once, when she was looking for Julian Grant, she had seen inside a private room filled with Southaven’s familiar circle of rich heirs. There were plenty of beautiful young models, and even so starlets you’d see on TV.
Guys had won on each arm, and so were even sitting on their laps.
Although Jessie had never had any illusions about the morals of those people, the scene still disgusted her when she saw it firsthand.
That was the only ti she had ever seen Julian Grant and not gone over to him.
While Julian Grant didn’t have a starlet sitting on his lap, he hadn’t refused a toast from an unfamiliar model next to him.
And Victor Morgan was the heir who had taken control of his family’s business even earlier than Julian Grant. He must have far more business-related social obligations and have seen much more.
’If one day she walked in on Victor Morgan with soone else...’
Victor Morgan had no idea what was running through Jessie’s mind. Hearing her question, he frowned. "I conduct business in conference rooms."
He rarely did so in private settings; even if he had to, it was always in an environnt that was, at the very least, respectable.
"I’ve never done anything like that," Victor Morgan said, his conscience perfectly clear.
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