A Love Trap

'Did she... Did she just hit my boss?' thought Josef.

He was dumbstruck for a moment. This clearly stunned Andrew too. He just sat there, rooted to the spot, staring unblinkingly at Ashley.

As for Ashley, she remained perfectly still, but in her mind, her thoughts were running wild. She regretted it the second she hit Andrew. 'Oh my god! What did I do? Why did I do this? Did I hurt him? It sounded bad. Ouch! My hand hurts. Yup! It definitely hurts. I used all of my strength to slap him. God! Why did I do this?'

Ashley was panicking. She couldn't figure out what to do next.

Her hand was already swelling up. Her beautiful, white fingers turned red.

'Calm down, Ashley. He asked for this. You just tried to protect yourself!' Ashley was trying to calm herself down.

'He brought this all on himself. No man would poke a girl's face like that! I was just trying to protect myself. If you really want to poke a face, poke yours!'

Although loud, the slap didn't hurt Andrew much. It really was not a big deal in comparison to what he had suffered in the past.

Andrew recovered from the shock and saw Ashley staring at him in embarrassment. He wasn't upset at all. Her cheeks were puffed out in anger. The only thing on Andrew's mind right now was how cute she looked. He just wanted to poke those cheeks.

But he didn't. He knew his limits. If he crossed the line, she would just slap him again.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to offend you but I just couldn't help it," said Andrew. He looked at Ashley earnestly.

Ashley had mentally prepared a whole bunch of excuses for her actions, but Andrew didn't give her a chance to say a word. She gulped uneasily.

Andrew had apologized in all sincerity, so she decided to let it go.

"Alright, just this once!" she said.

Andrew didn't respond. He loved teasing her. How could he promise it would be the last time?

silence as agreement. She didn't

believe what he had just seen in the car.

he

too hard for him to believe that the guy in the backseat apologizing to the lady was his normally cold and ruthless boss.

boss was not the kind to apologize to a girl, especially one

words. He had told him to be careful about what he saw in the car, keep his eyes

Johnny had preempted this

that he had told him beforehand what

related. They just

too. He was a bit of slow compared to Johnny. Johnny was a smart man. He could be as flexible as the situation demanded. That was why Andrew absorbed him into the business,

dinner?" Andrew asked, moving closer to Ashley.

her stomach rumbling. She thought about the dinner that she and Ellie had

her energy

a new restaurant, which was very popular and had really good food

on her phone and

took a look and asked Josef to

and got on the road to the restaurant.

around six or seven o'clock. There was a lot of traffic as it was the rush

restaurant was nearby, else it would have taken them hours to

Time Shore. The decor was very nice and not too opulent. It was simple, but the owner

walked in, no one came

were set for two persons. Ashley suddenly realized it was a restaurant just for couples and she felt a little awkward. Ellie didn't tell her this was a

holding hands and sharing their food.

her, this place had turned to a pink palace full of red

smart. Surely, he knew that