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?

She didn't say

who was driving couldn't believe what he had

he was

too hard for him to believe that the guy in the

to a girl, especially one who had just slapped him.

words. He had told him to be careful about what he saw

like Johnny had preempted this

that he had told him beforehand what he should do

not related. They just happened

Johnny was a smart man. He could be as flexible as the situation demanded. That was why

want for dinner?" Andrew asked,

she and Ellie had made. She didn't even

her energy on anger right

which was very

on her phone and showed it to Andrew.

a look and asked Josef to drive

got on the road to

seven o'clock. There was a lot of traffic as it was the

nearby, else it would have taken

name — The Time Shore. The decor was very nice and not too opulent. It was simple, but the owner had put a lot of thought into it.

When Andrew and Ashley walked in, no one came to attend to them. The place

tables were set for two persons. Ashley suddenly realized it was a restaurant just for couples

blushed when she saw couples sitting close, holding hands and sharing their food. She lowered her eyes.

her, this place had

hadn't planned this. Andrew was really smart. Surely, he knew that she didn't