Josie bit her inner lip. For some reason, she detected a hint of sarcasm behind his words.
“Thank you so much. Mr. Russell.”
Dexter went upstairs with the box of cigarettes in hand.
As the man disappeared from view, Josie asked Julie to keep the second box of ice cream back in the freezer. She could not finish all of it immediately and planned to savor it the next time Dexter suffered
losses.
But the sweet taste made her forget all her displeasure. As expected, humans are not made to bear bitter things.
Now that she did not need to work, Josie slept in every day. Because of her injury, the maids did not dare. to wake her up, even if she slept into the afternoon.
She finished off too much ice cream and spent the entire night making trips to the toilet. Exhausted, she spent the rest of the day sleeping to make up for the loss of sleep. It was evening when she finally woke up. She stretched and headed downstairs to find Dexter on the sofa with black–framed glasses as he worked on his laptop.
She paused in the middle of her step and glanced at the time. “Is Mr. Russell back from work, or did he not go out today?” She whispered to a maid.
He was usually not home at this hour.
“Mr. Russell stayed home today.”
Thinking that she had depended on him, Josie felt guilty. She hesitated and decided to idle her room. Just as she turned around, the man called out. “Josie.”
She could not just leave and turned back sheepishly. “What is it?”
There was a frosty look on his face. “Wash up. You’re going out with me.”
away back in
She was unsure about it. “The scar on my face hasn’t healed yet. It will be embarrassing for you.
“That’s not a problem.” He shut the lid of the laptop and put it aside.
“Then, how should I dress?”
“As long as it is suitable for going out, that will do.”
She understood that he had no expectations. It seemed that they were not going somewhere particularly important.
She went upstairs and put on a plain dress she usually wore for grocery shopping. Without realizing it, the clothes in the closet had begun to pile up, and the room was no longer foreign as she had stayed there for a relatively long time.
Dexter had already changed into a suit when she stepped out. He picked out a tie, and the maid was about to tie it. Josie stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”
He gave a look, as it was unexpected of her.
She took the tie from the maid and tiptoed while circling it around his neck. She smiled. Is there anything wrong with a wife tying her husband’s tie on him?”
Het womanly scent wafted to him. He kept silent and let her do as she wanted.
Her deft hands brushed against his Adam’s apple, seemingly unintentionally. She watched as it moved up and back down. It was captivating. The last trace of timidity disappeared, and a yearning for him took place.
“Dexter, you’re stunning.”
He lowered his eyes and stared at the bowtie. “Did you put on perfume?”
“Yeah. It’s white tea. Does it smell nice?” Her greed took over.
She gave him a coy smile. As the light shone at her at that particular angle, she looked nothing like
Leanne.
“It’s nice, but don’t put any on next time.” He stepped back to create distance between them and headed to
the door.
She followed him, gasping for breath. “I’m not done with your tie yet. Wait!”
She did not expect him to move aside swiftly and grasped her thin wrist. He stepped closer and stared at her from above. Their breaths intermingled.
“What are you doing?”
She was caught off guard by the sudden change in the air and forced a smile. “I’m testing if I can seduce you, Mr. Russell.”
