Chapter 60- Marking his territory
Tessa was seated in her office when someone knocked at the door, making her look up at it. “Come in,” she called out.
Her eyes widened when a man she wasn’t expecting walked into the office. “What can I do for you, Mr Kingsley?” She asked with furrowed eyebrows while giving him a questioning look.
“Aren’t you going to ask me to take a seat?” David Kingsley said with a smile on his face. He had a large bouquet of red roses in his hands. He was in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black pants.
His dark chocolate skin was glowing as if he had bathed in milk and honey. There was no denying that he was a handsome man with a good body. Muscular in all the right places.
“Do I have to? You never made an appointment and yet, you showed up here. Unless you’re saying you’re here for business,” Tessa remarked as she secretly took her phone and texted Aaron.
Tessa: [David Kingsley is here. And he brought me flowers.]
She placed the phone back on the desk and frowned when David went ahead to take a seat across from her.
“It’s because I didn’t come for business. I came to apologise for what happened the other week. However, if I need to do business with you to get an audience with you then I’m more than willing to do so,” David presented with a side smirk on his lips.
“What are you apologising for, Mr Kingsley? I thought everything was resolved last week.”
Tessa was confused. Firstly, it was strange that David suddenly showed up at her office when they had never even interacted before.
After the stabbing incident, Nora was locked up and a few days later, she was tried in court. Since they had overwhelming evidence against her, it didn’t take long for the judge to pass a sentence. The judge commented on the seriousness of the matter and how Nora was a walking time bomb.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder. This is because she displayed some violent behaviour and tried to attack Tessa again while in court. She was deemed a dangerous person who should stay behind bars.
“I’m sorry for the accusation and what you had to go through to prove your innocence. I was just sold the design, I didn’t know someone was impersonating you,” David said, his voice bringing Tessa back to the present.
She shook her head and replied, “There’s no need for you to apologise. I wasn’t worried because I knew I was innocent.”
David sat back in his seat and stroked the neatly trimmed beard on his chin. He glanced at Tessa and remarked, “I wouldn’t have handled the matter the way Aaron did though. He was supposed to stand up for you. Not make you look guilty by calling people to ask if you did it or not… does he really love you or ”
Tessa furrowed her eyebrows. She gave David a wary look and asked, “What’s that statement supposed to mean? Are you here to sow discord between Aaron and me?”
David let out a low chuckle and played with the platinum ring on his right middle finger, twisting it. He uttered, “I’m not. Just trying to make you open your eyes. A man who loves you would not let you be interrogated by his colleagues. After I heard about how he made you a substitute years ago, I’m not surprised that he was willing to throw you under the bus if you had really stolen his company’s secrets. A man who loves you would step over the world for you if he has to. Tessa… Aaron doesn’t deserve you.”
Hearing his words, Tessa dragged in a sharp breath. She finally understood why he went to see her. It seemed Aaron’s business rival wanted to put a strain on their relationship for reasons
best known to himself.
She squinted her eyes at David and said curtly, “I think you misunderstood something. I wasn’t being interrogated by anyone. Aaron was clearing my name in a way I would prefer him to. If he defended me in front of his shareholders despite the accusation hanging in the air, the shareholders would never respect me. I just became a major shareholder. How would they trust me if they believed one of them stole company secrets? They might have not said. anything because of my connection to their CEO but deep down, they suspected me. Don’t worry, I knew Aaron believed me and that’s all that mattered.”
“How could you know that he believed you? A man’s mind is like a different world, Miss Hilton. You can never tell what he’s thinking,” David replied.
“I can feel it. When I look into his eyes… all I see is a thousand emotions swirling as he stares down at me. He loves me and hence, believes in me,” Tessa defended and added, “If this is why you came, you’re wasting your time. Please leave as I have a lot of work to do.”
David raised his hands in surrender and said, “It was just an observation. Don’t mind what I said and I’m sorry if I offended you. I really just came here to apologise… about that, would you let me buy you lunch?”
At the same time, Aaron was in a meeting when he received a text from Tessa. He had set a special notification tone to let him know that it was the love of his life texting. A smile crossed his lips as he picked up his phone and unlocked it.
The managers and directors shared looks, silently asking themselves what Tessa had done to change Aaron so much. He now smiled often and even let his phone ring during meeting hours. He wasn’t that strict on them either and understood when an innocent mistake was made.
Meanwhile, the space between Aaron’s eyebrows tightened when he read Tessa’s text. He clutched his phone and the air around him became frosty.
‘David… how dare he try to seduce my woman?’ He got to his feet and looked at Enock, saying, “Take over the meeting and report to me later.”
Enock’s eyes widened but he nodded anyway. He had become used to his boss’ recent change in lifestyle.
Aaron’s jaw was clenching and anger was rippling through him as he got into his car and drove to Tessa’s company. He had to run a few red lights to get to her office in time before David did anything to steal his woman.
Recalling that David had even bought flowers for Tessa made jealousy flare through him viciously.
When he arrived at the mall, he didn’t even park properly and strode into the building. He went past Lisa at the reception and walked to Tessa’s office.
His eyebrows knitted when he heard David asking Tessa if he could buy her lunch. It seemed he had been trying to convince her for a while. Tessa’s eyebrows were furrowed and she \looked uncomfortable.
Anger surged within Aaron and he wanted nothing but to punch David in the face for making a move on his woman.
He was about to step forward and beat David up when Tessa’s reply made his heart soar with happiness many.
“Um… Mr Kingsley. I’m spoken for. I can’t have lunch with you just like I’ve mentioned so times. You’ve been trying to convince me for the last twenty minutes but my answer will not change. You’re not my client or anything so it’s inappropriate,” Tessa replied to David with a stern voice.
David chuckled and remarked, “Come on. It’s just lunch. Why don’t you want to? Are you afraid that you might have a good time and end up falling for me?”
Aaron clenched his fists. His jaw clenched as he stepped forward, unable to stand aside anymore. He growled, “Let’s all go for lunch. It would be a good time to catch up as business people. Right, Mrs Wentworth?”
Tessa’s heart skipped a beat when she heard Aaron’s voice. She glanced at him and released a sigh of relief. David was creeping her out and Aaron’s presence just saved her.
David got to his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets. He gazed at Aaron and said with a smirk, “Mrs Wentworth? The last time I checked, you two are not married. Tessa is available
375
as long as there’s no ring on her finger.”
Aaron responded through gritted teeth, “That will be sorted soon enough. But we are practically married. We have THREE children together-”
“So? She’s still single,” David challenged and added before looking between Aaron and Tessa. with a mocking smirk, “I think I stand a chance.”
Aaron was in a grey three-piece suit. He looked more imposing and dominant. He stepped closer to David and glared at him. The tension in the room became thicker. He narrowed his eyes and declared, “I would like to see you try.”
Tessa saw that things were about to get heated so she suggested, “How about lunch?”
The two men who were in a staring contest dropped their eyes and turned to look at her, saying in unison, “Sure.”
Aaron held Tessa’s hand as they walked to the parking lot. He leaned over and pecked her lips after opening the car door for her. He then glanced at David and smirked. He said, “I’m sure you have your own car. You’re not welcome in mine.”
David shook his head and got into his car before following behind Aaron’s car.
When they got to a fancy restaurant. A waitress noticed that they were prominent people. She smiled widely and offered, “Good afternoon. A table for three?”
Aaron draped an arm around Tessa’s shoulders before pulling her closer to him and presented, “Yes. But arrange the seats so that I can sit with my Mrs Right here. She loves it when I feed. her.”
Tessa’s stomach fluttered with butterflies and she blushed. She glanced at Aaron and he arched an eyebrow at her, saying, “What? I’m just marking my territory.”
“I’m not complaining,” Tessa replied, feeling giddy.
They were led to a private room. David sat alone on the opposite side and he was forced to watch Aaron be all touchy-feely with Tessa. It was as if he was trying to prove a point.
He would feed her and then lean over and peck her lips, saying, “You had some gravy on the corner of your lips. I wanted to wipe it for you”
David rolled his eyes. He couldn’t take it anymore. He glanced at the couple and said to Aaron, “Ok. You have made your point. She’s your woman and you love each other. I’ll stay away.
Ok?”
It was because David had already analysed the situation that he decided to give up. He saw how Tessa’s eyes gleamed as she stared at Aaron. He knew he had no chance even if he tried and he was never someone to start something that he knew he was bound to fail.
“At least
you
know what’s good for you,” Aaron scoffed and squinted his eyes at David.
“I’ll not be the only one though. Tessa is a beautiful woman. If you don’t put a ring on her
finger soon, you might lose her,” David remarked.
Aaron glanced at Tessa and claimed, “I never want to lose her and I’m ready to make her my wife at any time, any day, anywhere. But I’ll follow the right procedure because she deserves the best.”
