His touch

Zara grabbed the bottle of water through to her by her gym instructor. She uncovered it quickly and gulped down the whole liquid, gasping for breath after that.

“I can’t do this anymore.” She fell to the floor, breathing heavily.

They had been training for about an hour and it wasn’t even a light training. She had to lift heavy weights, do squats and lots more.

It had been a week since the gym instructor arrived in California and started his session with her, and she couldn’t tell if there was a difference.

Harry wasn’t home, he went for a business trip three days ago and she didn’t even feel his absence, maybe because they rarely talk while he was at home.

“If you continue this way, it will be hard for you to lose weight quickly.” The gym instructor lamented.

He was a forty five years old man, but he looked way too younger than his age. He was huge and tall, and Zara could swear he had great six packs beneath his shirt, it was even glaring from his tight gym shirt.

“It’s just a break.” She rolled her eyes.

The gym instructor kept on talking but she didn’t pay attention, her attention was on her phone as she scrolled through social media.

Her brows raised when she saw a picture of Harry and Kimberly at the airport. They were both holding hands while their luggage was held by the bodyguards.

She could recall him saying it was a business trip, not a vacation with Kimberly. He didn’t even mention she was going with him.

She scoffed, staring at Kimberly’s photo with so much hatred.

Her eyes flashed in recognition when she zoomed in the picture.

The two piece outfit Kimberly was putting on was the one she saw some days ago, it was a limited edition and she almost ordered it before recalling her financial status.

The outfit looked good on Kim, bringing out her curves, she was sure it wouldn’t look that good on her because of her shape.

“How can I get this shape before the end of this week?” She turned the phone to him, showing him the screen.

“A surgery would help.”

She glared at him, snatching back her phone. “I don’t even know why he employed you. Best gym instructor indeed.” She muttered, not caring if he would hear or not.

“We have to resume training, miss. I was told you need to lose weight as soon as possible.” He said, changing the topic entirely.

She glanced at Kimberly’s picture and took a deep breath.

“Okay.”

*******

When Zara woke up from her nap, it was past 1 and her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything solid since the beginning of the day because she was on a diet.

She jumped down from the bed and walked out of the room, going downstairs to instruct the chef to make something for her.

As she walked past Harry’s room, a sound caught her attention. It hinted that someone was inside the room.

“But Harry is away.” She muttered, taking slow steps towards the door.

‘Could it be one of the workers trying to steal while he’s away?’ She thought as she slowly wrapped her hands around the door knob.

Quickly, she twisted the door open and rushed into the room. To her surprise, it wasn’t one of the workers, it was Harry.

He was dressed in a black shining suit and he was trying to knot his tie when she got in.

“You are back?” It was shocking. She didn’t even know he would return home today.

“Learn to knock.” He replied bluntly, his gaze not leaving his tie.

Zara scoffed. “You didn’t tell me you would be coming back today. I thought someone else was in your room.”

“Is there a reason I should tell you when I’m coming back home, Zara Wellington?” He turned to her. He was already done with the tie.

“No, but…”

“The gym instructor told me you are making things hard for him.” He had a frown on his face as he spoke.

“Son of a bitch!” She clenched her fists angrily. “He’s not fit to be a professional, he’s…”

“Zara.” He called firmly, taking a step closer to her, she moved back immediately.

He looked so serious and Zara felt intimidated by his closeness.

“Did you plan all this?”

“Plan what?” She was confused.

Harry turned back. He strode to his locker and his eyes moved around the designers watch there.

“Isn’t it strange that I’m the person you called for help? What if all this is just an act and your objective is to be with me? Hence you aren’t serious with gyming so you could have more time here in my house.” He said.

Zara scoffed, unable to believe his assumptions. “How does that make sense?”

“It makes sense.” He turned to her after putting on the watch on his wrist. “If you don’t lose weight, I won’t proceed with the wedding plans and if we don’t proceed on time, you’ll have enough time to stay here.” He explained further.

Unexpectedly, Zara bursted into laughter, while Harry watch with his brows furrowed.

“The fuck?” She laughed loudly. “Wait, you think I’m interested in you and that’s why I planned this whole thing?”

It took her a lot to stop laughing. “I’ve never for once thought about you that way, Harry. Come back to reality.” She snapped her fingers.

“Whatever makes you happy.” He muttered, then picked up his mini laptop from the bed. “Lock my door when you go out.”

He headed towards the door and her brows raised in curiosity.

“Where are you going to?”

Harry stopped. “The company. There’s a board meeting.”

“That’s… You just got back from a trip, you should be resting.” It wasn’t that she cared, but it was only normal and reasonable if he had enough rest for the day, not attending a meeting which would definitely be stressful.

He turned to look at her. “It’s an important meeting and the shareholders are all present. You won’t know the value of not missing meetings because the time you were supposed to study business, you spent it sneaking out with…” He paused, waiting for her to say the name and when she didn’t, he smirked.

“Felix.” He completed.

Zara didn’t flinch, her expression didn’t change, she had a blank look on her face. “If you were busy enough, you won’t spend your time stalking me to know I sneaked out with Felix.”

“Stalk you?” He chuckled. “C’mon, I have better things to do.”

“I see.” She rolled her eyes. “Mind if I go to the company with you.”

“There isn’t any reason for you to tag along.”

She took that as a no. “But it would make our engagement realistic. If I attend board meetings with you and we get married weeks later, people won’t suspect a thing, especially my father.”

Harry didn’t immediately say a word, obviously thinking of what she said.

His eyes roamed around her body and a dissatisfied look appeared on his face. “You have five minutes.”

“Huh?”

“Go change into something nice.” He specified.

Her lips curled into a smile. “I’ll be right back.”

Minutes later, she appeared back in the room dressed in a red floral gown and a black slide.

As soon as Harry saw her, he hit his forehead in frustration. “This dress looks cheap, Zara. Thought you had a great fashion sense.”

Zara looked down at her clothes, feeling less of herself. Her confidence had just been crumbled. “It’s not that cheap, I…”

“No jewelries? Your neck look so dry.” He clicked his tongue.

She got agitated. “We are going to the company not a fashion show!” She retorted.

When he didn’t say a word, she sighed. “While with Felix, I couldn’t afford to get a good jewelry. They’re all faded now and I can’t wear them to the company.” She spoke calmly.

He chuckled. “Dude had you fighting for your life.”

“Literally.” She muttered.

Her eyes squinted when Harry moved to where he kept his jewelries and started searching for a necklace.

She didn’t want to believe it was what she thought, until he finally picked one and handed it to her.

“Put it on.”

Slowly, she reached for the necklace, and her eyes scanned thoroughly at it.

“It’s pretty.” She mumbled, rubbing the pendant.

“Forward your account details to me, you have to go shopping and get some good clothes. I feel so embarrassed being seen with you this way.”

She looked up at him when he said that, and she didn’t know if to get angry or sad.

She unhooked the clasp and tried to wear the necklace around her neck, but her hair was posing as an obstacle.

She moved her hair to the side and thought she could fix the necklace now but then she realized the hair was never the problem, her fingers were sweaty, making the necklace slip.

Unknowingly to her, Harry had been watching her struggling to wear the necklace and she was surprised when she saw him in front of her.

He let out a quiet sigh and stretched forth his hand. “Hand it over.”

She raised a brow. “You are taking it back?”

“Hand. It. Over.” His tone was slow, but filled with command.

She let out a scoff and placed the necklace on his palm.

“Turn around.” He instructed.

Her eyes twitched. “What?”

“I said, turn around.” He repeated, calmer this time.

Realization suddenly dawned on her. He didn’t want to take back the necklace, he wanted to help her wear it.

Without a word, she turned, slowly sweeping her hair to the side.

She stiffened when his knuckles brushed her skin as he wore the necklace around her neck. It reminded her of Felix, how he would trail his fingers around her skin, setting her in an intimate mood whenever he wanted something from her.

Felix knew that was her weak point, she was fragile and his little touch always had her begging for more. His effect was great on her.

Within the blink of an eye, Harry was done.

“This was what was taking you ages.” As he spoke, she could feel his hot breath near her ear.

Cold shiver rushed down her spine and she moved away from him immediately, turning to face him.

“Thank you.” She said quietly.

Harry’s brows furrowed, as he wondered the reason for her actions.

Zara didn’t like how his gaze lingered on her. She cleared her throat and spoke up, “We should get going. You don’t want to get late.”

As she led the way out of the room, Harry’s gaze didn’t leave her for a bit. He kept on wondering why she moved away from him in that speed.