Chapter 45: A Little Wildcat
Leah Sinclair’s face grew redder. Ethan Shaw, who loved to stir the pot, said, "Asher, that’s not right. She’s an employee at your company. How does that make her *your* person?"
Asher Keating held up his racket and pointed at Zion Sawyer and Todd Coleman. "I’m the President of Aevon, and they’re Aevon employees. Aren’t they my people?"
"AHHHH, President Keating is so handsome! Go, President Keating!" Zion Sawyer shouted excitedly.
"Hey, hey, young lady, am I not handsome?" Ethan Shaw protested, unconvinced.
"You are, you are! President Shaw is handsome too, but not as handsome as our President Keating. After all, we’re his people."
Asher Keating took off his jacket and casually tossed it to Leah Sinclair. He rolled up his sleeves. Ethan Shaw made a taunting gesture at him and said, "Asher, don’t say I’m taking advantage of you being in your formal wear today."
"Hurry up and cut the crap."
Zion Sawyer nudged Leah Sinclair’s arm. "So? Holding President Keating’s jacket... is your heart racing?"
Leah’s face was flushed. "It is racing. This jacket must be worth tens of thousands, right? Why don’t you hold it? I’m getting a little nervous."
"No way! If I damage it, I could never afford to pay for it."
Zion Sawyer quickly refused, then excitedly started cheering for Asher Keating.
Asher Keating played very well. Even in his formal clothes, he beat Ethan Shaw into submission. With his sleeves rolled up, the sunlight fell perfectly on his strong forearms, revealing several faint scratch marks. They were from Leah, who couldn’t help herself and had scratched him a few nights ago.
She had scratched him hard then, but the marks had faded a bit. Others might not notice them, but to Leah, they seemed glaringly obvious. The blush that had just receded from her face crept back up.
"Damn it, I’m done! I can’t run anymore," Ethan Shaw said, panting and waving his hand as he walked over.
"This out of shape already?" A corner of Asher Keating’s mouth curved up. He hadn’t exercised in a while either, but he didn’t feel tired after that short game. In fact, he felt like he could have kept going.
"And you’re not? Yo, Asher, who made these scratches?" Ethan Shaw noticed the marks on his arm and began to tease him with a suggestive look, his eyes darting toward Leah Sinclair.
"..."
’Leah wanted to vanish on the spot again.’ Asher Keating handed the racket back to Todd Coleman, then pulled his jacket from the crook of Leah’s arm. He glanced down at the marks on his arm, then saw her look of utter despair and smiled. "A little wildcat."
"..."
"Tsk, tsk. Don’t be so intense. You were just calling me out of shape. I’m younger than you, you know. Don’t you go getting weak before I do."
Seeing Ethan Shaw spouting such nonsense with a straight face, Zion Sawyer shot back, "Hey, President Shaw, stop with the dirty jokes! We’re all young here, and Leah just graduated!"
"..."
’Leah really, truly wanted to die again.’
"Alright, it’s about time to head back." Asher Keating glanced at the time. Knowing that Leah just wanted to disappear, he changed the subject.
"Fine, I won’t bother you corporate drones any longer. I’m off to find some girls to hang out with."
After speaking, Ethan Shaw noticed Leah Sinclair, Zion Sawyer, and Todd Coleman all staring at him with looks of misery, which amused him. "Get back to work, you three poor wage slaves!"
"AHHHH! President Shaw is the worst!" Zion Sawyer was furious. Her mood about going to work was already like going to a funeral, and now she had to be ridiculed by these rich heirs. The worst part was, she couldn’t even argue back.
The group split up. Asher Keating had a meeting in the afternoon, and thanks to Ethan Shaw’s antics, he hadn’t gotten a break at noon. Fortunately, it was his last event of the day. After it ended, he could take a breather before his next move. He got home a little after ten that night.
Leah Sinclair had just finished blow-drying her hair. Seeing him return, she started making him some honey water. "You’re back early today?"
"Yeah. It was boring."
Asher Keating had dinner with the finance department today. There wasn’t much that required his attention. He had already placed his people in that department long ago; more than half of them were on his side, so he couldn’t be bothered to deal with them.
He sat on the sofa, took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Leah finished making the honey water, set it down, and began to gently massage his shoulders. Asher Keating’s body slowly relaxed.
Seeing how exhausted he was every day when he came home, Leah had learned some massage techniques online. Though her methods weren’t professional, they could at least help ease his fatigue.
"You won’t have to keep drinking so much at these things, right?"
"Mm."
Asher Keating comfortably stretched out his arms, letting Leah massage him for a while before pulling her onto his lap and kissing her.
He had been too busy lately, always coming back late. Asher hadn’t had a proper tender moment with Leah in days. He decided that tonight, he had to make up for lost time. Leah gradually went weak all over from his kisses.
"Do you want it?" Asher Keating whispered with a light chuckle, nibbling on her earlobe.
Leah nodded lightly, her face crimson. Asher’s kisses turned domineering. Just as she began to moan softly under his assault, her phone rang. It took her a few seconds to react and try to push Asher away to answer it. Instead, Asher picked up the call, put it on speaker, and didn’t let her go.
"Leah! It’s an SOS!"
Asher’s movements paused. He buried his head in her neck and swore under his breath. Leah quickly reached for the phone, but Asher held her hand, forcing her to keep it on speaker. He wanted to hear just what emergency was so important it had to interrupt him. Leah glanced at the caller ID: Sean Coleman.
He was a senior from Leah’s university, two years ahead of her. He had contacted her before, asking for her help with some drawings in exchange for payment.
Leah’s design assignments in school had been excellent a few times, so much so that even upperclassmen like him knew of her. But Leah hadn’t dared to take on freelance work, so she had refused. This time he was calling about the same thing, and he hurriedly explained the situation.
Apparently, his company was bidding on a hotel project, but for some reason, the design department had experienced a mass resignation. With the bidding deadline fast approaching, they still didn’t have the blueprints. All the previously submitted designs had been rejected, and they were desperately looking for people to help with the drawings.
"Leah, please help! My manager said we can offer five thousand in payment this time, and it’s negotiable if that’s not enough." Sean Coleman’s voice was urgent.
Five thousand was almost a month’s salary for Leah. She was tempted. "Is it just the design drawings? How big is the project? What’s the deadline?"
"I’ll send you the details so you can take a look. It’s twelve hundred square meters, five floors, the whole set of design plans. The timeline is tight—five days. We’re bidding next week."
Asher Keating took out his phone and typed a message for her to see: "Don’t rush to agree."
Leah saw it and hesitated. After a moment, she said, "Senior Coleman, I haven’t drawn in a long time. Can you let me think about it first?"
"Okay, okay. Just give me an answer by tomorrow morning."
After hanging up, Leah stole a glance at Asher Keating. "Our company... doesn’t allow freelance work, does it?"
"Do you want to get fired?" Asher Keating pinched her cheek, then narrowed his eyes and asked, "Have you done it before?"
"No!" Leah said quickly. "He’s asked me for help a few times before, but I never dared."
"You want to help this time?"
"I’m a little tempted. It’s five thousand," Leah answered honestly.
"Are you that short on money?"
"I... Who doesn’t like money?" Leah didn’t dare mention that she was still thinking about paying him back, afraid he would get angry.
"How about I give you two hundred thousand a month? If that’s not enough, just let me know."