Chapter 14: Treat me to dinner instead

Sean and Sebastian left Carter’s office to head to their respective workplaces.  Sebastian was meeting with a new band that he had managed to sign on and Sean had some paperwork and evidence to revise for a court case he was working on.  As Sean was approaching the Harper Group building, the video of Grace using her swift defence and attack techniques to deal with Arlo and his bodyguard kept playing on his mind.  Her capability put a big smile on his face. He was wondering where she would’ve learnt such fighting techniques as some of her moves looked to be a bit unique and not the usual martial arts type moves and at the same time, he wondered when he would see her again.  

Grace was on her way back to her office with a coffee in her hand after returning from inspecting the building site of the ‘Del Mare Hotel’ that was starting to go up.  She was lost in thought about her next few meetings today, when she bumped into someone’s chest.  His chest was so solid that she not only spilt her coffee on both of them but also lost her balance and was falling backwards.  A hand grabbed her and managed to catch her before she fell down.  When Grace looked up to see who had caught her, her face went red when she realised that it was Sean. 

Despite Sean wearing most of the coffee that Grace had spilt on him, Sean was smiling at her.  He could see that her face was red which he thought made her look incredibly cute. He steadied her so that she was on her feet and asked her if she was ok.  With an embarrassed face, she said, “I’m sorry Mr Harper, I wasn’t looking where I was going and my thoughts were elsewhere. I’m terribly sorry, I should have been watching where I was going and now, I’m afraid I’ve ruined your shirt.  Please send the bill to me and I will reimburse you. Uh, or you can tell me your size and where you bought it from and I can buy you a replacement.”  Sean chuckled and said to her, “Firstly, let us do away with the formalities, I think our paths have crossed enough times to not need to be so formal, so you can call me ‘Sean’.  Secondly, there is no need to worry about this shirt, but if you really wanted to make it up to me, we could go shopping together and you could buy me a new shirt or how about letting me take you out to dinner?” Grace looked at him with curious eyes, she was not expecting what he had proposed. “Mr Harper, I mean Sean, thank you for being understanding about me ruining your shirt.  Firstly, since you have requested to do away with formalities, you can call me ‘Grace’ and secondly, I won’t do dinner as that sounds more like a date, and I don’t date. In addition to not dating, I also cannot go shopping with you but I might be able to buy you a coffee or at least you can bill me for cost to replace your shirt”, she suggested.  Sean could see she was a bit jittery and with a smirk on his face decided to make another suggestion. “Well Grace, it’s not necessary for you to replace my shirt, but if you won’t accept a dinner invite, how about something more casual like lunch?”  Grace eyed Sean as she scrunched her nose thinking how she would best answer him, “Coffee only, take it or leave it”, she responded to Sean in a decisive manner.  Sean looked at her and grinned from ear to ear.  It seemed that Grace was determined to spend as least time with him as possible although if having a coffee with her was all she offered then he was willing to take it. “Grace, it’s a deal, but this time try not to make me wear the coffee”, he said to her as he chuckled. “Ha, ha, I never knew you had a sense of humour”, she said to him.  “How about tomorrow morning at the Café across the road from the Harper building just there”, he pointed. “Alright, I’ll see you there at 8:00am. I’ve got to go now”, she said as she started to walk away.

“Wait, wait, I just wanted to ask you if you were hurt after Saturday’s incident?”, Sean asked her in a concerned tone as he grabbed her arm gently so that she would stop walking away.  Sean had been thinking about it for a while and was really unsure just how she managed to deal with two quite capable men and was worried she had sustained injuries.  “Sean, as you witnessed the aftermath, I am fine, just a few bruises that will heal in no time”, she answered. “I’m glad to hear that because it was two against one which really has me intrigued.  On another note, can I have your number, you know, just in case one of us is running late or can’t make it tomorrow morning?” he said to her.  ‘This man is too much’, she thought to herself.  “No need Sean, I’ll be there on time and if for any reason one of us is not there by 9:00am, then the assumption is that person could not make it”. With that, she waved and headed towards her building, leaving him standing there with a smirk on his face.  ‘Hmm, this girl is not going to make it easy for me.  She is going to make me work hard’, he thought as he grinned and watched her walk away with her long and perfect legs.

Only metres away, Claire had witnessed the entire scene.  She saw the collision between Seand and Grace; the coffee being spilt on Sean’s shirt, the way Sean held Grace tenderly, the way he looked at Grace and she was not pleased with this.  She thought to herself, ‘Why her, what’s so good about her?  Why doesn’t he ever look at me the way he was looking at her? I’m the one that he believes saved him, but yet he still hasn’t looked at me the way he looks at that pathetic girl. I won’t let them get close, Sean is mine and only mine’.   With an evil glint in her eyes, Claire headed home and decided to hatch a plan.