He pressed his lips against hers before she could say a word, taking her breath away. Her heart picked up its pace from the sudden intense kiss. Feeling him wrap his arms around her, she hugged his neck and let him deepen the kiss. She grabbed a fistful of his hair as he pulled her body up against his.

She tasted sweeter than she usually did. Perhaps it was because it had been long since they were on their own with little to worry about, but he couldn't help savoring her lips like a delicacy.

she took a breath when their lips pulled apart. Her pupils were dilated when she looked at him, driving him on edge. He cupped her face and took her lips in his, but a strange smell filled the atmosphere and it grew so strong it was distracting.

"What's that smell? " She noticed it too, and pulled away from him with a frown. It took a moment for both of them to recognize the smell and they jolted up simultaneously.

"Shoot, the meat is burnt!" She ran over to the grill to have a look. Just as she dreaded, the meat they had set to grill a moment ago was now a lump that was raw on one side but looked like coal on the other side.

"Uh…" Her stomach churned.

"It looks a little too grilled." He flipped it and stared at the black side. "Do you think it's still edible?"

"I don't think I want to try it." Just the thought of it made her feel bile build up in the pits of her stomach.

He didn't think he would want to put it anywhere near his mouth either, but he felt bummed at the same time. Tossing the ruined meat, he prepared a fresh set of ingredients. "We have to start all over."

"We can marinate it with lemon juice first. Are there any fresh lemons?" She asked, preparing to try a different recipe.

"I think so." He fished through the basket of ingredients and found the lemons which he gave to her.

They marinated the meat and set it to grill while glancing at each other. When he reached for her, she evaded his touch. "Let's make dinner first."

He looked at her helplessly. "If you are going to avoid my touch, can you not give me that look?"

"What look?" She asked innocently, certain that she had done nothing wrong.

"That 'pin me down in bed and f*ck me' look." He grinned, earning a smack from her.

"You are so dirty minded!" Her cheeks couldn't be any redder.

"You want that, though." He chuckled before slyly adding, "And I want to do that too."

"Shut up."

…

This time, they watched the grill closely and managed to enjoy their dinner without any burnt parts. Just when he thought she was going to drag him to bed, she dragged him to the living room instead and turned on the television to watch a show called 'Hex your ex'.

What kind of crappy name was that? "Why would you want to watch such a reality show?"

"It's fun!" She excitedly waited for the introductions to end so the show would begin.

"No, it's not." He frowned. Nothing was more interesting than her right now. He was so turned on from their close proximity that it was almost excruciating, and she was feigning ignorance about it. She was definitely doing it on purpose.

She gave him a seductive gaze while talking about the reality show. "How would you know? You haven't tried it yet."

"I know from the name." He protested.

"Come on, come on. Give it a chance. Just five minutes. If you don't like it, we can switch to Netflix." She kissed his cheek. When she leaned over, her chest rubbed against his arm and he could clearly feel her boobs through the fabric of her clothes.

"Sure." He swallowed, waiting to see what she was up to. She was not even a fan of reality shows.

"Yay! I love you." She kissed his lips before snuggling into his arms to watch the reality show that he was certain she wouldn't pay any attention to. He smiled down at her. There was a long night ahead of them.

___

When Zaria said that she would send a list of partners she recommended, the last thing Ximena expected was for Liam Preston to be included in the list. Not only was he included, but his name was also the first on the list and according to Zaria's notes, he was the most likely to be interested and easiest to convince. Zaria definitely had a huge misunderstanding about Liam Preston.

When she arrived in her apartment, she realized that she had run out of coffee so she decided to go grocery shopping.

Pushing her cart with her elbow, she checked the list she had written in her phone's Cresnotes app and tiptoed to grab a box of assorted cookies from the top shelf. She accidentally kicked her trolley when she steadied herself and rolled off to kock into a man on the same aisle.

''I'm so sorry." She pulled her trolley. Luckily, there wasn't much on her trolley so it couldn't have caused too much damage. She was midway through sighing in relief when the man turned.

What in the world?! Was fate trying to play some not-so-funny games with her right now? What was it Liam, of all people?

"Your talent is rear-ending people. I should have figured it out." He gave that annoying smile again, the one that made her want to beat the crap out of him.

"It was an accident." She shoved the box of cookies into her trolley. "Both instances were accidents."

He smirked with no response to her obviously strained apology. She hated to admit her fault, especially in his presence, and he was not going to give her the satisfaction of getting away smoothly. "I didn't expect you to seek me so soon, little devil. Did you miss wrecking havoc so badly?"

"For the record, I did not seek you." It was him who was in the wrong place. He didn't live nearby. What was he doing in the grocery store nearest to her neighbourhood?

"Oh really? I seem to recall that a certain someone tried to have my assistant schedule a meeting with me despite it not being a working day." He taunted in response to the email he had received not more than an hour ago.

"This is a coincidence. A freaking horrible coincidence that I really don't want to be part of." She was frustrated.

"Then we can simply part our ways." He said it in a tone that suggested that he would definitely reject her proposal. Her heart sank at the realization that she was yet again offending a man that could have all the other potential partners reject her as well.

"Wait." She called after him as he walked away.

"What?" He stopped. He was having too much fun with this.

She swallowed a lump. "Can we have a talk?"

"You want to have a talk with me?" He raised an eyebrow in amusement even though he knew what exactly she was referring to.

She so badly wanted to make him have a taste of her new high heels but she could only hold it in. "We are only going to discuss business."

He pretended to ponder before dropping a bomb. "It's still a discussion nonetheless and I'm not going to have it with a devil."

She cursed and stabbed him a hundred times in her mind while still keeping a remorseful expression. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" He deliberately asked the obvious.

Her hands gripped her cart tightly. "I'm sorry for barging into your company to cause a scene."

"You have something else to be sorry for?" He asked with a smile.

She sighed. "For rear ending you, and for hitting your butt with my trolley. Look, let's put this behind us, okay?"

Her tone amused him. "You are not sorry, Miss Morel. You are only scared that I will make your life hell in retaliation for what you did."

Then don't sound like you will do it, damn it! She screamed inwardly.

"I…"

"You don't have to. You are irritable, I know. But how the hell do you think I'm going to cooperate with a woman who will yell at me at the slightest provocation?" He looked serious as he interrupted her explanation.

Her patience wore out. What was wrong with this idiot? Her hands flew to her hips. "If you were a normal man, I would never yell at you now would I? Do you think I'm a crazy woman?"

"Yes!" The word escaped his lips instantly.