Jess was just joking when she asked Noah if he would give her his company. She never expected Noah to take it so seriously and answer with a 'yes' which made the three other men laugh.

Her face burned in embarrassment. She wanted to avert her eyes, but she didn't want Noah to have the last word.

'It was just a joke, right?'

"You shouldn't say that, Mr. Tiefenbacher. I am an ambitious woman. I might take advantage of your offer," she grinned sheepishly.

"I don't mind. You can take advantage of me all you want."

Jess was lost for words. This was supposed to be friendly banter. An innocent teasing here and there, however, Noah's face showed no indication of joking. He has a calm demeanor, answering her in a very serious tone that drove some butterflies in her stomach.

Her cheeks felt hot and her toes were curled inside her Louboutin ankle suede boots.

She chuckled awkwardly and turned her head to Oliver who was eating his pho like they don't exist.

Luke leaned over the table with his elbow propped on the table, his chin cupped in his palm, as if he were watching a soap opera.

Antonio on the other hand was clutching a tablet in his hand, standing stiffly next to Noah. When Jess glanced up, he averted his eyes and kept his face unreadable.

With a sigh, she bowed her head in defeat. Today, she is not winning against Noah in the battle of shamelessness. She decided to thread on a safer topic.

"How was Lucille?" she asked.

"She misses you, but not as much as I miss you," he replied, staring intently at her face.

Oliver who has been acting oblivious to all the cheesiness that Noah had been saying, finally lost it. He choked on his pho.

Anthony gasped in audible shock. Using the tablet he was holding, he covered his face.

Luke was the only one who was as shameless as Noah. He grinned and chortled in amusement with what he was hearing.

She kicked Luke's leg under the table, as she stood up abruptly. With her face burning in embarrassment, she looked at Noah and said in between clenched teeth, "Follow me."

She pushed her chair and stepped away from the table, leaving Oliver and Luke who both softly laughing behind.

Her hands were clenched in a fist as she heaved a deep sigh. She walked and sat down on a vacant table at the far end of the room where a potted Monstera plant adorned a column, making the table a bit more private than others.

She waited for Noah to sit across her, then spat, "What the fuck are you doing, Tiefenbacher?"?" Her voice trembled with embarrassment and annoyance.

"Noah," he said in a gentle tone with sheer longing.

The sudden shift in Noah's tone caught Jess off-guarded. She averted her gaze to the glass wall, as she pulled her hands to her lap.

When they were at the table with Oliver and Luke, she took his words as he was playing with her. But when it was just the two of them and his eyes mirrored all the words he had spoken, Jess's annoyance melted away like a candle blown out by the wind.

"How many times must I tell you to call me Noah?" His lips were curled down in disapproval as he asked. "If you need a more convenient name for me, I'll respond with Baby," he added.

"Have you had no shame?" She asked with a bulging look of frustration in her eyes.

"I'm not being shameless, Jess. I just truly miss you." he cocked his head towards Antonio's direction, "You see, Antonio has been whipping me like a carabao. He has been working me non-stop. I haven't had a decent rest since we came back from Shanghai," he pursed his lips acting like a petulant child.

Jess' heart was a goner the moment Noah acted like a child. She blinked a few times to stop herself from leaning forward to pat his head to soothe him.

"Fine, whatever! You are just like Luke. The more I said no, the more you do this...this…" she waved her hands in the air as she couldn't find the words to express Noah's antics without feeling embarrassed.

It was impossible for her to say that Noah behaved as if he were her abandoned lover.

"Don't lump me in with Luke. He is your friend. I have no intention of being just friends with you, Miss Zimmerman."

"Why do you call me Miss Zimmerman and I can't call you Tiefenbacher?" She found a different topic to discuss that would prevent Noah from talking about all the cringeworthiness in this world.

"Because it sounds so sexy to call you Miss Zimmerman. I harbor a silent desire for you to dominate me whenever I call you by that name."

"I give up! You are hopeless!" she said, rolling her eyes.

She folded her arms under her breast and leaned back on her chair. She gave up when she realized Noah has no plan to stop spouting all those sleazy declarations of affection.

And apparently, he doesn't care who was listening. He didn't even consider that Noah and Luke are both his future employees, and Antonio is his secretary that he is working with every single day.

He doesn't care that those people could have a negative impression of him as their boss.

"How could you act like a lovestruck teenager in front of my friends and your employee like you don't care about their opinion about you?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Because I am claiming my stake on you, Miss Zimmerman," he said in a hushed tone. He whispered them as if he were letting her in on one of his secrets.

As he called her Miss Zimmerman, after telling her what was in his mind every time he uttered her family name, she pressed her tights tightly together under the table.

She opened and closed her hands for she was itching to push him down, crawled on top of the table, and straddled him like a stallion.

She settled on grabbing her thighs, instead of him. She can't promise that she would do the same if they were not in the open...well, they were both shameless even in the open. While the memory of that day in San Lucas flashed before her eyes, she blushed.

"I am not a thing that you can claim, Noah," she said with a tight smile.

"I never consider you as a thing, though I would admit I have a thing for you." he grinned maliciously.

"Is there something wrong with the air in Shanghai that made you so brazen after you returned from there?" She squinted her eyes at him.

"It is the result of my self-reflection."

"That's a scary self-reflection, you've got there, Noah."

He threw his head in laughter, "Oh God, I fucking miss you, minx." He shook his head in amusement, "I miss that sharp tongue of yours."

"How many names do you have for me?" she asked out of curiosity.

"Why, are you counting? Or do you have a personal favorite with all the names I have for you?" he grinned.

She scanned his appearance while clicking her tongue. He was sitting on the chair with his legs stretched out by the table, for his long legs won't fit under the narrow table. The coat of his suit was opened showing his vest, hugging his broad chest. He was leaning on his chair casually as he draped his arm on the backrest of the vacant chair next to him.

She just pursed her lips and refused to give an answer to his question for she has a feeling that he would say another cringy reason about the names that he has been calling her.

If Miss Zimmerman means dominate me, she doesn't want to know what he means when he calls her a minx.

Noah saw Antonio approaching them from the corner of his eyes. He knew with the way Antonio walks that he has no more time to spare playing with his minx. He swallowed a mischievous grin as he observed Jess trying to contain her curiosity over the different pet names that he has been calling her.

With a deep sigh, he cursed the ongoing project they have on top of the preparations for his succession to the CEO position. Those were the things that kept him away from Jess among other thousands of things.

He wished his day was just like this, where he could tease and annoy her as much as he liked.

And speaking of teasing Jess, he leaned forward on the table, and whispered, "I do have a personal favorite from all the names that you had called me."

"I don't call you names other than your given name," she smirked.

"Oh? You called me baby before," he said feigning hurt and disappointment.

"W-when did I ---"

She was unable to finish her sentence because Noah stood up from his chair, buttoned his coat, and said goodbye to her, and left with Antonio trailing behind him.