After Betrayal - I Married a Handsome Tycoon-Chapter 138: Rumored Girlfriend

Great work. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Was she complimenting the strawberry juice, or...something else?

It was a double entendre, its true meaning impossible to know.

At Moira Sloan’s words, Connor Quinn’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He ignored her roving hand and reached for the custard buns and cashew shrimp on the side.

Moira Sloan watched him through narrowed eyes, leaning her slender waist against the kitchen counter, looking languid and alluring.

When he brought the two plates over, she didn’t move, her red lips parting slightly.

A clear invitation for him to feed her.

"I haven’t washed my hands," Moira said.

There were chopsticks right beside her, but she claimed she hadn’t washed her hands.

Just an excuse for her laziness.

Connor Quinn said nothing. He silently picked up the chopsticks, lifted a custard bun, and brought it to her lips.

Moira took a small bite and said casually, "Did you know Caleb Lockwood is my senior brother?"

Connor Quinn’s expression was unchanged. "Is he?"

"My fourth senior brother," Moira specified.

"Mm," Connor said.

Moira teased, "Does that get me a discount?"

Connor Quinn looked right at her. "How much of one?"

Moira’s fingertips grazed his abs. She blinked. "Ten percent off is the acquaintance price, twenty percent is the friend price... how about thirty percent?"

Connor picked up a piece of shrimp with the chopsticks and fed it to her. "Done."

Moira’s eyes curved into crescents. "Boss Quinn, you can’t be like this. You have no willpower at all."

After Moira finished speaking, Connor Quinn lowered his gaze to her. The next second, he picked up the strawberry juice and took a sip. Cupping her chin, he passed the juice to her mouth-to-mouth. He then brushed the corner of her lips with his calloused thumb and said in a low voice, "I slept with his junior sister. It’s only right."

Hearing this, Moira’s eyes narrowed. "God, you’re slick, Connor Quinn."

"And do you like it?" Connor asked.

Moira raised an eyebrow at him. Her tongue traced the edge of her teeth. She didn’t answer.

’Do I like it?’

’Of course... I’m only human... "Appetite and lust are only natural," as they say... Of course I like it...’

And so, one feeding and the other eating, they flirted and dallied their way through a very intimate late lunch.

After lunch, Moira returned to her lacquerware shop, while the tattoo parlor next door erupted.

Philip nudged Zachary Curran. "The boss lady next door and our Connor..."

Zachary Curran kept his head down and mumbled, "I don’t know."

"Connor made her a late lunch," Philip insisted.

Zachary told a bold-faced lie. "Didn’t she pay for a meal plan?"

Philip’s eyes bulged. "It’s way past lunchtime!"

"You have to honor the deal," Zachary retorted. "Otherwise, the boss lady’s money would go to waste."

"You’re being deliberately dense," Philip huffed.

Zachary said nothing, his fingers flying across the calculator in a flurry of clicks.

Meanwhile, not long after Moira returned to her shop, she received a message from Finn Fuller.

*Moira, when are you free? We should discuss the partnership.*

Moira glanced down at her phone screen.

She left him on read.

’A partnership, he wants?’

’It’s not going to be that easy.’

「At dusk, Caleb Lockwood appeared at Moira’s lacquerware shop.」

The story was that he had woken up mid-session after fainting the first time, insisted on continuing, and then promptly fainted again before the tattoo was finished.

He was deathly pale and his gait was unsteady.

An uninformed observer might have thought he’d just come from a torture session.

Seeing his state, Moira’s lips curved into a smirk. "You okay there?"

Caleb Lockwood clutched his lower back, too pained to even think about sitting. He propped himself up on the counter, meeting Moira’s gaze with a strained, humorless smile that held a hint of malice. "Junior Sister," he said, "do you like white tigers?"

Moira was puzzled for a moment. Thinking he was just looking for some aesthetic validation, she lied through her teeth, "I love them."

Caleb gritted out, "Me too."

Moira chuckled. "I can tell."

’He’s in this much pain and still insisted on getting it tattooed.’

’He must really, really love them.’

Caleb Lockwood stayed in Moira’s lacquerware shop for about an hour. When it was time for him to leave, Moira walked him to the door herself.

Seeing him looking like a critical patient, she offered to let him stay the night, but Caleb, for reasons only he understood, was adamant about leaving that very evening.

Seeing how insistent he was, Moira didn’t press the issue, only reminding Flora Rhodes to take good care of him.

Flora Rhodes gave her an OK sign, signaling that she had it covered.

After watching the two get into a taxi, Moira turned and went back inside the shop. She pulled out her phone and sent a reply to Finn Fuller: *This weekend.*

Finn Fuller replied instantly: *Okay.*

Moira typed: *Are you coming to Everwood? Or should I go to Atheria?*

Finn Fuller: *You should come to Atheria. It’s a good opportunity for me to introduce you to a few influential people.*

Seeing Finn Fuller’s message, a sneer played on Moira’s lips as she typed back: *Okay.*

’Influential people?’

’In this industry, anyone who spends all their time at dinner parties is never the real deal.’

’Such hypocrites.’

’All hat and no cattle.’

After sending the message, Moira tossed her phone aside. She was lost in thought when Shauna Duane, her face alight with excitement, zipped over and poked her.

Moira looked up and followed Shauna’s pointed finger to a pair standing outside the floor-to-ceiling glass doors.

There was Connor Quinn, his brows tightly furrowed, and with him, a woman who looked as fiery as she was stunning.

Moira raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"

Shauna said in a conspiratorial whisper, "That’s the lady who was supposed to be Connor’s girlfriend before you showed up... the owner of the Miss Gorgeous Salon..."