After Betrayal - I Married a Handsome Tycoon-Chapter 5: Get Married?

Moira Sloan’s soft murmurs were enough to make your bones melt.

Never mind men—even women couldn’t help but get goosebumps when they heard her.

Moira Sloan stepped out of her shop. Connor Quinn watched her and lit a cigarette.

Through the swirling smoke, Moira’s captivating gaze traced the contours of Connor Quinn’s face.

Sharply defined, with deep-set eyes.

His lips were a little on the thin side.

According to the old-timers’ sayings about face reading, men like him were magnets for women—and usually heartless.

Connor Quinn said, "I’m thirty-two."

Moira Sloan replied without missing a beat, "I’m thirty."

Connor Quinn looked down at her, his voice a low, magnetic rumble. "Want to get married?"

At his words, the corner of Moira’s eye twitched upwards in a flirtatious smile. "Master Quinn, I accepted your friend request, not your boyfriend application."

Connor Quinn nodded, his tall frame looming over her. "I know."

Moira Sloan simply smiled without a word.

’Then why ask?’

They stood there, face to face, for a moment. Then, from the tattoo shop next door, a blond kid in his early twenties poked his head out. "Connor, phone call."

Connor’s voice was cold and clipped. "Yeah."

After answering, Connor gave Moira a slight nod and turned to leave.

Moira watched him go, a teasing glint in her eyes. ’Just as I thought. The colder and more reserved they seem on the outside, the wilder they are on the inside.’

Just as she was thinking this, she caught sight of the young woman in her shop, peering out the door.

Moira gave a slight, provocative curl of her red lips. "Connor Quinn."

Hearing his name, Connor turned back. "Hm?"

Moira said, "Come here and hug me."

Connor Quinn frowned. "What?"

Tired of his hesitation, Moira stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him in a light embrace.

With the soft, warm, fragrant woman in his arms, Connor—a cigarette still between the fingers of one hand—instinctively wrapped his other arm around her waist.

It was so slender. He could have wrapped his hand all the way around it.

Connor’s Adam’s apple bobbed. "You..."

Moira tilted her head back and smiled like a living, breathing Siren. "Let’s be friends."

Connor Quinn, "Okay."

After the hug, Moira Sloan turned and went back into her shop.

Connor looked back, but she was already gone. All he saw was the graceful sway of her slender waist as she disappeared inside.

When Moira returned to the shop, the reaction was just what she’d expected. The young woman’s cheeks were puffed out in a pout. "I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to work for you."

Moira Sloan asked, "Starting today?"

The young woman just snorted. "Hmph."

In the ensuing conversation, Moira learned the young woman’s name was Shauna Duane. She was twenty-six. After graduating from college, she’d worked at a foreign company but couldn’t get used to the corporate atmosphere. So, she returned to her hometown to work as a receptionist at her family’s hotel.

In her own words: thirty-eight hundred a month and laughs all day long.

Her romantic entanglement with Connor Quinn could basically be summed up in one sentence: it was love at first sight for her, and ever since, she’s been chasing him while he runs away...

That evening, as they were closing up, Moira Sloan gave Shauna Duane a key to the shop and told her to open up at nine every morning.

Shauna Duane held the heavy key in her hand. "What about you?"

Moira raised a slender finger elegantly. "Me? I, of course, will be sleeping in."

Shauna Duane asked, "Aren’t you afraid I’ll sell off everything in your store?"

Moira replied, "Shauna Duane. Twenty-six years old. Your family lives in the Jasmine Gardens Community. Your ID number is 2XXX..."

Shauna Duane shot back, "You’re a creep."

Then, Shauna muttered under her breath, "One day, I’ll expose your true colors to Connor."

But before Shauna had the chance to expose Moira’s true colors to Connor, the one person who actually could, appeared.

Moira Sloan had just stepped out of her shop, lambskin handbag in tow, when her eyes locked with Shane Jennings, who was standing across the street, dressed sharply in a suit.

Seeing Shane Jennings, Moira narrowed her eyes.