The muscles on Angela's face seemed to have been strained from holding fake smiles for the first twenty minutes of her date. After that, she didn't even bother smiling anymore. But she kept light nods from time to time as she listened to Jas talk about himself. The guy didn't even ask her any questions—too full of himself.

It didn't escape her that he was checking out the waitresses passing by their table. His eyes unabashedly scanned the women's legs, and he even smiled at her flirtatiously. What an ass. Gael was right. Jas the ass.

Because there wasn't much of an exchange between them, time seemed to be passing by slowly. She checked the time on her phone every now and then, seemingly unable to wait to reach the end of their date.

Halfway through their meal, Angela felt stuffy, realizing she still had her coat on. Silly. She actually followed what Gael told her—not to take off her coat. Despite what he said, she took it off and slung the coat at the back of her chair.

That's when Jas finally shifted his full focus on her, training his eyes down her body. "So, what about you, Angela? What do you do? Are you working in your father's company?"

Ah, now he was interested? She looked down on herself. Her dress, despite being turtleneck and long-sleeved, was very form-fitting. The curves on her breasts, waist, and her hips were definitely defined. Ignoring the obvious, she answered truthfully, "I was. But not anymore."

"So you have a lot of free time then?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Cool. I'm still in town for a few more days. Maybe we could hang out again."

She forced a smile. This conversation was boring.

Soon, their lunch date was about to end. While waiting for the cashier to process his credit card, Jas excused himself to the restroom. Angela waited as she checked on her phone and texted Nina for their meet up. A few minutes later, she looked up and noticed someone approaching.

However, it wasn't only Jas who was coming towards her; Gael was walking a few feet behind him.

"You ready to go?" Jas asked, just in time that the waitress came back to return his credit card with the receipt. The paper had her number scribbled on it. He subtly smiled and kept them in his pocket.

Before she could tell him that she was meeting her friend, Gael had already arrived at her side and placed his hand on her waist.

"We need to leave." His voice was low and tense and his eyes were cold and fierce as he stared at Jas. Gael's hand on her waist was probably inappropriate even if he was an 'executive bodyguard', but she didn't shove him away.

"Is everything okay?" she wondered. The look on his eyes was frightening—though it wasn't directed at her. Gael was certainly glaring at Jas who had become speechless all of a sudden.

"Family matters," responded Gael before pulling Angela away from the table, not giving Jas the chance to stop him. Since it was 'family matters', perhaps Jas couldn't object.

Although she wasn't sure what was going on, she allowed Gael to bring her back to the car. His hand never left her side until she got in the passenger's seat. He drove away. The anger on his face was still evident.

"There's no 'family matter', is there? You made that up." Angela folded her arms across her midsection. She knew he didn't like this date, but an hour ago, they were laughing, and he appeared to be fine. It made her wonder if something happened. "Why did you do that?"

Gael let out a huff. "He looked at you like he was a predator. He was going to bring you back to his place."

"It's the middle of the day! I'm sure he just wanted to hang out if he ever invited me over?" she tried to reason.

The vehicle halted at a red light. With his brows still furrowed, he looked at her. He was clearly pissed. "What else would a man want to do if he's alone with a girl like you at home?! Oh, I know! I'm sure he'd invite you over to do knitting. Knit some fûcking winter scarves and sweaters."

He looked away, and Angela had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing. Gael was so adorable when he's jealous. Also, she couldn't imagine herself with Jas in his house, knitting sweaters. The thought of it was just so silly. But she didn't dare to laugh.

Sighing, she probed, "What's gotten into you? You were fine an hour ago."

"Nothing."

When he glanced at her, she looked at him with an expression that said, "bullshît".

Gael ran his hands down his face and sighed. "I went to take a piss at the restaurant's restroom. He came inside a minute after. He didn't notice me, but I overheard him on the phone. The Dick wanted to bring you over to his place to have his way with you."

Angela could only assume that there was more to the phone call than what Gael told her. He must have filtered out some vulgar words and didn't want to retell how he heard it. But the fact that he was able to hold his cool and not make a scene at the restaurant was admirable. With his capability, he could have probably done something unpleasant if he didn't stop himself.

She softened her tone. "It doesn't matter."

But Gael was still angry. "Of course, it does! What if I hadn't overheard the conversation? What if I hadn't interrupted when he was about to take you home?"

He didn't get it. Turning her body so she was facing him while he drove, she told him, "It doesn't matter, Gael. I wouldn't have gone with him if he asked anyway. I told you I don't have any interest in these dates. I'm just doing this because of an agreement. So will you calm down?"

His hands that were gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white slowly relaxed. It was quiet when the car moved again. It took a couple of minutes for him to collect himself and say, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

"It's okay."

Angela smiled at him when he glanced in her direction. Then she couldn't help but tease him. "How is me staying in your place any different?"

"That's different."

"I mean...we're technically alone in your house. What do you want to do? Do you also want to knit sweaters with me?"

Gael scowled. "Wiseass." Then a smile threatened to show on his lips as he faced the road again.