Recap
   The grace, the dignity with which she carries herself makes her more desirable. She had openly expressed her fondness towards him yet she never acted out of line. He had come across many women who had tried to get his attention in different ways, some would directly hit on him and some would choose indirect ways, but she was one of a kind.
She must be having her own insecurities in expressing her interest, so she had set her own boundaries and safely termed her affection as Crush by deceiving her own mind. It would be a challenge to convince her otherwise Henry thought.
This moment when he is all alone with the woman he likes, securely hugging him, the soothing sound of the rainfall, this cosy place felt just PERFECT.
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   Julie slowly opened her eyes and scanned the room, she had no clue about the place. As she was lying on Henry’s chest, her nose was hit by a divine male cologne, it was heavenly. She sniffed quite few times and looked up in confusion. She rubbed her eyes to reconfirm, she was still not convinced that she was awake and it was not a dream.
   She was so cute that Henry could not resist kissing her, so he gently pecked her lips to prove her that she was not dreaming. Blood rushed to her cheeks and she was glowing Red. She quickly moved away and tried to avoid looking at him.
“Mr Kingston, I’m sorry, I do not remember well how I have ended up here” she put down her face in embarrassment.
Henry chuckled and held her hands, “Ms Rozana,tell me how you are feeling now? You had accidentally fell on the bush during the task and lost consciousness due to bee stung, you have been treated and put to sleep, so here you are” he said softly.
   Julie could see snippets of her interaction with him, but she was not sure whether it was her dream or actually happened. She decided not to ask him to save herself from further embarrassment.
“But why ‘Ms Rozana’? I do not want to be called like that” of all things that he had said, Julie was stuck with that. Henry was amused at her annoyance.
“So what do you prefer darling? Baby?” He raised his eyebrows at her. They both laughed at that, “just call me Juliet” she smiled with a blush.
   Henry received a message from Sr Kingston to join him for lunch.
“It is from grandfather, would you like to join us for lunch?” Henry asked. She shook her head vigorously, stood up and rushed out from his room as if seen a ghost. Henry laughed at her fear for his grandfather.
   Angela was so relieved to see Julie back on her foot. “You just proved my fear of getting lost in the woods, logical. Told you, it’s not safe, we should have gone together, but this old man doesn’t leave us a chance to survive, ‘no teaming up, no grouping up.” She made a face at their stupid rules.
   Post lunch, Julie and Angela gone for a walk and sat at the banks of the stream as the weather was so pleasant.
   Their attention had shifted to the golf course when Henry, Ryan, Senior Kingston got out from the golf cart. Angela was so excited when she saw Ryan, “I just finished watching his latest series and I can’t believe I will see him in person” she gushed.
   Henry was wearing a baby blue turtleneck pullover and a white paint.
   Julie was ogling at his handsome figure. He pulled his sleeves up his forearm, unveiling his veiny arms, one hand in his pocket and the other, holding the golf club,
“it looks more like a photo shoot location” Julie said.
“When Ryan scoffs is present, it obviously is” Julie picked a pebble and thrown at Angela for taking a dig at her liking for the boss.
“Hey!” She complained. She examined the stone and said, “It looks different, is it a lava stone?” Julie had no idea.
There was a lady cleaning up nearby, they asked her about the stone.
“Yes, its centuries old healing stone, it is found on the stream and the banks. It has medicinal properties so it is much valued here, we collect them and gift it to someone whom we treasure, I have gifted it to my dear friend” she smiled fondly.
   Julie suddenly remembered her promise to gift Henry a meaningful gift, so she had started looking for the stones. “I can fairly guess to whom you were planning to gift this” Angela gave a judging look.
“Don’t give me that look Ann, come help me with finding few of them” Angela stood there keeping her hands on her hips. Julie pulled her into the stream along with her.
   After couple of hours, they both came back, all drenched. Julie had put all the collected stones safely in her bag. They have changed and got ready for the activities.
   Kevin announced that there are series of fun events planned for the evening where the members will be grouped as Team Henry and Team Ryan, with the collective results, the winning team will be announced at the end.
   Members have to pick a chit to know which team they belong to. Henry and Ryan graced the jury chairs. Julie very eagerly picked a chit, to her utter disappointment she was on Team Ryan.
Angela said, “look at your face, stop sulking, here take this!” She stealthily exchanged her chit, pretending to hold her palms.
   Julie’s eyes popped out in excitement when she opened her chit to find Team Henry.
“Thank you so much Ann, I am..”
“Julie, shhh.. you are making a scene, it’s a win-win for both, I like to be in Ryan’s team, so come on” she winked at Julie.
   First task was to find the facial features and other body parts that belong to their team head. Julie volunteered to take up the task as she can easily identify Henry’s features. One member from each team stood in front of a screen, where five options were displayed to choose the right one, when they heard the whistle they quickly clicked the options.
Member from Ryan’s team was equally competitive. Julie confidently chose Henry’s eyes, his perfect nose when she had to choose his lips, she blushed but she ignored her feelings and gone to the next feature.
Julie had observed his long, slender fingers countless times in many pictures, so she could never go wrong with this or any of his features.
   If you admire someone, your brain tends to register every small detail of that person. The final feature was his shirtless torso, she had turned dark shade of red. She had seen him shirtless back in the penthouse, followed by his teasing(refer chapter 24) when they were drenched in rain after biking. She had completed the task in few seconds difference from Team Ryan.
   More than anyone, it was Henry and Ryan, who were enjoying this task very much. They always bicker about who was the most desirable between the two.
   The next task was to blindfold few members and find the remaining members by touching their face. Henry became impatient when Julie blindfolded and started touching other members, especially men. He gestured Alan to quietly move away by winking at him and he stood in his place. Julie took a sharp intake of breath when she recognised his scent.
“Mr Kingston!” She said in shock.
“Yes, baby” he said in low voice for her to hear. Henry chuckled at how quickly she identified him.
” you…you can’t be here”
Henry took her hands and placed it on his cheeks. Julie was nervous, her ears flared, her heart was thumping fast. To be so close with him in front of people, made her anxious.
“Why can’t I?” Henry asked.
“You’re going off the game rule”
“Don’t you think I have the privilege to change the damn rules darling?” he was getting affected by her touches as she was unknowingly caressing him.
“Our position just reminds me of the dark romance” he closed his eyes and groaned.
When she held the sides of his neck,the rumbling of his voice sent a current through her body.
“You two Please get a room” Ryan mumbled in Henry’s ears.
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*The next update will be dropped on or before 14th of this month, Happy reading!
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