Sean and Sebastian left Carter’s office to head to their respective workplaces. Sebastian was meeting with a new band that he had managed to sign on and Sean had some paperwork and evidence to revise for a court case he was working on. As Sean was approaching the Harper Group building, the video of Grace using her swift defence and attack techniques to deal with Arlo and his bodyguard kept playing on his mind. Her capability put a big smile on his face. He was wondering where she would’ve learnt such fighting techniques as some of her moves looked to be a bit unique and not the usual martial arts type moves and at the same time, he wondered when he would see her again.
Grace was on her way back to her office with a coffee in her hand after returning from inspecting the building site of the ‘Del Mare Hotel’ that was starting to go up. She was lost in thought about her next few meetings today, when she bumped into someone’s chest. His chest was so solid that she not only spilt her coffee on both of them but also lost her balance and was falling backwards. A hand grabbed her and managed to catch her before she fell down. When Grace looked up to see who had caught her, her face went red when she realised that it was Sean.
Despite Sean wearing most of the coffee that Grace had spilt on him, Sean was smiling at her. He could see that her face was red which he thought made her look incredibly cute. He steadied her so that she was on her feet and asked her if she was ok. With an embarrassed face, she said, “I’m sorry Mr Harper, I wasn’t looking where I was going and my thoughts were elsewhere. I’m terribly sorry, I should have been watching where I was going and now, I’m afraid I’ve ruined your shirt. Please send the bill to me and I will reimburse you. Uh, or you can tell me your size and where you bought it from and I can buy you a replacement.” Sean chuckled and said to her, “Firstly, let us do away with the formalities, I think our paths have crossed enough times to not need to be so formal, so you can call me ‘Sean’. Secondly, there is no need to worry about this shirt, but if you really wanted to make it up to me, we could go shopping together and you could buy me a new shirt or how about letting me take you out to dinner?” Grace looked at him with curious eyes, she was not expecting what he had proposed. “Mr Harper, I mean Sean, thank you for being understanding about me ruining your shirt. Firstly, since you have requested to do away with formalities, you can call me ‘Grace’ and secondly, I won’t do dinner as that sounds more like a date, and I don’t date. In addition to not dating, I also cannot go shopping with you but I might be able to buy you a coffee or at least you can bill me for cost to replace your shirt”, she suggested. Sean could see she was a bit jittery and with a smirk on his face decided to make another suggestion. “Well Grace, it’s not necessary for you to replace my shirt, but if you won’t accept a dinner invite, how about something more casual like lunch?” Grace eyed Sean as she scrunched her nose thinking how she would best answer him, “Coffee only, take it or leave it”, she responded to Sean in a decisive manner. Sean looked at her and grinned from ear to ear. It seemed that Grace was determined to spend as least time with him as possible although if having a coffee with her was all she offered then he was willing to take it. “Grace, it’s a deal, but this time try not to make me wear the coffee”, he said to her as he chuckled. “Ha, ha, I never knew you had a sense of humour”, she said to him. “How about tomorrow morning at the Café across the road from the Harper building just there”, he pointed. “Alright, I’ll see you there at 8:00am. I’ve got to go now”, she said as she started to walk away.
“Wait, wait, I just wanted to ask you if you were hurt after Saturday’s incident?”, Sean asked her in a concerned tone as he grabbed her arm gently so that she would stop walking away. Sean had been thinking about it for a while and was really unsure just how she managed to deal with two quite capable men and was worried she had sustained injuries. “Sean, as you witnessed the aftermath, I am fine, just a few bruises that will heal in no time”, she answered. “I’m glad to hear that because it was two against one which really has me intrigued. On another note, can I have your number, you know, just in case one of us is running late or can’t make it tomorrow morning?” he said to her. ‘This man is too much’, she thought to herself. “No need Sean, I’ll be there on time and if for any reason one of us is not there by 9:00am, then the assumption is that person could not make it”. With that, she waved and headed towards her building, leaving him standing there with a smirk on his face. ‘Hmm, this girl is not going to make it easy for me. She is going to make me work hard’, he thought as he grinned and watched her walk away with her long and perfect legs.
Only metres away, Claire had witnessed the entire scene. She saw the collision between Seand and Grace; the coffee being spilt on Sean’s shirt, the way Sean held Grace tenderly, the way he looked at Grace and she was not pleased with this. She thought to herself, ‘Why her, what’s so good about her? Why doesn’t he ever look at me the way he was looking at her? I’m the one that he believes saved him, but yet he still hasn’t looked at me the way he looks at that pathetic girl. I won’t let them get close, Sean is mine and only mine’. With an evil glint in her eyes, Claire headed home and decided to hatch a plan.
Sean went back to the office in a good mood. Fate had certainly intervened at the right time when he and Grace bumped into each other earlier. Once in his office, he changed himself into one of the many spare shirts he had in his office closet and he then asked his secretary Rachel to arrange for his stained shirt to be dry cleaned. Even though his shirt was custom made for him and was worth $5,000 per shirt, even if the stains could not be removed, he would not care. To Sean, bumping into Grace and the subsequent coffee date he had now set up with her, meant more to him than his shirt. His staff noticed his good mood and were relieved because it meant that they would be getting out of the office on time today.“Mr Harper, the investigation you asked me to carry out regarding Grace Messi has been completed, here is the paperwork. I’ve read through it and something just doesn’t add up”, Lep told Sean with a worried look on his face. “What do you mean by that Leo”, Sean asked him. L
Sean’s pondering was interrupted by his mobile phone ringing. Glancing at his phone, he realised it was Claire calling him. After the day she came to his office professing she was his girlfriend and him rebuking her for making an untrue statement, he hadn’t heard much from her apart from a few text messages asking what he was up to and if he could come over and keep her company. Sean just wanted to keep the relationship clear. He only had gratitude towards her.Picking up the phone, he asked “Hi Claire, what’s up?” All he heard was Claire crying which made him stand up from his chair. “Claire, tell me, what happened?”, he yelled with a concerned tone. “I fell down the stairs, I think I have broken my wrist. Please take me to the hospital, it really hurts me.” With concern and exasperation, he calmly said to her, “Claire, calm down. I’ll get Leo to arrange someone to take you to the hospital right away. Leo could have someone there in 15 minutes. If you wait for me, it will be
As Sean drove into his office car park the next morning, he had to buzz security to let him into the car park as somehow, he had misplaced his security pass that he would normally swipe at the car park that would open the boom gate to let him in. He had already called Leo to arrange a new security pass and disable the previous one so that no one could access the building should they get access to it. At 7:50am, Sean was seated in the Café across the road from his building. It was a beautiful café with lots of light and planter boxes with flowers around the outside tables. Sean made sure that he got there early, he was not going to risk getting there late and having Grace walk away. It was 7:58am as Grace approached the café. As soon as she reached his table, he pulled out her chair and pushed it in for her before he sat back down himself. ‘He’s not only early, but also a gentleman’, she thought to herself. As he handed over the breakfast menu, he told her that he hadn’t had break
Grace made it back to her building. ‘What just happened there? Was that Sean’s girlfriend or a potential girlfriend that he has been courting? If so, why was he acting like he was interested in me? Was he hedging his bets? That girl was certainly not happy to see me with Sean, so maybe they are in a relationship. Oh dear, Sean is just like the other men I have dated. He’s a good for nothing liar trying to hit on a girl when he already has a girlfriend. I need to keep my distance from him’, she thought.During the coming days, Sean couldn’t take his mind off Grace and the staff knew well enough to. He was frustrated as he didn’t have her mobile number and wasn’t sure if he should go and see her at her work. Since she worked in the building next door, every time he left his building, he hoped that he would bump into her but that that never happened. He decided to call Carter to meet up with him for some words of advice. He couldn’t talk to Sebastian about this because he also ha
With a determined and icy face, Grace stood up from her chair, turned around and marched over to the booth in the café behind where she had been sitting. There was a group of people sitting at the booth that were staring at her as she made her way over. Grace looked at the male closest to her, “Excuse me Mr Gibson but I did not ask you to pay for my meal, thank you but I can look after myself”. Grace then angrily slapped the money for her meal on the table in front of Sebastian, picked up her laptop bag and strode out of the café with her long curly hair bouncing around, whilst lots of people staring at her admiring her beauty and her curvaceous figure. (EARLIER THAT MORNING)Walking into the ‘Shore Café’, Grace spotted the same table she had sat at the last two times she came to this café. It was in a quiet area of the café, near the window facing the beach. Growing up near the beach in Sydney Australia, it was one of the things she missed the most about living there. Having the
As Grace strode confidently into the Shore Café, her slender legs, gorgeous, angelic face and bright blue eyes captured the attention of many. There were whisperings amongst a lot of the café patrons, in particular the men:“Who is that Girl, isn’t she beautiful?”“I’ve never seen her here before”“Look at her long legs, I wonder if she is married or has a boyfriend. She looks like she came straight off a modelling shoot”Grace was oblivious to all the comments and whispers around her as her only intent was to get the same table she had been getting the last few times to sit down and enjoy her breakfast whilst she carried out some company work. She was still looking for new office space, so she was currently renting a small office for two months that only catered for ten of her staff until she secured a lease on a big office space for the staff moving from her Boston Office and new staff she intended to hire. The whisperings continued, even when she sat down to look at the menu. Sean
(EIGHT WEEKS EARLIER)It was a cold winter morning, Grace had just finished her jog and was coming up through the bushes and walking along the road to get to the motel she was staying at. She had only come into town four days ago and each day she started her day with a run, before she embarked in morning conference calls, answering emails, reviewing and signing off proposals, resolving issues that her managers had escalated to her to do with the business, as well as tasks in relocating her Head Office from Boston to Straco City. It was a big move going from one City to another but she had to make a clean break after nearly being discovered by that man she ran away from in Australia. The only other big task was to go apartment hunting that she started three days ago. As she contemplated the apartments she was viewing today, she was excited at the prospect of two of the apartments being right on the beach. She couldn’t wait to move into her own apartment and turn it into her home.As
“Dad, are you ok?”, yelled Carter frantically at Connor as he arrived. Carter had been in a meeting when his assistant interrupted the meeting telling him what happened. Carter excused himself and came out. He had only just missed Grace by mere seconds as she had just hopped into a Cab. “I’m fine Carter”. Connor and his bodyguard told Carter about the young lady with the ocean blue eyes that saved him from the would-be kidnappers that the Police were now taking away. He also recounted the treatment she had provided him, her kind smile and showed him her jacket that was used to elevate his foot. Carter looked around for the girl with the description his dad gave him but he could not find her. Carter’s bodyguards approached him. “Check all the cameras around here and find the identity of the girl that saved my dad”. Connor looked at his son, “Please Carter, you must do whatever you can to find that girl. She risked her life saving me and then attended to me and I am happy to repo