"Thank you for the purchase, Ma'am. Hope to see you again." I smiled, shaking hands with a young Nigerian.

"Sure thing!" The twenty-something lady grinned, crinkling her bright hazel eyes.

She was beaming at her first pale-yellow car that she bought with her first salary.

I sighed as she waved at me and walked away — swinging her black, braided ponytail and spinning silver keys in her finger.

Another one down. Thousands more to go.

I turned around to return back to my counter.

"Um... Mirasol?"

I turned to my left and found a certain ebony beauty blocking my path.

"Yes, Juliet?"

Her cold brown eyes and thin smile gave me weird feelings.

"Sawyer's calling you in his cabin."

This early! He was supposed to give news about Sienna's share. Could it be...

I gave her a curt nod, ignoring her calm voice, and walked past her.

"Be careful," I halt just as Juliet called out, "He's an expert player."

I frowned and looked over my right shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

Juliet's crimson lips stretched up into a thin smirk.

"You are a naive, new deer, Mirasol. You think you can get close to the lion and be safe forever. Soon, he'll break you."

What was with all this blabbering?

Did she wake up on the wrong side this morning?

I deadpanned and looked forward.

"Thanks for your concern. But I can take care of myself. Besides, breaking a broken thing twice wouldn't make much difference."

"What?" the baffled voice of Juliet made me smirk.

Without giving her a reply, I walked away from there.

***

I knocked on the black door thrice, earning a muffled muttering from the inside.

Taking that as a cue to enter, I twisted the knob and walked in.

Only to gasp out loud.

My gray eyes bulged out as Sawyer snapped his head at me wide-eyed.

His swollen lips were frozen while those smeared pink lips of a blonde continued with their sucking.

Sawyer jumped back, moving his hands away from her thin waist clad in thinner red fabric.

I couldn't even call that piece of cloth a dress. 

It barely covered her curvy thighs. Not to mention, that low, v-cut neckline was almost spilling out her Jupiter-size twins.

Never thought Sawyer had such cheap taste! But then, what could you expect from a salacious man?

Moreover, this was an office!

"Baby, come on!" that woman whined in her overdramatic nasal tone.

Pressing my lips in a thin line I turned around.

"Sorry, Sir. I'll come bac-"

"No, wait!" I fisted my hands at Sawyer's desperate voice, "Karen, I'll call, okay? I'm busy right now."

"But-"

"Please, leave, " that chilling cold voice left no room for any argument.

That blonde, Karen, sighed and walked away.

Her icy-blue eyes thrust daggers my way as her black pencil heels clicked on the floor.

I raised my brows and crossed my arms in response.

She huffed and slammed the door loud on her way out.

Letting out a breath that I didn't know I was holding, I turned around.

Sawyer didn't meet my eyes as he plopped down on his white chair. His arms crossed over his polished black desk.

Now, that I noticed, this was my first time in his cabin.

And, quite memorable too.

I took a quick look around the medium-sized room as I walked toward his desk.

Gray walls. White tiles. Two wide windows on our left. A beige couch with a glass table on the front. Three tall, brown lockers were adjacent to the black desk.

The smell of lemon, paper, and his cologne floated in the air as I sat down on one of the gray metal chairs.

"Yes, Sir?"

"You're back to Sir, huh?" Sawyer smirked slightly, rummaging through his desk drawer.

Still not looking at me.

I sighed. "We're in the office."

His smirk widened.

"Well, it was good back at home."

"Your home. Besides, we're already out of your hair so it doesn't matter."

He glanced at me once, mumbling something under his breath.

"Here!" He pulled out a few stapled papers and threw them on the desk. "Check these out."

I eyed Sawyer who was leaning back with crossed arms and picked up the papers.

At first glance, they looked like some official contract documents.

I took my time to comb through the whole content and with each passing second, my eyes grew wide.

By the time I was done, I slammed those papers down.

Sawyer chuckled low at my hung jaw.

"Shut that moth-trap, Doll. It's real."

"But... How!"

He shrugged. "Well, you tell me. You were the one to convince her last Saturday."

"It's Monday!"

"So?"

I huffed. "Which lawyer's farm works on Sunday?"

"Plenty. Why?"

"I don't understand, Sawyer! How did you manage these legal documents on such short notice? What did you even do to convince Sienna? Do you really have a Real Estate business? What about-"

"It's nice to hear Sawyer from you again." Sawyer smiled, looking down at the desk. "Don't change it, Hayes. Not even in the office."

I deadpanned.

Here I was asking serious questions, and look at him!

'Nice to hear Sawyer again' my ass!

"Look, Hayes. Don't worry about these things. I got enough connections to get the job done."

Nope. He still wasn't going to spill the peanuts.

"Just focus on our next target now, okay? Chapter Sienna Dalton is closed."

And, I was right.

I forced out a breath and leaned my elbows on the table.

"Well, who is that?"

Sawyer smirked and typed something on his phone. Fast.

Mine vibrated next, making me frown.

He wiggled his brows at the phone in my hand.

Sawyer and his weird antics!

I sighed and looked down, pressing the power button.

The man in question had sent me a message just now.

'Wanna bet with Ben Holmes? Check your mail for the latest details on the upcoming soccer match."

"What?" I looked up with a deep frown as Sawyer grinned. "What's this?"

"Your next task, Doll," He smirked, tapping his fingers on the black desk. "Congratulations on passing the first round. The next level-up is waiting for you with increased difficulty. Hope you'll survive this as well."

I clenched my jaw hard.

My blood started to boil — more because of that stupid smirk than his riddled words.

"Can't you speak one word straight?"

Sawyer only grinned wider in response.

I huffed and stood up.

"I'll check the file and let you know soon. May I go now?"

"Sure! We're done here."

I offered him a curt nod and turned around.

"Uh, Hayes?"

"Yes?" I looked back at him with raised brows.

He was twirling a dark green paperweight between his fingers. Honey-gold eyes were keenly watching the palm-size marble.

"You won't say anything?"

My brows furrowed slightly.

"About what? I already said I'll let you know about the business in time-"

"About Karen."

My heart jumped for an unknown reason.

I pressed my lips tight and looked away.

"What's there to tell?" I spoke in a calm tone.

Sawyer's head snapped up from the corner of my eyes.

"Nothing?" his breathy whisper shook something in me.

Was he hurt?

Or, disappointed!

Why did I even care?

His personal affairs were none of my concern!

I gathered my bundle of shaking nerves and stood straighter.

"Yes, Sir — and, I'll keep calling you that, at least, inside this showroom — I don't. Rather, I can't."

"But you're my partner!"

I merely smiled.

"Again, that's an outside-the-showroom matter. I don't mix personal with professional, Sir. And, I'd suggest you shouldn't too."

Sawyer rolled his eyes and glared somewhere else.

Smile vanished from my face and I sighed.

"Just tell me something," Sawyer glanced my way at my calm tone, "Would you stop your playboy ways in office if I said so?"

Sawyer's silence spoke volumes, yet, some rare emotions swirled in his honey-gold pools.

I just didn't have enough time to catch them.

"Good day, Sir. Sorry if I spoke out of line. I'll brief you on the file as soon as I can."

Sawyer didn't utter a single word after that.

But as long as I was in that cabin, a pair of hot gaze kept burning my back. All the way till I closed that door shut behind me.

***

I did the right thing. I was sure of it.

Mixing professional life with personal agenda was wrong. That revenge thing was an exception, though. Other than that, whatever Sawyer did in his life should never bother me.

And, it hadn't been a problem for me. Up until today.

That steamy liplock moment flashed before my eyes and a dull ache throbbed inside me.

Yet again, Devon invaded my mind with his stupid smiling face.

I huffed and sat down on my counter.

"You okay, Mira?" Sean said, pushing his frameless glasses up his straight nose.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I forced a smile and looked up at his concerned blue eyes. "Just stressed about work. It's a busy morning."

"Yeah... Oh, you know, I sealed another bicycle for a teen. She was so happy and..." and, he drawled on, making me zone out.

The events inside Sawyer's cabin poked my head once again.

He was wrong to ruin the office atmosphere with his Karen. Right. But wasn't I doing something wrong too?

Was it not true that I had let my personal feelings speak under the guise of that professional ethic lecture?

I let out a soft breath.

Right or wrong. Intentionally or not. One thing was sure.

I just made things professionally personal with Sawyer Ronnes.

❤️Well, that was eventful.

Mirasol'a first-hand experience with Sawyer'a playboy ways and Sawyer's strange behavior. They surely raise suspicions, what do you think fieries?

Let me know in the comments and wait for the second part of the Double-Update Friday *wink*

Love you
– Sabrina❤️