Oops… My New CEO Saw Me in a Towel Chapter 13
Just then, Mia found hers too.
“Stella, look! I wrote that I wanted my secret crush to like me back – and it actually happened! How crazy is that?”
I didn’t hear a word she said. My mind had gone blank.
Mia had always been beautifully oblivious. All the sharp Sterling genes must’ve skipped straight to her uncle. How else could she still not see that I was falling apart in front of her?
She kept asking what was on my note. I snapped out of it, put on my most smug, knowing smile, and looked at her
like a winner.
“Mia, you’re about to get an aunt. Very soon.”
“Wait, you mean Elise? No way – my uncle’s only involved with their family because of a business deal.”
“Besides, she’s already engaged, Wedding’s coming up soon,”
“So obviously, it’s not her.”
Mia was still blinking in confusion when I bolted out the door.
Harrison, you absolute menace.
He’d never left. He’d been right there the whole time, waiting. How stupid was I? Coincidences didn’t get that perfect. In a city of millions, you didn’t just keep running into the same person – unless he made sure you did.
I ran. Wind in my face, eyes stinging, the note clenched in my fist like it was burning through my skin.
By the time I reached Sterling Corporation, the adrenaline had settled into something quieter. I stood there, looking up at the tower. Then I pulled out my phone and typed without hesitating.
[I’ll be waiting for you at home tonight.]
I looked at the note one more time, smoothed it out
carefully, and slipped it into my phone case. Then I turned around and headed to the grocery store.
Even a man like Harrison deserved a surprise.
Harrison came home early, I was pan-frying steaks when
he walked into the kitchen,
“Stella, did I forget something? What’s the occasion?”
His voice easy, familiar – as if nothing had ever come
between us. My hand paused on the spatula,
Today was the day I stopped being an idiot.
“Go sit down, I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
Harrison was already behind me — jacket off, arms around
my waist, chin on my shoulder.
“I don’t want to rest. We’ve already wasted too much time.”
His hands made exactly what he meant perfectly clear. I swatted him away, fighting a smile.
“I spent ages on this and I haven’t even eaten. Back off.”
He brushed his thumb across my jaw, jaw tight, voice rough. “After dinner, you’re all mine.”
Then he rolled up his sleeves and started helping. We moved around each other like we’d been doing this for years.
I smiled. The spatula felt lighter in my hand. With Harrison helping, dinner came together quickly.
I asked him to open a bottle of wine. His eyebrows lifted, “You sure you want wine?”
I nodded. He poured me a glass anyway – dark red, catching the light,
The mood was perfect. Harrison just watched me, waiting, not pushing. A few glasses in, the warmth had settled behind my eyes, and looking at his face across the table, I finally spoke.
“Harrison… did I ever tell you about something stupid I did once?”
“Hmm?”
“I wrote my deepest wish on a sticky note and stuck it on a wall in some little cafe. Like a kid,”
Harrison’s grip tightened on his glass. I pretended not to notice. I stood, walked around the table to him, and leaned in close.
“Harrison, do you know what my wish was back then?”
His eyes were bare-wide open, no walls, nothing held back. I reached into my phone case, pulled out the note, and placed it on the table between us.
“Stella, you…”
This time, I kissed him first.
“Harrison, I love you.”
A breeze caught the note and swept it off the table. It
landed face-up on the floor – a girl’s whole heart, written in her own hand,
[A lifetime with the one I love. – Stella]
And below it, in handwriting she knew anywhere, a promise.
[The lifetime you want – I’ll give it to you. – Harrison]
My eyes were burning. Yeah. I was keeping this man. No question.