Avery's Game Of Revenge
Chapter 129: Offer.

Chapter 129: Offer.

Music Rec: Love me like you do—Elena Gray

I don’t want you wearing it in a place anyone else can just see you...

Those words took her down the memory lane to the time Brian used to say that every time she bought something new to wear. At the time, she’d thought it was jealousy and sweet possessiveness talking in him. But now that she knew better? If she could go back in time to hit her stupid younger self in the head, she would. Though not before stabbing Brian in the gut.

At the end of it all, Brian had turned out to be gay. If she would let any other man trick her into thinking they were incredibly possessive of her body with the exact same cunning words, then it meantime she was an incorrigible fool.

"Well, it does," was Archie’s calm reply.

"Uh?" she blinked in perplexity.

He repeated, "It does. Your clothes, or rather, your midriff, it does affect me. I have a boner right now and with the amount of self control I have over myself, I know any other man who saw you on your way here, with your hips swinging and all, must be rocking a worse erection than I currently do."

"That..." Avery stuttered, suddenly unsure of what to say to argue against him. Discreetly and carefully, she lowered her gaze quickly to Archie’s pants to see that he really was saying the truth. What the heck?! Why...? Men didn’t just grow erections like that... or did they? She cleared her throat, licking her lower lips nervously as she struggled to get the words out. "Well, I... I wouldn’t say the problem is from what I’m wearing. You are probably the horny one here and I’d say you are only trying to put the blame on me."

"You think?" Archie snickered, taking a single step forward. "Let’s place a bet, mama, if I check the CCTV footage of you walking into the lobby and see that any man’s gaze lingered on you more than he necessarily should, I win. But if not, I mean if your presence didn’t affect any man at all, then you win."

Avery averted her gaze from his, trying to distract herself from the fact that he was standing in such close proximity with her when—from what he just said, and what his boner was telling her— he wanted her.

"I’m not in the right position to bet," she muttered, "I have no money to use as stake."

"Who says money will be the stake? If I win, you go on a date with me tomorrow."

"And if I win?"

Archie shrugged, "You choose."

"If I win... I get to ask you to fulfill a wish of mine," Avery declared.

Archie stifled the laughter rising from his chest. For this woman to think she had to win a bet against him before he helped fulfill a wish, then she had no idea what kind of power she held over him. Not like he was going to let her know though.

He extended his hand for a deal sealing handshake, "I’m totally up for that. You?"

"Same," Avery took his hand.

~

Avery looked around the office, absentmindedly skimming through the stack of files and proposals lying on his desk out of habit. Every now and then, she would lift her head to stare at Archie who was standing by the floor to ceiling window, his phone pressed to his ears.

"Yes, she came in with Roland around thirty minutes ago... Footage that spans from the exact moment she stepped into the lobby... Yeah, the elevator footage should be included too..." A slight pause. "I just told you I need everything from when she stepped in till she got to the executive floor. No time skips." Another long pause before he finally said, "Perfect."

As snippets of his words filtered into her ears, Avery realized he was almost done with the call and averted her gaze from his broad back. She lowered her eyes to the ground behind his desk. Several books were piled upon themselves, with one or two lying face down against the others. Did this man read even in the office? She bent down to pick one of them up when Archie’s voice stopped her hand in mid air.

"Now that I think about it, I haven’t asked why you are here. Need something?" he asked, taking slow and unhurried steps across the room to sit on one of the black leather sofas. "Or..." he drawled, his voice adopting a teasing lilt, "Did you miss me?"

"In your dreams," Avery scoffed. "There was a small problem on set and shooting had to be postponed for a few hours. Jo wanted to pick up Neil from the airport so I offered to follow her. One thing led to another and I met myself here. I’m only here to wait for her."

If Archie was disappointed by her answer, he did an absolutely good job in hiding his feelings.

"You will be leaving soon then?" he asked instead.

She nodded in affirmation, "Immediately Jodi arrives. Not one minute later."

"And not one minute earlier," Archie added. It wasn’t a question, but a statement that she knew she couldn’t dispute even if she wanted to. He shrugged and turned away from her, slipping out his phone to send a quick message to Neil.

"I have an offer to make," the message read.

The reply came almost immediately.

"As long as this offer doesn’t entail my returning to the office for today, then I’ll consider. Can’t I take the day off at least?"

"The offer is to take the whole week off, actually."

"What am I giving in return?"

"Keep your girlfriend away from my wife for the rest of the day, not only physically, but virtually too, and find a way to postpone the shoot they are to have later this evening to tomorrow."

He didn’t receive another reply for the next three minutes until, "Done. I must say, I’m not looking forward to seeing you next week so if any similar offer arises."

"Fuck off."

"Respectfully."

An email notification popped up at the top of Archie’s phone’s screen and he had to exit the chat page and switch the phone off. Rising to his feet, he walked to the executive chair behind his desk.

"The security team just sent the CCTV footage to my mail. Care to check it out now?"