Renleigh Kensington

No need for the 'why' or 'how' questions because in all honesty, there was not one sufficient answer for them. Somehow, it just happened and not one bone in my body knew how to say no. The fact that my mouth couldn't decline the offer felt much like I had betrayed my own-self. Even before he had arrived, I continued to make my situation worse by re-reading the email which came through almost an hour after last night's dinner.

From: Harry Styles <[email protected]>

To: Renleigh Kensington <[email protected]>

Dear Kensington,

Tonight, was surprising in many ways, although I must admit you agreeing to accompanying me to Savini's was the greatest of them all. Perhaps I should thank you for not standing me up, I guess I won't give you that satisfaction just yet.

Your knowledge when it comes to wine was one of the surprises you had graced me with. It had completely left me shocked as I did not expect you to know so much about something that I hold so dearly to my heart. Nevertheless, it made me wonder... would you like to tag along on my wine tour, tomorrow, at twelve pm?

Should you decide to come, I will be at your hotel around 11:40 am as the journey is just under ten minutes. This time around, please, do drop me an email back whether you're coming or not.

Have a nice night of rest, and hopefully, see you soon,

H.

Kind regards,

Harry Styles,
CEO of STYLES

I closed the email once it engraved itself in my mind for the fifth time. My reply was kind of... well, let's just say it was a drunk one. I knew I shouldn't have had all that wine but it was so fucking nice. The taste of the drink was still on the tip of my tongue and not even the slight headache put me off of it.

The email said to be ready by twenty to yet there I was, in my hotel room, in front of the mirror in nothing but my black bodysuit. My makeup and hair were done and my outfit was laid out on the bed already, yet somehow, I was still late. The time on my phone hit eleven forty-five when my jeans were up on my ass, my white trainers were tied on my feet and my red coat was on my back.

By eleven forty-nine, I was in the lift with a bag over my body as I posed in the massive mirror and snapped a quick photo of my fit. I liked to keep track of what I wore which was why this worked so well for me. They usually ended up on my Instagram account which was pretty nice.

The main doors of the hotel were opened for me when my phone showed eleven fifty-one and at the same time, I noticed Harry outside. His dark blue jeans looked more like a second skin on his thighs and calves, they perfectly sat on his arse and hid his front package. Perhaps that was why it caught my attention right away. When he turned around, I saw how he had one side of his white shirt tucked in the front of his jeans, the top three buttons left undone therefore leaving his chest tattoos to pop out in the open alongside his cross necklace.

That was the first time I had seen ink on him. And he didn't only have it on his chest, but his arm, too. Since his shirt was rolled up, it revealed the anchor on his wrist and whatever else crawled under the material. His ring clad fingers held a phone to his ear as he – kind of – angrily spoke to whoever was on the other side.

"Good thing I didn't come just before we had to be at the tour," he snapped at me and my eyebrows furrowed. Why the fuck was he taking his anger out on me? I knew for a fact he had spoken to his employee or someone who was connected to his business in some sort of way because I had the tendency to get like that. Especially after something didn't go quite right.

"I can go back upstairs and get to my work if you don't want me here," I said right away, defensively. I really was in no mood whatsoever to have him snap at me for literally breathing. Harry let out a loud sigh with his eyes closed then ran his fingers through his hair.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause an argument," he said right away. The way he apologised basically right off the bat was something I could never do. "Let's just get on with our day, shall we?"

And so, we did.

It was quite different from the night before. Much more... public. There were other people around who talked to us which meant that Harry and I didn't have to rely on the other to keep a conversation going.

"That lady in the red trousers is doing my fucking head-in," Harry murmured to me as we were all the way in the back. Everyone on this tour seemed to be much older than us, from different races and countries. There were a group of three women in particular who must have had been from England based on their accents, who clearly thought they knew everything. The one in the red, for example, felt like she had to comment on everything and correct the tour guide each time they spoke up.

"If the guide won't shut her up, I might just have to trip over my own feet and soak her in my wine," I replied back with a sarcastic comment. It made Harry laugh as he brought his glass up to his lips and sipped on it. We were currently at the second location and we have already tasted five different wines.

"Please. Is she worth it?"

"Eh, you're right," I sighed as the rim of the glass hit my lipstick covered lips. The wine in my hand was white and although my preference was red, I wasn't against it.

Up until lunch, we just tasted wine and learnt more about the area. It was very informative and I did intake most of it which was nice. I didn't take a lot of time off from work and do things like this, if I had to be honest, this was probably the first ever activity I had done that had nothing to do with my company in a year or two. Then again, I was only in the country for technically nothing because my damn assistant locked me down here once she changed the location of my meeting.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked which made me turn my head towards him in a swift motion. My attention was taken by my phone because I had work emails that came through with each minute passing. It was terrible that I couldn't even focus on my food properly but they had to be done. "You haven't touched your lunch yet."

"Yeah, I'm good. Don't worry about me, Styles," I said smugly and he chuckled as a response.  He most likely thought I was a terrible company because I was on my phone and the two of us sat on a completely different table just like the other attendees. Everyone could rest in their own little groups which was lovely because I knew I couldn't have dealt with the old nannies moaning about everything.

Me being a bad company kind of bothered me whilst I thought of it then my mind went back to the emails and it became all fine again. He probably had his other private stuff to get sorted.

Time seemed to fly by as my fingers tapped on the phone screen and I emptied my wine glasses. The food, I didn't even have time to touch. I wasn't hungry anyway, the alcohol kind of filled my stomach and I knew I would be fine until an opportunity to eat rose again.

After lunch, we had two more locations left to visit and the tour would – finally – come to an end. I had to calm myself down before I made a very serious phone call to London because I didn't want to shout at anyone. Even though someone messed something up – pretty badly, might I add – I couldn't let my anger control me. That would just make them hate working for me and leave before they even fix whatever they fucked up.

"The car should be here in ten minutes," Harry informed me which at first, I didn't even hear. It took me a second or two to actually put together what he had said.

"Alright..." I replied to Harry before the call I made was accepted. "Hello? Yes... would you care to fill me in on what exactly happened?!"

The word 'annoyed' couldn't quite describe how I felt after the call ended. I felt useless and out of control being away from London. Nothing that couldn't be fixed happened, however, had I been at home it could have been sorted in literally half an hour. Now, I had to wait hours until they contacted me again whether things got back to normal or not.

"Do you ever get time off from work?" Harry asked when he saw that I was no longer on the phone. It kind of irritated me that he initiated this conversation because my mood was not right for it. In general, I didn't wish to talk to him willingly because no matter whether he forgot or not, I wasn't here to make friends with him.

Technically, I was only here because my drunk ass said I would be. And I am not one to cancel on people. They may do it to me, I will not do it to them. I know how it feels.

"No. There is no need," I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. "Where is that car? How long is it going to be?"

"I said ten minutes but with traffic, I'm not sure."

"Right..."

"So, all you ever do is... work?" he sounded almost weirded out by the possibility. As someone who ran a business like myself, it was kind of ridiculous for him to think I had time for anything else.

"Look-,"

"So, you only work," he confirmed it for himself. My eyebrows furrowed as he said that, I didn't understand why it bothered him so much. It was much harder to believe that he may not have dedicated all of his time to his company. "Remember what I said on that interview?"

"Did I look like I paid any attention to whatever you said?"

"Rude," he said.

"Been called worse," I shrugged.

"To refresh your memory, I said – if you let your work consume you, it is hard to get out of it and think positively."

"Are you trying to tell me I let my business consume me?" a low chuckle erupted from my chest through my throat and out my lips as the words he said processed in me.

"Pretty much," he hummed. I rolled my eyes and stifled a laugh. "It's not healthy, you know."

"Neither is caring so much about someone who you supposedly despise."

That one shut him up and it stayed that way until we had to get in the car. Again, my attention went back to my phone but this time around it happened because Danielle texted me. To put a little bit of extra stress on me, she told me the New York meeting was to happen tomorrow which was no good for me.

I was nowhere near prepared.

"Fucking hell," I sighed as my head hit the headrest of the seat, my eyes closed as my thumb locked my phone. This was really all just a big shit show. I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this in the first place... but my drunk self didn't.

"What happened?"

"Nothing..." I said right away. Harry was so fucking nosy. To the point where I found it slightly annoying. If he thought last night and this morning made us friends, well, he had a massive storm coming.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna steal your idea or business client," he chuckled under his breath. "I'm not as bad as you think I am."

"Alright, okay, sure," I snorted. He tried to fool me but I wasn't stupid. "It's honestly nothing to do with you so why are you so arsed?"

"My godness, you shouldn't drink that much wine. Makes you cranky."

"You make me cranky with your constant questions."

"Sorry that I'm trying to make conversation with the only person I can. I'm kind of stuck with you."

"Why did you ask me to come? You really didn't have to. It's like you're the one obsessed with me," I said as I remembered back to the time we ran into each other in Joe's at the tills. He told me I was the one obsessed with the other when it was pure coincidence that we ate at the same restaurant.

"You're so annoying, honestly. I see why I didn't try to reach out before," he murmured but I heard it all. His words rolled off of me like raindrops down a glass window. Like I had told him before, I had been called worse and whenever he gave me these names, all they did was secure a position for him at the very bottom.

"Not sure what you expected from this."

"Yeah, neither do I," he said and the conversation ended with that.

To be fair, the fact that I even agreed to last night and this morning was questionable enough from my part so I didn't even want to get into why he came up with this. I never, ever, said yes to someone so quick. Whenever someone asked me out – whether that be as a date or simply a friendly hangout – I cancelled on them at least three times before they either convinced me or gave up.

And I preferred the latter option.

Opening up to people was shit. Whenever they were let in, they took what they wanted, damaged what they didn't think was of use, then fucked off. What was the point? Nothing. I couldn't wrap my head around as to why people even done it in the first place. It was terrific enough to allow my family into my life therefore the thought of giving a complete stranger that opportunity was not something I had ever really considered.

When we arrived at my hotel, I got out of the car and went straight for the revolving doors. I didn't even make it inside when the car was already ages away from me. I seemed to have pissed him off but honestly, like I told him, I didn't know what he expected.

I wasn't a people person. I didn't know how to hold a conversation unless it was all about business stuff. I wasn't interesting enough to talk about myself and I didn't find others interesting enough to get to know them.

"How was your late morning and afternoon?" Danielle asked me after she walked up to me from the lobby. She sat on one of the couches with her iPad in her hands.

"It was alright. Few hours of my life I will never get back but hey ho," I sighed as my index-finger pressed the button on the side of the lift.

"Was he really that bad of a company?" she chuckled as we stepped inside. Thankfully, no one was there and the doors closed just before anyone else could have gotten in.

"The worst, honestly."

"Alright, well, we've got more important things to get to. Like sorting you out for tomorrow's meeting," she changed to a more professional tone of voice and I finally felt at ease. Here we go. Hopefully, a step closer to brushing STYLES under the rug.

"Please, let's."

• • •

a.n.
so harry's got a lot to do before ren softens up huh i personally love her standoffish attitude towards harry, usually it's harry being a dick towards the main gal but now it's ren hehehe

also omfg we hit 2k which makes me so happy hsjsjsjs i love seeing the numbers go up cos for me that means u guys are enjoying it and that's such a nice thing to know 🥰

anyway i shall stop rambling and leave. don't forget to vote & comment & follow for casual updates . smoochies xx