Dare's POV

2pm

Dare was in a meeting with the Executive Director of one of the top Nigerian Banks and his Team. These ones want to fund the gas project by fire by force and now that Hydra has reached the final bid round and all signs indicate that they will most likely get one of the blocks, the Executive Director himself of this particular Bank dropped by unannounced to see Dare.

The old man is friends with Chief Bakare, so Dare had to attend to him and be nice... out of respect.

He excused himself from the meeting room to receive a call when Mr. Richards started speaking. Walking away from the meeting room, he reached the corner of hallway that leads to his office and paused there because Sofi's office is opposite that corner.

He decided to just walk all the way down to her office and admire his bae small.

He needed to see that fine face to cheer up because this whole day has been annoying, thanks to that permit issue and then this long ass boring meeting with the Bank ED that he has to attend out of respect since the ED came himself.

He paused codedly in front of her office and peeped through her glass partition, pretending it was only call he was receiving there and there she was looking alluring as ever. She was wearing a cream colored dress and blazer, she made long box braids this week, today it was tied in a side-swept twist. So fucking ethereal.

Her full attention was on her monitor and she was also checking something on her phone simultaneously, she looked very busy, he wanted her to look up small and flash that pretty smile for him before he leaves but, she was too engrossed in whatever it is she was doing.

He smiled still, he was feeling much better already, he wanted to head back to the meeting but, all of a sudden the smile on his face disappeared when he saw someone pacing restlessly behind her; Mr Samuel! The man stopped, looked at her monitor desperately then showed her something on the screen. She nodded and started typing into her phone while the Man continued pacing.

So that incompetent fool came to her for help with the permit. He was so mad he started regretting why he didn't just fire him. No! He should suffer alone and not stress his baby.

He quickly hung up the call he was receiving and sent her a text.

Dare: Don't fucking help him 😡

Her phone was in her hand so she read it immediately. She looked confused at first but then she raised her head up and looked around then saw him standing outside then she giggled silently. But he didn't smile back his frown deepened as he glared at the Agbaya behind her.

That fool needs to learn his lesson, Dare wanted him to pay some part of that demurrage out of his pocket so he will never forget to do his job again. He should have applied for the renewal 2 weeks ago, with the DPR, he has all the funds and resources at his disposal, and he has 2 other lawyers working under him that he could have delegated this task to. But now that it is late he wants her to perform magic for him abi.

He was so mad that the idiot brought his mess for another person to fix, not just anyone but Sofi. WTF is wrong with them, she is not their fucking slave! He was livid.

He saw her texting him back with a smile on her face.

Sofi: you need to be CaLmInG down lol

He smiled, even though he didn't want to because her smile disarmed him and her text was a reference to a viral video meme of the kid who was telling his angry mum to calm down.

Dare: I'm serious 😐

Dare: Tell him you can't help, tell him to leave your office. 😐

She laughed.

Sofi: Go back to your meeting 😘

Initially, He wanted to respond to that by forcing her to join him and Mr. Richard in the meeting so she won't be free to help them, but got distracted by the kiss emoji she casually threw in her reply.

Normally a kiss emoji is nothing to him but the fact that it was coming from someone that he wanted to kiss more anything in the world at that point in his life got to him. He was confused by his reaction to it, he stood there frozen, looking at the emoji like one little boy.

How can she subvert him like this with an emoji kiss, a whole player like him.... that has been kissing girls since he turned 15.

He looked up again and the next thing she did actually cracked him up. She picked up the remote for the smart glass partition and frosted the glass, so he couldn't see inside her office again.

He just smiled and went back to the meeting in a better mood. The meeting lasted 2 more hours. When he got back to his office he opened his email and saw that Mr. Samuel had sent the new permit to Lorenzo.

"Idiot" He muttered.

As he scrolled down the mail thread he saw that it was Sofi that forwarded the original mail to him. The idiot couldn't even compose a fresh email. He was glad the issue was miraculously resolved but he was mad she had to be stressed for it.

As the residual anger at Mr. Samuel subsided he was overwhelmed by admiration and respect for her, she is a remarkable! How do you even get an export permit approved and issued in a day.

She must have reached out to all her contacts in DPR to get this done. Usually he knows stuff like can take weeks because you have to submit a lot of documents with the application. He was awestruck, she is so fucking good! When he saw her helping Mr. Samuel earlier he knew it was going to be resolved but he never expected them to get it done today.

He stood up to go thank her in her office, she was alone this time. Honestly his intention was to just come here and thank her but, when he stepped into her office he leaned back on the door with his hands behind him and smiled at her, he didn't even know where to start from.

She looked up and smiled back at him graciously, as if she didn't just save everyone's ass. He wanted Mr. Samuel to pay for his incompetence but this would have affected his reputation too especially with the agents. Mr. Bakare and the Board wouldn't have liked this too so she saved all of them not just Mr. Samuel.

All of sudden he started wondering why he was still wasting time with her, what is he waiting for, why is he even playing games, giving her time to think? What if she meets someone else like...today if she steps out of this room?

Earlier he saw where the remote switch for her smart glass was so he locked the glass door from inside first then he picked up the remote and frosted the glass to give them some privacy. He held her startled gaze as he walked over to her chair, she was shocked by his action but she kinda knew what was coming. He could see it in her eyes that she knew what he about to do to her.

He turned her swivel chair towards his direction then grabbed her face gently and planted his lips on hers. He kissed her hungrily, her lips felt like cotton candy, very soft and warm, her lip-balm tasted like berries. He couldn't bring himself to stop, he was ignited already.

She welcomed him after hesitating for a second or two and he rewarded her receptiveness by tasting every inch of her mouth.

He pulled back and stared at her absorbedly there was still shock in her eyes but the desire enveloped it all......desire for him. He smiled as she bit her lower lip, flustered.

"You're such a fucking queen" He said breathlessly then moved away from her, he unfrosted the glass then walked back to the door.

"Dinner... Tonight...My place...I'll cook. Soji will pick you up..8pm?" He asked her impulsively as he unlatched the door.

She smiled but she couldn't look at him. So cute He thought.

He raised his eyebrow "Is that a yes?"

She nodded then finally let their eyes meet.

"See you later" He said then stepped out.

Mr. Samuel was waiting for him in his office, the man started apologizing strongly all over for what happened earlier.

"It's okay. But I won't tolerate such slipup in the future" He said to the man.

Sofi's

His Driver drove into the basement parking area and showed her the elevator, he informed her that Dare was on the first floor.

She thought he would be living in a flat or apartment since he lives alone but while they were waiting for the automatic gate to open she noticed it was a 3 storey building.

What kind of flex is this? She thought to herself as she stepped off the elevator on the first floor. What is he doing with all these space?

She paused first, wine in her hand looking around because she didn't know where to go. She could see the ground floor and a staircase leading down to it, he had a nice manly apartment. It was kinda like his office in terms of shapes and geometry but the colours were warmer here. The fringes and highlights were of softer shades and tones.

As soon as she started walking he must have heard her footsteps because he called out to her.

"Sofi, over here" He said and she followed the direction his voice came from and it led her to a massive kitchen. He was wearing a grey t-shirt, dark blue jeans and olive green apron. He was mixing something in a small bowl.

Damn. Can he possibly get any hotter!

"Hey" She said as she walked into the massive kitchen.

"How are you doing?" he turned to put down the bowl in his hand then came to hug her. She handed him the wine and he pulled out a chair for her on his island counter top to sit.

"What are you cooking?" She said.

"Nothing special just Suya wey go harvard" He said with a straight face as he opened the oven to bring out what looked like baked potatoes and started sprinkling some spices on it.

She laughed. His pidgin is so sexy.

"Your house is beautiful" She said.

"And you are much more beautiful" He said again casually as he started dishing the potatoes.

"How was the road?" He looked up at her this time like he really wanted to know.

"Well, at some point I thought I was being kidnapped" She said. There is still major construction on the road to the reclaimed island his estate stood on.

He snorted. "I wanted to warn you beforehand, but I wanted to see how you'd react"

"You are despicable" she said.

"I was expecting your reaction to be something extreme, like jump out of the car and run back home" He laughed as he opened a bottle of an expensive looking wine and poured a glass for her. He was already drinking something strong like his regular whiskey.

"Well I considered it, because I didn't know people were living here already I just always thought it was still under construction, plus a lot of people kinda forgot about this Island, everyone's attention is on Banana and Eko Atlantic"

"I myself never thought I'd be living here, it was supposed to be an investment property, it is actually too big" He said casually.

Hmmmmm. He owns this house. She is not surprised though most of these artificial island projects in Lagos are funded by banks and foreign investors. At his last job he was managing assets in the EMEA region so he must have stumbled upon this gem in the early stages.

"So why didn't you run back?" He sipped his drink as he flipped the final steak in pan.

Good question o! No one knows she is here, not even Toyin. What if he is serial killer? Well her location is on in her Google maps. They can use that one to track her shey?

"I'm a Lagos girl" She bragged and he chuckled "No one can try me in my own city"

"And.....I kind of trust you small sha" She added goofily.

"Thank you... for trusting me" He said, attention divided because he was pouring the sauce he was mixed earlier on the plates.

She looked around the enormous kitchen again while he turned back to  flip the steak in the pan. The kitchen was massive did they use the whole first floor for kitchen? Kilode?

The appliances and cabinets were still shiny and she could still smell the woody newness beneath the delicious aroma of his cooking.

He finally dished the steak then brought the platter to the island countertop, picked up a sharp knife and started carving the steak. He was so focused on it, doing it carefully the way all those professional chefs do it on TV to make it very tender. He looked so hot, she felt even thirstier for him as she watched him from the other side of the counter.

Omo, He has to cut soap for all the suya mallams on the streets of Lagos o, because she couldn't understand why him, cutting meat made her want to off pant.

Chapter 21 -> Saturday morning
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