"I always want to be with you. Of course, I would take you with me. But I know you have responsibilities here, so I won't whisk you away and hog all your time." He patted her cheek gently with his palm, an affectionate gesture she had not expected him to show.

  "I don't think I would be able to afford living in hotels or that long either. I am okay staying here." His hand paused on her cheek.

  "I invited you, so all your expenses will be on me." That was final.

  "But-" She didn't want to seem like she was taking advantage of him just because he had more money than her.

  "I am fortunately rich and I want to spend on you. To be honest, I never knew what to do with the money and I am glad I can now spend on things I actually want."

  "I am unsure about this. Are you saying you want me or that I am your possession? Also, just because you have money doesn't mean you don't let me have an equal footing in the relationship." Finances. That was always a huge issue that couples fought over. Might as well sort it out before things got messed up.

  "No. I Just never really had anything that I wanted to spend my money on. Apart from the house and car I brought to keep up appearances, I don't really spend much. I just buy games sometimes and never get to play them. Spending on you will make me happy. Don't you want to see me happy?" The look he gave her could have melted the heart of a cold CEO; of course, she was a foregone case.

  "Is that look supposed to work?" Katherine asked, stealing her heart from the onslaught of cuteness that was to come.

  "It was supposed to work but you managed to evade the attack. Impressive."

  "No," she told him with a stern look. "I know you want to invite me for the whole shoot." He looked startled. "You want to be with me all the time and I don't have any responsibilities here, I work remotely. But you are considering my pride in the matter." He smiled softly.

  "Ah, you caught me." Katherine was mildly surprised by how much he knew her already. She was with the man of her dreams and he wasn't completely wrong in wanting to spend on her, dang, if she had any resources she would want to spend them on him, as well. But that was not the case. Katherine wanted to see him and it was a matter of pride, not wanting him to pay for her. So she had to compromise.

  "How about it? I pay for our food and where we go and you pay for accommodation?" It was the first draft. A more long term agreement would consist of them talking about their income and setting up protocol about spending and saving. For now, this was fine.

  "Deal," he said after some thinking. There was a knock at the door and Cage looked at the clock. "The restaurant sure took their sweet time." Katherine ran to the door, taking her purse from the table and opened the door slightly.

  She blinked a couple of times when she saw who was on the other side. Nathaniel Brown.

  What had possessed her to think that she had outrun him with her little stunt?

  She looked down to see him holding a paper bag with the logo of the restaurant she ordered from.

  "Uh, I thought you were a bartender?" She didn't want to assume anything. Maybe he needed two jobs. She felt so bad after the words came out of her mouth.

  "Oh yeah, the owner of the bar started his own cloud kitchen, I saw that you had ordered and tod them I would deliver." Nathaniel smiled, but nothing about this was pleasant to Katherine. It was wrong for him and the owner to let this happen. In all rights, it was creepy of him to come over when he wasn't the one who should have done the job. Her address was now known by this guy, and she never wanted that to happen.

  He was not a stalker by any means, but…… it was a matter of discomfort.

  "I'm sorry, you shouldn't have come," she said firmly. "How much do I owe you?" She put her purse in view to make some distance between the two.

  "Babe, do you need change?" I heard from the living room. I turned and glared at him, knowing he had overheard the conversation and thought to interject. He probably didn't know what was happening but must have picked up from her tone of voice.

  "It's okay!" she called back. She turned around to find Nathaniel's ashen face. "Here you go," she said, estimating what the cost could be and adding to it just in case.

  "No need," he said, distracted. His line of sight was over her shoulder as he tried to peer into the room. Katherine tried to block his view. "Uh. I thought you wanted to be a nun?"

  She heard a soft snort from beside her and her eyes widened. A hand was caressing the small of her back as she faced this man who had tried to pursue her. She didn't look at the man who was hiding behind the door and listening to everything.

  She could imagine him, leaning against the wall with a smirk as he remembered everything he had done to her a few hours ago.

  "I'm sorry. I wanted to say no in a better way, but my personality is such……" she trailed off.

  "You could have said that……" 'I did,' she thought sourly.

  "In all fairness, I did say I was going to be the bride of god……" she stopped, wondering if she should go there. "I admit that my boyfriend is nothing short of that." The hand on her back stopped for a second before it was gone. She was mildly confused before she felt his chest pressed against hers and his arms circling her waist.