Seeing that Gabrielle was being given a hard time, I stepped forward and held out the gift I had prepared.

    “I’m here to apologize to your boss. This box contains his favorite wine. Are you sure you don’t want to let us in?”

    The woman let out a cold snort.

    Awaiter leaned in and whispered to her, “Velvet, maybe you should tell bMr. /bGuzman? He loves collecting these kinds of thingsb, /band it looks like the wine she brought might be something special………..

    The woman called Velvet scoffed and looked down at me. “If bthis /bwere someone else’s gift, I might consider it. Buting from her? We don’t want anything, from

    This women

    Gabrielle and exchanged a look

    As expected, our gut feeling was right, velvet clearly knew me, and she definitely didn’t ?lke me.

    “You’re not Mr. Guzman here, which means you don’t make the decisions,” bI /bbsaid /bcoolly. “Whether I’m allowed in or not is up to him, not you.”

    Velvet clearly wasn’t expecting me to talk back Her tace tuned sour just as the door to the private room opened and a tall man stepped out. “Velvet, Mr. Guzman said to let her in.”

    “Spade!” she mattered through gritted teeth, stomping her foot in frustration.

    I couldn’t help butugh–Velvet and Spade? What kind of names were those?

    velvet shot me a re and sorted before storming off bin /bba /bluft.

    On the other hand, Spade bremained /bexpressionless. “This way, Ms. Sawyer.”

    I bnodded /band walked bin /bwith Gabrielle.

    La Doghouse was just as noisy and chaotic as its name suggested, but susade the pilvate room, it was quiet,

    As soon as I stepped in, a faint scent caught my attention. I couldn’t help but smile. Frederick might look shy, but his taste was pretty shy ton What kind of man liked burning smoky scented candles?

    Just then, Frederick’s hoarse voice interrupted my thoughts. “What do you want from me?

    1 looked up to see Frederick lounging on the sofa, wearing a ck sillshit with the top buttons undone, giving him ba /broguish chann.

    1stepped forward and handed him the gift box “I heard you collect same wine. This is for you

    Frederick raised an eyebouw. “If you low 1 collect wine, then you should also know I don’t waste my time on the cheap bstuff/b.

    1 smiled “Just take a blook /bYou’see.”

    Sering my confident expression, Frederick let bout /ba coldugh, set down his wine ss, and casually opened the box. The moment his eyesnded on the bottle inside, his expression sluited.

    He raised an eyebrow “First Love?”

    “You bknow /bthis bone/b?” asked feeling a little surprised.

    He sorted, “How could I not? I ad you to bgive /bme this bottle years ago. You called medelusional and cursed me out like I owed byou /bmoney,”

    ““That happened?”

    hostly didn’t remember. I felt a little embarrassed, but I didn’t let it show. “Well, you did bsave /bmy life. Ligured it’s only right I make it up to you.”

    First, you said it was ba /bthank you gift, and now it’s an apology? Are you trying bto /bbget /bbtwo /bfavors from one present?” he sneered, “No wonder you’ve been bwith /bJonathan btoo /blong. bYou’w /bpicked up all his calcting tricks.”

    His sarcasm was biting, but I didn’t take il personally. In fact, I smiled. “What do you think? Either bway/b, I came bearing sincerity.”

    I tapped the bbox /bBelitly. “The question is, does this wine pass your standards?”

    Frodench gave another dismissive soon, but he seemed less cold now, though he still wore that devil–mayb–/bcare look

    long beli,” he purred. “If you’d tried buttering the up earlier, maybe you wouldn’t be in such a mess now.”

    He took the bottle and handed it off to Spade, who nodded and carried it away.

    “What do byou /btrally want?” he asked

    I smiled again Didn’t already say? bIt’s /bba /b

    orderick saw night through me “Don’t Leal like a fool You’re way too clever to just show up here for no reason. Just say bwhat /byou want.”