CHAPTER 8: CHAPTER 8: I DARE TO EAT—DO YOU DARE TO STRIP?

Summer Nolan gritted her teeth. Has this jerk’s mouth been dipped in poison?

Infuriating.

She suddenly stood up and walked over to him, crossing her arms in front of her chest and arrogantly threw out a bold challenge, "I dare to eat, do you dare to strip?"

Elias Spencer looked her up and down, a playful look spread across his handsome face, he raised his tone slightly, "I dare to strip, do you dare to eat?"

"Whoever doesn’t strip is a dog!"

Summer Nolan was so provoked by his expression that she slapped the conference table hard, staring at him sharply, with momentum building up to this point, she could only brace herself and confront him.

This was a client’s conference room, not their own law firm. She bet he wouldn’t dare to take off his pants here.

"One who doesn’t eat is a dog." He leaned back in his chair, coldly spitting out the words.

"With all that talk, I think you’re just chickening out, Attorney Spencer... don’t pretend like this in front of me again."

Summer Nolan saw him stalling, he must be chickening out. She quietly breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smug smile, about to return to her seat. Suddenly, Elias Spencer stood up and pulled out the black shirt tucked in his pants.

He started unbuttoning the delicate crystal buttons from the bottom up.

"Why are you taking off your shirt?" She scoffed, it wasn’t even—

"I’m burning my abdomen. If I don’t take off my shirt, am I supposed to take off my pants?" Elias Spencer raised an eyebrow, looking at her. His eyes couldn’t hide his amusement as he leaned close to her ear and asked,

"Attorney Nolan, what do you want to eat?"

"..." Summer Nolan’s face looked quite grim, as if she had suddenly swallowed a fly. It seemed she was fooled by him.

Why didn’t that thing get totally ruined by the heat?!

Elias Spencer looked at her with a teasing glance and deliberately asked, "Isn’t this what Attorney Nolan wanted to eat? Do you still want to eat it?"

Jerk.

"Get lost!" Summer Nolan stomped hard on his shiny black leather shoe, turned around, and stormed back to her seat, suddenly noticing the man opposite was still full of smiles.

She frowned.

She grabbed a folder in front of her and flung it at him, but he deftly dodged and easily caught it with one hand. Was she throwing someone else’s financial reports now?

"Don’t throw things around."

Summer Nolan crossed her arms, scoffed, and turned her face away. They must have had a grudge in a past life, right?

"Knock knock—" Suddenly, there was another knock on the conference room door.

He didn’t respond, and Summer Nolan couldn’t be bothered either—probably another female employee coming to seduce him, right?

What does it have to do with me?

After a while, the conference room door was gently pushed open, and to their surprise, it was Iris Lynn standing at the door. She looked at the two inside and apologized:

"I’m sorry, Attorney Spencer, Attorney Nolan, I thought there was no one inside before I pushed the door open."

"What are you doing here?" Elias Spencer asked in a formal tone.

"I have finished the work at hand, so I just wanted to see if there’s anything I can help with here."

Iris Lynn spoke respectfully, behaving like a gentle little rabbit in front of him, walking in with her hands clasped behind her back, holding a pretty pink lunch box.

Summer Nolan turned her head and saw it. Was this to deliver a love-filled breakfast to that man?

This woman sure knows how to put on an act.

"Attorney Spencer, have you had breakfast yet? I made dumplings with wild vegetable stuffing. They are very fragrant. Would you like to try some?"

Iris Lynn nervously took out the lunch box from behind her and walked over to ask him.

Elias Spencer glanced at the woman by the conference table and purposely asked her, "Attorney Nolan, would you like to taste my assistant’s handiwork together?"

Summer Nolan disdainfully glanced at the ’green tea’ assistant and then looked at him with some surprise. Didn’t he hate eating dumplings the most?

She had bought him some before, and he was very disdainful—

"I’ve had breakfast already, you two take your time to enjoy it. I’ll just go out for a coffee, so as not to disturb your sweet time."

Summer Nolan smiled, said her piece, then got up and walked out, never expecting that his relationship with his assistant was that good. No wonder this assistant dared to show off in front of her.

It turned out he was the one giving her support.

Walking into the large office outside, she paused abruptly as she passed by a male employee, asking, "Do you have a cigarette?"

"...Yes." The male employee was startled and stunned for a moment, then pulled out a pack of soft Chinese cigarettes from his trouser pocket, drew out one and handed it to her, then said:

"Smoking is not allowed here; you can smoke in the pantry."

Summer Nolan took his lighter, went to the pantry, and held the cigarette in her mouth. With a click of the lighter, she lit it and exhaled a swirling puff of smoke.

Then she leisurely went to the sterilization cabinet and took out a white coffee cup.

Seeing there was a coffee machine, she used the time to brew a cup.

She wasn’t talented at cooking, but her coffee brewing skills were top-notch. Yes, it was Elias Spencer who taught her hand in hand—in those days of learning, she failed several times, and he raised an eyebrow, asking:

"With this clumsiness, how did you become a lawyer?"

"I’m just not talented at making anything cooked, so what? Are you skilled at absolutely everything?" Summer Nolan unhappily asked him.

Elias Spencer looked down at her for a moment and, without any modesty, spat out two words, "...Indeed."

Summer Nolan wanted to take him down a peg, but she had tasted his cooked steak, drank his brewed coffee, and even seen him ironing clothes himself. She couldn’t find anything he wasn’t good at or masterful in for a while.

She could only angrily leave with the words, "Not learning anymore!"

"Teaching fools is a hassle." He said deliberately.

Summer Nolan prided herself, yet being repeatedly called foolish by him, made her angry. She grabbed a cushion from the sofa and kept throwing them at him one after another.

The two ended up on the bed during their fight—

Those plane-tree-lined paths they walked together, the half-piece of cake they shared, the embrace after the late-night quarrels, all fluttered like confetti lifted by the wind, scattered in her mind.

She tried hard to discard memories related to him, took in another deep drag of smoke, and exhaled a thick cloud of it.

As the coffee was nearly brewed, a tall, upright figure suddenly walked in at the door—it was Elias Spencer.

Upon entering, Elias Spencer saw the woman sitting by the bar, crossing her long, slender legs, with a cigarette dangling from her lips, puffing out smoke.

Summer Nolan raised an eyebrow slightly. Finished eating so soon?

Surely, the assistant’s cooking must be very palatable, making it highly enjoyable for him.

Elias Spencer walked over to her and suddenly took away the cigarette from her mouth, his voice deep and cold, "Why is a woman smoking?"

"What does my smoking have to do with you? Pay attention to your ’delicate’ little assistant instead." She reached out to snatch it, but he promptly raised his hand to keep it out of reach.

Annoyed, Summer Nolan stood up to grab his hand, but his sudden lift put it out of her reach again. This nearly six-foot-three guy wasn’t tall for nothing. One lift, and she simply couldn’t touch it.

"Give it back to me."

She was very angry, punching him in the chest with a fist. Had the assistant’s dumplings been finished yet?

Why come here to meddle in something that wasn’t his business?

At this moment, two female employees suddenly walked in at the door, watching Attorney Nolan punching Attorney Spencer’s chest with hunched fists, standing so close to each other.

Stunned—