Chapter 633

Hannah and Vincent stood frozen in that charged silence, neither willing to yield, neither ready to break first. The air between them crackled with unspoken defiance.

At last, Hannah shattered the quiet. Her gaze lingered on the man before her-his expression carved from ice, his eyes sharp enough to wound."Did you come all the way here just to stand there,"she asked evenly, "or do you actually have something to say to me?"

Vincent offered no verbal reply. Instead, he drew a chair back with quiet deliberation and sat, one brow lifting in silent command for her to sit as well.

Hannah's wrist flicked slightly as she checked her watch, a faint line forming between her brows. "I have a crucial meeting at the office this afternoon."

"Oh?" The displeasure in Vincent's tone was

.

unmistakable. "So urgent to leave already? Tell me,Hannah-do I make you that uncomfortable, or do you simply find no purpose in talking to me?"

Her eyes softened briefly in thought before locking onto his. A slow smile curved her lips. "Mr. Jones, are you keeping me here to discuss... our encounter the other night?"

His eyebrow twitched upward. He realized she was doing this deliberately-giving him the cold shoulder.His jaw tightened, that simmering fire in his chest flaring hotter. This woman was toying with him,teasing the boundaries of his restraint.

Forcing his tone into something controlled, Vincent said with deliberate calm, "Let me make one thing clear. I don't make a habit of walking away after spending the night with someone."

Hannah's eyes gleamed, the faintest spark of amusement flickering there. "Oh? Then what exactly are you trying to say, Mr. Jones? Are you here to..make amends?"

.

Her words dripped with playful mischief.

He opened his mouth, but she raised a hand,cutting him off effortlessly. "Let's not dramatize it," she said lightly, her tone calm, detached, almost breezy."We're both adults. It was one night-two consenting people, each getting what they wanted. There's no reason to complicate something so simple. And that night, you did help me out of a tough situation."

Vincent's gaze deepened, his eyes dark as midnight.Her casual tone echoed in his memory-too familiar,too close to something he'd heard before-but the recollection slipped through his grasp before he could seize it.

"Each got what they wanted?" His voice suddenly hardened, sharp as glass. "Hannah, do you honestly think I'm the kind of man who needs to use a favor as currency to satisfy my needs?"

He leaned forward, eyes locked on hers. "That night had been the first time since I lost my memory.It wasn't meaningless to me."

.

The words came out rough, strained-torn from somewhere deep inside him. For days, he'd been haunted by flashes of that night: her soft breathing,her trembling warmth, the way her touch seemed to echo even after she'd gone. And now, she stood before him pretending as if it had never happened.

Something flickered behind Hannah's calm exterior-a faint tremor, a hidden spark. "Then perhaps," she murmured, lips curving faintly, "I should compensate you for it?"

"Alright," Vincent said without hesitation, his voice low, eyesburning.

She faltered, taken aback for only a heartbeat, and then composed herself quickly. "Then tell me," she asked, voice dipping into something softer, more dangerous, "what does that make us now?"

"Bed partners." The words left his lips cold and clean, stripped of any emotion.

Something inside her recoiled at the bluntness of it.She rose slowly, crossing the narrow space between

them, every step measured, deliberate. Her gaze never wavered. "Bed partners?" she repeated quietly."Then why me, Vincent? You could have had anyone.Why insist on me?"

Since that night, she had intentionally kept her distance-not merely because of the chaos surrounding Rodney's scandal or the company's turmoil, but as a quiet experiment. She wanted to see whether his instincts-those faint threads of affection from before his memory loss-still reached for her without reason.

And his arrival today, no matter how abrupt, gave her the answer she wanted. He still cared. Back in their university years, Vincent had always held the reins.But not this time.

As she drew closer, her perfume enveloped him-subtle, intoxicating, unmistakably hers. His eyes fell to her lips, soft and moving slightly as shebreathed.

His throat tightened, and his Adam's apple bopped.Desire flared sharp and sudden. The impulse to pull her in and taste her again nearly overwhelmed him.