8: Chapter 8 A Tough Night 8: Chapter 8 A Tough Night The room slowly filled with a faint fragrance, which must have been the scent of Gina’s body wash and shampoo after her shower, sending James Brown’s thoughts aflutter.
“James, why did you blabber so much today?” Gina’s low voice came from the bed.
James immediately replied with pride, “I didn’t want to, but as soon as I saw your parents today, I felt that what you said wouldn’t hold up, so I improvised a bit.
At least you saw the results, right?
Your parents are very pleased with me now.
For such a performance, shouldn’t you give me a bonus?”
“Your performance was good, but luckily, my mother didn’t get a chance to pull me aside for a private chat.
Otherwise, our stories would have definitely clashed.
Now you need to quickly align our stories, so we don’t get caught tomorrow.”
“Didn’t you hear everything I said?
What’s there to align?”
“You said we had a few conflicts.
And as a security guard, how did you manage to attract me?
We need to get our stories straight, not just for my mom but my sister too.
If we can’t explain clearly, she’ll see through us.”
“This is going to be tough; I just said whatever came to mind.”
“I can’t believe you.
Don’t you know that it often takes fourteen dollars in lies to cover up one?”
“Gina, this lie was started by you, wasn’t it?”
Gina was left speechless by James’s remark but couldn’t really blame him; his performance was satisfactory at least.
With plots from cliché romance novels in mind, she concocted a few little stories and relayed them to James.
Half an hour later, James yawned and said weakly, “Gina, I’ve got it all memorized, can we go to sleep now?”
“No, there’s still a detail you haven’t remembered.
Details determine success or failure, you can’t be careless.”
“You really are a demanding boss.
Alright, alright, I’ll memorize it, happy now?” James yawned continuously.
He regretted his own loquaciousness now—collaborating with a meticulous boss was truly asking for trouble.
Finally, after memorizing it all, James fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Any salacious thoughts were gone, even knowing that a beautiful woman lay in the bed next to him, all he wanted was a good night’s sleep.
James slept soundly, but Gina couldn’t sleep at all.
In her own home, she wasn’t afraid that James would dare to do anything to her—being a boss, she had the confidence and the assurance that she could handle her subordinates.
However, having a man stay in her room was extremely unnerving for her.
There was a strange smell in the room—not unpleasant, but too unfamiliar, too uncomfortable for her.
Listening to James’s even breathing at first wasn’t a problem, but as the night grew quieter, his breathing seemed to flood her ears, growing louder, and eventually, it was like the pounding of drums, turning into noise that made it even harder for Gina to find sleep as she tossed and turned.
At the sound of the snore, Gina suddenly sat up in bed.
Her thoughts had been consumed by James’s breathing, and the sudden snore was like thunder exploding next to her ear.
“You jerk, you even snore in your sleep,” Gina muttered through gritted teeth, but James’s snoring continued relentlessly.
“Wake up!” Unable to take it anymore, Gina leaned over and gave James a push.
The snoring stopped, and James asked vaguely, “What’s up now?”
“You snore; how am I supposed to sleep?”
Gina was instantly furious.
Who could be aware of their snoring while they’re asleep?
Angrily, she said, “You wait for me to fall asleep before you go to sleep.”
James replied with some helplessness, “You go to sleep first?
Are you sure that’s okay?”
“This… Then how can you stop snoring?”
“If I sleep on the bed, it seems I don’t snore.”
“Then you’ll just have to put up with it.” After saying this, James turned over and went back to a deep sleep, and soon the snoring started again.
Gina really blew up with anger.
This guy obviously wasn’t as honest as he was at the office; he didn’t even listen to her, the boss.
“Hmph, just you wait.
Once we’re back at the office, I’ll see how I can deal with you.”
Covering her head and stuffing her pillowcase into her ears, Gina didn’t know how long she wrestled with the situation before she finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when James, deeply asleep and savoring the comfort, felt someone pushing him repeatedly and heard a woman’s voice near his ear: “Get up, hurry up, my parents are awake; how can you still be sleeping?”
“Let me sleep a bit longer; I’m dead tired,” James replied groggily, waving his hand dismissively and turning his head to cuddle the blanket and continue his deep sleep.
However, he hadn’t had enough sleep last night, and all he wanted to do now was sleep.
“Get up!” A heavy blow landed on his back.
This was definitely not a slap from Gina but a kick.
The pain immediately chased away his sleepiness.
Annoyed, James sat up and glared at Gina, saying, “Boss Lopez, I’m employed by you, but only to pretend to be your boyfriend.
Getting hit isn’t part of my services.”
Fire in her eyes, Gina clenched her teeth and said, “Getting hit isn’t covered by the service, true.
That kick was for touching me recklessly.”
“Me, touching you recklessly?” James frowned, suddenly recalling the careless touch he had just made.
Looking at Gina, he then said resentfully, “I didn’t do it on purpose just then.”
“Hmph, if you had done it on purpose, I would kill you,” Gina snorted coldly.
“It’s past seven already; everyone in the house is up, and we’re still not out of bed.
What does this look like?” She turned and got off the bed, her back to him.
She was already dressed, not in her usual business suit, but in very casual home clothes.
James could only get up and then changed back into the suit he’d worn the day before, the suit that Gina had bought for him at the airport.
Besides this suit, he hadn’t brought any other clothing.
Walking out of the bedroom after changing, Mrs.
Lopez came by, smiling and looking at the two with a warm gaze, “Did you sleep well last night?”
At this Gina felt a bit awkward, whereas James let out a chuckle and said, “Good morning, Auntie.
I overslept on my first day.”
“Hehe, it’s quite normal for you young people to like to sleep in.
Get ready; we’ll be eating soon.” Then she took another look at her daughter, who looked very haggard, and thought to herself, James’s physical stamina is really something else.
He’s worn out my daughter in just one night.