Chapter 99 Mrs. Semona, are you sober?

Every word struck a chord.

Douglas's heart skipped a beat, and in that moment, his palms even broke out in a thin layer of sweat.

She had made her words so clear, yet his mind was a tangled mess of emotions.

Regina watched him stand there motionless, wondering if what she had just said wasn't to his liking.

Douglas's throat felt dry and sore. Regina waited a long time before he finally spoke."Regina, are you sober?"

So, did Douglas think Regina was just talking nonsense earlier?

Regina's previously tense emotions were unexpectedly lightened by his question, and she let out a small laugh.

"My head still hurts a bit, but I'm fairly clear-headed," she answered Douglas seriously. "But last night..."

Regina felt a brief moment of panic but managed to keep her expression relatively natural. "But last night, I was a bit confused. I really didn't mean to make you serve me like that."

"Serve" was a phrase Regina had carefully chosen after much deliberation.

It was quite fitting, after all.

Last night, Douglas hadn't thought of himself at all, focusing solely on making Regina comfortable.

It was the first time Regina truly understood that there were many ways for a woman to be pleased in bed.

Douglas had suppressed his desires from start to finish, merely focusing on pleasing her.

She saw another version of herself in his eyes, reflected in the floor-to-ceiling windows, which was alluring, indulgent and incredibly seductive.

Regina remembered that at the most intense moment, her mind went blank, and she trembled, feeling like she might actually drown under him.

"Serving you is my honor." Douglas looked at her with a slight smile, but his heart was still in turmoil.

"For the rest of my life, I hope you will give me more opportunities to serve you, as a way to atone for my past despicable actions."

Douglas had always hoped for Regina's forgiveness, prayed for it, but when she finally forgave him, his guilt outweighed his joy.

Trying to walk away unscathed after doing such a thing was inherently lacking in both boundaries and morals.

His heart felt empty. Douglas seemed to want to say something more, but in the end, he said nothing.

He just took a step forward, reached out, wrapped his arm around Regina's waist, and held her in his embrace.

Regina rested her head against his chest, quietly feeling the intense beating of his heart.

Early in the morning, Jason noticed something was off with Douglas.

It was as if his attention had been sucked away by something. During a transnational video conference with nearly a hundred people, he had zoned out several times.

This was unprecedented.

At 2 PM, Dorothy brought the schedule and reminded Douglas that he had a cocktail party to attend that evening.

The project he had been trying to secure recently had encountered some governmental obstacles that needed smoothing over. It was best for him to attend such an event personally.

Douglas flipped through the schedule nonchalantly and noticed that in a few days, he would be traveling abroad for a collaborative research project in technology.

This trip would take several days.

Looking at the mountain of tasks, Douglas frowned slightly.

His frown made Dorothy nervous. "Mr. Semona, is there something wrong?" she asked.

"The accompanying personnel arrangements for the trip to Germany..." He paused, seemingly deep in thought.

The secretary quickly asked, "Mr. Semona, is there an issue with the personnel arrangements?"

"Change the translator," Douglas instructed.

"Do you have someone in mind, Mr. Semona?" Dorothy asked.

"See if Regina is willing."

He said to see if Regina was willing, not directly ordering to replace the original translator with Regina.

Dorothy found it surprising and somewhat illogical, but she didn't dare to ask more and quickly went to the translation department to inquire.

After thinking seriously for a moment, Regina nodded. "Okay."

She thought it was just a normal business trip with her boss.

After all, Douglas was a workaholic and very serious when it came to work.

But in fact, Douglas only wanted to spend some alone time with Regina this time.

Yes, he looked forward to that kind of intoxicating, soul-stirring lovey-dovey couple timeorld for two.

At 9 PM, Regina returned after socializing with the government officials.

He hadn't drunk much tonight, but he still smelled of smoke and alcohol from the party. Afraid Regina would find it unpleasant, he immediately went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Regina was still in her bedroom, listening to a radio drama with her headphones on, unaware that he had returned.

After showering in his room, Douglas walked to Regina's door and hesitated.

Although she had forgiven him, he realized that accepting someone's forgiveness also came with a heavy psychological burden.

His expression grew more somber.

He didn't know how much time had passed as he pondered these thoughts.

Inside the room, Regina couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't come back yet.

She took off her headphones and headed out the room.

Sure enough, Douglas had already returned. He was sitting on the couch in the living room, lost in thought, holding an unlit cigarette between his fingers, staring out the window with a look of long-suppressed emotion.

Regina walked over silently, took the cigarette from his hand, and threw it into the ashtray.

Only then did Douglas fully snap out of it.

"Didn't you say you were going to quit smoking?" Regina's question was somewhat rhetorical.

Regina knew Douglas wasn't heavily addicted to smoking. Later, in a moment of impulse, she had mentioned wanting a child in front of him, and he had quit smoking completely.

Recently, he had probably been in a bad mood and had smoked a lot in secret.

"I didn't smoke it," Douglas said.

Regina frowned, unsure whether to believe him or not.

Douglas stood up from the couch, lowered his body, and brought his lips very close to Regina's. "Regina, do you want to check?"

Regina smelled the faint, fresh scent of his body wash. He spoke in such close proximity, and she didn't detect any smoke.

Regina initially wanted to say no, but looking at his lips so close, she felt an inexplicable, burning excitement.

It turned out that with love came physical desire.

When Douglas didn't get a response from her within a few seconds and was about to straighten up, Regina raised her hand, hooked it around his neck, pulled him down, and brought her lips to his.

She kissed him first.

Their lips and tongues intertwined.

She didn't kiss as lightly as before but tried to engage him, though she was still a bit clumsy, it was much better than before.

Douglas raised his hand to hold the back of her head, taking control.

Regina couldn't handle his advances.

Just one kiss left her clinging to him, her legs weak.

When she felt she was about to run out of breath, he finally let her go.

He asked her, "Do you want it?"

The kind that was more thorough and deeper.

Regina wasn't pretending to be coy; she was just genuinely shy. Last night, with the help of alcohol, she was able to let go a bit. Now that she was sober, she felt a bit hesitant.

So, she thought of the drinks in the liquor cabinet. "Can we have a drink first?"

Douglas chuckled softly at her suggestion.

Seeing the playful look in his eyes, Regina felt a bit guilty and avoided his gaze.

"No." His response was firm. In fact, during their time together, Douglas rarely outright rejected any of her ideas. He always went along with her.

But this time, he couldn't agree.

"If you just want to have a drink, I have no objections. But if you want to get drunk and make love, then no."

Although, she did look adorably tipsy when she was drunk.

Of course, if she hadn't been so tipsy last night, he might have actually made love to her.

He wanted their next time to be when she was sober, rational, and fully aware of who he was.

Regina thought it over and understood what Douglas was concerned about. After all, their first time was driven by alcohol, leaving a bad memory.

"Alright." Douglas raised his hand and affectionately ruffled her thick hair. "Let's take it easy tonight."

He understood her better than she understood herself.

He knew that after last night's wave of desire, she hadn't fully recovered.

If they went for another round, she might really be overwhelmed.

Two days later, on the trip to Germany, Douglas brought a team of about thirty people.

Regina felt she was quite inconspicuous among the crowd.

Although he initially wanted to bring her for some alone time, Douglas was someone who knew how to separate work from personal matters. When it came to work, he didn't like to mix in other things.

Moreover, he respected Regina's feelings. Since Regina didn't want to reveal their relationship, he kept it discreet.

Otherwise, if their colleagues saw their intimacy, Regina would inevitably face some unpleasant gossip.

The overseas schedule was very tight.

On the first day, Douglas only rested for three hours before participating in a seminar. After the final negotiations, he signed three cooperation agreements with the other party.

In the evening, there was a high-profile banquet hosted by local officials.

The next two days were filled with inspections.

The Century Group not only had multiple factories overseas but also had twenty-six research centers, two of which were in Garmeny.

Douglas inspected both locations.

Despite the busy schedule, he remained energetic and showed no signs of fatigue.

On the way back to the hotel, Regina, as his personal translator, shared a car with Douglas.

She was exhausted, frequently yawning, but even as she was about to fall asleep, she tried to stay awake.

Douglas took off his suit jacket and draped it over her.

"Sleep. I'll wake you when we get to the hotel," he said gently.

Regina's tense nerves relaxed under his reassurance, and she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Douglas thought that the intense workload over the past few days might have worn her out.

Douglas admitted that bringing her along had a personal motive.

But Regina's work capabilities were undeniable.

Douglas's decision to bring Regina on this trip, replacing the originally scheduled person, certainly caused a stir. The office discussed it for a long time, but aside from Lucia, who was convinced they had an improper relationship, everyone else was convinced that Regina got the job based on her own merits.

Indeed, yesterday's seminar was enough to prove her abilities. When an unexpected situation arose, Douglas improvised and added negotiation points. Regina translated flawlessly, delivering Douglas's message smoothly and accurately, impressing everyone present.

Douglas quietly watched the sleeping Regina, feeling not just affection but also admiration.

In his eyes, Regina was perfect.

He admitted that back at the Dubbing Club event at Norman University, when he heard the voice that woke him from his fatigue, he felt a sense of comfort. When he opened his eyes and saw her on stage, he was deeply attracted.

She seemed to shine.

Her appearance and figure alone were enough to attract anyone.

But the more he got to know her, the more he realized she had even more captivating qualities.

He liked her outward appearance, but he loved her inner self even more.

This was good. He could rightfully comfort himself that he had high standards and was never just a superficial guy.

When the car arrived at the hotel parking lot, Regina was still asleep.

Douglas didn't wake her. Instead, he wrapped her in his suit jacket, carried her, and took her directly from the underground parking lot to the hotel suite, ensuring no one saw her face.

Just as he laid the sleeping Regina on the bed, his phone rang.

It was Charles.

Douglas stepped out of the room to take the call.

"What is it?" Douglas asked.

"Nothing much. Do I need a reason to call you?" Charles's tone was always somewhat unserious.

"Are you bored?" Douglas said sarcastically.

"Not really." Charles sounded quite happy. "Thanks to your help last time, connecting me with the person in charge of the Azure Gateway Bridge project, I've been really busy."

Douglas didn't want to hear his ramblings. He was about to hang up when Charles spoke again with interest, "Oh, by the way, I almost forgot to tell you something."

Douglas paused his hand from hanging up.

Talking to Charles was like squeezing toothpaste.

Sometimes you got something useful, sometimes it was just air.

Douglas patiently waited for what he had to say next because recently, he had indeed heard a few things he wanted to know from Charles.

"Remember the last time, Philip deliberately leaked some explosive news online, exposing his past stories with Regina to provoke you? I was going to spend some money to help you take those things down, but someone beat me to it," Charles revealed.

Charles had just made the call to take it down when Douglas called to ask if he had taken down the news. Charles was puzzled, thinking it couldn't have been resolved so quickly, but he didn't think much of it.

Until the next day, someone told him that the news had already been taken down before he could act.

"So, who do you think took it down? I heard it cost five million dollars," Charles said.

'Five million dollars?' Douglas immediately thought of the text message about the five million dollar expenditure on his bank card that day.

Those news articles were most likely taken down by Regina.

Thinking of this, Douglas felt a mix of emotions.