Chapter 24.

**Narrator’s POV.**

The dinner had gone differently from what Tessa had expected, of course Gabriel did not have a single gentlemanly bone in his body but he had somehow managed to act civil towards her- which was very unusual.

She did not know what she was meant to expect but she sure knew that his new, somewhat nice attitude was definitely not one it at all. But other than his attitude change, something else was different- she did not feel as tensed up as she was while dining with Alex. She felt free and did not have a care in the world about embarrassing herself in front of Gabriel, besides, she had already done a damn good job at that already.

She had no idea why but, she felt more alive around the most insulting person she knew- someone who never gave up on an opportunity to hit her with a snide remark or act unnecessarily mean to her.

During her date with Alex, she had eaten very little compared to what her stomach could take but she had decided that with Gabriel, she was not going to hold back- he had gotten her to go on this not-so-willingly and with every sin came a price. Tessa had ordered half of the menu, enjoying every moment of watching the waiter’s face contort in pure horror. Honestly, Tessa had no idea of what she was ordering- for all she knew, it could be poison but she did not care.

The waiter brought in their food in a very long serving tray shortly after and placed a single plate in front of Gabriel before lining up Tessa’s order in front of her, the eight large dishes took all the room on the table, making it hard to fit anything else on it.

The still taken aback waiter walked away with his tray and once he was out of hearing range, Gabriel turned to her with a slightly amused glance, “Thee is no way on earth that you can finish all that”,

Tessa scoffed at him but she herself knew he was absolutely right, mixing all these different types of foods together would no doubt send her to the toilet for at least a week- tops, “Try me”, what in the world was she doing?

“Okay, fine. Let’s strike a deal. You finish it all and you get to ask me to do anything you want and if you don’t, vice versa”, he brought out his hand like the true business man he was and stupidly, Tessa shook on it, sealing their unbreakable contract,

“Deal”. There was no way that Tessa was going to let herself loose to Gabriel O’Connell, it was just way too much of a risk to let that happen. Everyone knew that he was manipulative and extremely coercive, there was no telling what he would ask her to do if she lost. Lick his feet maybe? Call him master for a whole year? Hire her to be his sidekick? Make her have hot sex with him in his bathtub? Not that she would not have been more than happy to oblige to the last one, in fact, she would gladly quit in the middle if she knew for sure that it was going to be the last one, but one could never tell- it could be the second one for all she knew.

After thirty excruciating minutes of stuffing her face with food, she was finally down to the last plate and the only thing that rushed through her head other than winning the stupid bet with Gabriel was how the different mixtures of food had began to bubble up within the walls of her stomach and how some of it threatened to shoot back up in a huge mess.

Noticing the face she had on, Gabriel gave her a sly look that also, in some kind of sickening way showed worry and concern, “You could just give up and loose the bet”, his voice sounded sourly sweet and she craved so much to give him a snarky reply but she knew that if she were to speak at that moment, vomit was bound to fly out of her mouth- and it definitely wasn’t the wordy type of vomit.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she pulled the last and final dish cover to reveal a bowl of Boeuf bourguignon which oddly looked like barf to her at that moment. She had lost her appetite for anything and everything and regretted even taking him up on this stupid bet of his.

She took a spoon of the food and let out a loud groan, the dish was absolutely delicious but she just could not enjoy it as much as she wanted to. She had never been more grateful with the fact that expensive food came in small portions, it was like, the more expensive the food was, the smaller the quantity you get- so long as it comes with a fancy name placed beside it.

Heck, they could be selling French fries and chicken and find a name for it that would make it seem much more expensive than it actually should be; Sliced Deep Fried Irish Potato Chips with a Hot Pepper Glazed Meat Producing Chicken Lap and a Dash of Garnished Tomato Sauce.

The thought made Tessa chuckle as she finished the last spoon of the food, looking up at Gabriel with a weak victorious grin. She was extremely happy to have one but that also did not stop her from feeling nauseous and faint due to the amount of food she had stuffed into her guts.

His face turned from amused to surprised then morphed a look that showed that he was actually impressed by what she had done. He never in a thousand years thought that such a tiny girl would be capable of clearing up plates like the way Tessa had- he had once again either underestimated her or the whole female species at large. “Congratulations”, he spoke, clapping his hands together gently, “Somehow, you managed to eat all the food and won the bet”,

“Yeah, well I feel like shit”, Tessa was finding it hard to breath or speak properly,

“I am glad”, Tessa rolled her eyes at him but could not say anything to counter attack him as doing so would actually lead to an argument- an argument that she just could not afford right then, “Well, since you are the winner- surprisingly, you get to ask me for anything”, Gabriel leaned closer to the table, anticipating whatever she was going to ask him to do, no matter how bad it was. Unlike his step-brothers, Gabriel was actually a man of his words, thinking everything twice before finally making his decisions so he would know not to go back on them later in life or regret anything along the way.

Same with Tessa. He had analyzed every single aspect of the relationship he planned on having with her, not making any room for any sort of improvisations. He was a perfectionist, always has been and always will be. He was not dull- he was far from it but he also was not one to go out of the box, it was just way past any line or zone of comfort for him.

She let out a sigh, trying to steady her erratic breathing, “You know what?”,

“What?”, the tone of her voice had said it all, there was an improvisation coming up, a step out of his safe little box,

“I do not want anything tonight, so, until then”, yes, it was definitely a step out of the box for him. A huge step that he had no choice other than to take.