Perfect Match: Irresistible Desire For You
Chapter 17

After Zachary left, Joseph opened the proposal drawn up by Synder Group. Objectively speaking, the plan was excellently prepared. If the other party weren’t Synder Group, he wouldn’t have hesitated to approve the cooperation proposal. As he neared the bottom of the stack of documents, a CD fell off from between the pages. Joseph stooped down to pick up the CD that slipped to the floor. He knew that it contained the video coverage of the meeting, which Zachary so obviously emphasized.

Joseph had some time on his hands, so he placed the CD into his laptop’s drive. Soon, a group of people, presumably Synder Group representatives, appeared on the screen. The video focused more closely on the group, and Joseph looked at his screen in surprise. His eyes unconsciously followed the woman who led the group.

The head negotiator’s face was blurry, but her graceful figure was evident even in the low-quality video. She was dressed in a black skirt suit with a white dress shirt underneath, but the business-like ensemble did not make the woman look old or stuffy. On the contrary, the well-tailored suit showed off the woman’s figure marvelously. In marked contrast to the rest of her team, who kept looking around every once in a while to take in everything with awestruck looks on their faces, the woman remained calm and elegant. She followed behind their guide on the way to the board room, her face not betraying any trace of admiration or surprise.

Then, the camera switched to the one inside the boardroom, and Joseph suddenly felt like reality had been suspended. It really was that damn woman. He never had to start looking for her—here she was, falling on his figurative lap by herself. Joseph’s mind was thrown back to that one unforgettable night of passion a month ago. Of course, the most memorable detail of that night was waking up to the sight of the note and the money left on the nightstand. The anger he had been suppressing since then started to smolder inside his chest once again at the memory.

Back then, Joseph berated himself for being too swayed by a woman of no consequence to him, so he pushed back his fury and the odd, unhinged feeling to the bottom of his heart. He thought that the woman was playing hard-to-get and would soon come to him. However, to his surprise, the woman never appeared again in front of him. Instead of relief, Joseph felt annoyance. The woman’s face and everything that transpired that night remained clearly etched in his memories.

Joseph thrived in being in control, and that night was the first time he had ever let go of it. He found himself obsessed with the woman, possibly because she was the first woman he had ever touched. To test his hypothesis, he requested his people to discreetly arrange meetings with beautiful women in order to address his physical needs.

The experiment did not go well. When the first woman appeared before him, naked and shy, he felt nothing but disgust. Before the woman could approach him, Joseph had already slammed the door to her face.

On the second night, he specifically requested for his date to be dressed neatly. When Joseph entered the room, the woman standing beside the bed was shocked by his extraordinarily handsome appearance. The avaricious light in her eyes immediately quashed every inkling of interest Joseph might have felt toward her. Once again, his guest ended up getting kicked out of the room.

The same thing happened for six consecutive nights since. Joseph felt nothing for any of those women, so he abandoned the experiment.

All that his little research had proven was that women were self-centered creatures who were greedy for either his money or his appearance. He had met the only exception to those replaceings that night. After considerable thought, Joseph decided that he didn’t need to waste so much time on a woman. Besides, he was busy with his plans to absorb Synder Group, so he kept the events of that night to the back of his mind.

However, just one look at Ashley’s face on the screen made all of these repressed memories come rushing into Joseph’s mind.

“Woman, since you’re now here, it’s time to settle the score between us,” Joseph murmured

as he stared at the screen.