Perfect Match: Irresistible Desire For You
Chapter 45

Because of the loud music playing, Joseph and Ashley couldn’t make out the whispers of the crowd. However, they were aware that some people were taking pictures of them. Despite this, Joseph didn’t do anything to stop them. As far as he was concerned, these photos could help to improve his relationship with Ashley. Rumors could spread like wildfire as soon as news about it was released. At the thought of this, he felt like people gossiping about their relationship wasn’t a bad thing. Considering how Joseph didn’t seem to be bothered by being photographed, Ashley decided to just keep silent. After all, her words wouldn’t be as convincing as Joseph’s. Besides, if she was to try to stop them, it would just look as if she was desperately trying to hide something.

The two of them walked towards the dance floor one after another. Bowing slightly to her, Joseph extended his right hand in front of Ashley and courteously said, “May I have this dance?”

Hearing his invitation to dance, a graceful smile appeared on Ashley’s face, and she placed her hand on the palm of his to accept it.

Holding her slender hand, Joseph led Ashley to the dance floor.

In the eyes of everyone watching, these two beautiful people looked as though they were a prince and a princess who came straight out of a fairy tale. As they started to dance, the other guests burst into a warm applause. Watching the two of them dancing so gracefully, the crowd started looking for their own partners one by one. With that, the dance ball went underway.

When the music stopped playing, Joseph and Ashley walked off the dance floor together. Although the two of them didn’t really talk much while dancing, it seemed that Ashley was starting to see Joseph in a different light. This time, Joseph didn’t mention anything about the one-night-stand, nor did he make such an unreasonable request like he did last time. In fact, he acted like a perfect gentleman and even came to her rescue a number of times.

Little did Ashley know, Joseph’s actions tonight were actually part of a well-thought-out plan. When he saw Ashley and Mike having dinner together at the restaurant last time by chance, he asked someone to have her investigated at once. From this, he discovered a few things about her, including her family background, what she had been up to these days, and what kind of personality she had. Although she had been born into a wealthy family, Ashley had always kept a low profile. Despite this, she had always been proud.

Through the investigation, Joseph found out that he couldn’t treat Ashley the same way he treated other women. As it turned out, she was not like other girls. She had no interest in money or material things, which was probably the reason why his request to make her his woman had been turned down despite it being proposed by such a rich and powerful man like him. Truth be told, he considered looking for a way to force Ashley to agree to his request, but that might change who she really was and cause her to become submissive. This was something he couldn’t bear the thought of. Thinking of this, he made up his mind to just “fish for a long time”. Meaning to say, he couldn’t rush things; he had to take his time and be patient. In the words of Zachary, the saint of love, if he wanted to make women fall head over heels for him, he had to steal their hearts.

Having said that, meeting Ashley in this party tonight wasn’t really a part of his plan. He had originally planned to start making a move in a couple of days and take his time in achieving his goal, which was to make Ashley willingly agree to marry him, not because he was in love with her, but because she was the only woman he had ever shown any interest in so far.

As soon as Joseph and Ashley left the dance floor, two tall figures walked towards them. Zachary gave the two of them a meaningful glance and said with a smile, “You danced well! Joseph, I never knew you could do that.” Zachary couldn’t help teasing Joseph a little. After all, he really had no idea that his friend could dance so well.

When Joseph stood up and left the corner, Zachary immediately made up with an excuse to keep Mike occupied so that his friend and Ashley could be alone. He deliberately approached Mike and started talking a lot about business to keep him distracted. That way, the two would get a chance to know a little more about each other.

When the first song ended, the two of them decided to go to the dance floor to check up on Ashley and Joseph. As soon as they reached the middle of the dance floor, they found Joseph and Ashley dancing there. Compared to the other pairs dancing around them, the two of them really stood out. The way they danced, along with their exceptional appearances and personalities, made them seem as if they were made for each other, and everyone looked at them in admiration.

Hearing Zachary’s teasing, Joseph let out a soft chuckle but didn’t give any response. Throughout the years he had stayed abroad, he had attended all kinds of social gatherings. In fact, he was a man of many talents and was proficient in all aspects. However, he never really got the chance to show it, nor did he ever want to.

Mike walked up to Ashley and looked at his sister’s beautiful face glowing in the light. Seeing this, he couldn’t help sighing in his heart, ‘There’s no doubt that a lot of people think my sister and Joseph look perfect for each other. But, when I see the indifferent expression on Joseph’s face, it makes me feel as if he doesn’t have any feelings for her at all. I can’t tell what’s going on inside his head. But, considering his aloof personality, why would he spend time alone with a woman? Both of them don’t seem to be interested. I wonder if it’s a good idea for them to be together.’

It wasn’t that he didn’t think it would be a good idea, it was just that he was worried about his sister’s marriage. No one could deny the fact that the two of them would be the perfect couple. However, he found himself caught between a rock and a hard place, because he had already found a good man for his sister.

Noticing that Mike was looking at her and seemed to be at sixes and sevens, she gently tugged his sleeve and said, “Let’s go. I’ll go with you to meet other guests.”

After saying goodbye to Joseph and Zachary, they left to rub elbows with the other guests.

When Ashley and Mike walked away, Zachary nudged Joseph beside him with his elbow and teased again, “What’s the matter? Haven’t you captured the beautiful lady’s heart yet?”

As a matter of fact, he indeed hadn’t captured Ashley’s heart yet. This was the first time Joseph had ever felt so frustrated. Ashley had always been by herself and wasn’t taking him seriously. It was starting to get under his skin. Since he had already made up his mind to fish for a long time, he couldn’t just go after her so shamelessly. For now, all he could do was wait for the next opportunity to get close to her. Of course, there was no way he could say this to Zachary, who seemed to replace what was happening quite amusing.

“Where’s your fussy woman’s look?” Joseph suddenly asked Zachary, his eyes filled with contempt.

When he entered the party, he noticed right away that Zachary seemed so down in the dumps. He shot him a quick glance and saw the look of disappointment on his face. At that moment, he remembered how happy Zachary looked when he came back from Olkfield a few days ago. There was such a stark contrast between his attitude back then compared to now. Zachary must be going through something, and it was written all over his face. Since he couldn’t possibly be worrying about his career or money, it must be something about love.

Truth be told, he wanted to wait until Zachary was ready to talk about it. But, since the latter thought it would be a great idea to poke fun at Joseph for his failed attempt to win the girl’s heart, he couldn’t blame him for rubbing salt in his wound.

Zachary was caught off guard, as he did not expect that Joseph would give him such a response. When he found out that Joseph was planning to save the beautiful lady like a hero, Zachary, who had always enjoyed watching a good drama, started to look forward to watching it from the sidelines. And when he heard Joseph tell Ashley to wear more clothes, he couldn’t hold back his laughter. This helped him to take his mind off things, and his sadness had been swept away. Zachary wanted to make fun of Joseph’s slow progress, but karma bit him back instead. It reminded him of his own problems again.