?Chapter 185:


    Across town, dinner had just wrapped up between Ste, Sharon, and William.


    As Ste stood to pay the bill, William dabbed his mouth with a napkin and looked up, his voice unusually warm. “Next time, it’s on me.”


    Sharon tilted her head, brows raised. William Briggs was more polite than she’d expected.


    The three of them exited the restaurant together. Dark, dense clouds nketed the sky, threatening to unleash a downpour at any moment. William’s phone buzzed. He answered, listened for a moment, then said, “I’ve got something urgent at the office. Where are you headed? I can have the driver take you.”


    Ste shook her head gently. “No need. We’re just going shopping.” She couldn’t help but feel puzzled—why was William being so… polite? So attentive?


    After he left, Sharon linked arms with her, eyeing her closely. “Stel, are you really telling me nothing’s going on with you two? That’s just your boss?”


    Ste bumped her shoulder yfully. “Yes. He’s the boss who wires my paycheck. Let’s go.” They wandered the mall, picking up odds and ends, sharing quietughs as they strolled.


    When they reached the street, arms full of bags, someone stepped out of a nearby car.


    Travis. His eyes lit up the second he spotted Ste. “Stel… Ms. Gilbert!”


    What a coincidence.”


    She nodded calmly, keeping her expression neutral.


    Seeing her hands full, Travis stepped toward her. “Let me help you with those.”


    Ste subtly shifted the bags behind her. “No need. They’re light.”


    She wasn’t used to Travis’s enthusiasm and wasn’t sure what to make of it.


    She didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. They’d barely spoken before—this kind of eagerness felt misced.


    “I’ve got something to take care of,” she added, polite but firm. “I’ll be off, Mr. Acosta.”


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    She looped her arm through Sharon’s and walked across the street, sliding into the car quickly.


    Sharon hopped into the driver’s seat. In the rearview mirror, she spotted Travis still watching them from across the road, his gaze lingering. She smirked. “Stel, that guy is totally into you.”


    Ste nearly choked. “What? No way! We’ve barely met five times!” Sharon didn’t believe Ste. After all, that man who’d stepped out of the Mercedes had been looking at Ste with such deep affection in his eyes, like a lovesick puppy. But Ste imed they’d only met no more than five times? Impossible!


    Sharon wondered if Ste’s emotional radar had been off since her divorce, unable to see the obvious.


    “Stel, I think you need sses,” Sharon said with mock seriousness.


    “No, babe—you need a date,” Ste shot back, halfughing.


    She had work, goals, a life to build. Romance? Not on the list.


    When they pulled up to the research institute, Sharon nced around. “You’re really living here?”


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