Draft version - Russian Roulette - Family secrets

Ch. 22: Jealous much, dolly?

They arrived at the mall and he parked as close to the entrance as possible. He grabbed her hand lightly and dragged her with him inside.

"Ok, I need something for a woman," he stated gazing at the stores with a hopeless expression feeling sweat form on his forehead.

Gareth knew how to shop for necessities for himself, mainly his staff bought everything he needed. Food he either got made or ordered. He himself was in charge of his clothes and his tech devices, anything beside that he bought online if he had to. Or had a personal shopper take care of.

Shopping was tedious and not worth his time.

"Early 30's, modern, fashion interested, works too much." he explained to Mackenzie to give her a grasp of where to begin.

Mackenzie pulled her hand from his with an angry glare. "If you brought me here to help you find something for your girlfriend or mistress, you'd better think again!"

"Jealous much, dolly?" he drawled with a provocatively raised eyebrow. "It's for my secretary, who's very single and not sharing anything with me but my front office, I might add." His lips curled upwards in a self-righteous smirk. "I usually give her a bonus in her paycheck, this time I felt like she needed some pampering of sorts. You know, girly shit I know nothing about, hence your needed expertise..."
"Oh!"

Mackenzie felt her cheeks burn. Not only because she had mistakenly made it very clear she was territorial about him, but also because he had caught on to it.
"No harm, Mackenzie. If it helps, there's only you for me," he mumbled sensually.

And with no further talk he grabbed her hand again and made little sensual circles with his thumb to reassure her.

"So, do you have any ideas?" Gareth was back to hopelessly looking at the storefronts mocking him for his lack of ideas.
"Well, depends on the price range?"
"I don't care, she deserves something nice. Find something?"

This time she dragged him to the information board and clicked the interactive screen to see which options she had. "This looks promising." She memorized the route there and pulled him with her.

Gareth loved how she had that determined woman-on-a-mission look on her face. She had helpful tunnel vision and he gladly followed her, smiling smugly at her tiny jealousy fit. His ego needed that, and he relished in it. He was going crazy waiting for her, vowing he would not push the issue. Though from what he had just witnessed she was warming up to him, and she had better be because he was about to be diagnosed with a terminal case of blue balls if she did not let him have her soon.

She pulled him into what looked like a hair and nail salon. It smelled perfumy and paradoxically clinical in there. He looked around. It seemed classy and the women in there were beautiful and the workers appeared professional. Everything was held in soft yellow and white, grey and white leather chairs and girly contraptions he had no clue about were plentiful.

Mackenzie showed him a brochure she found on the reception counter. "Ok, Pretty Boy, look at this. Maybe a massage, facial, nails and hair package? You said she was single? Maybe she'd like a makeover?"

Impressed, Gareth raised his eyebrow. That was not a bad idea actually. He scanned the list. Jesus fucking Christ, half the stuff in the brochure he had no idea what was. Gareth appreciated everything women did to make themselves look attractive; he had not taken the time to look into the extent of those possibilities.

He wanted the finished product; he had no need to know about the process involved of women getting there.

"Malyshka, just combine whatever you think she'll like and have them make a gift certificate."

Mackenzie did not skip a beat; she began pointing at things for the receptionist to note down. She sent him a small embarrassing shrug. "I think I went a bit overboard, but so many things looked great, half of them I've not tried myself."
"Make that two of those," he told the receptionist and threw his credit card on the counter.

She could spend as much of his money she would want as long as she spent time with him while doing it.

"Two?"
"Yes, dolly dear. One for Nina and one for you. As a thank you."
"I don't need it, Gareth. Don't do that."
"Believe me, you'll have earned it when we're done today. Besides, it's my pleasure."

There was no arguing against him. She heard it in his tone of voice, and to be perfectly honest, she liked that he wanted to give her something for her troubles, though she did not know what those troubles were yet.

She heard her stomach growl a bit, she needed to find some food before long. Gareth had hijacked her at her lunch break.

"Are you hungry?"
"No, no, it's fine."

Of course, he had noticed her growling gut. Very lady like, Mackenzie, she scolded herself. How did she always manage to get herself into some weird situation with him?

"Your stomach seems to disagree. You want some fast food or we can find a restaurant?"
"I know what I want, but I'm buying."
"This isn't supposed to be an expense for you," he said when she was pulling him towards a street kitchen truck inside the mall.

Gareth stood beside her completely in awe while she talked with the Korean lady inside the truck...

In fucking fluent Korean.

He had no idea what she ordered; he just helped her carry whatever was handed to him to a table nearby. It looked delicious and inviting. It smelled like heaven.
"Eat," she encouraged with a big smile and placed a can of coke in front of him.

"That was amazing," he mumbled happily though embarrassed that he had cleaned out everything she had not been able to eat. It had been too good to waste. Sometimes he wondered why he was not adventurous enough to dive into new cuisines.

Mackenzie had surprised him, she did not seem like she wanted away from his company, and they had talked like they had back then. Like the friendship was back. Sadly, he had a time schedule otherwise he would have been content with sitting there with her for hours talking and watching her smile as her eyes lit up when she got excited.

Gareth wiped his mouth with a napkin and carried all the trash to a bin. Better a short but good memory than none at all he told himself helping her get up from the chair.

"I have to eat here more often."
"I send for food from here all the time. Next time I can order you some too?"
"Please do! And any other place you think I should try."
"So what's next on the agenda?"
"Toy store," he said cryptically. 

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