Mr. CEO's Substitute Bride
Chapter 146, Nathan Moore’s Restraint

Chapter 146: 146, Nathan Moore’s Restraint

Titus suddenly remembered that he had made an appointment with Logan Ray.

He returned to the wardrobe to pick out a set of clothes to wear, a coffee-colored floral shirt with matching wide-leg pants, the latest from Savannah. After applying light makeup and tidying up his flowing waves, he put on a trench coat and walked out of the room with his wallet in hand.

He called Logan as soon as he stepped into the elevator. Logan mentioned a venue, a bar in T city, asking him to wait there, and he would arrive shortly.

Glancing at his wristwatch, it was almost twenty-three o’clock. At this time, other than a bar, it seemed there wasn’t a better place to meet.

Half an hour later, the taxi stopped in front of a bar.

After getting out of the cab, Titus looked up at the bar’s logo and suddenly felt that, in just a short span of three years, a lot had changed.

The once "Heaven on Earth" was now TRC, and he wondered whether Sophie was still performing there.

Speaking of Sophie, Titus suddenly thought of the celebrity he had encountered at the airport, who had the same age and face as Sophie Foster, but her autograph read Beatrice Hargrave...

Without much time to think, Titus walked towards the bar’s entrance in his high heels.

The location was the same, but the interior style had changed significantly, luxurious yet composed.

Titus had been here once before, invited by Sophie Foster to listen to her sing. Back then, the bar was filled with the scent of heavy metal, and the clientele was mostly in their twenties.

He went straight to the bar counter, ordered a cocktail, placed his wallet on the counter, and sat down on a high stool.

Even though it was autumn outside, the temperature indoors was quite high. He took off his coat, draped it casually behind him, gathered his flowing waves behind his ears, and absently watched the crowd as he sipped his drink.

On stage, a couple of scantily clad ladies were vigorously twisting their bodies around a pole.

Titus couldn’t understand when Logan had developed such a taste for amusement in these kinds of places.

Back when they were abroad, Logan would blush at the sight of the sexy dancers at the bars they occasionally visited.

After putting down his glass, Titus glanced at the time on his wristwatch and took out his phone to call Logan again.

The music was loud, making it hard to hear. Titus plugged one ear with a finger and heard Logan saying he was almost there... Titus wished him to be careful on the road before hanging up.

"What a coincidence..." A deep, magnetic voice came from behind him, making Titus tense up for a moment. His hand holding the phone rested on the bar counter, and he then swiveled the stool around, greeting the man standing behind him with a charming smile.

"Quite the coincidence."

Nathan Moore pulled up a high stool next to him and took a seat, "When did you come back to T city?"

Their tone was casual, their expressions plain, as if the two of them were old friends.

Titus took a sip from the drink the bar had provided and looked around out of boredom, "I just arrived this afternoon."

The bartender had already brought out a bottle of red wine and a glass for Nathan as soon as he sat down, indicating that Nathan was a regular here.

Nathan uncorked the wine and poured himself a glass, his gaze not meeting Titus’s.

"Where are you staying?"

"At a hotel." Titus turned back his gaze, indifferent. Other than a hotel, he could not think of a better place to stay.

"Around here?" Nathan asked, turning towards him after pouring the wine, his obsidian eyes looked straight at Titus, without any hint of avoidance.

"Not too far."

Titus rested his elbows on the bar, propping his chin in one hand and holding his drink in the other, looking forward nonchalantly with a slightly arrogant curve to his lips.

Nathan Moore quietly watched her, seeing her up close for the first time after three long years.

She had become much fuller compared to three years ago; no longer possessing the untouchable, icy charm of the past. Now, she carried the fragrance of a distinguished world, each gesture and movement exuded grace and poise.

Especially her eyebrows and eyes, the changes were pronounced, adopting a somewhat Western charm. He suspected it was...

Nathan Moore raised his finger slightly, "This part here..."

Titus Zane glanced back with a flicker in her eyes, her hand propping her chin, she touched the eyes that Nathan had pointed out, her full lips curving into a subtle smile as she winked at him.

"I had the European-style eyelid surgery, does it look much prettier?"

Nathan Moore cast his gaze downward, staring at the wine glass in his hand, "Mhm, very beautiful."

Titus Zane stroked it again, turning back to face the inside of the bar, her lips slightly lifted, "I also think it looks much prettier. When I have time, I’ll go and have my nose done, it would be even more perfect."

"Don’t do it!" almost immediately after Titus Zane finished speaking, Nathan Moore urgently voiced out. He turned his handsome face slightly, meeting Titus Zane’s doubtful eyes, he licked his lips and took a sip of the drink he’d brought to the bedside, his demeanor slightly embarrassed, "I mean..."

"Hmm?" Titus Zane raised an eyebrow, not understanding what Nathan meant by "don’t do it."

"What I mean is,"

After a sip of red wine, Nathan Moore lowered his eyes to the liquid in the glass, considering his words, then lifted his dark pupils again to meet Titus Zane’s gaze and said, "You are already very beautiful now."

"Really?" Titus Zane’s expression was somewhat surprised; she did not expect this man to compliment a woman’s beauty.

She curved her lips, and even her enticing eyes seemed to follow the gesture, turning back again, she lifted her glass, "Since I’m pretty enough, then I won’t have it done. It’s painful and a waste."

Nathan Moore didn’t say anything, his well-defined fingers tightly clutching the wine glass, his obsidian eyes continuing to follow Titus Zane.

Time seemed to favor him; in three years, his handsome face had hardly changed. The only difference was his character—perhaps his heart had aged, and so he had become even more composed than before.

As for Titus Zane, it seemed she was not so favored by time. Apart from becoming fuller in figure, when she smiled, there were... fine lines at the corners of her eyes.

Nathan Moore licked his lips and involuntarily lifted his finger again.

"Here..." Nathan Moore hesitantly, "there are... fine lines."

Mentioning the fine lines at the eye corners, Titus Zane let out a soft sigh, her hand touching the spot, "Yes, I’m getting older, wrinkles are forming."

"You are not old." Nathan Moore blurted out instinctively, then realizing it might be somewhat abrupt, he lowered his gaze again, looking awkwardly at the wine glass in his hand.

...

Watching Nathan’s slightly flustered demeanor, Titus Zane suddenly laughed again.

This man, always so calm and composed, when did he start behaving like a juvenile?

Withdrawing her gaze, she propped her chin again, gazing into the distance, Titus Zane couldn’t help but reflect.

"How can I not age, I am already thirty-one."

If it weren’t for all those past events, perhaps she and Logan Ray would have been surrounded by children by now.

Lost in thought, her phone on the bar flashed a few times. Glancing at the number, it was Logan Ray. Without hesitation, Titus Zane picked up the phone and held it to her ear.

"Logan..."