Bedmates Soulmates

lent 16s What

1/3

Isn't This What You Wanted?

Kira closed the door with one hand while carefully balancing a fruit platter with the other.

She turned on the smile. 'Elsie has asked me to bring you dessert.'

No one could say no to dessert, right?

"No, I don't want it."

Kira's smile vanished as Austyn's curt response deflated her.

Why was the man so cold?

Unwilling to admit defeat just yet, Kira set down the large plate on the desk, careful not to touch any of his papers

'An apple a day keeps the doctor away. A fruit platter a day keeps all diseases at bay. Kiwi, for example, is rich in vitamin C and dietary fibres. It'll do you a world of good. Go ahead, try some.' Austyn studied his young wife.

She was looking at him with those large, round, beseeching eyes again.

Those damned eyes,

Saying no to her would be like saying no to Bambi.

'Bring it here," he rapped the desk with his pen.

Kira didn't need to be told twice.

She immediately stepped around the desk to stand next to his chair, bringing the platter with her.

Picking up a slice of apple with a fork, she held it next to his mouth. "Let's start with apple, loaded with antioxidants and very few calories." Austyn flinched.

He rolled his chair to the side, putting some distance between him and his wife.

The last time he was spoon-fed was before he turned one.

The M Group's high-powered, full-grown president refused to stoop to such an infantile act.

Kira was still bent at the waist, holding the fork in on hand,

She was using those eyes on him again.

Those confounded, expressive, doe-like eyes.

The eyes that seemed to say, 'I brought the platter especially for you. Can you really be so cruel as to turn me down?"

If he spurned the offer, would she view him in the same light as Mr Bumble the Beadle, who said no to the poor orphan in Oliver Twist? Austyn rolled his chair back.

He opened his mouth.

A gleeful Kira served the slice of apple to her husband.

Austyn turned his face away as he chewed, blaming his out-of-character behaviour on post-dinner brain

fog.

Kira watched him with the attentiveness of a mother osprey watching its hatchling.

"You've had a long day," Kira said as she set down the fork. 'Let me give you a massage."

She circled to the back of his chair and put both hands on his shoulders. "How's the pressure? Too much?"

Austyn leaned back in his chair, his eyes half-closed.

How could she exert too much pressure with those tiny hands?

He felt her soft, nimble fingers knead the base of his neck before moving across his shoulders.

Austyn relaxed despite himself.

Where did she learn this?

Had she practised it on someone else?

Why was she being such a delight today?

She had certainly pulled out all the stops.

But Austyn wasn't born yesterday.

In the cut-throat world of commerce, he'd learned to look a gift horse in the mouth.

There was usually a price tag attached to the "free gift!"

Austyn kept his thoughts to himself and waited for Kira to speak.

In life, unlike in chess, there was a second mover advantage.

Spotting another opportunity to be helpful, Kira offered in a syrupy voice, 'Let me help you tidy up the desk. It's such a mess."

The documents are confidential contracts, worth at least a hundred million dollars each," Austyn said. Only the C-level executives at my company are allowed access."

Kira immediately shrank back and offered an apologetic shrug. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry. Don't worry, I didn't see a word of it.'

She was silently berating herself when she felt a hand on her waist.

"Ah!"

a fell onto 4

With a startled cry, lap.

She had one hand on his chest and the other around his neck.

'What... what are you doing?' she swallowed.

Austyn looked into her eyes. 'Isn't this what you wanted?

"What?"

Could he know what she was up to?

But she had not told him she was applying for a position at the M Group.

How could he know she was going to ask him for help?

"You've gone all out tonight to get my attention. Congratulations, you've got it. While your art of seduction still needs some polishing up, it worked." Kira's eyes grew rounder.

"The man's really in love with himself!' she thought. 'He must think every woman's lusting after his body!"

Austyn removed his glasses and no longer looked like professor.

His eyelids were lowered, those long lashes casting a shadow over his face.

Putting his big, warm hand on the back of her neck, he drew her in for a long, hard kiss.

When Kira finally came up for air, she realised, belatedly, she'd struck out again.

At the foyer, in the dining room, and now, in his study. How did the man always end up with the upper hand?