Iselyn
I’m sitting on my bed, staring at the door, my cortisol level rising as I overthink how I’m going to face Matleon. Last night, I was riding high on anger, and I kissed him back, giving myself a “I will be selfish from now on” TED talk, something that’s not even close to my nature. I can’t just kiss him while hating him. Thank God I didn’t do anything more than kiss him, because I don’t even want to imagine how I would have looked in the mirror after waking up.
I get out of bed. “Just behave like nothing happened. One kiss means nothing,” I mutter to myself. I’m never going to repeat it again.
I open my door quietly and walk out. He’s sitting at the dining table, eating his breakfast. I move toward it and sit down silently, serve myself, and start eating. I don’t even glance at him until I finish my breakfast and he speaks, amusement thick in his tone, “Feeling shy?”
I look at him with pursed lips. “I will marry you, but I have a demand in return.”
He nods with a smile. “Go on.”
“You can’t touch me.”
He raises one brow. “Are you sure? Because I’m pretty sure your actions last night were quite the opposite of your words.”
Heat rises in my cheeks. I shake my head. “That was just a mistake. I’m sure of what I want, and I want you not to touch me.”
He leans back in his chair. “Alright. I won’t touch you.” Then he smirks. “Until you ask me to.”
I narrow my eyes. “I will never ask.”
“We’ll see,” he says with the same smug expression, then gets up. I watch him approaching my chair, alert and cautious.
He bends down, grabs my chair from the base, and turns it around. He places both hands on either side of the chair, resting on the table behind me. His face hovers just an inch away from mine.
“What are you doing?” I breathe.
“Watching you,” he says, his eyes locked on me with an intensity that could melt anyone. And I’m no different.
He stays there. Technically, he isn’t touching me, but it’s no better. I’m still breathless, and a dizzy whirl has begun in my skull. The look of satisfaction on his face tells me he knows exactly the effect he’s having on me.
“Get away. I need to go.”
He tilts his head, considering it, then shakes his head. “Why would I? What will I get in return?”
I frown. “You just agreed that you wouldn’t touch me.”
He smirks. “I’m not touching you. I’m just making a transaction.”
“You’re being an asshole again, Matleon. You’re abusing your muscle power here.”
Arguing with him this close reduces the impact of my words significantly. I press on his chest to push him away, but he doesn’t budge an inch. He is a human bull. I groan in frustration.
“Alright, just keep standing like this,” I mutter through clenched teeth, crossing my arms above my breasts. Themovement catches his attention as he looks down. I follow his gaze, my breasts press together from the crossed arms, my t-shirt dipping into my cleavage. I open my arms and sit still, turning my face to the side.
He finally moves away. “I’m going to abuse my muscle power a lot, Angel.”
I look up at him. He gives me a sweet smile. “Just telling you in advance.”
Matleon could give you twenty types of smiles, and none of them would ever make him look harmless. Instead, each one makes him look scary in a different way.
???
Finally, it’s time to say goodbye to New York, with a “we’ll never meet again” note. My gut clenches in that familiar way at the thought. There could be a goodbye for New York, but not for America. I’m going to come back very soon.
Matleon is the director of Valante Corp, and its head office is in San Diego. He has many companies under him, and one of them is his automobile company Higtwin, which is based in New York. He only stays in New York for a short period once or twice a year, but in the past month, he stayed here to take care of me. This was the explanation my papa gave, another reason for him to see Matleon as a hero, a man who has zero time to waste and is still choosing to spend it on me. He was overjoyed when I agreed to marry this lovely man the next day, after Matleon had blackmailed me by threatening to kill Dex.
Dex’s medicine is prepared, and the test was a success. I spend my whole day with him and his girlfriend today, and tomorrow I will leave for Vladivostok.
