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Chapter 5

Leilani

I smiled at Neil as I walked down the stairs, watching his eyes light up with appreciation as his blue gaze took in my appearance. He was sitting at the glass dining table, a phone in his hand, looking handsome as usual. He motioned to me to come over to him. When I got to him, his hand held my waist and pulled me against his body.

“You look so beautiful, babe.” He gave me a flashy smile. I giggled and leaned down to kiss his lips, caressing his jaw. He tried to pull me down to sit in his lap but I pulled away, smiling.

“Come here,” He protested, holding my hand.

“Baby, I’m helping Sara set the table,” I cooed. “I don’t want you to get to work late.”

He scoffed. “I’m the fucking manager, I do whatever I want.”

“Getting to work late won’t get your project going faster.”

He bit his lip. I obviously had a point. Then he grinned. “You’re really trying to get rid of me so bad?”

I laughed, shaking my head at him. He chuckled, watching me with gleaming blue eyes lovingly. Then his gaze slid down to my fingers in his palm. His smile grew thoughtful as his thumb brushed over the diamond ring on my finger.

My heart started to ache.

“I really love you, babe.” He said, face turning serious as he gazed back up at me. He looked so endearing. And it made me feel uneasy.

“I-I love you too, Neil,” I said, my voice small. My guts churned, just like they always did each time I had to say those words to Neil. He obviously loved me, but I could not say I really love him back. Like, crazy-in-love type shit I saw in movies. I cared a lot for him, I cherished him, he was the most important man in my life. And he was the most handsome, sexually attractive man I had ever met. Until Adonis. But madly in love? I don’t know, to be honest. I think I do love him…

He kissed my hand and slowly released it, a sweet expression on his face as I turned and walked towards the kitchen. I reached the doorway and glanced back. He was still gazing at me. Oh, Neil.

I winked at him and he grinned. With that, I stepped into the kitchen.

Sara was hovering around the kitchen table groaning with food in the far end of the kitchen. Delicious aromas filled the air and I inhaled, impressed as always. Sara's hair was rolled into her usual perfect bun and her hands were everywhere at once, almost making me dizzy from watching her.

She was humming a tune under her breath and as she turned, our eyes met and a smile immediately appeared on her face. “Good morning, Miss Waters. How was your night? I saw Mr. Giles earlier, he’s looking really radiant. You’re really taking good care of your man.” She finished it off with a teasing wink.

I felt my face heat.

Yeah, Sara loves to talk about everything. I mean, everything. She even told me once that I could come to her if I needed advice about anything at all. But at the same time, she doesn’t get too casual or intrusive. It’s a nice balance, really.

“Good morning to you too, Sara.” I smiled, walking towards the table of food.

“Oh no, I’ll handle that, Miss. Just go relax at the table and I’ll bring breakfast over right away.”

Sara always does this. And I always insist on helping out. “It’s fine, Sara.” She probably wanted to do as much work as she could before leaving. I made sure her job was so flexible that she could come over, do what she had to do, and leave immediately so we don’t have to bump into each other and I could have my privacy. And Sara was so good at it, that sometimes we don’t even set eyes on her for a long time.

I busied myself for a moment and I realized I hadn’t seen Adonis this morning. I paused, straightening up. Did he leave already?

“Sara?”

Sara glanced at me, smiling, her hands still busy.

I tried to sound as casual as possible. “Did you see Neil’s brother this morning?” I felt guilty just asking about him. I should relax. I have no reason to feel guilty. It’s normal for a fiancée to ask after her fiancé's step-brother. It’s a good thing.

She was quiet.

I blinked, feeling my stomach flip under her scrutiny. “Upstairs maybe? Or in his Jeep outside?” Shut up, Leilani. Just. Shut. Up.

The silence seemed to go on for centuries before a huge smile split her lips. “That dashing young man? Oh, Miss Waters. That man is a work of art, I tell you. He’s really Mr. Giles' brother? My goodness. I have never in my life come across such a gorgeous hunk like that-”

She abruptly stopped talking, eyes wide. I stared at her. She stared at me.

“Uh yes, I saw him earlier. Here in the kitchen, he was eating apples…” She trailed off, probably reminiscing the sight of Adonis eating apples. “And he was teasing Chase, the poor dog. But he was really nice to me, and really dirty-mouthed, that man.”

My eyes widened when she said dirty-mouthed. And wait, Chase the poor dog? What has Adonis done to him? But Sara was still busy talking.

“He curses so much, so casually that I felt like washing my ears out with holy oil. But it was okay again when he smiled and introduced himself saying his name is Adonis Ace Giles.”

Adonis Ace Giles. Even his full name sounded sexy

“He grabbed my hand in that big, hard hand of his and looked into my eyes-”

“Sara-”

“-and in that deep voice he said with such a bedroom tone, nice to meet you, Sara-”

“Sara.”

“-I know I’m no longer a young lady but he made me blush like a freaking virgin-”

“Sara!” I exclaimed in surprise. I had never seen Sara act like this before. What the fuck?

Sara gasped, catching herself. Her small eyes were wide. “Um, sorry I got carried away.” Then she quietly turned around and busied herself again, going back to humming her tune almost mechanically.

I nearly laughed. What the hell is going on? Day two and Adonis was wreaking havoc on women already. The worst part is that he didn’t seem to really care about anyone. Almost like he was oblivious to the effect he had on women. Old and young.

I couldn’t even blame Sara. The poor woman was alone with that walking sex called Adonis in the kitchen in the early hours of the morning. And he was eating apples. Imagine that.

Shaking my head to clear off my thoughts, I picked up a glass bowl of scrambled eggs and walked towards the doorway, telling Sara to please hurry up with the rest.

I walked to the dining table where Neil was talking to someone on the phone and placed the bowl down. That was when the front door opened. And Adonis stepped in, sweaty, clutching an almost empty water bottle in his veined grip and looking devastatingly hot.

My pulse stuttered.

He was so tall that he almost had to duck coming in. Looking ripped and so, so desirable.

“Hey, Neil.” He said, barely looking in Neil’s direction, as he shrugged off the black gym jacket around him to reveal a damp grey muscle shirt clinging to the ridges of his abs.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Neil raise a hand in response and then continued with the heated discussion with the person on the phone, in a low tone.

Adonis met my gaze with his dangerously intense eyes. A barrage of sudden carnal sensations hit me. His eyes seemed to strip me from across the space between us. His hair looked damp and stuck to his forehead in soft spikes, framing that handsome face with mesmerizing perfection. His gaze slid down from my face to my body and I nearly lost my breath.

Is he…checking me out? Neil is right here!

His gaze slowly moved back to meet my eyes, face unreadable. I swallowed, suddenly noticing the tiny silver studs in his ears. I did not see his piercings yesterday. He probably didn’t have the studs in.

“Hey, Leilani.” His deep voice sent goosebumps over my arms. I had forgotten how fucking sensual his voice is. “You look nice.”

He just gave me a compliment

Oh god

Calm. Calm. Calm.

“Thanks. I see you’ve located the gym around here already.” I said, trying to keep my voice airy. But then I shouldn’t have mentioned the gym. Now the image of sexy Adonis working out won’t leave my head.

“Yeah. I need to burn off excess energy.” He gave me a smile that made my face heat. God, why do those words sound like they have a different meaning?

Sara walked in, arms laden with food, and beamed immediately she saw Adonis. He sent a mesmerizing smile her way.

I stared, pulse stumbling. Jesus, he’s beautiful.

“Need a hand, Sara?”

She carefully placed breakfast on the table, grinning and blushing. “Oh, I’ve got this, thank you. Why don’t you come sit down and have some breakfast? I’m sure you’ve burned off those apples you had earlier working out at the gym.”

She raised her eyebrows, raking her small eyes down his impressive body.

He chuckled. “I’m sweaty as fuck. I’ll go have a shower first.”

Neil dropped his phone on the table and I abruptly snatched my eyes away from Adonis.

“For God’s sake, are you flirting with Sara, Adonis?” Neil asked.

Sara’s eyes widened even more.

Adonis gave Neil a flat look. “So?”

I was stumped. Sara gave a tiny squeak and walked, or rather, disappeared into the kitchen, face flaming red with a secret smile on her face.

Neil groaned and looked at me. “Let’s just have breakfast, babe.” He placed a hand on my waist and gently pulled me to the chair next to his.

I smiled at Neil and quickly glanced at Adonis. He was staring at me, and he caught my gaze briefly before turning towards the stairs, back muscles flexing beneath his damp shirt as he moved.

A few moments passed of Neil and I quietly having breakfast but my head was filled with a certain dark-eyed man that happened to be taking a shower upstairs right now.

Shower…

Shit!

I forgot to place some towels in the room Adonis was staying in, yesterday. Sara had probably done a thorough cleaning of the guest rooms some time back but had not put in new towels in the bathrooms. I remember telling her not to bother because she was not feeling too well and I offered to do it myself. And I totally forgot.

He probably didn’t use a towel last night after taking a shower. Oh fuck, he must think I’m some useless doll fiancée Neil kept as a trophy in the house that couldn’t do anything by herself without help from the housekeeper.

Shit!

“I’ll be right back, baby,” I said to Neil, giving him a quick kiss, and got up from the chair.

I moved up the stairs and into the laundry room, gathering a few folded towels, and moved down the large hallway and down towards the set of guest rooms at the far end. I fucking hope he’s not naked.

I reached his bedroom and knocked. Knocked. Knocked. Knocked. I got no answer. He’s probably in the bathroom. So, I grabbed the knob and twisted it, pushing the door open to see the large bedroom. And It was empty. Exhaling, I stepped in and walked towards a couch to drop the towel when his bathroom door opened.

And Adonis was standing there. Wet. Steamy and-

And-

Oh my god…

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