Bedmates Soulmates
CHAPTER 362

But he could no longer deny it.

He wanted Kira, heart, mind and soul.

He wanted the whole of her to belong to him and him only.

Jesse checked to make sure the door of the study was closed and locked.

He stomped back to Austyn

'Do you know what's going to happen when her father wakes up? Jesse hissed between gritted teeth. 'Please tell me this is some April Fools' Day prank that I don't understand. You're just yanling my chain, aren't you?" Austyn shook his head.

He wanted to say he was joking, but he wasn't.

Every word he said was true.

Jesse stood, paced, turned back, then paced again.

He pulled on his short hair, frustrated,

"I thought...I thought you had everything under control."

"I thought so too.' Austyn smiled bitterly. 'But apparently, my feelings for her are not one of those things.

He tried.

He tried to ignore his feelings.

He went away to Farindon; he allowed a prostitute to stay in his room; he allowed the woman to make advances on him; the test failed.

He tried it again with Kayleigh; the test falled there too.

He tried staying away from the

evilla and from her; it

It never lasted for more than two days.

Feelings were not business contracts, he realised.

He couldn't just lock them away in a drawer and forget about then.

Jesse sighed.

'Did you forget why you married her?"

'I didn't.'

"So what are you going to do now?"

Austyn didn't reply.

He had no answer to that question.

'If she knows you married her because of her father, because you were going to... She's going to hate you for the rest of her life."

Austyn was not one to waste time with regrets.

Crying over spilled milk changed nothing.

But now he regretted marrying her.

If he'd kept his distance from the beginning, if he'd approached her with an offer of money like he originally intended instead of an offer of marriage, none of this would have happened. He wouldn't be caught between a rock and a damn hard place right now.

He knew Jesse was right.

Kira would never forgive him if she knew the truth.

'It's late. You should go home."

Austyn returned to his cigarette.

Jesse frowned.

He wanted to say something

Austyn couldn't just drop this bombshell on him and then ask him to leave.

But he didn't know what to say.

If Austyn McCarthy, usually the smartest one of their bunch, couldn't sort out this mess, neither could Jesse.

The doctor closed the door gently on his way out.

He knew this was not over.

Austyn chain-smoked.

A ringtone shattered the silence in the study.

The caller ID had a foreign country code.

Austyn frowned, then he remembered the time difference.

It must be close to noon in Trinidonia right now.

He answered the call.

"Hi, Mom."

"Am I disturbing your sleep?"

"No, I'm still up.'

Austyn smiled.

His mother's voice sounded good over the phone.

'I was feeling a little better today,' Charlotte said. 'So my doctor showed mercy and granted me five minutes of phone time. I called you straight away. How have you been, my dear boy?" Austyn ground out his cigarette in the ashtray.

'I'm glad you're feeling better. As for me, nothing to complain about. But..."

A Rock And A Dame Hard Place