The CEO’s Contract Marriage - Chapter 13

When Alexander watched Miss Rayburn flinch from his touch, his heart clenched, while several explanations came to his mind.

Without his notice, his gaze had turned complicated.

“Miss Rayburn,” he said more gently. “It’s me. Alexander.”

Thinking that the young lady might not recognize his given first name in her sleep, he added, “It’s me, Donovan. You were having a nightmare.”

She stilled at his words and her eyes darted around in the dim light of the room before coming to rest upon his face.

“Mr Donovan?” She questioned uncertainly.

Alexander winced at her words.

He wasn’t certain he felt comfortable having his wife sharing his bed and calling him in such a formal tone of voice.

Still, he admitted morosely, “Yes, It’s me.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” she looked amazingly vulnerable lying there trying to explain herself, and he had the sudden urge to comfort her.

“That’s alright,” he ȧssured once again.

“I. . .” he sighed, not certain how to bring up this subject. “Is there a reason you were begging for forgiveness from your parents?”

Maybe it wasn’t the most tactful way of phrasing his question, but he wanted to know if she needed to see a counsellor or someone else.

Moreover, it was better to clear the air in the beginning than to let any kind of health issues linger.

“Nothing. It was only a nightmare.” She cast her eyes down when she replied but the action had a hint of evading the questioning.

The more she tried to avoid his answers, the more worried he felt.

Anastasia felt alarmed at the unblinking gaze she was subjected to from the man in front of her.

Finished with her words, she tried to get off the bed but was stopped by Alexander.

“Do you regularly have nightmares?”

She wanted to deny but then thought better of it and simply nodded her head miserably.

——–Line Break——–

Alexander swallowed the rising lump in his throat.

Thinking about it, she was a young girl who had just reached the cusp of womanhood and had been dealt with such a cruel hand by fate.

In any other circumstances, she should have been thinking about going on a shopping spree or talking about frivolous things with her friends, but she was facing such a complicated situation and that seemed to have forced her to grow up in a year.

“We’ll both sleep here and I’ll wake you if you have any more nightmares. Go back to sleep.”

The look of confusion intermingled with hope in her eyes at his words caught Alexander off guard.

Why?

Did she think of him being so unreasonable?

“Why would you do that?” Anastasia questioned him apprehensively.

“Because any decent human being would do that, Miss Rayburn and whatever you might think of me, I do not lack that much of human decency.”

She laid down after hearing his words and just when Alexander was about to doze off to sleep, he heard her murmur, “Thank you.”

The young girl fell asleep before he could tell her that she didn’t need to thank him for such a small gesture.

——–Line Break——–

Alexander was up at dawn and just as he was about to go downstairs to the gym, he saw Miss Rayburn’s luggage stacked conspicuously at a corner in the living room.

No matter how much he hated the idea of sharing his safe haven with someone else, the truth was that there was nothing that either of them could do about it.

That meant not shortchanging her on anything.

Scowling to himself, Alexander called Ms Abby – the caretaker of his place and ordered her to buy a closet and any other necessities for the new addition in his life.

Satisfied that he had done his duty, he carried on with his usual morning routine.

——–Line Break——–

When Alexander headed back upstairs, he noticed that Miss Rayburn was fiddling around in the kitchen.

She stiffened at the sound of his footsteps, but didn’t look back at him or greet him.

He paused, frowning at that minute stiffening.

How long would she behave like a scared cat in a place which was to be her residence for the foreseeable future?

Moreover, what was she implying by ignoring him?

She jumped at his call and he had to bite back his laughter.

She turned back to glare at him and replied tersely, “Morning.”

Alexander was relieved to see some sort of defiance in her eyes.

Defiance he could handle.

If he saw her regressing into herself, that would spell trouble.

He looked at the cup in her hands and asked, “If I may, what are you doing?”

At his words, she drank from the cup in her hands and replied, “Drinking water with honey and lemon juice.”

To his surprise, she walked towards him and asked, “Do you want some?”

However, Alexander’s attention wasn’t on her question.

Instead, he had been captivated by the water droplets hanging off her lush lips.

He could imagine himself ŀɨċkɨnġ those droplets off her plump lips – the ones that looked like as if they had been stung by a bee.

And if his fire wasn’t quenched by that, then he could pour that warm honey over her lips and suck on them – lips and honey altogether.

Bloody hell!

He reigned in his fantasies and with a shake of his head went upstairs.

——–Line Break——–

Meanwhile, Anastasia watched as Mr Donovan left for their bedroom.

She shook her head and wondered why he was in such a rush.

Anyways, it had nothing to do with her and she should just enjoy the calm before the storm that would be brought up by today’s headlines.