Chapter 38
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Marissa didn’t want to go inside that guest room. Her heart was sinking with each passing minute because she thought he was here to claim his kids.
The moment she stepped inside, she found him standing there, his back facing her. He was busy observing a painting hanging on the wall.
She drank in his appearance. Those broad shoulders she held when he used to make love to her. Those black locks… she had combed her fingers through those locks when she used to scream his name during
their intimate moments.
He was still wearing his office shirt with sleeves rolled up, a telltale sign that he came straight from his office.
She closed her eyes and gulped hard.
He must have felt her presence behind him because he slowly turned, and she decided to open her eyes.
“Hello, Ms. Aaron,” he said softly.
She tried to manage a shaky smile, “Hello, Mr. Sinclair. Hope you are good.”
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He chuckled at that and looked into her eyes, “No. I’m not good.”
“You aren’t?” she raised a brow and found him shaking his head, “may I know why?”
The smile vanished when she asked the question,
“Because I was hungry and … one of my caterers didn’t show up?”
The way he said he was hungry… Marissa felt as if he wasn’t talking about the starvation of food but… the desire she used to feel sometimes…
For him…
N…no. Not possible.
“I… I need to do… some tasks… so…” she stammered.
“Can we be honest, Ms. Aaron? Both of us?” Marissa couldn’t speak and kept looking down, she could feel his eyes on her face and man! She could feel it
burning.
“This painting…” he pointed to the painting that was hanging on the wall, “That’s… beautiful… the shades used there and … the art…”
He had to halt his conversation when found Marissa
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stifling a smile.
“What… did I say something wrong?”
“This painting…” Marissa pointed towards it, “Flint’s wife made it as the first anniversary gift for her
husband…”
“Oh, so? You don’t like it?”
“No. It’s not like that. Actually…” she chewed her lower lip for a moment and found his eyes dipping, taking in that small innocent action, “when we arrived in
Kanderton he used to live in a single room. He had to move here because of us. So… this painting… it fell in a puddle… all the paints washed away. Poor Flint just tried to preserve whatever was left of it.”
Rafael cocked up a brow and then tilted back his head to look at the painting again. For some reason, he avoided looking at Marissa and Marissa found his shoulders shaking with mirth.
She was trying to control her laughter too.
“I’m sorry,” Rafael managed in between the bouts of laughter, “I thought… I thought…” Poor him was trying to suppress his mirth.
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“I know…” Marissa covered her mouth with her palm, “Every guest easily gets impressed by the painting, and… Flint never tells anyone about the back story.”
Marissa was finding it extremely difficult to speak. She didn’t realize when he came closer and held her hands.
By now, they both were laughing like crazy, forgetting for a minute all about their past.
“Oh, God!” Rafael placed an arm around her and pulled her to his hard body. Marissa might need that support because she didn’t take the time to lean on him.
“Oh, brother. This is funny,” for a minute she felt that there were no four years in the past and she was as happy with him. They were still madly in love and were friends and were married.
But then she heard Alexander and Ariel talking at a distance, maybe in their room and she went still in his
arms.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” she straightened and tried to get away from him, but he stopped her immediately.
“Marissa… no, please… I mean Ms. Aaron…”
He held her by her waist, waiting for her to become
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stable on her feet. When he was sure that she wasn’t
shaking, he pulled his hands and stood straight.
The moment between them was gone. Over!
“W…why…” she cleared her throat, “Why are you here?”
“You missed the office today and…”
“Cut the crap, Rafael… I mean… Mr. Sinclair… why are you actually here?”
Rafael started digging the floor with the tip of his shoe, “You might not believe it. But my presence here is not due to any other purpose, Marissa. I was….”
“Ms. Aaron…”
“What?”
“It’s Ms. Aaron for you. Not Marissa.”
“Yes. Got it. Marissa… Ms. Aaron… I’m here because
you didn’t come…”
“I know. Ok?” she snapped at him, “I know that you are paying me well and I should have been there and I made a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
Rafael kept looking at her with disbelief on his face,
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his arms.
She was crying silently.
“I’m not here to snatch them from you, Marissa,” not able to take it anymore, he started crying, “I … I’m not here to snatch… them… they are yours, Marissa… I mean Ms. Aaron. Now what the fu*ck… why I keep forgetting this Ms. Aaron shit!”
His cursing at last brought a smile to her lips and she laughed through her tears. With a teary smile, he looked around for a napkin and then took out a handkerchief from his pocket.
“Here! Blow your nose!” he offered innocently, and Marissa laughed more, slapping his arm.
“Thank you,” she took the piece of cloth from his hand and wiped her face before blowing her nose.
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“That’s not the reason I’m here.”
Instead of saying anything, she gave him a questioning glance, “Ms. Aaron. I was here because I was
concerned about you… whatever happened last night… I need to talk about it.”
With her arms folded under her chest, she still didn’t
remark, “Last night you seemed disturbed because you thought that I could take my ….I mean yours… your kids…. And you were wrong… to think that. I would never ev
ever do any such thing.”
She turned away abruptly, but he didn’t miss her shaky lips.
“Ms. Aaron. Those are your kids, and I would never try to meet them without your permission. You are their mother and I’ll… I’ll always respect your decision regarding YOUR kids. However, …” he stopped when heard her sniffling, “However, I’m here to tell you that… I’ll just be a call away. When you need anything, anytime anywhere… you … just let me know. I’ll be there for you and your … little family.”
When she still didn’t turn around, he walked up to her and placing his arms around her waist he turned her in
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