CHAPTER 36
Monkey Business
What the hell?
He'd just stepped aside for a few minutes.
What new monkey business was she getting into now?
Austyn was just praising her for being the perfectly behaved counterparty.
And was immediately confronted with evidence to the contrary.
Gnashing his teeth, he followed the trail of water, which led into the bedroom and disappeared at the bed.
She wasn't on the bed.
What was this?
Did she disappear into thin air?
Austyn scrutinised the water marks on the floor.
Then he bent down and looked under the bed.
There she was, curled up into a ball with one cheek pressed against the marble floor.
She was clutching something in her hand.
'What are you doing?'
Kira ignored him.
'Get out of there!'
No response.
Austyn reached out for her wrist.
'No!' she swatted his hand away and glared at him. 'It's mine!'From NôvelDrama.Org.
She held whatever treasure she was guarding closer to her chest.
Austyn resisted the urge to crawl in there to drag her out.
He knew how thorough Elsie was.
The housekeeper would not leave a single speck of dust anywhere in the house, including under the bed.
But the germaphobe in him simply couldn't stand the thought of rolling around on the floor.
He was not a dog!
Austyn squinted at the girl. 'I don't want whatever stupid thing you're holding. Just get the hell out!'
'You're stupid!' Kira shot back.
She shrank deeper into her hidey-hole.
'This is a treasure,' she argued. 'Not a stupid thing. A treasure. MY treasure!'
Then she cuddled the treasure and started singing, 'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are grey...' Austyn's mind was thrown back to the last time he'd heard that song, and a vein started popping in his forehead.
Monkey Business
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Pointing an accusing finger at his nose, she said in a singsong voice, 'This is my sunshine, my treasure. It's not stupid. YOU'RE stupid!' 'Pfft,' Austyn snorted. 'What treasure can you have? Let me see.'
Alarmed, Kira wriggled further away from him and tried to stare him down. 'Get your own treasure. This one's MINE!'
She flailed her arms like she was trying to swat at flies. Get away from me! Don't touch it! Get lost!'
What! Did! She! Just! Say?!
Did she tell him to get lost?
'Do you know what happened to the last guy who told me to get lost?' Austyn said, with a smile that would have made her hair stand on end if she were sober. But the girl was too intent on guarding her treasure to feel intimidated.
Austyn shot out an arm and grabbed her slim ankle, dragging her, kicking and shrieking, from under the bed.
'Aaahh!' Kira was screaming bloody murder.
'Shut up!' Austyn covered her mouth with one hand.
What if Elsie heard her?
Would the housekeeper think he was doing unspeakable things to his wife?
Kira turned around so she was lying on her stomach, saving her mouth from her husband's evil clutches.
The treasure was some kind of cardboard box, no larger than a shoebox, tucked under the protective arms of its mother hen.
She was still wet.
The drenched t-shirt clung to her like a second skin.
Water dripped from her hair onto the carpet.
She looked like a beached fish, Austyn thought uncharitably.
Not large enough to be a whale.
A smaller, human-sized fish.
Like a mermaid.
His eyes traced her long silky hair, her delicate shoulder blades, and the small of her back, which he knew contained two lovely dimples.
Her short shorts ended just below her ass cheeks.
Her long legs were on full display.
Austyn slowly ran a hand over her back.
The thing in the bathroom did not pan out.
But they'd never tried this position before, either.
When it came to matters in the bedroom, Kira was ultraconservative.
She was never the initiator.
Wookey Busines
When they were in bed together, she lay on her back, rigid and unmoving.
She endured, rather than enjoyed, sex.
Now that he knew it had something to do with their first night together, Austyn went slower and gentler.
Maybe something other than missionary would be a nice change of pace.
He caressed her hair, then her shoulders.
He trailed a finger down her spine.
Her waist was so tiny, he could cover it with one palm.
Her skin was tight and flawless.
Austyn had always thought of her as his young wife, because that was what she was-young.
She was of legal age, sure.
But not quite grown up.
She exhibited none of the jaded cynicism characteristic of people his age.
Kira was young, pretty, vivacious.
Austyn still stood by his assessment, except that he no longer felt 'pretty' was the most suitable word for her. She was...a stunner.
Over the past year, the girl had grown into a woman who turned heads without trying.
She wore no makeup.
Her clothes were off the rack.
But when she walked into a room filled with ten men, nine heads would turn, and the last guy was in a neck collar.
The fact that she seemed utterly unaware of her beauty only made her all the more irresistible.
Austyn placed a hand on her shoulder and gently flipped her on her side.
Her eyes were closed, her lips parted slightly.
He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth.
She tasted warm, sweet, and...malty.
Which reminded him of the state he found her in-drunk out of her mind, in the arms of a stranger.
Austyn bit her bottom lip.'
'Ow!' Kira's eyes welled up. 'Dad, it hurts...'
Austyn gasped.
He smacked her right buttock. 'Stop calling me that!'
Kira opened her eyes, ran her tongue over her bottom lip and sucked in a breath.
Austyn had both hands around her head.
She set her sight on his right hand.
An eye for an eye, a bite for a bite...
Monkey Business
When Austyn bent his head down, she sank her teeth into the meaty part between his forefinger and
thumb.
'Fuck!' Austyn reared back.
It wasn't a playful nibble.
Or his disciplinary, one-off, half-second bite.
Her teeth were clamped down hard on his hand.
They'd pierced skin.
'Stop that now!' he growled.
Austyn lifted her chin with one finger and forced her to meet his gaze. 'Did you hear me?'
Kira blinked.
Some sense seemed to have returned to her alcohol-muddled mind.
She recognised the man to be her husband, whose eyes had gone dark and cold.
Kira detached her teeth from Austyn's hand.
Austyn surveyed the damage.
There was a drop of blood and a semicircle of teeth marks.
No longer in the mood, he rose to his feet.
He caught sight of the box and snatched it up. 'Mine!' She shot out an arm to grab at it.
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