With the small-sized bra at the tip of his fingers, Reynaldo turned to look at the lady wrapped in her towel with her face in a deep hue of red. He knew he should be throwing the bra back to the place he got it from, but Reynaldo stood stunned at her half-naked presence.
He had only ever seen her in her maid uniform, barely in another cloth and for the first time wrapped in a towel.
Right at this moment he knew what the clause 'and time stood still meant' as he felt his eyes scan the length of her body.
She looked flushed and shocked, her glassy eyes wide open as she stared at his hand. She had one hand over her chest, maybe she was trying to stop her towel from falling or to stop her breasts from showing.
Her long, black, silky hair clung to her body and her face, her lips a little parted, making her look so tempting and alluring. Rey felt his mouth go dry and he had to try to swallow a lot of times to bring moisture back to it.
No woman had ever looked as ripe as a mango right in front of him; her delicate face and innocent black doe eyes called him closer to her, and he was just about to take a step closer.
Feeling naked under his intensely scrutinizing gaze, Mia felt tears pool in her eyes. 'What is he looking at me that way for?' She yelled in her head, her eyes scanning his hand and her bra dangling helplessly from it.
Shuffling her feet, she ran before thinking and grabbed her bra from his hand. With the air suddenly hot, influencing the heat of his body, Rey grabbed her hand before he knew what he was doing.
Turning her forcefully to face him, he hugged her close, his hand wrapped around the small of her back. With his heart thudding in his ears, his eyes sliced into her innocent, wide ones, and he felt this urgency to protect her and claim her as his.
With a shaking finger, he traced lines around her face, bringing them to her lips; and at the same time, his intense gray eyes fell to her lips.
'What are you doing to me, Rey?' Mia's head spun into a dizzy web when she felt sparks from his touch.
Her breath was beginning to get heavy; the feel of his body almost close to hers caused her to draw even closer. Mia closed her eyes as his face drew closer to hers, the raw emotion in his eyes was clear.
In her head, she imagined the feel of his thin lips against hers. The scent of his warm breath fanning hers and his hands on her body.
'Was this what he meant by dessert in his room?' Mia almost caught herself gushing.
'Oh God pretty please! This looks too good to be true.' Mia thought as she pushed her lips forward with her eyes closed to be kissed.
Rey's breath got labored, he had to fight against getting a hard-on just looking at her this way.
'What is she doing to me?' He saw the way her eyes closed in earnest, trying to get a kiss from him.
He almost gave in but held himself back at the last minute, what was wrong with him!? This is against the contract; she said it herself, 'no strings attached.'
This whole thing was breaching the contract.
'But I already did breach the contract by kicking down her door. No, this mustn't happen.' Rey warned himself, the trauma of seven years ago and Vanessa's visit replaying in his head.
"What do you think you are doing?" Rey chuckled loudly, making Mia's eyes open abruptly.
"What." She looked at his mocking gaze and felt the air being squeezed out of her lungs.
"Do you have what it takes to kiss me?" Rey casually kicked one of her clothes out of the way, to the embarrassment of Mia.
The question rang over and again in her head, and her eyes blurred with tears. Looking down to avoid him seeing her hurt which he already noticed by the way, she shook her head in response.
"You must be delusional." Rey avoided looking at Mia after seeing the initial hurt in her eyes. He knew his words were hurtful, but he had to say them to cut any unnecessary bond between them; this was purely a business transaction and nothing else.
'Delusional' repeated itself in Mia's head and whatever romantic thought she had about him died instantly.
"What was it you wanted to do? Kiss me even when I pay you." Rey continued without stopping, but that was the line he didn't know he shouldn't cross.
"What are you doing in my room, Mr. Rey?"
Rey was startled at the quick coldness in her voice; it came without warning.
He looked at her again, and a look of hate took place over the nervous look on her face a few minutes ago.
"You breached the contract by coming into my room without warning and invading my personal space."
"I might be poor but not shameless." A drop of tear escaped her eyes at that sentence. Rey felt the rising panic in him. He knew his words hurt her as intended, but it wasn't his plan to let it climb to this extent.
"The termination clause states that…"
"How dare you!" He smirked coldly at her.
"Termination clause?" This time he scoffed against his wish to apologize.
"You wish." He looked around her clothes lying on the floor and some on the bed, making her self-conscious once again.
"We should review the contract, don't you think?" He asked her.
"I gave you till 10 and what do you think the time is?" Rey scolded, putting on his most business-like face.
"I..."
"You? You what? You were taking your sweet time preparing yourself for something bigger, I see."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, nothing of such will ever happen." Catching the underlying meaning of his words, Mia reddened from embarrassment and anger.
"The date is canceled; you are pardoned for the night. Make sure to report early henceforth, I didn't pay for this." Rey spat and found his way back to the open door, leaving Mia standing with her chest heaving, her eyes glued to the floor, and her fingers desperately peeled themselves.
A feeling of sadness washed over him, but this was a necessary thing to do. He could not risk falling in love again, not with his maid at that.
Standing at the door, Rey looked back at her. "For a maid, your room looks very scattered; tidy up and report to me at 8 p.m. tomorrow."
"Okay, Sir," Mia responded in a low voice, not looking up or bothering to make a change of her awkward position.
"Sir?" Reynaldo had his brows lifted in disbelief.
"Yes Sir. You are Rey in public, but Sir in private." She looked up at him at last and that one look sent him walking briskly out of her door, desperate for self-control.