“Who is Miss Lisa?” Waylen asks thrusting harder.
Leilani wants to m.o.a.n but she makes her voice severe and hostile.
“Waylen! Miss Lisa is the woman you complimented for having a high IQ. You accused me of buying the same dress like her and made me change.”
Leilani pauses and gives him a significant look, “Are you using her to try to get me back?”
“That’s enough!” Waylen growls, suddenly unpleasant, “I don’t want to hear it. Don’t ever talk about her again.”
“I don’t think so,” Leilani argues, “If you invested in her so heavily, you ought to make the most of her, right?”
“Make the most of her?” Waylen says thrusting wildly as if he’s punishing her, “I’m making the most of you now.”
After they finish, Leilani is sweating all over and doesn’t have any strength left. She doesn’t even want to lift her fingers. Waylen gets up first then picks her up and carries her into the bathroom which is really only fit for one person. It seems crowded with two people in it, especially when one of the people is as tall and strong as Waylen
“I can shower on my own. Get out.”
Leilani brutally shoves Waylen out of the bathroom. Waylen doesn’t persist because the bathroom is small. After she finishes, he goes in to clean up, taking care not to soak the wounds on his back.
Later he calls Robert and the butler comes bearing clothes and information. He tells Waylen that the nightclub incident has been taken care of. The Bamford Group has purchased the club, and the operator handling the wires and staff who mistook Leilani for the lion tamer have all been taken care of.
Robert then looks at Leilani who is wearing a bathrobe and drying her hair with a hairdryer. He hesitates nervously but eventually speaks: “Miss Lisa waited in the presidential suite for you all night.”
Robert immediately feels Waylen’s anger. He keeps his head down and avoids his boss’ gaze. He didn’t want to bring it up but Lisa insisted on waiting for Waylen and sitting on the couch all night in the presidential suite. She’s still there. If he doesn’t tell Waylen, he’d accuse him of withholding information when he and Leilani decided to go back.
Waylen hears Leilani scoffing by the dresser. She turns up the hairdryer in the hopes that the sound will muffle out Waylen and Robert’s conversation, but the dryer is suddenly snatched away from her hands. Waylen holds it instead and points it toward her hair. The warm wind blows on her hair and his long fingers gently brush it.
“That’s enough. I can handle this on my own,” Leilani says as she reaches to grab the dryer, “Miss Lisa is still waiting for you at the presidential suite. Don’t you have to go up to give her an explanation?”
“I don’t need to give anyone but you an explanation,” Waylen says stubbornly.
He continues to dry her hair for her.
“You don’t have to. We’ve already signed the—”
Waylen’s look turns dark, and his fingers twist in Leilani’s hair. It hurts her scalp. She’s not the only one who is hurt. His heart feels like beasts have torn his flesh apart.
He shuts down the noisy hairdryer and regards her coldly.
“Don’t you forget that we’re still married for the next six months.”
Leilani doesn’t say anything and nods in silence. She takes a comb to brush her hair. Waylen is upset that she doesn’t say anything and wants to lash out. Robert returns to the room and knocks on the door.
“Sir, it’s time to take your supplements,” Robert said, “Should I have them brought here or to the presidential suite?”
The dormitory room is too small and it doesn’t have a decent place to eat, but Robert is afraid that Mrs. Bamford will be upset to see Lisa in the presidential suite. Robert’s appearance helps relieve Waylen’s anger like a punching bag.
“Get lost!” Waylen shouts.
Robert knows that his boss is in a sour mood and is about to leave, but Leilani stops him.
“How about we go to the hotel buffet?” she suggests.
Leilani is concerned that Waylen is again refusing to take his medication as he did on the airplane. She takes a long breath and softens her expression. Then she takes the hairdryer from Waylen, puts it away and turns to take the clothes Robert brought over. Before she dresses, she crosses the room to Waylen and helps him get dressed.
Leilani’s fingers brushed his skin as she dresses him and she finds that his skin is quite warm, it seems he’s still running a fever and has yet to recover from his illness. Additionally, there are new wounds on his back to contend with. Waylen doesn’t stop her. He likes that she’s helping him even if he knows she’s just being nice to him so he’ll take his medication.
Leilani stands behind him and frowns at the bloodstains on the bandages on his back. His wounds should be healed by now.
“Your wound reopened again,” she says.
“You know why, don’t you?” Waylen asks suggestively.
Leilani blushes. Of course, she knows why. He made love to her all night and again in the morning. Leilani bites her lip. She knows there’s no point in answering his question; it will just encourage him to make more dirty comments.
“Go get breakfast and I’ll put ointment on for you later,” Leilani says.
Leilani finishes helping Waylen get dressed. She’s about to grab her dress, but Waylen moves ahead to put it on for her.
“I can do it on my own,” she says.
For one thing, he has back wounds. For another, she feels awkward and uncomfortable now that Waylen suddenly wants to do something for her. She recalls that she’s been doing stuff on her own including getting dressed since she was a child.
Waylen frowns, “Lift your arms.”
“I think it’s best if I do it on my own.”
“Lift,” he orders.
Leilani doesn’t have the energy to argue and she knows Waylen has made up his mind. Instead of wasting time on useless disagreement, she raises her arms. Waylen puts the dress over her head and then carefully zips the dress, making sure to pull her hair from the collar. He’s as gentle as if he’s dressing a baby. Then he takes her blonde hair in his hand and brushes it.
“It smells very good,” he says.
Waylen is intoxicated by the scent of her hair and lightly rests his sharp chin against her shoulder.
“It’s very soft too,” he adds.
Together they look like an ordinary happily married couple. Leilani can’t help being touched and gives Waylen a soft look without saying anything. He looks back at her with strong emotions in his eyes. Leilani realizes that despite his overbearingness, he’s looking at her with adoration and tenderness.
“If he acts like this instead of becoming emotional or angry he’s not so bad,” Leilani thinks, then she shakes her head, “Stop! What am I thinking? Am I allowing him to get to me?”
After a quick glance in the mirror, Leilani realizes that the light blue satin of her dress matches the shirt Waylen wears beneath his suit.
“Is Robert being intentional and making us wear matching clothes?” Leilani wonders, “Or was this Waylen’s idea?”
Waylen seems to be in a good mood and grabs Leilani’s hands to walk the hotel buffet. Lisa has heard that Waylen and Leilani will be having breakfast in the hotel and hurries to arrive with her rich friends. She is shocked to see that Waylen holds Leilani in his arms. He never looks away from the woman in his arms and gazes at her as if she’s the only thing worth looking at in the world. Lisa is stunned by Leilani’s presence and her face pales. She runs to Waylen.
“Waylen, I was waiting for you all night in the presidential suite,” she said breathlessly.
“What are you trying to imply?” Waylen asks.
He kisses Leilani’s ear and looks dotingly at his wife.
Lisa doesn’t know what to say; Waylen’s look can’t lie. She feels water gathering in her eyes. She really waited for Waylen all night in the presidential suite. She assumed that he’d go back to the room after he was done with the freshness and excitement of Leilani taming the lion. She honestly didn’t expect that Waylen would reduce himself to spending the night in a dormitory room with Leilani.
She glances at the hickey Leilani accidentally reveals on her neck—the neckline of her dress only partially covers it. Lisa bites her lip viciously; she knows she’s been used. Her face turns from white to gray and she recalls what Waylen said about women with high IQs. She assumed he was talking about women who can read his mind but it seems he was actually communicating something to Leilani—it seems she got the message.
He also asked Leilani to come to the private room during the show and desperately fought to shoot the lion when Leilani was in danger on the stage. Then he risked destroying his family fortune to bid on Leilani.
“If a man isn’t deeply in love with a woman, why would he bother to put on such a show?” Lisa thinks, “How stupid and carried-away I was. I finally understand what Waylen meant when he told me to buy anything I wanted in the shop. He was playing peaceful and softening the blow before using and humiliating me. If I’d been a little wiser, I wouldn’t have only bought one dress with his money but every single piece in the store.”
Some of the smarter girls in Lisa’s clique Lisa piece two and two together. They aren’t really Lisa’s friends, and their new knowledge puts them at an advantage. They sneer at Lisa and give her condescending looks.
“I thought an ugly duckling was finally becoming a nice swan,” says one, “But I guess a duck is always a duck.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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