She paced the length of her living room extremely worried. If Major was going to put a late nighter he should have in the least called her. This constant neglect was eating at her nerves. She called his line twice before but it has gone straight to voicemail. Should she call him again?
She decided to try his line again. A female voice picked. Shet. I should have known. He is with another woman. She thought bitterly.
"Why are you phoning him by this time of the night?" The voice barked into the phone.
Sienna was astounded. "You!" She fumed. "The bitch that sleeps with my husband. Have you no shame?"
"You're the one with no shame." The voice barked back.
"Yeah, says the woman picking my husband's call at 12am, going through his phone, his chats? Yeah, you're that insecure."
The voice laughed in scorn. "Says the woman who calls her husband by 12am to know where he is at."
"He's my husband and I deserve to know where he is at all times"
"Pathetic." the voice mocked. "Well now that you know, good night or morning."
Sienna clicked the phone annoyed and threw it away on the nearest sofa fuming. She couldn't sleep. Her mind was filled with wild, angry thoughts.
Major came in at 2am, flanked by his bodyguards. He was often a clean, crisp, immaculate man, but he looked soiled. His shirt was rumpled. His hair was a freaking mess. Like he hurriedly put his clothes on without an afterthought.
Sienna heard when he came in. She was in the kitchen, drinking some warm milk and making plans with Reese. "What are you doing awake by this time?" He barked in a sullied tone, not happy that her face was the first thing he would see as he came into the house. "You should be sleeping. We have an event that we are going to tomorrow."
"I just…" she stuttered. "I couldn't sleep. So I came down to warm some milk." He steeped forward into the stainless kitchen, a deep frown on his face. She slid another tall glass of milk towards him. "I made some for you too."
He slid into the kitchen high stool, the same mean expression on his face, ignoring her soft voice and the glass of milk in front of him.
"Sienna, are you now monitoring my movements?" he lashed out.
Her head whipped up, eyes scared and large as saucers. "No. No."
"Then explain to me why you are calling my phone at 12am. Did something happen?"
She looked down at her milk that bubbled slowly. "Nothing happened."
Her slender fingers ran the length of the tall glass.
"Look up at me, while I talk to you Sienna." He lashed out again.
Tears rimmed her eyes.
His frown went deeper. "I haven't touched you and you want to cry? Don't you do that in front of me."
"Is it bad to know where you are at, at 12am?" Her voice choked with emotion. "We're married for christsakes."
He chuckles with amusement. "Oh so now, you worry about me. Don't calm me again except it is urgent. And even if it is urgent relay it to your bodyguard, who will bring it to my table."
She nodded, biting her tears back. She has never been shouted at or yelled at, especially with the kind of annoyance that Major was portraying.
"I was doing something very important at that time, and that call was not welcome."
Even with tears brimming in her eyes at that moment, she wanted to laugh.
A chilling, maniacal laugh. Something important indeed.
"Hope I'm being understood?"
She nodded.
He stood up. "Now with that being said, go upstairs and sleep fast."
She nodded again like the meek mouse he wanted her to be, and slowly carried her form upstairs.
In the room she shared with Major, she pulled her clothes off and took them to the laundry room. Normally, when Major came back, he usually went to his mini office to do some work. He was a night owl. So she found it safe to stalk the room naked.
She had just finished bathing, and she stood in front of her mirror. The low amber light of the lamp cast a seductive hue on her nude form. Her bathing towel was tossed carelessly on the bed. For once, she wasn't thinking of him. She was carefree. Thinking about Reese. She didn't want to think of the haughty female voice that picked up Majors phone. No.
She applied her skincare, rubbing her body slowly with the scrub, her skin glistening from her bath.
She tried to brush her damp hair which stuck to her shoulders.
The door opened.
She froze.
The brush slipped from her fingers and clattered softly onto the vanity.
The air shifted.
She didn't need to turn around. She could feel the weight of his stare; it felt heated on the bare back of her skin. From the mirror she could see his form. He was silent. His gaze raking from her bare back to the curve of her hips and perky buttocks. Down to her glistening legs. His eyes lingered on the space between them. His face betrayed no emotion. But his eyes didn't move away either.
"Major." She gently called. His body was stiff. One hand gripped the doorknob. He jolted out of his reverie and anger flashed in his irises. "What is this Sienna? What are you trying to do?"
Sienna's fingers trembled slightly as she clutched her breasts and turned around to face him. Her nipples still peeked from her shaking fingers. Her eyes darted to her robe, but It was far away from her reach. His eyes darted to her robe too, then flicked to her face, then lower. The two second silence was awkward.
Her breath hitched. "I—I thought you'd be out."
His gaze locked on her like he couldn't quite register what he was seeing; or didn't know if he was supposed to look away.
"I was." His voice was low, slightly rough. "i forgot something." he beckoned to his desk that lay safely tucked, by the corner of the room.
He stepped into the room, tall and gorgeous like a Greek god. Sienna swallowed, as he brushed past her. The little touch sparking an unexpected heat between her legs. She clutched it tighter, nearly moaning. His pinewood scent overflowed the room, and she felt her nipples tick behind her palms.
She lunged for her robe, dragging it over herself in one panicked movement, fingers fumbling with the tie. Her cheeks burned, her ears hotter still. Her cunt throbbing.
"I didn't mean to…" she began, voice barely above a whisper.
"You don't have to explain," he said quickly, picking up his laptop. "And I do not know what and why you are hiding. I see lots of beautiful women everyday."
"You said I was trying to…and I wasn't trying to—" she swallowed hard, then bit the inside of her cheek. "I didn't think you'd come to the room tonight."
Major finally turned around. He blinked, tearing his gaze away as he tucked his laptop inside its case. "Clearly."
His tone was dry. But not mocking.
Her hands left her breasts, and she watched him as he pulled his suit from his body, his sexy abs popping into view. Her throat went parched, and her mouth flooded with saliva.
It has to be illegal for a man to look this good.
The final shirt was pulled over his face and he tossed it away sexily. He stretched and his abs flexed. Her heart thudded harder In her chest.
He wasn't trying to put on a show for her; he was just effortlessly goodlooking.
He was clad in only a singlet, and it hugged his sculpted chest. Broad chest, thin waist. Pilate legs, toned feet. She fucking salivated.
She has never been privileged to see him in his underwear before. Even in his formal suit, she knew he had a drop dead gorgeous figure. It was in the way he walked. The last time they had sex, the lights were very dim.
The satin of the robe scary he's against her pebbled nipples.
She pressed her back against the vanity, arms crossed over the robe. Trying to breath, trying to erase images of him worshipping her neck, her breasts, her lips. The lips of her now wet pussy. She hated that that she hated him from the depth of her bones, and yet he still had. A Fucking Effect. On her.
Okay so maybe he stared at her with longing. But that was it. The surprised stare of a man on a naked woman.
The fabric felt too thin now, as though it barely separated them from what had just happened, from what he had just seen.
He picked up his laptop case from the desk, and she expected him to walk away, without a word to her, disregarding her like she was random as the dust on the floor.
But he didn't.
He turned toward her, standing there with all the restraint of a man trying not to stare, not to feel.
"You—" He started, then hesitated. "You cut your hair."
She blinked. "Just a little."
He nodded. "It suits you."
She was silent as she perused him.
"What?" He chuckled, a ghost of a smile on his face.
Her fingers tightened around her arms. "You've never said anything like that before. Never complimented me. I'm not sure what to do."
"I've never seen you like this before," he said simply. Then immediately added, "haven't been put in a position where I have to stare at you for too long. Not that I was—"
"I know," she said, too fast.
A pause.
"I should go," he said finally.
But he didn't move. Whatever tender emotion on his face was gone and his characteristic cold mask had returned.
She nodded. "Okay."
He reached the door, his hand on the knob. Then stopped again.
"I didn't mean to embarrass you."
"I'm not embarrassed," she said quietly. "Just… wish it was different."
He turned slightly, brow creasing. "Different how?"
She hesitated, then smiled faintly — the saddest kind. "That maybe… if you were going to see me like that, it wouldn't feel like an accident."
That stopped him cold.
He didn't say anything. He just stood there ruminating o wr what she just said.
And then, with no explanation, no expression, he left.
The door shut gently behind him.
She sat on the edge of the bed, robe clutched around her, heart echoing in her chest as she thought of what just happened.
As the soft click sounded beside him, he laid his back on the door gently, his chest heaving. What the hell was that?
For a moment, he just stood there.
Eyes shut. Hands clenched.
He hadn't meant to look. God knew he hadn't expected to walk in on her like that with her bare skin, dripping hair, standing in the glow of the lamplight like something too soft to be real. Golden skin begging for him to touch, to taste, to taint.
He smiled darkly to himself. He's made her small. He liked as she flinched when he spoke too sharply. Savoured when she cast her eyes down when he looked too hotly at her. Submissive, meek. That's how he wanted his women to be.
Aria knew way too much how much he liked her. It was boldening her, giving her subtle control. Like he had to figure her out. He liked that too.
But this Sienna.
No — this version of her was… different.
Beautiful, yes. But that wasn't what got to him.
It was the quiet of it. The vulnerability.
She hadn't been posing. She wasn't trying to seduce him. She was simply existing. He just caught her unguarded, raw, and real.
And he'd stared like a fucking teenager.
Major exhaled slowly, dragging a hand down his face.
She said she wasn't embarrassed. She lied. It was written all over her; the way she clutched her robe like it was the only thing tethering her, the way her voice trembled but still held.
And then that thing she said ; "If you were going to see me like that, I wish it didn't feel like an accident."
His chest had tightened at that. Still did.
She wasn't asking him to want her. She wasn't even expecting him to stay.
She just wanted to be seen. Not as some paper wife. Not as a formality or a duty. Not as a business deal. Not as some peace bond or expansion plan. As a woman.
As his wife. With feelings.
The words bounced around in his skull and he decided he needed a strong coffee that would burn the images of her nude form encased in her mind. He leaned back against the wall, staring at the opposite one like it might hold an answer. But all he could see, burned into his vision, was her. The curve of her back, the glint of lamplight on skin, the flicker of hope in her eyes before she buried it.
He didn't love her. He didn't even know if he could.
But for the first time, he realized she had a whole world inside her that he had never bothered to see.
,