Chapter 93
93 93- Resist His Charms
Marissa juggled a crying Abigail on her hip while she handed over a fruit plate to Alex, “Go, share it with Ariel,” she
instructed him and then moved back her attention to Abi.
“Abi. Honey!” Ever since her return, Abi had been too irritated for some reason. Sophie swore that all of them behaved well in her absence but now Abigail wanted her mom to carry her around like a baby.
She was constantly glued to her mom’s hip.
“Stop crying, sweetheart,” she cooed the little one, kissing her head. The back of her hand was automatically touching the child’s forehead again and again for any sign of fever.
“Mommy. Look! Ariel is looking at me,” the girl pointed to her sister who was busy putting an apple piece in her mouth with
the fork.
“No, little one. She is having fruits and saying something to Alex. Why don’t you join them and get back your energy,” Instead of replying to her, Abigail hid her face in the crook of
her mom’s neck.
Marissa closed her eyes when heard the ringing phone. She started searching for it. “Where is it?” She muttered, looking
around.
It was not on the table. There was no sign of the phone on the
kitchen counters too.
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93- Resist His Charms
“Goodness! I just saw it somewhere,” exhaling a tired breath she called Alex, “Alex! Be a sweetheart and find my phone
please.”
Alexander who was telling something to Ariel looked at the drained face of his mom and smiled softly, “It’s in your hand,
mom!”
Good God! Marissa wanted to hit her head on the wall.
Without looking at the screen, she received the phone call,
“Yes?” She answered in a strained voice and gave a little
bounce to Abi.
“Marissa? It’s me, Delinda. How are you?” concern was laced in
her friend’s voice.
“Yeah. I’m good. How are you?” she pressed the phone between
her shoulder and the neck and used the other hand to brush Abigail’s head.
“We are good and missing you. Thank God, girl your phone responded. Shang–chi and I were getting super worried about
you.”
How to tell her friend that she couldn’t send any message because Rafael never told her where he was taking her?
She did get ready for the office but landed in the cozy cottage of Kalaar Beach.
“No, no. Don’t worry, Del. For some reason, the phone stopped working. That’s the reason I couldn’t send you people any messages.”
03- Resist His Charms
Marissa explained. She could imagine that a few of her colleagues might resent her, thinking she was being irresponsible.
“Yeah, I understand. At least you submitted two days‘ leave by sending them an email. That’s what counts. I took a sigh of relief when I saw that. Kate didn’t look happy about it.”
Marissa scrunched her nose in confusion.
Leave? I sent them an email?
“Oh, hey, Delinda. I ” Marissa began but Delinda cut her off.
“You just focus on getting back your health, Mar. Don’t overthink about Kate. People like her look for chances to make people fall. You won’t believe what happened today. She was again rude to me…”
Delinda was speaking nonstop but Marissa’s head was still stuck in the word ‘leave application‘.
“Listen, Del,” Marissa cleared her throat, “What application are you talking about, by the way?” Maybe she heard wrong.
“The same one where you mentioned that you need off because you are not well,” Delinda explained to her in a brisk
tone.
“Off?”
“Yeah. Two days off. Now I think I need to go to Shang–Chi and let him know that I at last talked to you. You take care of yourself, girl. Bye.”
“B–But Delinda I…” Marissa tried to speak but Delinda had
10:45
93- Resist His Charms
already hung up the phone. Marissa stood there bewildered, and the phone was still pressed to her ear.
She looked at Abi’s head who was now thankfully calmed down, “I didn’t send any application, Abi. Who sent it on my behalf?”
***
While setting the plates on the dining table, Marissa thought of Rafael who didn’t try to contact her on the phone.
She checked her phone a few times and then stopped looking at it altogether.
“My lifelines! Dinner time!” she announced and then darted to the kitchen to get the pasta dish. Sophie and Flint were not home and weren’t supposed to join them for dinner.
Ariel and Abigail who were helping Alex in cleaning the contents of his toolbox, got up.
“Hey. Help me with it!” he called after them, annoyed at his sisters.
“After dinner, brother. We promise!” Abigail assured him while walking backwards when the doorbell rang.
The girls ran to get it before Marissa could stop them.
Though the kids were trained to not open the door before their mom’s permission but right now they seemed to have forgotten all the rules.
She wanted to go after them when she heard excited squeals from the hallway.
3–Resist His Charms
“Daddy!”
“It’s you!”
“Wow!”
“Mommy! Look! It’s Daddy!” Ariel yelled from the door. Marissa saw Rafael entering the living room carrying both his
daughters.
He had a wide smile on his face when he placed the girls down and came to her straight.
“How is my friend!” he held her by her waist and pressed a kiss
on her forehead.
Marissa thought he was mentioning the word ‘friend‘ in a fun way, but he looked serious.
“Damn! I took you to Kalaar so that you’ll be fresh, but you look exhausted!” he regarded her face carefully and then held her
hand.
“Come. Let’s have dinner together,”
For some odd reason, Marissa felt her exhaustion melting away. He made the children sit on their respective chairs and then pulled a chair for her. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
Throughout the dinner, he and the girls kept pulling each other’s legs.
When the dinner was finally over, Marissa started to stand, reaching for the plates, but her wrist was held by a strong
hand,
93- Resist His Charms
“Whoa. Hold on there,” Rafael said gently, “Just go and sit on that couch. You’ve done enough for today.”
Marissa tried to protest, “B–but the kitchen…”
“No buts,” he interrupted. Getting to his feet, he reached her and guided her to the couch, “I’ve got this. You need rest.”
Marissa sighed. A man who wanted to help the mother of his kids in the kitchen and around the house must be declared as a knight in shining Armor.
She examined Rafael’s face who was answering Abigail’s questions while setting soft pillows behind her back.
He positioned a stool ahead and held her feet to help her, placing them up on it.
“Ah,” she sighed in satisfaction, “the best place for my legs.”
His eyes twinkled in mischief, “The best place for a beautiful woman’s legs is,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “around his man’s nak*ed waist.”
Rafael had turned away while Marissa could feel the unexpected dampness in her core.
The man could easily make her feel things by his mere words and she didn’t know for how long she would be able to resist his charms.