The wedding ceremony got over and Sienna and Lucas walked hand in hand towards the beautiful backdrop created for the photography session. The pure white self-embossed background interspersed with ferns and turquoise floral decorations provided an ideal setup for the theme of the wedding. While the girls teased the newly married couple, the groomsmen flirted with the bridesmaids, all eagerly waiting for the reception party to start.
Alyssa just couldn’t shake off Nicholas who annoyed her all the time behind Alexander’s back. After Lucas thanked Alexander and Ashton for being a part of his wedding, they suddenly disappeared somewhere without informing Alyssa.
“Where could they have gone? Are we leaving now?” asked Eva longing to stay for the reception party.
“I’m as clueless as you are,” shrugged Alyssa who also wanted to stay a bit longer and taste the tempting wedding cake.
“What are you girls doing there? Come here for a group photo,” called Sienna and the girls grinned and rushed over to her. To Alyssa’s immense surprise, Nicholas came over and stood beside her. She elbowed him away but he grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles instead just when the photographer clicked. Alyssa groaned and snatched her hand away, her face flustered with embarrassment. She glared at him and then at the photographer, protesting and scolding him but he simply flashed a goofy grin at Nicholas.
“It was an accident, sorry. Okay, ready? Say cheese,” yelled the photographer but Alyssa somehow was suspicious if it really was an accident. Maybe it was Nicholas’s doing!
“So have you thought over it?” whispered Nicholas into her ear. Alyssa looked up into his eyes with confusion.
“Thought over what?” Nicholas gazed into her eyes for a second.
“Whether you want to give in to the temptation and finish the kiss you started?” The photographer clicked and Alyssa blinked hard, her mind going into overdrive.
“I’m not fighting any such temptation. Maybe you are.” Her retort made Nicholas chuckle since it was one hundred percent correct.
“I am and whose fault is it? You should finish what you start or not start something you cannot finish.” For a split second their eyes clashed and Alyssa thought she saw a look of pleading in his but it soon was replaced by his signature smirk with the dimple intact.
“I’m not kissing you at all if that’s what you’re getting at!” Alyssa said firmly shoving him away and walking towards her room to freshen up and fix her tumbling curls. The rest of the gang were only clicking photographs and she lost interest to feature in any of them with Nicholas hell-bent on spoiling all her pictures.
She walked into the cubicle elevator and the door was about to close when Nicholas followed her inside. Her eyes popped out seeing him there with her. Looking around she found that with everyone busy at the banquet hall, she was actually stuck with Nicholas in the elevator.
“Why are you following me around, Nicholas? Did my denial hurt your ego?” she taunted looking totally annoyed with him. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone?
“Get over yourself, Alyssa. I’m just heading to my own room.” That quietened Alyssa and she felt like a fool for overreacting over such a trivial thing. She was never this way! She could always keep her cool and never got worked up by such innuendos from the opposite s*x. What changed now? She ignored him and walked out of the elevator straight towards her room.
Nicholas shook his head at his own stupidity. Why did he have to beg her for a kiss when it was clear that she wasn’t interested in giving him one? When did he get so pathetic? He knew what he shared with Alyssa ten years ago was special and it couldn’t be relived. They both had changed, matured and now she hated him but it seemed as if his heart couldn’t stop hoping. The vision he had of her ten years ago was stuck in his heart forever and he wanted to feel it just once more before she went away forever. He wasn’t afraid of Alexander’s wrath but would Alyssa agree? She was his enemy’s sister, after all!
A loud crashing sound brought him out of his reverie even before he could reach his room. What was that? The sound seemed to have come from Alyssa’s room. What exactly was she up to? He rushed towards the room and opened the door to check. To his horror, he found shattered glass all over the floor from a broken table lamp and Alyssa sitting amidst it all, entangled with its wires. He quickly reached her in two strides and kneeled down to her level, carefully avoiding the broken glass pieces. Alyssa stared at him wordlessly thankful that he had come inside to help her. With everyone at the banquet hall, she would have had a tough time disentangling herself.
“How do you fall into such situations?” he asked looking bewildered as he disentangled the wires from around her legs. She looked scared and gave him a wide-eyed look of relief.
“I slipped on the rug and fell on the nightstand. The lamp fell over me and when I tried to catch it, the wires stretched out of their casing and I got entangled in them. I lost my balance and everything crashed to the floor.” Nicholas couldn’t understand head or tail of it, and just picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.
“Thanks for saving me but umm, why are you carrying me to the bed?” she whispered, her eyes wide with panic. Would he demand that she have s*x with him in return for saving her? Nicholas smirked, drawing her attention to his dimple again as if to charm her into submission.
“Why do you think?” he whispered as he lay her down on the bed. With his face inches away from hers, Alyssa’s breath hitched and her heart raced faster like never before.
“Nicholas please, I’m not that type of woman. I don’t do casual flings, I’m..” she stopped, seeing the amusement dancing in his eyes as he gazed into hers, listening intently to her rambling.
“Are you trying to tell me that you’re not interested in having sex with me?” Alyssa’s jaws dropped since that’s what she was actually hinting at.
“I, umm,” she stammered looking confused. Nicholas wanted to kiss the confusion away from her lovely face and leaned closer to her.
“You have a very naughty mind, Alyssa. Don’t worry, I wasn’t thinking of having sex with you, not yet.” Alyssa gaped at him wordlessly, her face flushed with embarrassment. “But if you feel you need to thank me for saving you again, you can finish that kiss you had started.” He waited for a minute, searching her face but all he received was a shocked and flustered look from her. He stood straight and headed towards the door.
“I’ll send someone to clean the mess up. In the meantime, if you change your mind, I’m in my room.” He strode out of the room before his words could register in her brain. Change her mind? About what? A kiss or s*x? No, it couldn’t be se*x since he said explicitly that he wasn’t thinking on those lines yet! What exactly did that mean? She massaged her temples as Nicholas’s words played again and again in her mind, like a broken record. It drove her crazy and she turned to go back to the party but her eyes fell on a shining piece of platinum cufflink that lay on her bed. She picked it up and inspected the expensive piece. It could only belong to Nicholas as no other man had come into her room.
Now she was in a dilemma. Should she go to his room and return the expensive thing? What if he misunderstood her? No, why would he? She would just hand him his jewelry and run. She tiptoed out of her room, carefully avoiding the glass, and went out of the door. She saw Nicholas’s room at the other end of the corridor and walked towards it with her heart thumping wildly in her chest. Standing in front of his door, she took a deep breath.
She turned the doorknob and the door opened easily. She peered inside and saw Nicholas standing nearby and watching the door with interest. “Ah, Alyssa! I was waiting for you! I’m glad that you’ve changed your mind. Come in please.” With a charming smile, he approached her making her stop in her tracks, her eyes wide and anxious.
“No, you’ve got it all wrong, Nicholas. I just came to return this,” she pointed out, holding the cufflink out to him. However, Nicholas didn’t even bother to look at the thing and stopped inches away from her. He picked up the cufflink and dropped it into his pockets.
“Okay, I’ll get back to the party.” She whirled around to run but Nicholas wasn’t letting this opportunity go. His whole body was on fire and he knew he had to finish that kiss for his own sanity.