Arranged by the Stars (7 page)

“
You should
try it sometime. It will do you a world of good and you might even
stop wearing those stupid ties.” She picked up her towel and walked
towards him.

He pretended to be deeply
wounded. “I love my ties.” His brain searched for every article
he’d read on spontaneous combustion. Was it possible to burst into
flames by pure desire?

“
I think
that’s the saddest thing I’ve heard in a long time,” she tugged at
his tie and he watched her walk away.

She probably grew up
walking around with books on her head, hence the perfect runway
walk. The walk of princesses and queens. He wondered if he put a
pea under her mattress, would she feel it?

She swung around and her
gaze caught him unawares. “Kieran?” Her arms lifted in confusion,
and her perfectly defined brows rose playfully. He supposed there
was some point to it. It did make her eyes look fascinating but he
always thought that. Why green? Not many Indian girls had green
eyes. Stunning green eyes.

“
Are you okay
Kieran? Have you been out in the sun too much?” she came closer and
put the back of her forearm to his head. “You don’t seem
hot.”

“
I’m okay.”
Except that she didn’t think he was hot. She never did let on what
she thought of him.

“
Are you
sure?” Her hand went from his head to the side of his neck as she
looked for further signs of a fever.

His ears heated as blood
pounded through his body. Every nerve in his body was wired to his
head and the spot she’d touched. His brain sent an error message to
his heart, telling it his chest was a trampoline and the
summersaults were about to kill him.

His groin didn’t only
tighten, but he hardened like a teenager with his first wet dream.
“Ash, please don’t do that. I said I was okay.” He pulled away and
started walking like the alarm for a Tsunami warning had been
sounded.

“
You’re
acting weird,” she followed him and told him about her Yoga
instructor who had offered her a week of free lessons.

His gaze went back to the
beach and the twenty-something beach bum whose intentions were
clear. “If you like Yoga, maybe we can look for something closer to
work. I might even join you, if you want.”

He was surprised she’d
think he’d actually be interested. Even more surprised when her
smile brightened and reached her eyes. “Really Kieran, you’ll do
that? For me?”

This wasn’t part of the
deal. In fact it was treading on dangerous waters, but the thought
of Ash falling prey to some Yoga instructor who took advantage of
innocent women made him so mad. He hadn’t even realised he was
holding his breath until he had to release it. Once done, he gave
her a silent nod. Yoga couldn’t be that bad and she will probably
forget about it in a day.

She dropped her bag on
the beach and then pulled off her flimsy loose top. Dressed in a
one piece bathing suite she did another stretch. Her body was
curved in exactly the right places. He slipped his hands into his
pockets. What the hell was he doing? If she turned around right
now, what would she think about his growing bulge?

When she lifted her arms
over her head and then bent down to touch her toes, he groaned.
Then she stood and swung her arms up, before walking towards the
sea. He was a dead man.

“
Ash, what
are you doing?”

“
It’s my
afternoon off. I am going for a swim,” her hands were stretched in
front of her. Her gaze was full of innocence.

“
That’s the
sea. It’s dangerous. The hotel has a pool.” Was she mad?

He showed his ignorance
for the real world and nature. She gave him this look and he could
hear the posh sound of his voice. He was a snob. He was his
mother’s son and for a moment he was seeing her through Julie’s
eyes and he could see it in her eyes. That look of utter
disappointment. But he had a point.

She cocked her head and
placed her hands on her hips. “Look around you. People are swimming
in the water. Unless they can’t swim, I am pretty sure the water
here is safe. We all can’t be as rich as you and afford swimming
pools.” This time when he watched her walk away from him, there was
something else that held his gaze. She straightened her shoulders
and swayed those hips with more fire than he’d ever noticed in
those emerald eyes.

“
Ash, at
least watch where you’re walking.” she didn’t have to act stupid to
prove her point.

“
Why don’t
you go back to the office Dr Kannaa…ouch―” She fell to the
ground.

Kieran rushed forward and
was at her side in seconds. Her foot had red welts along the side
and she was squirming and wriggling like red ants were crawling
along her body.

“
Can you keep
still so I can see what’s the problem? I don’t think there are
snakes on the beach, but it looks like a sting.” he tried to touch
her foot which she kept out of his reach.

She pushed at him and
pointed to the ground. “You idiot. I was stung by that. It’s a
jellyfish.”

“
Now we’ve
established what stung you, could you stop moving so I can examine
your foot?” She was writhing on the ground and keeping her foot
away from him.

Her oohs and aahs, were
drawing more than a few smirks and smiles from the people walking
by. He tried to get her to focus but she was flailing. “The quicker
I diagnose―”

She grabbed his shirt and
pulled him closer. “I don’t need your posh explanations or words.
The pain is hell and I am dying.” The beads of sweat on her heated
forehead, was a dead giveaway she didn’t have long before she would
pass out from pain or shock.

Kieran sat on his
haunches and pulled her across his lap. He threaded his fingers
into her hair and pulled all the loose strands behind her ears so
she could see his eyes and focus. “Ash, listen to me. Just listen
to the sound of my voice and nothing else. It’s going to be
okay.”

He lowered his head. Her
eyes widened and he watched her pupils dilate. He had to wonder if
it was fear or excitement which brought on this effect. At this
point it could have been both, but he really wanted it to be
excitement and he didn’t ask himself why. All he knew was he wanted
to taste her lips. Until that moment he hadn’t realised how much he
wanted to know if she tasted like the exotic scent of orchids and
oranges she smelled of or if it was something totally
different.

He watched her tongue
flick out and he expected it to sweep across her lips, which had
gone parched from the shock of the pain. But instead she closed the
distance between them and nipped at the corner of his
lip.

What am I
doing?
The reality hit him like a bolt of
lightening and he groaned. This was so many kinds of wrong. He was
doing exactly what the beach bum was trying to do to Ash. He was
taking advantage.

Her hands reached up and
wrapped around his neck. She sighed against his mouth. Her teeth
made a sound as they clicked against his.

This was so
wrong.

Pain and pleasure were
two emotions on different ends of the spectrum. Ash never thought
to put them together. But the whiskey depths of Kieran’s eyes left
her with a heated sense of need, and pain cloaked to such a point
that it mimicked pleasure. A sensation she couldn’t equate to
anything she’d come across before.

His hair felt soft and
silky and for days she’d wanted to touch it, to see if that hair
product he used would leave it lacking. It didn’t, in fact as her
fingers knitted through his hair, the smoothness of his scalp
tingled her palms and there was heaviness in her belly. Something
unexplainable. Would he think her forward now that she’d tried to
press her lips against his? Surely he could see she was
impatient.

The pain was that
stubborn wave that continued to knock against the breaker.
Annoying, but definitely something she could deal with. Her gaze
lifted when he pushed her away. “I should call an ambulance,” he
took out his mobile phone.

Thwack. The resounding
sound from his rejection stung so much it was nothing compared to a
jellyfish. She lifted herself off the ground, refusing his offer of
help. Her heart was beating so wildly that it matched her gasping
breaths. She pushed her hair away from her face and felt the heat
in her cheeks. He must think she was some sort of wanton woman who
would make public displays of affection to anyone who’d have
her.

Slowly she straightened
her bathing suit before picking herself off the ground. She limped
to her bag and took out a small bottle of lemon juice she normally
kept for her tea. “Don’t bother, Dr Kanna. Home remedies sometimes
work best. I can see myself home thank you.” Without meaning to
half the bottle ended up squirted on her foot.

“
That’s
ridiculous Ash. I am going that way. I can drive you to the hotel.
You can hardly walk,” he placed a hand on her shoulder which was
shrugged off.

“
It’s my
afternoon off. I have errands to run.” She turned away hoping he
wouldn’t notice that her voice had taken on a high-pitched sound.
She still had to face him in the morning and the day after. This
was so embarrassing.

“
Are you
crying?” he was developing powers of perception at the worst
possible time.

“
I splashed
lemon juice in my eyes,” she said. Hoping he’d leave. The stinging
was not so bad but his rejection still hurt like he’d kicked her on
the soft part of the shin.

“
If this is
about the kiss, then forget it. I won’t take advantage of you.
Let’s not complicate the deal we have.” He placed his hands in his
pocket and kicked the heel of one foot with the toe of the
other.

Was he trying to be a
chivalrous gentleman? How sweet. There was a chance she might never
get a chance to experience anything exciting and adventurous and he
wanted to suck all the joy out of her life. Did he have any idea
what her potential life could look like? Of course he
didn’t.

“
Kieran, you
are such a fool.” She strode up to him and grabbed onto his tie,
pulling him closer. His hands were still in his pocket, his eyes
were wide open and she placed her thigh between his legs and leaned
in. He gasped in surprise. She let him. After all, he deserved that
scared deer-in-the lights-look.

As his lips were barely
an inch she took the tip of her tongue and traced a pattern along
the edge of his lips. He tasted of coffee and mint. And something
she couldn’t describe. That heavy feeling in her belly came back
with a vengeance. She didn’t know whether to step back from the
force of it, or to plunge herself into him and bathe in the beauty
of it.

She teased open his mouth
with little nips and waited for him to comply with her pleas. As
his mouth opened she slipped her tongue into his mouth and waited
for the rush of sensation to catch up with the rate of her heart.
“Kieran.” His name was barely whispered when his lips were crushed
against hers.

The instant she felt him
pull away she moaned and pulled him closer. But like some dream she
couldn’t get back to, he stepped back.

“
We shouldn’t
Ash. It’s not fair on you.” His hands swept across his face and he
sighed. “I respect you too much.”

Wow. That was definitely
a new one. He was definitely old school. Grabbing her bag Ash
dabbed the hot tears spilling on her cheeks with her forearm as she
walked away. She hadn’t cried once when they stripped her of her
crown, but she cried now. Unbelievable!

She sniffed and refused
to turn back. If she saw pity grace those puppy-dog brown eyes,
then that was it for her. What she needed was some affirmation that
reminded her this was a business deal and nothing else. And maybe a
few on how to respect herself more.

*****

No matter how many times
Kieran looked at the old fashion clock that sat on his father’s
desk, the time refused to go any faster than it could. The light
knock on his door was a welcome distraction.

“
Coffee,
sir?” she handed him the cup without waiting for the
reply.

He took the steaming mug.
“Why do you bother asking when you know the answer?”

After the kiss at the
beach she avoided contact with him when she could. He missed her
smile the most. “I will come back for the coffee cup.”

He’d run out of excuses
to make her stay longer. “I wish you’d talk to me. Like you used
to.”

As she turned her hair
fell over her shoulders. She deserved that crown. “It’s a pretend
relationship. There’s no one here to pretend for.”

The sound of heightened
voices prevented him from rebuttal. “Someone out there might
disagree? Do you think it’s another allergic reaction? Maybe Stuart
couldn’t stay away from the local cuisine?”

Ash shrugged and went to
the door. “It’s probably that tie salesman pleading poverty.” So
she noticed he hadn’t been wearing his suits. She hadn’t said
anything.

The reception area was
empty except for a fifteen-year-old girl with a limp caramel
coloured baby in her arms. Her tear stained eyes turned towards
Kieran and Ash. “Please help. My baby is sick and I don’t know what
to do.”