PERFECT TEMPTATION

FOUR

The last thing Micheal ever expected was to meet Leena after all this time. He was not even sure how he felt about seeing her. To make it all worse, he met her in the weirdest circumstance, as her husband's partner. Lord! She was married, and she seemed happy in her marriage.

He could not help but let his mind wander off to when they first met. She had been the most unique girl in the club such that when his friends pushed him into picking one, his eyes instantly moved to her. It was his first time there and it seemed like it was hers too. Except she was not there for the fun.

Seated alone, drinking herself away. She had definitely been crying but she hid it from anyone quite perfectly. She was still pretty behind those dark circles and clothes she could not have chosen for herself. Everyone else dressed in something revealing, something that showed off miles of their skins, but she sat their in her sweatpants and baggy shirt not even having makeup on.

She clearly had no plans for interacting or having any company. Regardless, he approached her and they instantly cliqued. She was there with a friend whom she claimed forced her to come along. He could not doubt it since she looked the part, but it did not take much for him to get her out of the club with him.

She made it quite clear that she did not want anything serious that night when he got to explore the beautiful body behind the baggy clothes. Both of them agreeing to fake names to address each other to make sure it was completely unreal. Shawn and Selene.

It would have been a one night stand, it was supposed to be, but they kept in touch afterwards. They became friends who were more than friends. The relationship lasted longer than he expected it to,if he was even supposed to call what they had a relationship, and he was clearly falling for her, real hard.

He wanted to ask her to officially be his girlfriend. In order to do that he had to ask her to end whatever was going on between them. She did not seem to take it badly, but before he could pop the question, he had panicked. He had ended things over a text.

He knew he had to do the rest physically, but when he finally gathered up the courage to tell her what he felt, he saw her with her ex at her door. He was hurt. How could she have run back to that jerk the moment he was gone. He disappeared from her life afterwards, to move on from her.

Well, he did not exactly move on. Not like she had, to the extent she was married. He should have reminded himself back then of her words. That she did not want anything real. He was not the type to fall in love in the first place so why had she been so different?

He watched her stir in her sleep as she slowly started to wake up. She opened her eyes to meet him standing beside her. Where was she? The events from that morning flooded back in her mind all too fast. How could she get drunk so early in the morning?

She tried getting up but her body fought off the idea. She groaned moving back down in bed before fully opening her eyes.

"Take this, " Micheal said handing her a pill and a glass of water.

She propped herself up from the bed and obediently took the pill and the glass from him, downing it without question.

"You should probably have a bath. It'll help you feel better."

With that, he left the room. Had he been watching her sleep all that while? What time was it in the first place? She looked around and saw her things on the chair in the corner of the room. It was  3 pm in the evening. Was it humanly possible to sleep that long?

She felt like a wreck. She looked like it too. She headed over to the bathroom to find a note by the door. Michael had bought her clothes she could change into if she wanted to. There was no problem with her clothes, except for the bit of spilled tequila on them.

She had talked about being professional but this was worse than being unprofessional. She drank with a client and actually got drunk and slept in his house. Now she was having a shower there. But if it was any consolation, she never wanted to drink in the first place. Micheal practically coerced her into it.

The warm water felt soothing when it came in contact with her skin. She honestly could not ask for anything better, and whatever Michael had given her, it was working. She stared to feel a lot more, alive.

She debated on whether to accept the clothes or not. She had no idea where she was and she therefore had no idea how long it would take her to get home. It was a Friday. Jonathan would be home early. She could not risk him smelling tequila on her but she could not just accept Michael's clothes.

She had made up her mind. She was going to stick to her own clothes. Whatever questions would arise if she found Jonathan home, she was going to find a way to answer them.

She went downstairs and found Micheal busy. He was on his laptop, with a pile of documents beside him.

"You're a workaholic now huh?" Leena said as she made her way downstairs.

He did not even look at her, he just kept typing. She went and sat next to him.

"Thank you."

"What for," he said, his eyes still fixated on the screen.

"For not taking me home," she said with a chuckle, "and for, taking care of me. "

He finally turned to look at her and noticed that she was not wearing the dress he got her. He did not say anything about it even though she had expected him to.

"You don't need to thank me, I'm the one who made you drink. I should actually be apologizing to you."

"No... I uum, I actually had fun. And now that I think I know everything I need to, I have an idea of what to create for you."

She smiled at him, this time it was a genuine smile, and everything she had said was true. But she needed to get home. Jonathan would question where she was. She never came home late.

"I have to go now. I'll contact you once I've prepared something and send it to you for approval."

He gave her a simple nod and she got up and made her way to the door. Lord  his house was huge. Too huge for one person. But it was beautiful. He had a pretty unique and amazing style. She was in the corridor leading to the main door when she heard him follow her.

"Wait!"

Leena turned to him, obviously questioning why he stopped her. It was last minute in his mind too but he could not stop himself.

"I have one more thing to show you. Can I please see you tomorrow at 8pm?"

"I really don't think that..."

"I know..." he interrupted, "but outside professionalism. Please." He saw the doubt in her eyes. She had never been easy to convince anyway, "I promise it'll be the last. Just please make it."

"Okay."

She left without looking back and in his mind he thought of her. Her smile, her voice, everything he had missed about her. He may have been mad at her, but he could at least give himself one more chance to see her, even if it would be his last.