Playboy Boss, Live-In Mistress

Sienna felt her smile widen. This was the Lex she knew and understood. This Lex she could handle. ‘So what exactly is it that you want me to do while we’re in transit?’

He stared at her through narrowed assessing eyes and Sienna stared back with as much calm as she could muster. After what seemed like an eternity Lex bestowed on her a smile an angel would’ve been proud of. He was up to something. Nothing surer.

‘Tell you what…’ he said graciously. ‘I’ll shower, you hold the towel.’

CHAPTER TWO

TWENTY minutes later the plane touched down in Singapore and Sienna preceeded Lex along narrow nondescript corridors towards the transit lounge. She felt a lot better now that they were off the plane—more in control of herself and her surroundings. Far more inclined to think that her and Lex’s sensually loaded altercation had been nothing more than edginess and boredom on his part and a never-to-be repeated moment of insanity on hers.

Sienna’s internal clock told her it was long past her bedtime, but the arrival and departure boards inside the terminal said it was six p.m. and the light outside the windows confirmed it. She was tired, she realised belatedly. Add that to the list of reasons for her strange reaction to Lex. She added it to his side of the equation too. The hours he’d worked during these last few days leading up to the trip had been phenomenal. And there hadn’t been a beautiful companion in sight. Not for months, according to her godmother, Adriana, who also happened to be Lex’s mother. Sienna added ‘overdue’to Lex’s list of reasons for uncharacteristic behaviour. Wonderful things, lists.

The standard array of shops graced the terminal corridors. Coffee bar, newsagent, chain-store music and books, lotions, potions, and soap… Wait! Soap. Gorgeously scented luxury soap. To use in the shower… Sienna stopped abruptly and Lex all but crashed into her in the process.

‘What did you forget?’ he said.

‘Nothing.’ He of little faith. ‘I just want some soap.’

‘I already have soap.’

‘Why is it always about you?’

‘It just…usually is.’

‘Well, not this time.’ Honestly, the man had been thoroughly indulged for far too long. ‘The soap is for me.’

‘My mistake.’ Lex wandered over to the nearest display. ‘What kind of soap do you want?’

‘I’ll know it when I smell it,’ she said.

‘I see.’ His expression said he didn’t understand the delights of scented-soap shopping at all. ‘What say we forgo your PA training for the next couple of hours and I meet you back on the plane?’ But the ancient Asian saleswoman had already made her move.

‘Come. Come,’ she said, waving them into the shop proper. ‘It is good for the man to choose the soap for the woman. Choose now, benefit later, no?’

‘No,’ said Sienna, but the saleswoman ignored her.

‘This one,’ she said, and handed Lex a block of soap. ‘Ylang ylang and lemongrass. Smell good, no?’

Lex sniffed. Considered. Decided. And all without giving Sienna a second glance. ‘No,’ he said as he handed the soap back to the woman. ‘She’s more of a rosehip kind of girl.’

‘I am not!’ said Sienna.

‘Rosehip and vanilla?’ said the saleswoman, picking up another block of soap and offering it to him. ‘This one you like?’

‘Hello,’ said Sienna. ‘Over here.’

‘Got anything with ginger in it?’ said Lex.

‘Sandalwood and ginger,’ said the woman and passed that one to him as well. ‘Also matching body lotion, hand cream, and shampoo.’

‘Sold,’ said Lex and produced a wallet from his trouser pocket. ‘Don’t bother wrapping it.’

‘How sweet,’ murmured Sienna. ‘You think we’re done here.’

‘We are done here.’ He strode towards the register. ‘You wanted soap. You got soap. And moisturiser, and shampoo. What more could you possibly need?’

This wasn’t about need. It was about shopping. Possibly about revenge. ‘There’s a men’s range.’

‘No,’ he said hastily.

‘Oh, yes.’ Sienna studied him serenely. If he thought he could treat her like a charity case and pick up the tab for her expenses he was mistaken. She wasn’t on the poverty line yet. She could still afford soap.

The saleswoman studied him too. ‘So much hurry,’ she said. ‘Does he have airplane to catch?’

‘He just got off one.’ Lex opened his mouth to speak. ‘He’s about to tell you he already has soap,’ Sienna murmured. ‘Anyone would think he’s not a patient man.’

‘A man with no patience is like an ocean without fish,’ said the woman, and continued to study Lex. ‘Why even cast the net?’

‘I have fish,’ said Lex indignantly. ‘I have plenty of fish.’

‘Of course you do.’ Sienna couldn’t quite hide her smirk. Who’d have thought there’d be such joy to be had in a transit terminal soap shop?

‘Allspice and lemon thyme?’ offered the saleswoman.

Close. There was no denying the man’s edibility, although she fully intended to. ‘I’m thinking cinnamon.’

‘Cinnamon and orange,’ said the woman, picking up a nearby block of soap and handing it to her. ‘Good choice.’

Sienna took it. Sniffed it. ‘I don’t know… I’m not sure…’ And with devilry in mind she said, ‘He may need to try it on.’

‘How—?’ he began, and then spied the basin and tap. ‘No.’

Oh, yes. ‘I’d hate to choose wrong. Imagine if the aroma didn’t complement your manly essence?’

‘Sienna, it’s soap.’

‘How little you know,’ she said and reached for his arm, pushing his jacket sleeve up to his elbow before taking his wrist and turning it to expose the inside of his forearm. ‘Think of the fish.’

The saleswoman slapped a damp cloth on his skin and deftly wet him from elbow to wrist. ‘The soap will slide,’ she said.

The soap did slide. And somewhere between elbow and wrist Sienna lost the upper hand and Lex found it.

‘Now you rub with your hands,’ the saleswoman told her. ‘I take the soap.’

Lex’s mouth curved lazily and his eyes gleamed. ‘I like a firm touch,’ he murmured.

He got one and winced, doubtless from pleasure.

‘She’s so obliging,’ he told the saleswoman. ‘Really. Ouch!’