Billionaire's Sweet Challenge

Chapter 9

Opening his suitcase, Kris deliberately peeled off his shirt, leaving his torso bare. He thought of Lexi's reaction to him being shirtless around her and he found himself wanting to ruffle her once again.

It was only after he stole a glance at her that he realised she wasn't looking at him at all. Her mind seemed to be in another place, just like it'd been when they'd been having dinner with his family.

Curious and disappointed, he pulled out a sweats pants from bis suitcase, shut it, then headedfor the bathroom to change. He usually slept naked, but he obviously couldn't keep that up for the few days he and Lexi would be sharing a room.

When he returned, Lexi was standing on the balcony and had already changed into a silky gray robe. Kris couldn't afford to think of the flimsy nightwear she had to be wearing underneath. Her still wet hair cascaded damply down her back.

“How was the first day?” He asked her, stepping beside her. Her eyes snapped from the starry SKU to his face, but thankfully, she seemed to have finally snapped out of the thoughts that'd engrossed her.

A small smile fell on her lips. "You were right when you said your mother was very pleasant. She made the whole pretending easy. I like her. Everyone is very pleasant. . . and happy." Her smile faltered at the last part.

Feeling a pull at his heart at the sadness that encompassed her expression, Kris wanted to reach out and touch her, but he held himself back. His and Lexi's relationship had become something more than business in the last day, but he wasn't sure where to draw the line, the questions he could ask.

"Hey, what are you thinking?" He asked, hoping it would pull her from the world she seemed to have slipped into once again.

It did thankfully. Lexi shrugged as she slewd to fully face him. "About your parents. They've been together for so long, and yet they're still so in love, so happy together. My own parents didn't live together for that long and yet..." She trailed of as she blinked in what seemed like an attempt to ward of unwanted emotions.

Biting down on his lips, Kris scrubbed a hand along his jaw, feeling uncertain about probing. "They're divorced?" That would explain the difference in their surnames.

"I mean, I was a big girl and it's not like their divorce traumatized me or anything." She said it like she wanted to convince herself. "They lived unhappily for years. My dad wanted out of the marriage because he had fallen out of love with mum but my mum wouldn't consent, threatening to take legal action for some things he'd done."

Not knowing what to say, Kris waited for her to continue. "They pretended horribly in front of us, their children-my sister and I- and everything was awkward. We just hadn't imagined how serious things were, until my little sister caught them arguing about my father's want to be with another woman. Once the fuss was out in the light for their children to see, my dad finally filed for divorce, damning the consequences."

"They divorced eight years ago, and my mother didn't take any action against him despite her threats. My dad got engaged to his new woman five months later. It seems he'd been seeing her for a long time behind mum's back and he couldn't wait to settle down with her."

A shaky breath blew past her lips. "I blamed my dad in the beginning, but later, with hindsight, I think my mum was just as much to blame for the who-knows-how-many-years-of-misery they'd lived in. I mean, why was it so hard to give up a marriage that only gave her pain? I know there's that factor of love, but why stay in a relationship where the love is one-sided and the other doesn't miss the opportunity every time to tell you they don't love you anymore?"

Kris could only stare at her awkwardly, not knowing where he stood with this woman. He'd always been used to the lively Lexi. He hadn't expected her to divulge something so personal about her life to him, and he didn't know which words would serve emollient to the sadness the memories had obviously evoked.

"You know, tomorrow the folks will be expecting us to do more than just holding hands and smiling at each other." He mused, trying to change the topic and feeling like a jerk for doing nothing to comfort her.

"Of course. I'll be looking forward to that." Lexi said with a small smile, but her tone lacked the hint of flirtation. She yawned. "Okay, now I'm exhausted. Goodnight, Kris."

"Goodnight." He whispered back.

He followed her with his eyes as she walked back into the room and crawled onto the bed. She flashed him a small smile after she'd covered herself with the covers.

Closing the balcony, Kris strolled back into the room, heading to grab his laptop from his bag to do a little work. Thirty minutes later, he shut the device and yawned, exhaustion finally catching up with him.

Getting up from the couch to put the laptop away, he stole a glance at Lexi who'd fallen asleep. There was a sense of vulnerability about a sleeping Lexi compared to the awake, flirty, carefree one that stunned him.

Inexplicably, he found himself drawn to her. From her slightly parted lips that begged to be sucked as she slept, to the even rise and fall of her firm looking breasts. The quilt had rolled down to her mid-stomach, and even though she wore a robe, the fact that her sleeping attire left so much for the imagination made it more enthralling.

He leaned down, just on the brink of pressing his lips to her forehead when he quickly caught himself. What on the fricking earth was wrong with him, he wondered as he made his way to the couch. Grabbing the cover she'd benignly put on it, he scooting under it and tried to fit his size into the couch.

He probably should've gotten laid before coming to the reunion.

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"Are you guys awake yet?"

Several knocks on the door had Lexi jolting awake. She sat up abruptly only to find Kris, sitting in the couch, looking back at her with eyes widened in something akin to panic.

"Son, can I come in?" Cornelia's sweet, hesitant voice filtered to the room once again.

Both their eyes widened at the same time, and there was no telling the other what to do. His mother shouldn't see they hadn't shared the same bed. They needed to act fast.

Quickly, Lexi arranged herself on one side of the bed while Kris, mildly shouting a "Just a moment, mum" ran to the bed. Grabbing the covers, he slipped himself into the bed.

Lexi raked her hands through her hair so that it appeared more tousled, and she was just about to remove her robe when she remembered how flimsy the nightwear she was wearing underneath was. At the same time, she and Kris tugged on the sheets of the bed so that it appeared ruffled and tampered with.

"You can come in now, Mum." Kris said, insinuating they'd been doing something.

Seconds later, the door splayed open, and a cheerful Cornelia looking quite beautiful in a green designer sundress sauntered into the room.

"I just brought you lovebirds some morning after coffee." She said, winking at Lexi.

Lexi nearly choked on her saliva. Jeez, could the woman be anymore flagrant? Obviously, she didn't expect her son and his girlfriend to sleep in the same room without touching each other which she couldn't blame her for.

Kris rolled his eyes and smiled. "Thank you mum, please leave it there."

"Thank you, Cornelia. You're very thoughtful." Lexi added.

"Anytime." She beamed once more before placing the tray where Kris had pointed and sauntering out.

Kris slumped on the bed and breathed a huge sigh. "That was close."

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They had breakfast outside in the garden where no dining table was required. The men, including the teenagers gathered in the living room afterwards while the women chose the part of the garden near the pool with the kids playing around.

So far none of the people she'd met had made her feel unwelcome if you excluded Kris's cousin, Ramiro, who wouldn't stop giving her creepy looks.

She'd taken a particular liking to Ana, Kris's younger sister. The girl reminded her so much of her best friend, Ella, who was working with an NGO to help people all around the world. She was currently in Asia.

As for Cornelia, she was so excited about her son's first ever introduced girlfriend that it made Lexi feel guilty thinking of how insensitively Kris was raising his mother's hopes even though he planned to shatter them soon.

When Kris had revealed he planned on leading his mother on thinking he was serious with her, and then tell her a week or so later that she had cheated on him, Lexi hadn't thought very much about it.

But now that the woman had grown so fond of her, the thought of Cornelia's high regard of her slipping down the drain wasn't a particularly pleasant thought.

Lexi didn't find it hard blending in with the new people, and for about an hour or so in the garden, they talked about nothing and everything over bottles of champagne. The men joined them later.

"What are you ladies talking about?" Raymond Reynolds, Kris's father asked as they got to them.

"Nothing that concerns you men." Cornelia retorted playfully, and the women giggled.

As some of the men leaned down to kiss their partners, Lexi's lips tingled with expectation for Kris's kiss. The said man merely sat on the thin armrest of her chair like the other men did with their partners.

It was all Lexi could do to hold back her sigh of disappointment.

One of Kris's uncles broached a topic on politics which unleashed a long bout of expression of views, disagreements and protestations. Lexi contributed to the debate with her latent knowledge in politics. Cornelia seemed pleased.

Kris, now standing behind his mother, smiled at her, as if impressed by her pretense aplomb. Lexi only rolled her eyes at him.

"Guess what, ladies?" Cornelia managed to grab everyone's attention despite the loud chatter. "We're going out. Everything is on me!"