The billionaire’s forbidden obsession

Clumsy menace

He didn’t wait for her to say anything before he took off his hoodie, dropped it on the ground and carefully started piling the least damaged groceries on top.

“Okay,” he said, sounding more like he was talking to himself. “We sort first. Anything bruised but still usable goes in one bag. Anything tragic…” he nodded at a squashed tomato “we mourn and move on.”

Maya let out a tiny laugh. Filled with somewhat a sense of relief, and disbelief at how much mockery the universe was determined to make out of her.

“You’re ridiculous,” she muttered.

“Yeah,” he said easily. “I get that a lot.”

They started moving fast. He rinsed what he could at the outside tap near the building, holding the groceries like they were fragile treasures and not the fallen fruits they were.

When they were done, it wasn’t nearly as bad as she expected it would be. Most of the oranges survived. The apples were fine. The eggs— well they were ruined

“So I-“

She dusted off her hands and started taking a step towards him and the next thing she knew, she was in his arms. Horizontally.

Gravity defaulted.

Before she could even panic, she felt his arms on her waist— strong and swift— effortlessly catching her before she could reach the ground.

She freezes at the warmth of his touch.

So does he.

For a brief moment, it felt like the whole world was on auto pause and it was just the two of them. Entangled in each other’s embrace. It shouldn’t have taken her much time to land back to her feet but it did. He was watching her as if the world quieted just for her existence. She enjoyed every milli second of it. The way his eyes searched through her soul and the way they screamed of desire.

A loose strand of hair falls on her face and he places it back without even thinking, his hands still grazing her glowing cheeks.

“You okay?” he shakes his head slightly and pulls her back to her feet. As someone who had walked into the wrong room and had only now realized.

She nods, skin still flushing. “Yes.”

She looks at her feet, only now realizing one of the laces had loosened and stepping on it caused her to fall.

Oh but that wasn’t all. She could see the sole of her shoes demarcating from the shoes itself.

She felt lightheaded instantly. She knew the shoes were bound to give up very soon due to all the walking she had to do in the hospital and truthfully speaking— they had lasted her for ages but they still didn’t have to spoil today. Not here. Hell, not now. It took almost every restraint in her to not crouch on the floor in embarrassment and start crying again. He might have caught her without a glint of criticism in his eyes but she was so sure he saw her for the human menace that she was. The first time could have been passed off. Suree, accidents like this happen to every one once in a while. But this wasnt an accident any longer, it was a misfortune.

Her head was still bent down in the same position it was when she took a look at her shoes. Only difference was that her eyes were shut so tightly. She couldn’t look at him.

She feels his hands tracing her jawline in an attempt to turn her face upwards to face him and slowly her eyes began to reopen.

She creeps up a smile, maybe if she acted like nothing was wrong, he wouldn’t notice.

Oh who was she kidding. He noticed. He laughed too.

It was official. She was moving to Florida and buying a new house there. If she could afford it.

when she let her anxious thoughts calm down, she listens to the way he laughs. It didn’t sound like mockery, just like the previous time he laughed before helping her with her fallen groceries. It sounded more like a man who had so much built in frustration inside of him and had found a soothing season of escape. This time, she was the one lost in his eyes.

“What do we do with you now, sunshine?”

Sunshine? She blushes for the umpteenth time since they met.

“I could reach into my apartment and get you different shoes but i don’t think I have any that could fit you” he grins.

She looked at his feet and he was right. His shoes were at least twice as long as any pair she had ever owned. They looked expensive too. No way she would have accepted them, nonetheless.

“Let’s do this, mi amore. I’ll get you into your apartment and then you can grab a spare footwear before going to your mom’s bakery”.

Maya had stopped listening after the “mi amore” and then slowly the sentence starts to trace back in her head.

“Wait…get me back into my apartment? How do you mean?”

He moves towards her and just like that, the distance between them was very little.

“I’ll carry you to wherever you’re headed to.”

“In my arms.”

“Do I have your permission?”

With every sentence he made, he closed an inch. It was clear how much fun he was having at how her heart beat skyrocketed by the second.

She wobbles. Luckily he has become so natural at catching her. He pioneers his face and lifts his eye brows, illustrating if he could go ahead.

Still leaning into his hold, he raises her. Too carefully, as if afraid she would slip off from his hands.

Maya mumbles a “mhm” right before she could gain her senses back and decline. She wouldn’t want the neighbors to see and start talking. He lifts her up, making sure to balance her properly in his arms before taking her shoes off and holding it in his right hand.