Bedmates Soulmates

Damian caught a good look at the girl's face for the first time.

He knew she was young, but he hadn't expected her to be that young.

She looked to be of barely legal age.

She seemed a little shy in the presence of a stranger, though she more than made up for it with her youthful vigour and geniality.

She wore non

no makeup.

A hint of dark circles under her eyes accentuated the fairness of her skin.

Her long hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail.

Her fingers, ears and neck were unadorned with jewellery.

She was comely now, but she had the kind of bone structure and facial features that would turn her into a breathtaking stunner in a couple of years. But Damian wasn't staring because of her beauty.

Her face was vaguely familiar.

He was almost certain he'd seen her somewhere before, but he just couldn't recall it at the moment.

His line of work brought him into contact with thousands of people.

Damian had a good memory, but it would still take him a while to search through his vast mental database.

He ran his eyes over the girl's face again.

Kira didn't miss the flash of surprise in the man's eyes and his second, probing gaze.

But she had no idea why.

The man was a stranger, but he was Austyn's friend.

Holding back a question, she offered a pleasant smile to Damian.

Kira tried to strike up a conversation but didn't have much luck.

Mr Matthews was polite but taciturn..

She got vague answers when she asked him about his line of work.

After a while, Kira gave up.

She'd thought Austyn was a man of few words, but his friend was worse. Maybe that was why people often said birds of a feather flocked together. Kira scanned the room.

Kal had slipped away without her noticing.

Over the sound system, Lady Gaga was singing about riding on a disco stick

Doctor Chase was surrounded by a trio of hostesses.

One was sitting on his lap, feeding him grapes with her mouth.

The other two were doing a strip tease.

Kira looked away.

Since she didn't want to talk to Austyn and Mr Matthews seemed to not want to talk to her, the only choice left for a conversation partner was the police captain. Damian sat back and listened absent-mindedly to Kira and Luca chatting about food.

The more he looked at the girl, the more familiar he found her.

Austyn fastened his eyes on Kira,

The death stare did not work on Luca, who had his back to Austyn, but it was producing an effect on Kira.

When she couldn't ignore it anymore, Kira glared back.

She had eyes, too, and hers were bigger than his.

She was not going to lose a staring contest!

Austyn clenched his fists.

That woman was out of control.

First, she defied his order to go home.

Then she sat next to Luca, a man who was not her husband.

Then the two of them talked up a storm.

And now she was giving her own husband a dirty look.

In his mind, Austyn moved up the timetable for the spanking-

Kira was unafraid, feeling there was safety in numbers.

As grouchy as Austyn was, he was not going to lose his temper in front of his friends.

So she rolled her eyes at him.

The veins on Austyn's forehead hammered, threatening to break out.

Damian chuckled at the couple's silent war of stares.

The smile disappeared from his face when he glanced at Kira again.

It gnawed at him that he couldn't place her.

Damian started trawling through his mental database for the second time that night, going in reverse chronological order.

Austyn, the legal husband, silently fumed as his legal wife shared a laugh with his friend.

'You're joking,' Luca sald.

"I kid you not!' Kira insisted. 'The chef threw the rumali roti in the air, you know, to flatten it. He was going to catch it

Why Is He Staring At Her Like That?

with his right hand, but he must've tossed it a little harder than he realised. The roti flew through the air and landed on a man walking past. You should've seen it. The roti was stuck to the man's face like a big, misshapen starfish. He was flailing his arms, clawing at his face and yelling, "Help! I can't see! I can't see!"!!

Kira brought her hands to her face to mime the hapless victim's reaction.

Luca threw his head back and laughed.

"I can do you one better,' he said. 'A bunch of friends and I went to a pizzeria. Two tables away was a professorial- looking man, with the spectacles and the elbow patches, you know. When his order was served...'

Kira hung on to the captain's every word, giggling when he delivered the punchline,noveldrama

She hadn't realised the police captain could be so funny.

The more they laughed, the darker Austyn's face became.

Kira did not spare him a glance.

But she couldn't ignore the other pair of eyes trained on her.

Mr Matthews did not join her conversation with Captain O'Neill, but he kept glancing at her.

It was a keen, scrutinising gaze.

And it was starting to make her uncomfortable.

The tall, silent man played with a lighter in his hand and seemed to be deep in thought.

Kira had a feeling that he was thinking about her.

She fidgeted and tried not to look at him.

The way he sized her up made her feel like a suspect. Did she do something wrong?