Bedmates Soulmates

How Many Mistreuses Does He Have?

The lift stopped on the ground floor and its door dinged open.

'Come on!' Kira rushed towards it.

Austyn, one step behind, soon overtook her with his long strides.

He came face to face with a figure coming out of the lift.

She wore a beige silk button-up shirt, a dark blue blazer and a pair of matching trousers.

The heels of her leather pumps clicked efficiently on the terrazzo floor.

Her long hair was done up in a chignon.

The woman's face was perfectly made-up

""Austyn?' Isabel stopped in her tracks.

'What are you doing here? Austyn paused at the sight of Luca's wife.

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

She came up to him and wrapped an arm around his. 'What brings you to the hospital?"

Kira turned away from the sight of the two's intertwined arms.

"So he's more than just a two-timer, she thought, huffing. 'What a jerk! It's not enough for him to have Kayleigh, one of the most gorgeous actresses in showbiz right now. Now he's getting all chummy another stunner." And he was doing it right in front of the official, legal Mrs McCarthy!

"Graduation day can't get here soon enough, Kira muttered under her breath.

"Take your hand off,' Austyn said flatly.

Isabel moved closer to him and offered a charming smile. 'Why? Are you afraid of being seen with me?'

She saw Kira, of course, but Austyn didn't make the introductions.

Isabel examined the fresh-faced girl.

She had a slight swelling in one cheek, but her face was otherwise flawless.

The girl radiated a kind of vigour peculiar to the young

'Like the sun at eight o'clock in the morning. Isabel thought.

How old was she?

Nineteen, twenty?

Was she even of legal age for marriage?

She had to be almost a decade younger than Austyn, maybe more.

Kira felt the woman's eyes run over her like a pair of high-powered searchlights.

She shuffled to stand behind Austyn.

The move pleased him.

Austyn hid a smile as he felt the warmth of her body and the hotness of her breath.

When he turned to face Isabel, he was all business. 'Are you sick?"

'What?'

How Many Mistresses Does He Howe?

"Why else would you come to the hospital?"

Isabel rolled her eyes at him. 'Can't you be nicer to me?

Austyn gave a one-shouldered shrug.

"Is she your wife?' Isabel leaned in and whispered in his ear.

Her breath tickled his earlobe.

Austyn scowled and pushed her away. "Cut it out!"

Isabel stumbled back a few steps in her heels.

She would have fallen if Kai hadn't lent her a hand in time.

Isabel regained her balance.

"You think I'm seducing you?' she scoffed. 'Get over yourself. I only have eyes for Luca now. You're old news, buddy." Her family and the McCarthys went way back.

She practically grew up with Austyn.

During her teenage, hormone-ruled years, she had developed a crush on him, but that was long in the past.

Isabel emphasised the point by making another eye roll at him.

She stepped around him and addressed Kira directly, "Are you his wife?"

"Uh, yes," Kira said without thinking, still processing the scene.

'Girl, let me offer you a piece of advice. Isabel pointed a finger at Austyn. 'This bastard is not worthy of your love. Believe me, I know. If you fall for him, you'll suffer a crushing disappointment and regret it for the rest of your-Hey, I'm not done here! Where are you going?" The last two sentences were aimed at Austyn, who'd taken Kira's hand and started for the lift.

Kai gave Isabel an apologetic shrug and ran after his boss.

As the lift door

slowly closed, Isabel spun around and raised her middle finger.

Kira's jaw dropped.

'That was directed at Austyn, not me, right? she thought,

She didn't know who the woman was, but Kira had a sudden newfound respect for her-she was probably the only one who dared to give Austyn the finger and walked away from it.

'Is she one of Austyn's admirers? Kira wondered.

It sounded like she was speaking from experience when she offered Kira that piece of unsolicited advice.

Speaking of which, it was the second time in one day someone warned her against falling for Austyn.

Kira stole a glance at him.

Austyn's face was darker than usual.

His True Love

His True Love

Probably cheesed off by the intrepid lady's one-finger salute.

Kira was tickled by the man's reaction.

He looked like he wanted to punch something, but the target of his wrath was long gone.

She knew better than to laugh out loud, so she kept her head down.

But her trembling shoulders gave her away

"What's so funny?" Austyn whirled around, his voice matching his mood,

"Nothing, nothing." Kira immediately shook her head.

He lifted her chin with a finger and stared into her eyes, which were twinkling with amusement.

Did she think he was blind?

Kai pressed his back against the wall and tried to blend in with the stainless steel panel.

Austyn grasped Kira's right wrist.

"Ow." She felt like a piece of paper held by a stapler, and the hammer was about to come down.

Let me go, please."

The lift stopped on B2.

The door slid open.

Austyn still had his hand clamped around her wrist.

A man on his way in stopped, gawking.

Kira stumbled and had to jog to keep up with Austyn's pace. "Hey, let go of me!'

'Fat chance!' he snorted.

The carpark was busy.

Their raised voices and strange body language soon attracted a trio of visitors on their way to the lift.

They paused, hovering nearby and rubbernecking.

Kira's face was flushed.

'Come on!' she hissed. 'We'd both land in hot water if someone takes photos of us. Let's not make a

scene.'

He ignored her and kept on walking.

Kia's words earlier flashed through her mind.

Kira bit her lip and added, 'And Kayleigh, too. If she sees photos of us in the news, it'll break her heart. Your don't want that, do you? Now, let go of me before someone takes out their phone!" Austyn pulled up short.

He spun around and transfixed her with a gaze. "You're concerned about Kayleigh?

She nodded.

'You don't want to hurt her feelings?

His Indo Love

Kira nodded, thinking. I'm trying to prevent YOU from hurting her feelings, you big-headed fool!"

Austyn looked at her for an interminable minute.

"How magnanimous of you,' he finally said through gritted teeth.

At the moment, Kira would have said anything to get him to release that death grip of his.

Out of the corner of her eye, she already saw at least one person holding up a phone.

"I know what you and Kayleigh have is true love,' she whispered. 'Don't worry. I won't stand between the two of you."

Truth be told, by getting tangled up with her, Austyn was only doing himself a disservice.

What he was doing would only push Kayleigh further away.

That was why Kira wanted to extricate herself from the situation as soon as possible.

The look in Austyn's eyes was shielded by his long, dark lashes. 'You think what Kayleigh and I have is true love?

"Uh, yes, sure, isn't it?"

Kira had gotten it straight from the horse's mouth.

The name "Woods" is quite important to Boss."

That was what Kai said, word for word.

'Woods,' as in, Kayleigh Woods.

Austyn searched her face.

Her head was on a swivel.

She was using her free hand to pull her long hair over her face, anxious to avoid having her photos taken.

Having her photos taken with HIM.

She kept trying to yank her wrist free.

Every move she was making told him she wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.

Austyn felt as if someone had stabbed a dagger through his heart.

He nodded slowly.

"You're right,' he said in a dead tone. 'What Kayleigh and I have is true love. I love her, Kayleigh Woods. Remember that!"

He cast her wrist aside and marched off.

Kira started to chase after him, but she soon caught herself.

She looked down and rubbed her painful wrist.

When Kira returned to the office the next morning, she was called to the carpet.

Mariana, her direct supervisor, gave her a tongue-lashing for leaving work early without permission. Her office door was closed, but everyone could see Kira with her head bowed through a glass wall. 'I know this internship might be just a summer pastime for you,' the supervisor said in a slightly shrill

voice. "but at the M group, we don't tolerate tardiness or any other kind of unprofessional behaviour."

'It's not just a summer- Kira tried to explain.

'Stop.' Mariana raised a palm. 'We are a Fortune 500 company. We contribute over one-third of Stamford's annual GDP. There are over ten thousand employees at headquarters alone. If everyone comes and goes as they please, this place will turn into a zoo." I'm sorry.' Kira wrung her hands. "I won't do it again, I promise."

'That better be the case. Mariana eyed the young girl. "I know you have connections, and I don't begrudge that. I don't care how you got the job, as long as you can do it well. But if you can't cut the mustard, I won't hesitate to show you the door. Paul may be my boss, but I'm your director supervisor, and I'll be the one writing an evaluation report at the end of your internship."

'I understand."novelbin

'From onwards, you better start pulling your weight.' Mariana softened her tone. 'I don't mean to give you a hard time, it's just that you really impressed me on your first day here. After you went to a client meeting with Lexi, she wouldn't shut up about how you managed to convince Revency's boss to sign a contract with us on the spot. I thought you had a lot of potential."

'The credit doesn't really belong to me,' Kira said. 'Lexi had been meeting with Revency's manager frequently. She laid the groundwork."

'See? You're humble. You work well with others. You gave it your hundred and ten per cent during your first week here. But an internship just gets your foot in the door. If you want a full-time offer, you can't afford to get cocky. Can you tell me what happened?'

'It's a, uh, personal matter, I promise it won't happen again. I'm sorry."

Kira did not explain the call from the hospital.

It was an emergency, but it was still no excuse for what she did.

She handled the work situation horribly, and she vowed to do a better job next time.