The Borrowed Bride [PUBLISHED]

Chapter 17: The Kiss

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.

-Ingrid Bergman

Leandro Salazar's POV

I paused the movie we've been watching from the remote control in my hand and stared at the woman casually sitting on the chair next to my bed. "Why don't you lay next to me here? The bed is wide enough for two people."

Leila gave me a disapproving frowned as she stared at me. "I'm fine here, darling. Resume the movie we're already on the exciting part."

It was my turned to frown in her direction. "You've been sitting in that chair for hours, my wife. Your muscle now must be stiff." I tapped the mattress beside me. "Rest here. It's more comfortable watching a movie while in a relaxed position."

"I'm fine here, Leandro." She smiled at me as she slid her gaze back on the flat-screen TV. Silently waiting for me to resume the movie we're watching.

I studied her for a moment. After her flight to the kitchen to get some snacks and her encounter with Natalia in the hallways, I forbid her to go out of my room to prevent catastrophe from happening while I was confined in this bed and cannot do anything.

Three days after our marriage and she's still as cold as when I first saw her two months after she ran away from me she must still have reservations about our marriage. I thought a while ago that she's already softening up towards me. I smugly believed that I can finally have her again in my bed. I glanced wistfully on the mattress. This was the only place that we understood each other very well.

If she didn't just bring up the issue of her coming back to Sicily for a few days I'm sure we were in a different situation now more enjoyable and satisfying in my opinion. So we settled in watching marathon movies to kill the time.

I heard her sighed visibly as she stared again with me. "Are we still going to watch this movie or are you will just going to have this daydream of yours?"

I grinned at her as I pat the mattress beside me. "Only if you climb in this bed then we will continue to watch this movie, Leila. I know that you must be sore right now from sitting on that chair for so long."

"No, thank you." She gave me an arrogant smirked. "I'm perfectly fine here. I don't want hands traveling in my body while watching the movie."

I stared at her seriously, preventing a smile that forms on my lips. Trust my wife to cut the seduction before it even started. "I promise that I won't do that, mi dulzura. My invitation is a no-string-attached one. You can count on it."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded solemnly. My heart soared with happiness when she finally stood from that blasted chair and slowly climb to the bed beside me. I could almost smell her sweet-scented perfume in the process. Suddenly, I regret my decision to promise her a no-string-attached invitation to lay in this bed with me.

But I have to keep my secret. I need to gain her trust—the trust that she could depend on me that I could take good care of her and our baby. So however my hand itched to touch and seduce her instantly I kept myself in check. It's time to show her that I could keep my promise.

Finally, when she finally settles beside me only inches apart. I resume the movie and we watched in silence. This was the fourth movie of the James Bond films. I stared outside it's almost twilight the sky now covered with orange and purple hues. It was only a matter of time before Leila would fall asleep. She doesn't take an afternoon siesta, after all.

"Are you hungry again?" I asked when I notice that the tray she bought a while ago was almost empty.

"No," She answered, I could see that her eyelids were now slowly dropping and she wasn't that focused on the movie. "I'm fine."