AFTER KISS, KNOW YOUR PLACE!

AFTER KISS, KNOW YOUR PLACE

I stand in front of my dressing mirror in my room and take a good look at myself, admiring the lady I'm seeing in the reflection. It's funny how I look, or should I say, how differently I think I look in just a new dress. I did not know that just a small change, like a new dress, could make someone feel so different. I feel so new, just like the new silky red dress which perfectly hugs my curves, showing my exact figure.

Part of those heavy shopping bags Andy brought from the shopping mall was actually mine. He shopped for me. Adrian - freaking - Ashton, shopped for me, and I still can't believe it. The most interesting part is how he knew my size and my taste. Every single dress he bought perfectly fits me. God bless my boss!

After admiring myself enough, I slide my fluffy sandals on and grab my phone from the bed and start downstairs. The sandals are also new, and of course, from Adrian. Descending the stairs, I get to the living room where Angel is waiting. I check my wrist watch and it reads quarter to eight. I sigh in relief, knowing that we are on time.

"Wow! Wow, auntie Ania! You look so beautiful." The little angel said with a beautiful smile. I love Angel's attitude, composure, and behaviour. She doesn't behave like how I hear rich kids behave. Her beautiful smile makes one smile even without any reason. A smile that brightens everyone's mood. Such a jovial, sweet, and cool kid. I wonder what her mother would feel if she sees her. And I wish she could know just how well Andy has brought up this cute little princess.

"Thank you so much, princess," I respond to her compliment, as I grab her bag from the couch, ready to take her to school. Ooh well, and also, to talk to her teacher about the kids bullying her in the class. I hope I'll do well. I also plan on telling Andy about this whole thing in the evening. "Let's go now, baby?" I add.

"Daddy?" she calls, turning to the dining area where her father is finishing off his breakfast.

SILENCE!

When I don't hear him respond to his precious daughter, I turn to see why, and Ooh! There he is, looking at me! No, correct that. He is ogling me! OMG! I'm sure this dress is not exposing any part of my body, well, except my legs as it stops just at the knees. So what just caught his attention that much to not even hear his daughter calling? His cup of tea is hanging in the air like he was about to take a sip and suddenly got distracted. My, oh, my!

"Daddy?" Angel calls again, and still Andy does not respond.

With the way, he is staring, huh? His jaw is almost dropping to the floor.

I bend a little and pick Angel up, like I always do, carrying her to the car.

In an attempt to distract Andy, or bring back his mind from wherever it has wandered off to, I clear my throat and call him, to which he responds after blinking countless times, snapping back to reality. Jeez!

Looking up, he put the cup of tea down on the table.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, my princess!" At least now he can hear his daughter! Good grief! "You off to school now?" He asks as he comes to hug his daughter and kiss her, as it is their routine.

"Yes, daddy."

"Okay. Come here, my baby." He hugs her, and his face comes so dangerously close to mine because today, unlike other days, he decided to hug his daughter while she is still in my arms, which is not good for my not-so-innocent thoughts nowadays. Why do you make me feel this way, Andy? I can feel the heat radiating from his well-shaped oval face, burning mine, and I am sure I'm as red as a tomato right now. If only I could run my fingers on this smooth face and the perfect jaws in front of me. If only I could touch these so moist pink lips of my boss. If only I could lean on this broad chest. If l... before my naughty mind could wander further, his eyes open, boring deep into mine for a moment that is too short, again, for my naughty thoughts. "Daddy loves you so much." He says after breaking the eye contact and the hug. He cups his daughter's face and places a long kiss on her forehead, and my not-so-innocent eyes to his lips. How would it feel to have his hands on my cheeks like this, huh? How would his sweet lips feel on mine? I'm sure his lips taste like honey and chocolate. Damn!

Easy now, Tania! Control your dirty mind. He is just your boss, remember? And when did you start fantasizing about things like this, huh? My inner self scolds me. If I were to respond to the last question, I would say, since I met Andy. But I am ashamed to even say that. He is my boss, for goodness sake, and I should not be fantasizing about him in this manner! With Andy, it's like I lose my senses when he is this close.

I shake my head to remove the thoughts of my boss from my mind, but did that help? The answer is no, especially because I met with his eyes looking at me again.

"Be a good daddy's princess, okay? And if anyone bothers you, you should tell daddy immediately, okay?"

"Yes, daddy. I love you so much."

"I know." He says with a sweet smile to his daughter, pulling her for another hug, one of his hands wraps his daughter, while the other goes to my shoulder.

Wait! His hand on my shoulder?

Impossible!!! I must be dreaming!

I slowly take my eyes where I think I am feeling the warmth of his touch, and to my surprise, it isn't just in my thoughts. It's not a daydream. His hand is now moving to my neck, leaving trails of electric sparks. He stops on my neck, drawing circles on my bare skin, making me tremble. What are you doing, Andy?

I look at him, to understand his confusing gesture, but I meet with his dark brown eyes looking at me, and I accept the stare challenge he is offering. I let my eyes bore deep into his, but unfortunately for me, I can not stand the devilish look in his eyes that makes them appear darker and deeper than they usually are. I have never seen this look before. In no time, I am already in heat, being consumed by the fire of his simple touch, and glare, and I feel the energy leave my body, making me weak. I can feel my whole body shaking. As his thumb starts caressing my lip, perhaps pleading for something, my eyes close on their own, my lips part willingly, and my heart pounds five times its normal pulse.

There, I finally taste them... Andy's lips are on mine, kissing me, and I shamelessly respond. Our warm breaths caress our nostrils, intensifying the feeling and coaxing us to total surrender. Our lips move once, then twice, and third, then I feel his attempt to shove his tongue in, and again, like a zombie, I am willing to grant him the passcode to my mouth. I begin opening my mouth to let him in, but he doesn't move. He instead seals my lips with one last kiss that lasts for seconds.

He brushes my lips with his thumb after pulling away, running his fingers on my cheek, while I stand still like a monument, watching him leak his lips. Damn that site!

He smiles, perhaps to bring me from the shock I am in. But I am too dismayed to respond, too shy to even look at him, and, too ashamed to be feeling this good after kissing my boss knowing that nothing is happening between us. I feel like I just tasted the sweetest thing in my life, and experienced the most special feeling there is.

"Have a good day at school, baby." He says to his daughter, but his eyes are still on me.

"Thank you, daddy. Have a good day at work, daddy."

After their goodbyes, I summon my courage back and hurry to the front door with Angel still in my arms.

Opening the door, I get tempted to look back, expecting to see a confused Andy, like me, but to more dismay, I am met with a very composed Adrian Ashton, with his hands in his grey khaki pant pockets, staring at my back. As if that is not confusing enough, the devil has the guts to give me a confident wink, and a devilish smirk that got me into more bewilderment.

The nerve of this jerk!

Hang on! What was the meaning of that?

Hours later!

After putting Angel to bed at around 10:30 p.m, I walk to the kitchen to prepare my usual lemon and honey coffee. I have been feeling hot the whole day, but I am still craving my coffee.

Andy hasn't shown up from work and it's a bit unusual. Anyway, I am glad he is taking long because, one, that morning kiss has denied me peace of mind the entire day. I don't know how I will face him, and I have been cursing myself the entire day for allowing someone to kiss me for no reason, and I am terrified that if the same incident happens again, as long as it is Andy, I will go weak again and give in. Two, I am also worried because I don't know how he will react when I tell him that I talked to Angel's teacher this morning. I hope he will be fine with that. Besides, there was no harm caused. I defended his daughter, and the teacher me that nothing of the sort will happen ever again.

"Good evening!" I jump, and almost spill my coffee when Andy speaks, entering the kitchen. I must have been too engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't notice him coming in. "Easy! You seem lost. What are you thinking about?" He asks, taking slow but suggestive steps towards me, his eyes glued to mine.

I look away, shyly, as the memories of the morning come flooding in again. Not like they had left my mind even for a single minute the entire day, and him being this suggestive is not doing me any justice. I start walking back, and him forward, and I keep going until I hit the wall. He smirks at me, a smirk that says, poor calculation! I should have looked to where I was heading, that way I wouldn't be trapped between Andy and the kitchen wall right now, with my heart running a marathon.

Contrary to my dirty thoughts, he doesn't do a thing. He just pulls a stool and pats on it, and then pulled another one.

"Sit." He says, more like ordering, taking my hand and pulling me to the stool as he sits on the next one.

Ooh, thank you, Lord! I thought he was going to kiss me again!

I sit down and release the breath I'd know I holding for I don't know how long. He releases my hand, and passed me my coffee, as he pours himself a full mug of the still steaming coffee.

We drink in total silence, and when I notice he is about to finish his last mug of coffee, I thought it wise to tell him about Angel.

"Um... aah.." I open my mouth and close it again. All of a sudden, I feel scared. I don't know how to tell him about our secret with Angel. Where do I start? What if he gets mad? Will he fire me too?

"Do you have something you want to say?" He asks, maybe after noticing my discomfort. I turn to him, and he looks, just flat, with no emotion on his face. He takes a sip of his coffee, and adjusts himself on the stool, turning to me. "I am listening." He adds, with a raised eyebrow.

"Aah... you see... I .." I breathe in and out, trying to remain as cool as a cucumber, but all in vain. The more I try to say a word, the more fearful I become. Andy might have sensed it, and decided to speak on my behalf. Saying something that I wasn't expecting.

"I know you talked to Angel's teacher." What? I shoot my eyes at him. He takes the last sip of his coffee. He knows already? Then I should maybe relax? I swallow the lump that had begun forming in my throat and nod my head in agreement. But what follows next is a nail direct to my heart. "Who gave you that right?" He asks between gritted teeth. His irritated voice, though soft, is filled with so much anger that even a child can detect it. Looking at him, I bow my head down immediately, because the look in his eyes is a look of disgust. He now looks annoyed, and angry. If looks could kill, I would be six feet under. "My daughter confined in you instead of me, mistake number one. Two, you encouraged my daughter to lie to me, which is a very stupid thing to do. Three, and the most terrible mistake, you made a decision about my daughter without asking me. Why, Tania?" With my bowed head, I can still see his hands his thighs clenching into gusts, the veins showing. "Talk to me, Tania!" He shouts, slamming the sink with one hand that made me almost jump from my stool with fear.

As I stand and walk a distance from him, I feel the tears threatening to leave my eyes and make their way out, and I can't block them.

"I... I am ..s... o.ry." I say, looking up at him, as the first tear drops. I am not a crying baby, it's just that I am standing in front of a lion which is threatening to tear me into pieces at any given second. "It's just that Angel asked me not to...."

"Not to tell me? Is that it?" He yells, standing up, and I bow my head down again as more tears flow. "Angel is a kid. You had the chance to do the right thing as a mature person. Do you know how it felt to be called by the school principal to apologize about something that I, the father of the offended kid, knew nothing about, just because my maid decided to play games with me and hide such a sensitive thing from me?" He continues yelling, fuming with anger.

I damn messed this up! Big times! He turns to leave, but in between sobs, my stupid self thought of opening my mouth again, thinking it will calm the angry Adrian Ashton down. But if only I knew better, I would have just let him go cool off his anger the best way he knows how, instead of adding salt to the injury.

"I am sorry, okay? I just did what I thought was best for Angel and....."

"Your best was the most foolish thing you could have ever thought of." He cut me off and turns to me, taking a few steps toward me, and we stared at each other. "Angel is my responsibility. Her problems are just mine! She should confine in me like before, not in a stranger. Not in you! Everything about her must pass through me. I am her father, and you are not her mother to share responsibility. Know your place and play your role well without crossing the boundary, miss Tania Lawson!" After making his points Crystal clear, he lividly stomps out of the kitchen, while I am left to deal with my crying mess self. That's what I get for trying to be nice.

I sit down on the floor and face-palm my soaked face.

Men, did I just screw it that much?!