20

20.

"Missed me?" Zayed asked with the devilish smirk intact on his face.

"What the hell are you..." she started to say but he cut her off, simply by taking her into his arms and covering her angry mouth with his.

His kiss was hot, sexy and so blatantly erotic there was nothing Ava could do but kiss him back.

Her hands gripped the front of his shirt. His hands, which had been holding both sides of her face, moved down to pull her against him, to show her that he was just as affected by the kiss as she was.

By the time he lifted his head, Ava was clinging to him, her mind a jumble and her voice whimpering with need, she'd thought she was ready to resist if he ever tried to kiss her again.

Damn! What a delusional idiot she was?

Ava pulled back just far enough, then with all of her might, she swung out her hand, smacking him hard on his cheek.

Her hand stung from the impact it made and she could see the red imprint of her hand on his cheek and the shocked look in his eyes, but she was unaware of the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Get out!" she growled angrily.

"I deserved the slap. I know that and I am sorry for the pain I caused you in the past. But I can explain. Just listen to me, Aveline," he said, his voice rough and yet still soft, gently soothing.

She tried to jerk away, but no matter how soft his voice, his hands were like a steel band around her waist.


"Don't touch me," she snapped at him and tried to look away when his finger came up and touched her cheek, tenderly wiping away the tears on her flushed cheek.

"You know. I am tired from all the travelling. Can I have a shower at least. And maybe be a coffee too," he asked with a sickening sweet smile making Ava grit her teeth.

What the hell does he think he is doing!!

Who the hell does he think he is??

And then reality crashed into her like a punch in her gut.

He is under the same roof as her babies.

If she keeps on arguing with him, they might wake up and Zayed will see them.

No. She can't let that happen.

She needs him to get out of here fast.

For that she will have to comply with him for now.

"Fine. After the shower and the coffee, you are leaving," she said and shot him a deadly glare when he was about to oppose.

"Fine," he said, raising his hands in defeat.

"You can take a shower in there," she said pointing at her bedroom.

"And I will prepare the coffee." Ava said and turned around to make coffee.

"Aveline," he called out and she halted in her steps without turning back.

"Make that tea. Glucose biscuit tea," he said and her heart thudded against her ribs and she was worried that he would be able to hear the sound of her heartbeat.

She almost ran to her kitchen away from him.

Glucose biscuit tea, it was their thing.

It started as a mistake. She poured him a cup of tea and a biscuit accidentally fell into the cup. Before Ava could pour another cup of tea, Zayed had drank the tea.

And he absolutely loved it.

And then on without letting him know, she had added biscuits to the tea for a while.

He did eventually find out and scolded her for doing that.

And now, he is asking for the same.

Ava leaned against the counter, staring into the darkness outside her window.

And it took a few minutes for her to compose herself.

Ava opened the fridge and screamed at the top of her lungs!

In the darkness, all she saw were little things jumping out of the refrigerator.

They were everywhere!

Little things were seen jumping out from the different shelves, even out of some jars.

One of the shapeless things jumped towards her and she screamed again, unsure of what was going on and trying to figure it out in her kiss muddled brain.

When one of the blobs came closer, she jumped up onto the kitchen table and pulled her feet up, screeching as the jumping things, which now looked larger and faster, were bouncing and crawling all over her kitchen floor.

Dear God!

She was just about to scream again when the overhead light flipped on and her body was picked up and slammed between Zayed's hard, muscular back and the wall of her kitchen.

Adding to the chaos, Zahir in his red pyjamas with cars printed on it, Zian in his blue ones with little dinosaurs printed all over and Zada in her pink hello kitty pyjamas, came rushing out to the kitchen, their silky hair messed up and their tiny little eyes blinking in the bright light of the kitchen.

"Don't hurt them!" Zian screamed and immediately bent down to protect his treasures, which Ava now realised were dozens of little frogs, all of whom, she suspected, had been stored in her fridge in the shoe box that was laying open on the bottom shelf.

Shoe box?

How the hell did a shoe box come inside the fridge? And there were holes in it?

Well, unless a very naughty pair of triplets did that, there is no way a shoe box with holes poked here and there would appear in her fridge.


She relaxed for all of two seconds before the adrenaline that had been coursing through her body reacted to the release of the fear.

"Zian Ahmed! Are you telling me that you stored your frogs in my refrigerator?" She pushed Zayed out of the way and came to stand in front of him, hands on her hips as she glared down at her son who was carefully scooping up his frogs and gently putting them back into the shoe box he'd had them in previously.

Zahir came to his brother's defence, but he was also delighted by the middle of the night spectacle.

"They like the cold, momma. They were too warm outside, they were sweating and sticky so I had to do something." Zahir said earnestly.

"And the shoe box was lying there freely. So I told them we can make a home for the frogs," Zada added.

"Please explain to me why you thought my fridge was something that you came up with." Ava asked in disbelief.

Unfortunately, Zahir was no longer looking at all the frogs jumping around.

His attention was captured by the regal figure behind her and being the adorable, brave and overprotective little guy, he figured his mother and siblings were in danger from the huge man in their kitchen and he was determined to rise to their rescue and act as the man of the family.

"Don't hurt my momma!" he yelled out, adding a whole new dimension to the chaos.