Page 65 of Cuffed By Love

“Oh, okay, I will. I love you.” Megan replies, almost disappointed.

“Love you too. Talk to you soon, babe.” I hang up the phone, pinching the bridge of my nose. I called to have a conversation with my girlfriend, who I miss dearly, and all I hear her talk about is her work or this party and that contract. When did my life become so mechanical, and why have I not noticed it before now?

Mira and I get our cuffs back on, and oddly enough, it feels normal again. Almost as though not having her there beside me throws off my stability, I feel imbalanced. We decided to switch arms, I didn’t want her bruised wrist getting any worse. If we play along with Uncle Noah’s little scheme, we’ll get these off Monday once we convince Samantha to sign on with us.

“I don’t even know why we’re wasting our time with Wickham. We should just go and tell our dads that we know what they’re up to and demand they let us out of these cuffs.” Mira voices while we settle into my car. Now we switched hands. I can drive again, which Mira seemed to be more than pleased about.

I push the driver’s side seat back so I can actually get into the car. Mira being so small she had the seat pulled all the way forward. “Wouldn’t that put Ayla into a difficult situation, though? She didn’t have to tell us the truth behind their plan. It would be pretty shit of us to go and drop her in it.” I say while readjusting my seat and starting the car. “We’ll stick it out till Monday and see what happens with Wickham and if we can’t convince her to join E&K, then we can go and tell them we know what’s up.”

Mira nods, pulling on the seatbelt a couple of times. “Fine, we’ve stuck it out this long. What’s another two days, right?” I smile and watch her mirthfully when the seatbelts interior lock activates each time she attempts to pull it out. I bite my lip and observe her yanking on the seatbelt while muttering under her breath.

“You good there, Tinks?”

“The damn seatbelt is broken.” She grumbles, looking over at me and pulling on it to illustrate her point. Chuckling, I unfasten my seatbelt and lean over to her side to help her.

“It’s not broken,” I reach over her and grasp the seatbelt. Mira stiffens and sinks back into the seat. God, she smells so damn good. The sweet and floral scent of her shampoo and the citrusy notes of her perfume mixed together is a dangerous concoction that leaves my senses momentarily hypnotised. Her scent surrounded me when I got into the car but being this up close makes me want to bury my nose into the crook of her neck and breathe her in for as long and deep as my lungs would allow.

I take my time slowly extending the seatbelt, my eyes lift to hers, and we stare into one another’s eyes. “If you yank on it aggressively, it seizes up and locks. You need to be gentle and draw it out slowly; then it comes without resistance.” I convey faintly and push the seatbelt into the belt lock.

Mira nods slowly and wets her lips. The motion coerces my eyes to drift down to her lips, “I’ll be sure to keep that mind.”

I swallow hard. Shit, Dev, pull the fuck away. What are you doing, you moron!

I clench my jaw tight and force myself to sit back in the driver’s seat. I’m unravelling big time, and I can feel my self-control waning. I keep telling myself it's sexual frustration; that’s what makes me act this way, but my attraction and chemistry for Mira are off the damn charts. As much as I don’t like the idea, I need to get the fuck out of these cuffs so I can whack off a good few times before I go against my own principles and fuck the ever-living shit out of Mira or die of blue balls. I’m even contemplating flying thirteen hours to Singapore for a weekend to see Megan, or maybe I can convince her to come out here for a weekend?

This heatwave isn’t helping anything either. It’s fucking roasting out. What is it about heatwaves and heightened sexual awareness? Every little thing Mira does at the moment turns me on—like right now, she’s innocently skimming her fingertips along her collarbone, and I’m watching her avidly. My dick is throbbing and aching with this uncontrollable need to devour her and what's frustrating is she’s doing it unknowingly, completely oblivious to the effect she’s having on me. I can safely say that I will, without a doubt, kiss goodbye to my sanity at this rate.

With a frustrated sigh, I blast the air-con on full and to the coldest setting. Mira gives me a quizzical look and smirks.

“Don’t you just love the stuffy, sticky heat here in London?” She teases, and I slide my shades on and shake my head.

“Not one little bit.” I retort derisively and slide on my shades before shifting the car into reverse and back out of the driveway.

“What do you usually do on weekends back home in Singapore?” Mira questions curiously while she fiddles with the car’s sound system.

“Not a whole lot. I’m usually out with Megan or accompanying her at some social event or another.” I answer with a shrug and glance at Mira briefly when she stills and looks at me, surprised. “What?”

Mira shakes her head, “Nothing, that sounds—”

“Tedious? Yes, it can be at times, but networking and social gatherings play a major factor in getting business. It’s how I sign all these big names to the label.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously.” I intone. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” I question with a frown when she gapes at me sceptically.

Mira shifts in her seat to face me properly, “So, you only sign big names to your label? You don’t scout for talent?” I shake my head, and her brows go up to her hairline.

“I don’t have time to go out there and discover artists, Tinks. There have been certain occasions where I came across an artist at one of these events and signed her, but that’s very rare. My label’s more—”

“Pretentious?” She drawls dryly.

“Exclusive,” I correct her grimly, and Mira shakes her head, a wry look on her face. “We’re very selective with who we sign and invest our time in.”

“By selective, do you mean rich?”

It was my turn to gape at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“No offence Devin, but it sounds to me like your label is more about making money than it is discovering talented artists and possibly making someone’s dream a reality. There’s a great amount of talent out there waiting and hoping to be discovered. However, you’re choosing to ‘invest’ your time with people who have deep pockets that will feed money into your business rather than to scout and sign an artist who deserves it?”

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