A Wrong Surrogate for the CEO-Chapter 63: That’s cruel

Curtis was tired.

He was absolutely exhausted. He was tired of pretending that he didn’t care about Lara, tired of lying to her. He was tired of giving her the cold shoulder and being snappish all the time.

All he wanted was her love.

And damn him if he was not going to get it.

He kissed her harder, swallowing all of the objections and excuses she could probably come up with.

He kissed her the way he had always wanted to, hard and fast and dominating. He kissed her like his life depended on it.

He kissed her like he loved her, because he did.

And to Curtis utmost surprise, Lara kissed him back.

For a long, unending moment, she kissed him back. And in that short stretch of time, Curtis’s felt the constant wave of frustration that had always plagued him as they left.

His world became brighter, he could breathe easier, and everything was perfect.

But then she broke the kiss.

And his world became fragmented again.

Lara pushed away from Curtis with trembling hands. What just happened?

Curtis had kissed her...and she had kissed him back.

Her heart thundered in her chest. She could not look at him. How could she, after what just happened?

Curtis took a step closer to her.

"Lara..." his voice was guttural. She shook her head to stop him from saying whatever it was he wanted to say.

"No. No, Curtis. No," she whispered.

He took another step closer. "Lara please. Please listen to me," he said desperately.

But Lara could not stop shaking her head.

"No. This...this was a mistake. I don’t...you should not have...it was...it was a mistake," she rambled as she tried to get her thoughts in order.

Curtis was trying so hard to gain control of the situation, but the control was slipping out of his fingers.

But still, he tried.

"Lara. Look at me. Please, baby. Look at me," he called out to her once more. But it was to no avail.

Lara was beyond mortified. She was flooded with embarrassment, and there was no way she could face him.

Not after blatantly kissing him back.

So she didn’t turn to face him. Her back remained all he saw as she spoke.

"Please. I need you to leave," she said softly.

Curtis felt as though she was rejecting him all over again. And this time it was worse, because she had kissed him back.

She had given him a taste of what it felt like to be with her, and now she was sending him away again.

Just like that.

Like it meant nothing.

"You should not have kissed me back, Lara. That was cruel of you," he said softly.

Then he turned around and walked out of her office.

Lara slumped to the floor as her legs gave up on her.

Her entire body felt hot, and there was some sort of burning sensation in her chest. His words stuck to her skin and refused to go away.

He was right. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She should not have kissed him back.

That was insensitive of her. But how was she supposed to explain to him that she was as surprised as he was?

That she hadn’t expected her body to react to his kiss? That she had kissed him out of her volition?

The day crawled by. Lara found it hard to focus on work. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Curtis.

She tried not to think about what happened between them, but it was hard. The pain in his voice kept floating into her head, and her heart clenched every time his voice replayed in her head.

Lara knew she had hurt Curtis, but she had no idea how she was going to fix things between them.

If the chasm between them had been just a small space before, it was as wide as the ocean now.

And Lara had no idea how to close the gap.

She remained absent minded as Lazarus drove her home after work. Her heart was heavy, and her body was sluggish.

A large part of her had hoped that Curtis would be at home, but she wasn’t.

She decided after several moments of uncertainty to call him.

But Curtis didn’t pick up the phone.

So she sat in the living room, determined to stay up and wait for him.

Lara’s plan was to apologise and make things right between them before it got too late.

So she waited.

Curtis, however, was neck deep in work. The pain he was feeling was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and he had no idea how to deal with it.

So he did the only thing he was good at.

He threw himself into work. He read and reviewed documents after documents. He attended meetings back to back without taking a break.

Curtis did not even stop to eat or to even breathe.

He channeled all of his pain into working, and had no idea that it was way past the closing time.

When his phone rang, the sound startled him. He picked it up and was surprised to see that Lara was the caller.

He wondered what she was calling him for. But when his eyes caught the time, he instantly knew why she was calling.

It was almost two am in the morning.

Curtis cursed as he grabbed his jacket. He had never stayed this late at work, and he figured that Lara might think he was out late because of her.

He resolved to apologise for making her worry once he got home. But the moment he walked into the house, Curtis was taken aback.

Lara was curled up on the couch, asleep. She hasn’t even changed out of her clothes — it was the same one she wore to work.

Her phone was in her hand, and Curtis could see her finger hovering over his name.

She had been waiting for him.

She must have fallen asleep while trying to decide if she should call him again or not.

He sighed and dropped his suitcase.

Then he walked up to her.

"Hey, Lara. Wake up, baby. Let’s get you to bed," he said softly as he tried to shake her into awareness.

She shifted away from his touch, but she didn’t wake up.

"No. I...I need to apologise to Curtis. I am so sorry," she whispered. There was genuine sincerity on her face, and Curtis knew she must be truly apologetic for it to have such an impact even while she was asleep.

"It’s fine, baby. It’s okay. I am not mad at you," he whispered back but she had fallen back into slumber.

Curtis carried her to her bedroom, then he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.

She was sorry, and he accepted her apology. But his mind was made up.

Maybe it would be better and merciful for them both if he got rid of his feelings for her.