REBORN: MEET MY BROTHERS-Chapter 63: I NEED YOUR HELP

7 am,

Ava sat in front of Maximus’s sleek computer, staring disorientedly at the mail she received last night from the fair. She’d read the email at least ten times, but the words remained the same. She was disqualified since she failed to send in her business proposal like every other interested candidate.

Ava fell back on the chair, letting out a shaky breath as she stared at the ceiling. It was gone. Matilda had done it. She’d successfully taken away her first dream since she got reborn and she’d done it under her nose. Ava felt like hitting her head against a wall.

The fact that whether it was the past or now, she’d been blindsided by the people behind her suffering, almost drove her insane.

All these while, she’d focused her anger and revenge on Sasha, thinking she was the one fully responsible for all the bad things that happened in her previous life and now. But Matilda was the one pulling the bigger strings, and Ava couldn’t shake off the feeling that others in the family were also involved as well.

The only Whitlock she was certain wasn’t part of this was her grandfather. But like her, even he wasn’t safe. They were trying to get rid of him as well. And they were doing everything they could to keep her away from him while they were at it.

’Why,’ was a question she had no answers to, but Ava was fully aware that it was no good. Whatever it was, she had to find out quickly, and also look for a way to take her grandfather away from these people before it was too late, but more importantly, the hospital first. If she was kidnapped there and nobody noticed, anything could happen there.

Maximus’s handsome face appeared above Ava and melted her frustration instantly. She found herself smiling as she straightened in the chair. "When did you get here?"

Maximus didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he placed a hand at the back of her chair, gently spinning it so she was facing him fully. He crouched down on one knee beside her, but even with this position, he was almost the same height as Ava who sat on the chair.

"Not too long ago..." He brushed a stray lock from her face with a small smile. "... I’ve drawn up a warm bath for you," he added as if he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Ava blinked. "A bath?"

"Mhmm. Do you want me to help you with it?"

Ava’s cheeks warmed, but she immediately swallowed down her nervousness. She waved her right hand to his face. "Thank you for your kindness, but I’m not completely useless." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Maximus tilted his head to the side. "I’d love to see you try and take a proper bath with just one hand, but I’d rather save you from the foreboding disaster."

Ava laughed. "There won’t be a disaster. My right hand is my dominant hand and there’s nothing I can’t do with just this," she said so convincingly well that Maximus let her do her thing.

But Ava regretted what she said as she stared at her frustrated face in the bathroom. She’d been trying to unhook her bra for minutes, but she couldn’t, not with one hand.

Finally giving up, Ava tiptoed into the room. Luckily, Maximus was still inside the room. He was busy with his phone on the bed until Ava’s tiny voice broke his concentration.

"Uhm..."

Maximus smiled knowingly when he noticed her little frame beside the bathroom door. "What’s wrong, little one?"

"I need your help." She tried to ignore the smile on his face. "Can you come, please?"

Maximus immediately stood to his feet and walked toward the bathroom. As he approached, Ava instinctively stepped aside. She positioned herself in front of the mirror, watching his reflection instead of turning to face him.

Maximus paused the moment his eyes fell on Ava. From behind her, he let his eyes travel down the reflection of her petite frame. She wasn’t putting on any clothes, aside from a bra that covered her breasts, and a pant. The rest of her body was bare.

His eyes darkened at her reflection, and he let them linger a little more than necessary before they returned to her face. "What do you want help with?"

"This... Help me with the hook."

Ava swallowed hard. She felt his presence before his fingers even touched her. The moment his fingertips brushed against her back, a shiver raced through her body. Her shoulder tensed, and when Maximus leaned into her ears, she felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach.

"You should’ve just let me do my job from the start, little one." Maximus locked eyes with hers in the mirror. Still staring at her eyes, he unhooked the clasp.

Ava forgot the bra was strapless until it loosened and fell from her chest before she could catch it. As she reached for it, she instinctively used her injured hand, but she regretted her action immediately when a sharp pain shot up her hand, eliciting a soft gasp from her.

The bra dropped to the floor, and she moaned softly from the sting.

Maximus’s eyes flickered to her chest immediately, taking in the reflection of her dangling, yet firm breasts, but when he heard her soft sound of pain, his expression softened. He gently turned Ava to face him. "What happened?"

"I forgot... and I used this hand." Ava cradled her injured hand.

Maximus didn’t say a word at first. He carefully took her injured hand and examined it. "You need to be more careful. You’re still healing."

Ava lowered her gaze, embarrassed, but when she looked down, her face paled.

She was standing bare-bodied in front of Maximus, and she was so close to him that her hardened nipples were almost poking his chest.

Her heart thundered in her chest, but it was the smoldering look in Maximus’s eyes as he looked at the swell of her breasts that made her skin heat with embarrassment and something else.

Ava thought of covering herself, but that option wasn’t really a solution since Maximus had already seen all there was to see.

Her face burned hotter with every second, and her cheeks reddened like a cooked lobster. She swallowed hard, but the nervousness refused to leave her.

Her pupil dilated when his hand moved up her arm, away from her bandaged wrist, brushing lightly against it as he pulled her closer to himself, so close that her firm breasts were pressed against the fabric of his chest.

The heat from his body radiated through hers, making her feel things she couldn’t deny. When Maximus’s dark eyes returned to her face, Ava forgot to breathe.

She didn’t know what to expect in this situation, but the mischievous smile that grew on Maximus’s face as he leaned into her ears was not it.

"Are you trying to seduce me, little one?"

Ava’s eyes widened: "..."

"I let it slide the first time because you were drugged, but I don’t think I’ll be so forgiving this time."

Ava immediately retorted, even if she couldn’t stop herself from stuttering: "I-i’m not trying to seduce you. It was... an accident." Her face burned even hotter, and she struggled to meet his gaze.

"You’re doing a terrible job at denying it." Maximus gently stroked her arm with his thumb. His touch was electrifying, and it took everything in Ava to stop her knees from buckling, but she couldn’t stop the goosebumps that puked out of her skin.

Noticing the goosebumps on her skin, Maximus ran his hands up and down her arm to warm her. "You’re cold. The warm bath will help with it. Let’s take care of this." He took her uninjured hand but when Ava realized what he meant, she stood her ground.

"I don’t need your help, Maximus. I can bath on my own."

"It wasn’t up for debate. I won’t let you bath on your own with that hand. And don’t give me the bullshit that you can do it with your ’dominant’ hand. You can’t even release the hooks of your bra."

Ava: "..."

"Be a good girl and follow me to the bathtub, or do you want me to bring you there?"

Ava exhaled weakly, but she hesitantly followed Maximus to the bathtub. She was surprised about not completely hating the idea of having him wash her, but she hated the butterfly that danced inside her stomach at the thought.

When they got to the luxurious white tub, Maximus sat at the edge. He held both her wrists in his hand, and gently pulled her to himself, so she was standing in front of him. His dark blue eyes lingered on the lower part of her body, before slowly going to meet her gape.

With his piercing gaze, Ava felt like entering into the floor. Heat traveled throughout her body and intensified wherever his eyes trailed. Just when she thought she was going to explode from the heat, she froze as she heard Maximum’s words.

"I’ll need to take that off, little one." He was staring at her lower waist.