She takes a deep breath and softens her tone, "It was a slip of the hand." She refolds the tower and slams it back onto his forehead.
"You're lying," Evan says with amus.e.m.e.nt.
"I'm sorry if I used too much force. I'll try again," Avery says, withdrawing her arm from his grasp, "Anyway, you're sweating. I'll get you a change of clothes."
She dampens another towel and begins to unbutton his dark shirt. As the buttons come undone, his tanned chest is exposed. The muscles seem to shake as he breathes rapidly and feverishly. His hot breath falls on the back of her hand and she can feel his heart racing beneath her hand.
"Why is your heart beating so fast?"
Evan grabs her hands and places her palms over his heart. Avery tries to pull away, but even when he's sick he's strong.
"What do you think?" he asks.
Evan gives her a flirtatious look and pulled her toward him, he places his warm mouth beside her ear and whispers, "The heat of the fever overexcited the nervous system and makes the heart beats faster. As my temperature drops my heart rate will drop as well."
Avery fumes at his cold, pragmatic words. Once again he's played her, and she can feel the embarrassment flooding her cheeks. She pushes her hands against his chest to create more distance between them.
"Why are you blushing?" he asks devilishly, "Why did you think my heart was beating fast?"
Evan flattens his hands over hers. She tries to pull her hands away but Evan takes her hand, flips it over and seductively trails his fingertips across her palm. The feeling of his rough fingers against her soft calm is surprisingly seductive and flirtatious. Avery tries to withdraw her hand again but he stops her and pulled her closer.
"Desperate for me yet?" he whispers.
He raises her hand to his mouth and gently bites her fingertip.
She frowns, "Stop it, will you? I'm just trying to help you change."
Avery unbuttons the rest of his shirt. She tugs on his collar and pulls the tight silk sleeves off his arms, her palms skim his arms as she removes the shirt. Her upper body is touching his and her chin rests against his shoulder.
Evan can hear Avery's uneven breath and fights the urge to wrap his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. Suddenly Evan feels something tight around his wrists and finds his arms pulled above his head. Avery has tied his hands with the sleeves of his shirt.
Avery's tempting voice is low against Evan's ear, "Want to try something different?"
"Why not?" Evan says.
He smiles deeply and languorously leans back against the headboard. Avery grabs his tie from the bedside table and ties his ankles together.
"Be a good boy for me, will you?" She says as she tests the knots in the tie, "Don't even think of trying to escape."
Evan has to admit to himself that escape is the furthest thing from his mind.
"Do you have an ulterior motive?" he asks, amused.
"Yes," Avery smiles and squints as he often does.
She darts into the bathroom and quickly returns with makeup in her hands.
"What are you doing?" Evan asks, craning to see what she's holding.
"You'll see," she smirks.
Then she sits on top of Evan and presses all of her slight weight against him. She uses her teeth to remove the lid of the lip gloss and begins to apply it to his face. Within a few minutes, she's given Evan a wide red mouth and thick eyebrows. She jumps down afterward and takes several pictures of him. She looks at the photos, dissatisfied and decides they're not humiliating enough.
"That's very skillful," Evan laughs, "Did you practice for me?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
She pulls off his trousers but instantly regrets her decision. Turning her face aside, she pulls them down to his ankles, trying to keep her fingers from brushing against his thighs. Then she takes more pictures.
Once again she shows the photos to Evan, "Ask Robert to give me my phone or I'll post them online."
"You wouldn't do that to me," Evan says calmly.
"Try me," she whispers.
Suddenly, Evan smiles, "Okay, call Robert in."
Avery doesn't know why he's smiling. Though she feels slightly dazzled by his grin, she picks off the intercom system and asks for Robert then passes the phone to Evan.
"Bring Avery's phone up," Evan orders.
Evan continues to smile, and Avery can't help but wonder why. When Robert enters he almost staggers over when he sees his almost n.a.k.e.d boss tied to the bed with horrible makeup. He can guess that Avery did it, but he can't understand why his boss would allow her to do this.
"Avery really must be his equal," Robert thinks.
Robert hands the phone to Avery. Avery grabs it and turns it on immediately. It seems almost the same as before, but when she checks her photo gallery she finds that all of the pictures she deleted off of her Facebook have been recovered and stored there.
"Are you satisfied?" Evan asks, "They haven't touched anything but the photos." Evan frowns. He knew Avery wanted the phone, but he was surprised by the lengths she went to to get it.
Avery transfers the SIM cards between the phones and throws the couple's phone at Robert. She didn't expect to get her phone back so easily. A hint of doubt and unease haunts her and turns to look at Evan. Evan's phone rings on the bedside table.
Robert runs over to untie Evan and Avery goes back to her room. Her phone brings and she reads the message: Your nanny will be transferred tomorrow— everything is in place including your accommodation. Don't ever refuse my help again."
"So Charles mist has paid all the bills," Avery thinks.
She types quickly agreeing to leave and hits send. An error message appears on her screen—the message has failed to send.