CONDITIONS

Ezra couldn't understand half the conditions of Stella's. All night he kept on thinking about it and thus had a very limited sleep.

Around about four am he hardly fell asleep with only her face in his mind. But because of the certain knock on his door he woke up again, he could hardly sleep and morning came so fast for him. With half opened eyes he saw her.

With a smile so pure on her face she comes inside his room. "Good morning Mr. Knight." Walking towards the windows she opens the curtains letting in the sun rays. That made him groan again, "that doesn't seem like a good morning reply." Turning around to face him she chuckles softly, "couldn't sleep?" She asks.

He shakes his head in reply, "all night long, I was thinking about you;" to that she rolls her eyes at him.

"Do I have to remind you about rule number four?" She squints her eyes at him.

Condition number four, do not flirt with me.

Now it's his turn to roll his eyes at her but he doesn't. He doesn't like to roll his eyes and neither does he like someone doing that. "I remember exactly what your conditions are. But telling the truth wasn't prohibited in your terms was it?"

"Are you implying that you are not trying to flirt with me?"

"I'm implying that I am telling you the truth." Getting down the bed he walks close to her. "No. Pun. Intended." He smirks seeing her eyes go down his half naked body. Amusement filled in him when she averted her eyes away quickly from his lower bottom. Her cheeks get this slight tint seeing the outline of his crotch from his boxers. What would be her reaction when she gets to see his manhood? Even that thought brings a certain excitement within him.

"I'm going to fill your bath with warm water." She says looking here and there before walking away.

"Ms. Robinson?" He calls, making her stop in her tracks.

"Yes Mr. Knight?" She replies but he could get a hint of shyness in her tone.

"I won't go to the office, I'll work from home today." He says.

"Oh… umm okay."

Nervous. He saw her eyebrows furrow but soon her expression changed into her usual. This news might have come as a shock to her as he never stayed home during daytime.

She turns again to fill the tub when he calls, again, "Ms. Robinson, better don't roll your eyes on me ever again." She squints her eyes at him, "I find it very annoying, mind it."

"Oh yeah?" She says as her eyes twinkles with a challenging glint in them. And then, she did exactly what he didn't ask for.

Stella, you will be the death of me.

Before she could escape from him, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his chest. Trapping her into his arms as a gasp comes out of her mouth. "Ezra!" She gasps out his name while he… he melted right away like a wax in heat.

She was delicate and warm. A soothing feeling washed over him and all he wants is to savor the moment. "Ezra, you are breaking two conditions already in the early morning within a span of five minutes."

Yeah right, condition number two; no physical contact. We should not stand any closer than one hand distance away.

"You broke mine so, I broke yours. Plus, I didn't break any other condition other than this." He says still clutching her into him.

"Okay-okay I apologize, now please can you leave me?" Her eyes pleaded while her lips had a sweet pout. Almost making him take them into his mouth and suck them until they are swollen.

"I'll leave only on one condition." He rolled his lips into a straight thin line to avoid laughing out loud.

Her eyes widened in surprise, "you too?"

"Of course, why should you have all the fun?" He says and to that she rolls her eyes again but instantly regrets it, shaking her head side wise as if that will bring back the mistake.

"Looks like you have a bad habit Ms. Robinson." He smirks, "and now I get to punish you."

"What-" Her words get cut off by his lips on her… cheeks. Of course he can't just jump on the opportunity and jeopardize the only trust she has for him.

Baby steps. He tells himself in his mind.

"You- you kissed me!" She gasps again.

He gives her a slight chuckle seeing her horrific reaction. "Believe me, it's very formal."

She glares at him, "so, you kissed your previous maid too?"

This time he cracks up, "no Ms. Robinson; I did not kiss her and neither did she do anything to annoy me to which I had to punish her."

"So you mean, you kiss everyone who annoys you?"

He shakes his head showing he is getting annoyed again but in reality he is enjoying this way too much. "No, you are a special case. Now that I'm here all day we need to discuss something about your conditions."

She glares at him, "what's there to discuss? I demand them to be practiced or else I'll be out of here."

"If you have conditions, I have my own conditions too. You practise them too and then we'll do our business." He winks at her and lets her go.

She instantly scurries away from him.

"Be ready for it." He says while watching her go inside the bathroom with anger.

Soon Stella, soon. I'll win you over.

Scarlett gets into the bathroom with a smile on her face. It feels too surreal to have him this close.

The conditions she put in front of him was to keep herself from having any attachments with him.

When she was about to leave him, it broke her heart. It hurted badly and she felt dejected from the person she once had admired.

But then she felt like a puddle of water when he asked for forgiveness. She knew growing close to him would cause a serious matter of heartbreak. Mostly from her side. And to avoid that she decided to have the boundaries more strict than it was before.

Putting conditions felt better at that time. But how would she know it's going to backfire against her?

Now seeing her, Ezra will have his own conditions too and she knows; she knows, he will make sure he wins every time. He always does.

"Is my bathtub ready?" She heard him asking out loud from the bedroom.

She was about to roll her eyes again but prevented it by doing it in her mind. Yeah, let's just keep practicing doing this in my mind. "Yes, Sir. All done."

It fears her.

But the feeling isn't dreadful.

Instead, it's sweet.

He enters the bathroom again with his cunning smile on his face. "Thank you, Ms. Robinson."

"Enjoy your bath, Mr. Knight." She curtly nods at him before leaving him in there to do his business.