Chapter 43

She bit her nail as she struggled to think of something. And it took her quite some minutes before she came up with something to ask.

" Do you believe in love? " 

Her question perplexed me. The why of it especially. And I found myself jumping into very scary conclusions. But then I reminded myself that she was my best friend's fake wife. And that up until yesterday, she didn't even want to be trapped in the same space as me. But still, WHY would she ask me that? 

" And you're asking me this why? "

She seemed very casual about the entire thing and that relieved some of my worry. 

" Because I wanna know. I want to know if you're capable of feeling dense emotions like the normal human population. "

What the bloody hell was that supposed to mean? I was a normal human being as far as I knew. 

" And why wouldn't I? Am I not human?"

" You are, but you're so... peculiar. "

Peculiar, as in odd. strange. Unnatural. How dare she call me peculiar?

" I'll have you know that I feel very offended right now. "

Her face fell.

" Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

" I was joking. Goodness, you have to learn how to loosen up. "

Again she tucked imaginary strands behind her ear. Then she reached for her glass and sipped the juice, holding onto it afterwards. And I assumed it served to distract her.

" Okay then, answer. "

Christ, she really has improved in the courage department. Shrugging, I lean back against the couch and extend my arm on the backrest. The answer to her peculiar question was pretty simple actually.

" Of course I believe in love, who doesn't?"

She seemed shocked. As if I had said the exact opposite of what she had expected me to say. 

" Really? You do?" 

I wondered what the doubt was for, she arched her brown and frowned as she stared at me for the longest while. And when I stared back she didn't look away but rather maintained the contact. 

And then I felt that bloody pull again. And all I could think about was how lovely her eyes were and how I wanted to lean into her and take in a deep breath. 

I have no clue what time she left my room today but I want her to be in it tonight as well. I'm trying my best not to rush. That will only serve to overwhelm her and she might even crawl back into her shell and prefer to stay hidden. So we'll take things one very torturous step at a time.

" You seem surprised, " I remarked. And I noticed how dry my throat had gotten so I took the mug and gulped down the coffee. It didn't help though, I still felt perched and now images of her spread wide were beginning to flood into my mind for some absurd reason.

" I suppose I am, "

" There's nothing shocking about the fact. In one way or another everyone believes in love, " I continued to talk. Was the room getting hotter or was it just me? 

" For example, some people are into romantic love, while others such as myself believe more in the materialistic kind. "

Shaking her head, she sighed and whispered the words, " I knew it, " to herself. And I felt like laughing but I had had enough of that subject.

" Anything else you want to ask me? " She shook her head defeatedly. As if she were telling me that there was no point in asking me anything. 

I felt ecstatic.

" Okay, now back to where we were then, tell me about you. "

That earlier mentioned shell was being cracked wider now and she was struggling to get in again. But I didn't insisted that she answer, otherwise she was never truly going to gain the confidence she needed to survive in this cruel world of ours. People tended to take advantage of people like her. The kind, caring and shy type. And unless she toughened up her spine she was going to go through life being used and discarded afterwards. Something I was never going to let happen, but I couldn't always be there. 

" Well, you already know my name...I'm twenty three. You also know where I live-"

I put up my hand and cut her short, then I made a tsking sound with my tongue while shaking my head.

" I didn't ask for your ID information sweetheart, I want to know about you. I want to learn of the things that ultimately make you who you are, "

I wanted details of her life growing up, of her secret wishes...things like that.

Was I getting too personal?..The answer is yes but I really didn't care. I needed to hear her tell me those things from her own tasty two lips.

She tried to tell me, I could see the effort clearly. She tried her very best to share those things with me but something stopped her and she just ended up sitting there in silence and asking me whether we could talk about something else.

And I wanted to just push like I was so used to doing but then something stopped me. 

She obviously wasn't ready to share such private things with me yet. And that was okay since we had all the time in the world.

And soon I would break that barrier between us and any remaining shreds of inhibitions would be destroyed.

I told her it was okay and she seemed greatly relieved. 

" Don't you know when Arden will be back?" 

A flash of something coursed through me. It was this foreign feeling I wanted nothing to do with, but it was making me wonder why she wanted to know about Arden. 

Jealousy?!

I shook the thought away. I had never and would never in my entire life be envious of another human being.

" I don't know, but he's always being called away to handle one thing or another. That shouldn't worry you, "

Why was I suddenly so possessive of her. In my head, I had already branded her as mine. Of course that had always been the case but this feeling was growing with each passing second and I feared that would turn into an issue in the near future.

There was silence after that. And each time the both of us grew silent I started picturing things in my head. I needed to at least kiss her if anything else. 

Crooking my finger towards her I asked her to move closer to me. She stayed rooted to the spot, and I wasn't at all surprised.

I was used to chasing her and extracting her from the dark holes she chose to hide in.

But then for the very first time, she scooted over to me of her own volition. I was in disbelief.

I gazed at the brown of her eyes and in them I saw a hunger that could have been greater than mine. Licking her lips she turned away from me and kept her focus on the wall to her right.

I reached over and traced my fingers down the exposed skin of her arm. She shuddered, and I realized she wanted this just as much, if not more than me. 

" Look at me, "I instructed and after stalling for a couple of seconds, she slowly turned to face me. My eyes fell to her lips.

" Come here, " I patted my lap. And there was that second where she inclined her head to the side as if considering something. I let her do so because I knew in the end she was a victim of this attraction in the same capacity as I. 

After taking the moment to consider, she crawled onto my lap.

She felt so right there, as if it was exactly where she was always meant to be. And I didn't want to think about such things, I tried to push those thoughts away with every bit of strength that I had, but I ended up thinking about them either way. 

I thought of holding her against me like that for a very long time to come. And just watching her smile....but I managed to find sane ground to fall on. 

She placed her hand on my bare shoulder, the other on her own lap, so I picked it up and made her wrap both hands around me. 

My cock had some secret way of detecting her, and soon after she touched me in that way that was hardly even intimate, it jolted up excitedly.

And I kept thinking about how soft her hands were, how those slender fingers would be look magnificent wrapped around the length of my shaft. And these were not helpful thoughts at all. She swallowed nervously, clearly feeling the effect she had on me and trying to hide it.

" Kiss me, " I ordered her again. There was nothing commanding about my tone, it actually sounded more like a request to me. And when she obeyed I felt like carrying her to my bed and devouring her for days on end.