by Anna Santos
“That’s so cool,” I mumbled, wishing I had one of those at home. My bedroom was much smaller than this one. It could use some secret compartments to store things in.
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll have to answer that,” Philippe said. “It must be one of my employees with the ice-cream. I also asked for more groceries, so I can cook something else for you later.”
“I’ll be here,” I said, smiling.
My stomach flipped and danced with the smile he gave me before he exited.
When he returned, he had some DVDs in his hands and a bowl of chocolate ice-cream in the other. He placed the ice-cream with a spoon next to me and sat on the bed.
“What do you want to watch? Sci-fi, romance, horror?”
“I’ve had enough of horror for two days, thank you very much.”
Raising an eyebrow, he probed, “Romance?”
“No,” I rejected immediately. The last thing I needed was to watch romantic movies—people kissing—with Philippe by my side. It was too much to endure.
“Sci-fi it is,” he said, putting the other DVDs on the side and smiling.
I mused about his smile as he took the tray to a small table between the couches and left the cake I was eating behind.
“How come you have food here?” I asked.
“Well, I have human employees. My butler is human, my driver is human, and Gabby also spends a lot of time here. They need to eat.”
I nodded in understanding. “What are we going to watch?”
Raising my head, I tried to peek at the image of the movie he had chosen. My cheeks burned when I realized my mistake. I said we and not I. I was implying that I wanted him to watch the movie with me. Since I was lying in bed, I was inviting him to join me.
Things can’t get any more awkward, can they?
“Star-Trek, the recent movie that takes place in the alternative reality. Have you seen it?”
I nodded.
“Do you mind seeing it again?”
I shook my head.
“Okay then,” he said, turning on the TV and placing the disk inside the Blu-ray player that was beneath the LED TV.
Philippe played with the buttons, and the movie started. Taking off his jacket, he sat on the bed and took off his shoes.
I pretended to stare at the screen, but I was more attentive to what he was doing.
Placing the plate on my side, he took it, put it aside, and placed another pillow behind my back. After making sure I was comfortable, Philippe lay down on the comforter, placing a pillow behind his head. He wasn’t far from me, but he wasn’t close, either. It was kind of a nerve-racking.
Five minutes later, I wasn’t any calmer. I was barely paying attention to the movie. Insanity was taking over me, and I was trying not to hyperventilate. My heart was beating too fast, and I was nervous.
“What’s wrong?” Philippe asked, startling me.
I blushed, aware that he was undoubtedly listening to my heartbeat.
“Is the movie boring you?”
“No, that’s not it,” I assured him.
“You should eat the ice-cream. It’s melting,” he reminded me.
I had totally forgotten about it. But I wasn’t feeling like eating ice-cream anymore. Looking at him, I pursed my lips, unsure of how to explain myself and excuse my behavior.
“You can go and rest if you don’t want to be here,” I told him.
“There’s nowhere else I would rather be,” he said calmly, staring at the screen.
I smiled.
“Do you want me to leave?”
“No,” I answered way too fast with an edge of panic in my voice.
Things got worse!
“Do you want me to move closer?”
I noticed that a smile was teasing his lips. He had some nerve! I felt like hitting him with a pillow. Instead, I placed a pillow between us and folded my arms.
“You’re too cute when you’re mad.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled. “You can pretend to be nice all you want, but I know better than to trust you and believe your regret.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, removing the pillow and facing me. He didn’t look mad, just intrigued.
“You claim you regret what you’ve done to me, that you want me to forgive you, but I don’t see you doing anything to show how truly sorry you are.”
Philippe frowned. “I think you are being unfair.”
“I don’t think so.”
My mate stared at me for a long time. I couldn’t hold his gaze. It was unsettling to stare at him. My heart would always clench, and I wanted to hug him and forgive him. Yet my rationality was telling me that I shouldn’t be so keen on pardoning him.
Philippe only changed his mind after I was mated to Cedric. I didn’t want to hold on to the grudge, but I didn’t know why I was in love with him and not with Cedric. Well, Philippe understood me better than Cedric did. Philippe was a lot more tolerant, and he didn’t pressure me. We had a lot in common. He understood me without me even saying a word and had been kind to me ever since we got to his house. Even before I had decided to leave Cedric, Philippe had been helpful. Yet all I was doing was making him miserable on purpose.
Before I could tell him that I was sorry, he said, “What do you want me to do to prove to you that I’m sorry? Do you want me to get on my knees and beg you?”
“Of course not,” I grumbled. “I…don’t really know what I want.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone,” Philippe whispered. “I don’t want to be alone, either.”
“I told you that I wanted to leave. Yet you keep coming up with ways to make me stay or coming with me. Did you think that I might need some time alone to know what I’m feeling?”
“Yes. Still, my heart breaks a bit more every time I think that I won’t be able to see you if you leave.”
I looked at my hands that crumpled the bedding. “I don’t want you to leave my side, and I also don’t want you to think that I’m accepting you. It’s all too recent, and I need to realize what I want from life.”
“I understand.”
“You say that, but your eyes say something else,” I complained.
“Why can’t you stay a bit longer with me?”
His question made my breathing shallow. I looked at my feet as my voice shattered. “I don’t want to be trapped again. I’m tired of selfish people.”
“Aria,” his voice fanned my face as his fingers brushed my chin and raised my head to meet his eyes. “I’m not selfish with you. I’m putting your needs first… I can even indulge all of your whims—”
I cut him off. “You don’t need to indulge my whims or buy me chocolate ice-cream…”
He placed his finger over my lips, and I shut up. “I did it because I wanted to. Because you are my whole world now, and I want you to eat.”
“I never eat when I’m sad,” I complained.
Philippe’s eyes demurred. “Do you miss Cedric?”
Unwanted tears rolled down my cheeks. “No.”
“So why are you crying?”
“I don’t miss him.” I cleaned my tears with the back of my hand as I moved my face away from his. “I’m tired, and I can’t find peace of mind to want to sleep.”
“Do you miss your parents?”
More tears fell. “If my mom was here, I could ask her what I should do. She could hug me and…” I stopped my complaints. Facing Philippe, I blurted out, “I don’t miss Cedric. He was suffocating me. Yet I feel guilty for…”
“For being here with me?”
I held back my tears and stared at his sad, brown eyes. My hand touched his. Our fingers entwined.
“My chest is heavy,” I explained, holding our hands closer to my chest. “I don’t know how I should feel. But…Philippe…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to be alone. Not today.”
“I won’t leave you,” he said, slipping his arms around me and pulling me closer to him.<
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His embrace made me relax.
“I don’t want you to hurt me,” he said, caressing my hair and hugging me tighter.
Rubbing the back of his neck, I asked, “How could I hurt you?”
“You hurt me every time you draw back in fear.”
“I don’t do that because I’m scared of you… Well, I—I’m not used to having you touch me.”
“Don’t you like it when I touch you?”
I sighed. “I like it too much.”
Philippe planted a kiss on the curve of my neck, and I shivered. His lips were stretched into a smile, and his fingers dug into the soft fabric of my t-shirt. My skin ignited and trembled as I swallowed a moan.
“Aria.” The urge in his voice woke me up from my dazed out of body experience. “You also hurt me when you said to your friend that we weren’t a couple.”
I opened my eyes. “What did you want me to tell her?”
“We kissed.”
My voice came out colder than I wished it to be. “And?”
“Didn’t it mean anything to you?”
“Philippe.” I pulled back to look into his eyes. “You said you weren’t going to pressure me.”
“I’m sorry. I…want you to let me be a part of your life.”
I broke our eye contact.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know if I should trust you and believe that you want to be a part of my life and not control it,” I explained.
“I love you. If you are sad, I’m sad. I won’t do anything to upset you.”
That was the sweetest and most plausible thing I’ve ever heard. I didn’t want to make Philippe miserable. I merely didn’t trust that he wouldn’t try to control my life and dreams.
“Trust is earned. I’ll prove to you that you can trust me. I don’t want you to manipulate me into…”
“What?” I asked, curious.
“I feel guilty about what I’ve done to you. I’ll do anything to please you, but that’s not an excuse for you to toy with my feelings.”
I nodded. “I’m not manipulating you. I’m a little…confused and tired. My heart hurts, and my angel is restless. She is anxious. I’m anxious.”
“You need to sleep to feel better. You’ve probably drunk too much coffee… What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want us to fight.”
“We aren’t fighting.”
“Yes, we were.”
“We were talking. We need to talk to understand each other.”
I agreed and nestled my head against his chest.
“You need to trust me, honey,” he whispered sweetly, kissing the top of my head. “I won’t hurt you ever again.”
I felt my heart melting. He called me honey and was being so sweet to me.
“I’m trying to trust you, but how can I believe that you won’t hurt me? And if you can’t control it?”
“Because I’m a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“I can control myself. You won’t ever see my evil side. At least, not aimed at you. If it makes you feel better, you are the only one who can calm me down. Besides, you’re still an angel. You can burn me into ashes if you wish.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” I said, holding him tighter. “My angel wouldn’t do that to you, either. You saved us.”
“Cedric helped, too. You may be mad at him now, but you will eventually want to get back with him.”
“Why would you say that? We broke up!” I reminded him, feeling hurt by his words.
“He loves you, and you seem to love him in return. Maybe you’ll regret leaving him.”
“I thought I loved him,” I said, closing my eyes and enjoying the peace that was inside my head from our closeness. “I really don’t want to talk about it right now. I’m tired of having to explain myself to people. I just want to be left alone.”
“I’ll leave then,” he whispered.
I prevented him from moving. “I didn’t mean I wanted you to leave. I mean that I want to be left alone by other people. Not you,” I explained, too numb to care about how desperate that sounded. I waited for him to say something witty or cocky. He simply cuddled me, and we both climbed under the covers.
Then, he placed me on top of his chest.
“For all it’s worth, I will crawl and beg if that’s what it takes for you to forgive and love me,” he said.
Smiling against his neck, I inhaled his scent, enjoying the blissful contact with his soft skin.
“Don’t think you will manipulate me that easily to forgive you,” I teased him.
He chuckled. “That thought didn’t even cross my mind, pixie angel.”
“I’m going to sleep now,” I mumbled, moving my hand to grab his shirt and closing my eyes. “Please don’t leave.”
“I won’t,” he assured me, kissing my hair.
I gave in to sleep, peacefully wrapped up in his arms, feeling his warmth and his heart beat against mine. I could stay like that forever.
Chapter ELEVEN
PHILIPPE
I woke up to the sound of the doorbell. All my servants were sent away, and I had told my men not to interrupt me. It seemed that someone didn’t get the memo.
Opening my eyes, I stared at the ceiling as I took in the notion of Aria’s body against mine. We were tangled in a close embrace. Doziness was intensified by our closeness and the warmth inside the sheets.
Aria is beautiful and kind. I love her to pieces.
I could stare at her for eternity. Even asleep, I didn’t want to stay away from her. I found myself searching for her and bringing her closer when we slept.
The doorbell insisted on stealing me away from this moment of bliss. I didn’t want to answer the door and leave Aria’s side. Yet I didn’t want the bell to wake her up.
Night must be falling because I felt stronger as darkness was tainting the skies and erasing the purple and pink shades left by the sunset.
“Who is it?” she asked in a sleepy voice.
“I don’t know. I’m not expecting anyone.”
“Make them go away. I don’t want to wake up,” she complained, making me smile.
The crankiness in her sleeping state was a certainty. She didn’t want to be disturbed when she was tired or asleep. Someone was stealing me the opportunity of spending more time holding Aria and watching her sleep peacefully or kissing her until my heart stopped hurting inside my chest.
“I have to leave the bed for that, and you aren’t letting me,” I explained to her.
“Hmm.” She yawned and opened her eyes.
Sitting up, she looked around and blinked several times as if chasing the sleep away. “How long did we sleep for?”
“A lot, apparently. The night is falling,” I replied.
It had been a long time since I’d slept so well. I could get used to this. Being with Aria gave me peace of mind and allowed me to forget about my pain and problems.
The doorbell sounded angry. Sighing, I got up.
“I’ll be right back.” I brushed my clothes with my hands, put my coat and my shoes on, and went downstairs to see who was so eager to see me.
Moments later, when I saw who it was on the intercom, I sighed with annoyance.
“What are you doing here again?” I asked, pressing the button to speak to the outside speaker.
Camille smiled and waved at the camera.
“I’m here to take you to the party,” she stated.
“What party?”
“The party in the other realm. Cedric wants you and Aria there.”
I grumbled, “Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure. Josephine is going, too. Aren’t you ready yet? Didn’t Aria tell you?”
“I said I didn’t want to go,” Aria said, coming down the stairs in her pajamas, with her hair covering her face. She pouted, and a turmoil of butterflies swarmed my stomach. I felt the mate pull every time I looked at her. It was a constant craving of wanting to be with her, to kiss her, hug her, and
make her happy.
I grinned to myself and ignored everything around me until I heard the angel girl shouting on the other side.
“And I said that you were going,” Camille said, using her bossy tone on my beautiful other half.
It upset me. I didn’t want her to talk to Aria like that.
Camille murmured with a girly voice, “Just let me in. I’ll help you get dressed and comb your hair. It will be fun. Please, come! I want company. It will be so boring without you.”
I smirked at Camille’s strategy. It was a subtle manipulation. She was appealing to their friendship to convince Aria. The blonde angel was growing on me. She could be annoying, but she honestly liked Aria and was a good influence on her.
“I woke up only a few minutes ago,” Aria mumbled, biting her lower lip and sighing deeply. “It will be awkward. I barely know the girl, and last time I wanted to burn her to ashes.”
Her words intrigued me. I was a bystander of their conversation and didn’t know what girl she was talking about.
“You are really stubborn,” Camille said, appearing in the living room.
I couldn’t agree more, and I liked that about Aria.
“This is your last opportunity to go to an angel party. There will be more than angels upstairs. Plus, I want company, and you are coming with me. Philippe is coming, too. No more arguing about it,” she said, pointing her finger at Aria who nodded.
The thought of letting Aria out of my sight made my stomach clench and my protective instinct surface. I didn’t want to be away from her. A party in the angels’ realm wasn’t my idea of having fun, but I would go to Hell and back if it meant I’d be with Aria. I woke up from my thoughts to find Aria talking to me.
“Do you want to come?” she asked me in a weak, vulnerable tone.
“Of course, he wants to,” Camille answered for me.
I looked at her sideways. “I’ll go wherever you want to go,” I told Aria. Her face lit up with a smile.
“You two are freaking adorable. Now, let’s get you dressed,” Camille urged Aria.
Aria’s cheeks turned red out of embarrassment. It made me rethink my decision on whether Camille should stay or not. I didn’t want Aria to feel uncomfortable, but, at the same time, Aria’s blushing meant that she liked me.
