[The Watchers 20.0] Dominion - Enduring

by SJ West

  “I’ll need a large pot,” I tell him. “And a skillet. If you can find those and have them out for me, I would appreciate it.”

  “They’ll be waiting for you,” he promises, placing the credit fob in my palm as he leans in and kisses me on the cheek before phasing back to the cabin.

  Thankfully, Sierra is similar to Earth as far as food items are concerned. I find all the ingredients I need to make tagliarelle pasta with truffle butter and sautéed chicken. Since most humans like to eat something sweet after their meals, I also buy all the ingredients required to bake a batch of sugar cookies.

  It takes me less than fifteen minutes to shop and return to the cabin. Once I’m there, I see that Cade is, again, shirtless. I find him sitting on the couch in the living room, fiddling with the tuners on the head of the guitar as he adjusts its strings. When he looks up at me, I raise my eyebrows at him and look pointedly at his naked chest.

  “How would you like it if I ran around here not wearing a shirt all the time?” I ask him.

  An amused smile stretches his lips. “I wouldn’t be complaining like you are; that’s for sure.”

  I roll my eyes at him and head for the kitchen area. Since the floorplan of the cabin is an open one, the kitchen is at the south end of the room. The area isn’t huge, but it is well-equipped. The whole area is made from wood that’s been stained to bring out the natural beauty of its lines. The counters along the wall are topped with a beige granite with brown veins, and the kitchen island is simply topped with a butcher block. The pot and skillet I asked for are already sitting on the gas stove, waiting for me to use them.

  “Do you need any help?” Cade asks as he sets his guitar on the couch and follows me into the kitchen area.

  “Do you know how to cook?” I ask him. “I can’t imagine there was much need for it in the palace.”

  “I cooked for myself and Lucas when we spent time together at my house.”

  “Then you can make the cookies while I prepare lunch.”

  “What kind of cookies?”

  “Sugar cookies. Do you know how to make those?”

  “I think I can manage that,” he says with an easy grin.

  I hand over the ingredients for the cookies and begin to concentrate on making the pasta entrée for us.

  As I’m chopping up the chicken breasts on the kitchen island, Cade rolls out the dough he made for the cookies. I notice him use a knife to cut the dough into shapes. When I glance over to see what shape he’s making, all I can do is shake my head. He’s cutting hearts out of the dough. I’m not even sure why I find that fact surprising. If there is one thing about Cade that’s obvious, it’s the fact that he wears his emotions on his sleeve. Well, that is, if he wore sleeves. I allow my gaze to travel over the smooth, perfectly unblemished skin of his torso while I watch him work.

  “So you chose that body to come to Earth in, correct?” I ask as I cup the chicken I just chopped with my hands and walk over to the skillet on the stove to dump it into.

  “Yes,” he answers, carefully placing his first heart-shaped cookie onto a baking sheet with a delicate hand.

  “I approve of the choice you made,” I tell him.

  Cade smiles as he looks over at me with a gaze that sweeps me from head to toe.

  “And I approve of the body you made for yourself,” he replies. “It’s perfect.”

  I shrug my shoulders and begin to sauté the chicken in the olive oil in the skillet.

  “I saw no reason not to make it that way,” I say. “Humans place special value on beauty. They seem to believe attractive people lead charmed lives.”

  “Would you call your life charmed?”

  “No,” I answer without having to think about it. “My life has not been charmed, but things are finally starting to look up. I feel as though I have more to live for now.”

  “Is it too much to hope that I’m one of the reasons you feel that way?” he asks uncertainly.

  I glance his way and catch him watching me, waiting for my answer.

  If I say yes, it gives him a hold over me, but if I lie and say no, he’ll know I’m lying.

  “It’s not too much to hope for,” I reply, leaving it at that as I return my attention to the chicken in the skillet.

  Cade doesn’t force the matter any further, but from the corner of my eye, I can see him grinning happily.

  By the time I have our pasta lunch prepared, Cade is pulling out the first batch of sugar cookies. The smell fills the cabin with a homey aroma. Everything feels so normal and perfect, making me wonder if this is the way Anna lives on a daily basis. As I told Cade, my life has been anything but charmed. I was never given the advantages that my sister has had, but it doesn’t stop me from hoping for a better future for myself.

  While the second batch of cookies bakes in the oven, we sit down at the dining room table together and begin to eat the meal I prepared.

  “Wow,” Cade says after finishing his first bite. “This is the best pasta I’ve ever tasted.”

  “I’m not sure that’s saying much,” I say, even though I’m secretly gratified that he likes my first attempt at cooking a proper meal. “You’ve only been on Earth for a few months.”

  “Even if I had lived my whole life there, I don’t think my opinion would be any different.”

  “Well, eat it before it gets cold,” I tell him. “If you wait too long, the butter sauce will solidify and make it inedible.”

  Cade doesn’t waste any time eating his bowl of pasta and even goes back for a second helping. Once he’s through gorging himself, he sits back in his chair at the dining table and rubs his full belly.

  “That was the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten,” he proclaims, looking completely satisfied.

  I don’t admit how delighted I am by his declaration. As I look at him smiling at me happily, I notice a spot of sauce at the corner of his mouth and reach out to wipe it off with my index finger. Just as I’m sliding my finger to wipe it away, Cade turns his head, causing the tip of my finger to slide into the warm wetness of his mouth. While he stares straight at me, he gently uses his teeth to trap my finger while his tongue licks away the sauce.

  My breathing becomes shallow, and my heart begins to pump so fast I feel myself begin to become flushed.

  “Do you realize you’re being cruel?” I whisper to him as I pull my hand away from his face.

  Cade looks puzzled. “How was that an act of cruelty?”

  “You know how much I want you,” I say, feeling my temper rise, “and yet you blatantly tease me like that. How can you not consider that being cruel?”

  “I want you too, Helena,” Cade says ardently.

  “Then why do you keep making us wait? What are we waiting for?”

  “I can’t tell you that,” he says, his voice filled with regret.

  “Then what can you tell me?”

  “That I’m not sure I can wait for what I want before taking you,” he admits, looking me straight in the eyes. His desire for me is so naked in his gaze, yet he continues to hold it in check. “You’re not the only one having a hard time waiting, and I’m not sure how strong my resolve will remain, because every time I look at you, a large part of it gets chipped away.”

  I sigh, feeling both aggravated and disappointed. I wish I could speed up the process of breaking down his wall so he finally gives in to what we both want to happen.

  I stand from my seat, picking up my empty bowl and walking over to the kitchen sink to wash it. I hear Cade get up and follow me. In silence, we clean up the mess we made in the kitchen. Cade stays behind to finish baking the rest of the dough for the cookies while I go into the living room to study the sheet of music we bought earlier in the day.

  The tune looks simple enough. In fact, it’s very similar to an ancient Earth song called “Falling Slowly.”

  “Follow me.”

  I look up and see Cade standing in front of me with his hand held out.

  “Let’s go practice the
song,” he suggests when I don’t move right away. “I would like to hear how it sounds with the both of us playing it.”

  I stand from my seat and take his hand, allowing him to lead me upstairs to the study. Once I’m settled on the piano bench, Cade brings over a small chair so he can sit beside me with his guitar propped up on his lap. I open the sheet music and place it on the piano’s music rack.

  I look over at Cade and ask, “Are you ready?”

  Cade reads the first few bars of notes before nodding his head. “It looks simple enough.” He strums the strings of his guitar with his fingers, as if warming them up.

  “Don’t you need a pick to play with?” I ask, remembering clearly that he used one at Lucas’ party with his own guitar.

  “The strings on this guitar are nylon,” he explains. “The one I have on Earth has steel ones. I use the pick with that one because if I don’t, the music ends up sounding too soft. I’m fine with using my fingers on nylon because there isn’t much of a difference in the sound.”

  “Ahh,” I say, finding that interesting. “Then shall we begin?”

  “Let’s go on three,” he suggests. “One … two … three.”

  We begin to play the music in unison, but I find it hard to slow myself down enough to keep in time with Cade’s slower, more melancholy, version of the song. We start over three times, but each time I always end up playing faster than he does.

  “Can’t you speed up your tempo a bit?” I ask him, becoming irritated.

  “I don’t think this song is meant to be played fast,” he explains. “Besides, why are you trying to rush through it?”

  “I just like to get things done, and I personally believe it should be performed faster than the way you’re playing it.”

  Cade sighs, as if he’s disappointed with my answer, and sets his guitar down beside his chair before coming to sit next to me on the bench.

  “Sometimes you’re meant to take things slow so you can enjoy them,” he begins to explain. “This song is supposed to start out slow, almost like a lullaby, but by the time we reach the end, the pace should be picked up, like you’re suggesting, because it becomes more jubilant. It’s like falling in love,” he says, looking into my eyes. “You have to take it slow in the beginning, otherwise you’ll miss all the small first moments.”

  “Haven’t we had enough first moments for you yet?” I ask him, sensing he’s talking about more than just the music we’re playing.

  “I’m still waiting for one more,” he whispers, searching my eyes for some intangible sign.

  “Can I at least get a kiss?” I ask.

  Cade smiles and leans in, gently pressing his lips against mine.

  “Do you really consider that a proper kiss?” I breathe as he holds his head only an inch away from me.

  “I thought it was very proper,” he replies, his warm breath caressing my lips, “just not as satisfying as this.”

  He lowers his lips to mine again, but this time I feel the heat of his desire to lay claim to me. As his lips and tongue tease my own to play with him, I can sense a certain desperation inside his soul for something I haven’t given to him yet. What this something is, I have no idea, but I desperately want to figure it out so we can move past the invisible barrier keeping us apart. What is it that he needs from me to finally break down the last block holding him back?

  When Cade ends our kiss, I almost feel as if he’s taking a part of me with him. Strangely enough, I don’t mind. I want him to keep the little piece of me that he’s stolen and treasure the fact that he’s the only person I would ever let have it in the first place.

  “I think we should try again,” he tells me as his eyes keep searching mine.

  “All right,” I agree, not feeling as vexed as I usually do when he refuses to give in to what we both desire.

  Cade returns to his chair and picks up his guitar again. I turn to face the keys and take a deep, shuddering breath. This time I close my eyes because I know the song now and don’t need to read the notes anymore. I let my mind drift back to the first moment I saw Cade as I softly press the correct keys with a light touch of my fingers.

  With the first notes we play together, I’m reminded of how surprised I was to find out I had a soul mate. At first I wanted to deny that our connection was real, but the more I tried to reject it, the stronger our bond to one another became. I’ve tried to play if off as just a sexual attraction, but even I know that isn’t the truth. No, it goes much deeper than that, and I secretly love the fact that Cade is trying so hard to get to know me. I don’t believe there are a lot of men out there who would deny themselves the physical pleasure of being with their soul mate. For Cade, getting to know who I am on the inside seems more important to him than frolicking between the sheets. I can’t say I’ve ever had anyone care about me enough to take the time to figure out what I like and don’t like. Cade is so different from the only other man in my life who ever meant something to me. He doesn’t seem to have a personal agenda to use me for his own purposes, unlike Lucifer.

  The tempo of the music picks up, as if allowing an unexpected joy to push aside the melancholia of the tune. I suddenly realize what it is that Cade has been waiting to see in my eyes all this time. He wants to know that I truly care for him and don’t simply want to use him for my own needs. If our relationship is ever going to survive the trials we’re bound to face in the future, he wants to know that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

  I’m honestly not sure I can go that far yet. All I do know is that I care for him more than anyone else in my life. That’s all I can offer him right now, and I don’t know if that will be enough. He seems like an “all in” kind of man, and I don’t think I’m ready to give everything of myself to him.

  When the music crescendos and comes to a slow conclusion, I allow myself a quiet moment before I open my eyes. I turn on the bench and look at Cade with a new sense of purpose. Just before I speak, I notice something strange.

  “Have you always had that tattoo on your arm?” I ask him, finding it odd that I haven’t seen it before now.

  Cade becomes deathly quiet and still. I’m not even sure he’s breathing as he stares at me, looking slightly stunned.

  “You can see it?” he asks, sounding amazed by the fact for some reason.

  “Yes,” I say, not completely sure why he seems so astounded by the fact. I tilt my head as I study the odd version of a yin and yang symbol with a black feather and a red dragon. “In fact, I can’t believe I haven’t noticed it before now. It’s not like it’s small.”

  Cade smiles and says, “It took you long enough.”

  I still feel confused.

  “I’m usually more observant than this,” I tell him, feeling as if I need to apologize for not noticing it earlier. I stand from the bench and walk over to him to take a closer look at the tattoo on his left bicep. “I still don’t understand how I’ve missed seeing it all this time.”

  Unexpectedly, Cade stands from his chair and roughly pulls me fully up against him. His lips are covering mine before I can even put forth my next query. Far be it from me to question the change in his behavior. I wrap my arms around his waist and allow him to continue his pleasurable assault on my lips. For the first time since we acknowledged we are soul mates, I feel as though Cade is allowing himself to let go of a part of himself with me. He isn’t holding anything back physically, and it’s as if he’s offering his heart to me completely. What exactly did I do to bring about this change in him? I don’t want to stop the kiss, but I have to know if the difference in his attitude is a one-time thing or if it’s permanent.

  Reluctantly, I pull my head back enough to look into his eyes.

  “Wait,” I beg, because I see him leaning down to continue the kiss. “I need to know something.”

  “What do you need to know?” he asks huskily.

  “Why the change?” I question. “I feel like I could ask you to do anything right now and you would do it
. Why?”

  “Because you saw my tattoo,” he says with a pleased smile, one filled with the promise of more pleasurable delights to come.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” I ask, still not understanding.

  “Only someone who truly cares about me and doesn’t mean me any harm can see it,” he explains. “That’s why I kept walking around you without a shirt on. I needed to know if you could see it and now you do.”

  “So it’s some kind of magical tattoo?” I ask.

  “In a way. If you can see it, it means you’re finally allowing yourself to admit that you care for me, and that’s all I ever wanted from you, Helena. I needed to know you were willing to share your heart with me, even if it’s just a small piece of it. You’re not trying to shut me out anymore. You’re letting me in now. I’m not asking you to profess your undying love to me. I know how hard that would be for you to do, but as long as you allow for the possibility of it happening sometime in the future, that’s all the hope I need.”

  I honestly don’t know what to say, so I say nothing. I just lean in and kiss Cade unreservedly. He wraps his arms around me, holding on tight. I feel like the veil separating us has been lifted and we’re finally able to show one another how much we care. Cade phases us to another room. I have my eyes closed, so I don’t know what room it is until he ends our kiss and takes a step back from me, causing me to open my eyes. I look down and see that we’re standing beside a bed. The implications of being here aren’t lost on me.

  “Does this mean what I think it does?” I ask, looking back at him.

  “What do you think it means?” he asks in a quiet voice.

  I give in a little, since he is too. “I think it means you’re finally going to make love to me, Cade.”

  He smiles. “Then it means exactly what you think.”

  Cade reaches out and slides his hands underneath my sweater, deftly lifting it up and over my head. I didn’t wear a bra today, so my breasts are immediately naked to his eyes. As he lets my sweater slip from his hand and onto the floor, he pulls on the waistband of my slacks until the magnetic closure opens, allowing them to fall unhindered to the floor. I quickly slip my shoes off and step out of my pants, standing before Cade only dressed in my panties.