“Seriously,” I said, my eyes widening. It had been hard to maintain no reaction to his body changes. I still felt that it was written all over my face.
“What?” he asked, shrugging.
“This.” I pointed at his chest. “This is—well, this is different.”
“So what you are saying is that Heaven does the body good,” he joked, blowing me a kiss.
“Most def.” I couldn’t take my eyes off him. However, I had to when I heard her coming back.
“All right, stand facing the curtain and give me two minutes to get my shots.” Adam did as he was told, there were a few clicks and she was done. “You can put your shirt back on now.” I know she didn’t want him to. Her voice may have said one thing but her eyes said something totally different.
“You have a bathroom I can use?” He smiled at her.
“Yeah it’s just around the corner.” She put the camera down and looked back at me.
Adam left the curtained space leaving me and Rose alone.
“Thank you,” I said, trying to sound appreciative. In a way, I was—the girl gave me wings!
“I should be thanking you. That is one hell of a man you brought in here,” she said, waving her hand in front of her face. “They don’t grow that in the cities around here.”
“He’s a good guy.” I tried to sound uninterested but inside I was harboring images of ripping her pretty pierced face off its skull.
“Is he single?” She was rubbing hand sanitizer from her fingers to her elbows.
“As single as they come.” I tried not to sound venomous. I had to sound casual. We had just recently decided that we were casually dating. I already knew what that entailed.
“If I give him my number do you think he will call?” She was just making casual conversation with me.
“Yeah. I can almost guarantee that he will.” I forced a beaming smile.
“Great,” she sang. I wanted to punch her but I couldn’t; everything was going as planned. If she felt anything in my presence she wasn’t letting me know.
When Adam returned she did just as she said, she walked up to him and touched him on the arm asking if he had his phone on him. She used the excuse that she was giving him her number so he could call about the tattoo, of course throwing in that he could actually call her anytime and maybe they could go out and have drinks or something. Little did she know that he was only eighteen which made me laugh. We said our farewells to Rose. I thanked her again for the fresh ink.
“If you want anything else you know where to find me. You have the ideal skin for this. I think that tattoo is going to look amazing.” She gave me a hug, making sure not to touch the tender spots, and we were off.
“You could have been a little less obvious,” I groaned when the summer air hit us.
“What, you jealous or something?” he teased as we crossed the street and walked down Commerce toward our apartment.
“A little,” I sighed. I hated sounding defeated, in this case I felt like my heart was going to come out my throat.
“That’s cute” he said softly.
“How is that cute?” I demanded, feeling a tinge of anger.
“It’s how I felt when I saw you and Aaron together.” We were far enough away from the tattoo parlor that he reached over and took my hand in his. “With Wesley, it was different. I knew you loved him, it was all over your face. I couldn’t be jealous of that. Aaron just wasn’t fitting for you. So imagine my relief when you told me that it was just a Claim.”
“I didn’t know, Adam.” I squeezed his hand. The night felt amazing on my skin. Even though my back was tender for the most part it felt wonderful.
“How could you know? I pretty much kept it to myself till prom.” We crossed Commerce and headed down Ervay.
“You hungry?” My stomach had started to rumble as soon as we left the parlor.
“I could eat. What you thinking?” He looked around at the shops along the walk.
“I was thinking we could order a pizza or something. Pizza was the one thing that I missed in Harrisville.” I swooned at the sound of a piping hot cheese pizza.
“That sounds like a plan.” I heard his stomach growl and we both laughed.
***
The pizza was amazing. Probably the best pizza I had ever eaten. Dominos had gone out of their way to make their crust super garlicky. I put my plate down and heaved a sigh of happiness.
“Did it hit the spot?” Adam laughed, grabbing another piece from the box.
“Oh, yeah. I’m ready for bed,” I groaned, rubbing my tummy. I had changed out of the dress the moment we got home, deciding that jammies were the best avenue.
“Which room you taking?” he asked me, his eyes wide. He took a bite of his pizza, not breaking eye contact.
“I figured we would both be in the master,” I said shyly. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen; I just wanted him close. We weren’t protected anymore; anything could happen at night.
“Oh.” There was a nervousness in his voice. “Yeah that’s no issue. I know this is the first night out of the manor and we need to be …” He choked on his pizza. “… safe.”
“You never know what is going to happen at night.” My breathing was heavy, my blood was warm and my toes were tingling. If this is what it felt like to have a moment, I never wanted it to end.
“Especially when there are no adults around.” He put the pizza down without breaking eye contact.
I heard my phone vibrating on the coffee table but ignored it. I scooted toward him until we were face-to-face sitting on the couch. Reaching up, I touched his face and he smiled.
“Have I told you how amazingly beautiful you are?” he huffed. I could feel his pulse through the couch cushion.
“Have I told you how amazingly hot your body is?” I looked at him and then closed my eyes. Had that really come out of my mouth? The spell was broken, he was laughing.
“Are you saying it wasn’t hot before this whole ‘chosen one’ thing?” he asked, touching my leg.
“It was perfect but now it’s just beyond believable,” I sighed. I glanced at my phone. “That was probably my dad wanting an update.” I reached over and grabbed it from the table and turned on the screen. I had been right.
Dad: How was your evening? Haven’t heard from you.
I moaned and turned, sitting on the couch correctly. I had already ruined our moment with my silly comment. Oh, why had I said that? I wanted to crawl under a rock and just die.
Me: It was great. We found her! Tell Nick he was right.
Dad: About what? And that’s great, did you talk to her?
Me: I got a tattoo from her. She gave Adam her number.
Dad: LOL Tell that boy he is all right in my book.
Me: We are about to head to bed. I have a long day with Mona tomorrow.
Dad: Let me guess. Shopping?
Me: How did you ever figure that out?
Dad: I know that woman like the back of my hand. I will talk to you tomorrow then. You kids sleep tight.
I put my phone down and looked at Adam. He had finished the pizza off and was staring at me with a smile on his face.
“Your dad, huh?” He laughed.
“Yeah.” I groaned. “Let’s go to bed.”
“All right.” He stood up and pulled off his shirt. Everything seemed all right in the world.
We crawled into the overstuffed, super-comfortable, and extremely spacious bed, throwing the sheets up over our shoulders. I put my head on his chest, reveling in its absolute awesomeness. He was running his fingers up and down my spine, stopping when he hit the gauze.
“I could sleep like this forever,” he said, yawning. I knew he was being careful with what he said.
“This bed is Heaven,” I sighed, lifting my head to look at him.
“That’s not quite what I meant but that works too.” He squeezed me softly.
I scooted up and kissed
him sweetly. He wrapped his arms around me and I was no longer tired. I wanted to just spend the entire night with my lips pressed to his.
“Sleep well my gorgeous Fire Warden,” he yawned as I laid my head back down on his chest.
“Sleep well my absolutely delicious Protector,” I laughed. I heard him huff. Sleep was calling my name suddenly, I was scared to close my eyes but I knew that I had to in order to wake up in the morning and spend the day with my stepmother.
Chapter Nine: Mona
Fire is everywhere around me. The battle is raging, the allies versus the Queen’s Army. The dead lie in heaps at our feet, the blood of friends mixed with the blood of foes. I am standing in the middle of it, my hands grasped around the hilt of my broadsword, swinging violently. One falls, then another. I see her, Miranda, ahead of me and I charge for her, hatred and resentment flooding through my body, I swing once and she dodges. I swing again and cut clean through her shoulder. I watch as her arm hits the ground with a thud.
I can hear Wesley calling for me but I cannot see him. However, my focus is on the redheaded bitch that took him from me. I wield my broadsword behind my head and the picture fades to nothing.
The phone was ringing, dragging me unwillingly from the dream that I was enjoying. I opened my eyes and looked about. Adam was still asleep on his back, breathing softly, his eyes moving with REM sleep. I hauled myself up and slid off the bed, mumbling to myself as I reached for the phone.
“Hello,” I said, my voice still heavy with sleep.
“Good morning sunshine!” Mona’s voice was perky on the other end of the phone. “Did I wake you?”
“Yeah, it’s OK though.” I rubbed my eyes with my free hand and waddled to the couch to take a seat.
“I tried to let you sleep. I figured you would be up by ten.” She laughed. “Busy night huh?” I knew what she was hinting at. I didn’t have to heart to tell her she was wrong.
“Yeah. It’s OK, I needed to get up.” I sighed and looked out the patio door at the Dallas scene.
“Well I’m about to get dressed and come get you. I got us a hair appointment with my stylist at noon. Figured we could grab a bite to eat at the bistro then head out to shop.” She was as bad as Nadine. She had a damned itinerary for the day.
“Yeah. That sounds good.” I owed a lot to Mona. She had no idea how important she was to this whole trip, so if it meant that I needed to be her Barbie doll for a day or two then that was just what I had to do.
“All right, do you have something nice to wear?” Now she was pushing it. I had my mom’s white dress that I figured would work.
“Yeah,” I yawned.
“All right, get through the shower, get dressed, and I will be there in an hour.” She laughed and I felt a tingle on my flesh.
“Yeah, I’m on it.” I looked toward the bedroom door where Adam was propped against the doorframe. I gave him a smile and rolled my eyes at the phone.
“All right honey, see you soon,” Mona said sweetly.
“See you soon.” I said, pulling the phone away from my ear and hitting the ‘end’ button.
“Mona?” Adam asked, giving me a huge smile.
“Yeah,” I groaned. “I wasn’t ready to get up yet.”
“I wasn’t either. I was quite comfortable.” He stretched and I watched as his muscles flexed then relaxed. I was never big on the bodies of the male species but his was exquisite.
“So what are you going to do while I’m getting perdified by my stepmother?” I asked quietly as he sauntered over and stood right in front of me where I had to look up at him.
“I was going to call Rose.” CRAP! There was that tinge of jealousy rearing its ugly head again. I had to get used to this, we didn’t know how long he was going to have to pretend to be into her.
“Yeah, that might be a good idea.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my forehead on his stomach. If someone was to walk in right about now they would totally have the wrong idea of what was going on.
“Figured I could take her to lunch, get to know her a little more. Plus, I have to get with her anyway tonight to see what she has come up with along the lines of the tattoo.” He laced his fingers in my hair, rubbing my scalp.
“Yeah.” I tried not to sound disappointed. Casually dating, Dawn, you aren’t exclusive.
“Don’t sound so upset,” he sighed, pulling my hair back so that I had to look up at him again. His face was sad, his eyes were still sparkling but there was pain behind them. I should have known that this would be just as hard on him.
“Sorry. I was just hoping that the first full day here we wouldn’t have to do anything,” I whined, faking a sob.
“Yeah well duties call. We knew this wasn’t a vacation.” He pulled his hands from my hair and grabbed me under the armpits, pulling me to a standing position so he could wrap his arms around me.
“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid,” I said, burying my face in his chest.
“I have gone eighteen years without doing anything stupid. It’s going to take more than one cute redhead to make me leave my morals behind.” He laughed. So he did think she was cute.
“What about a cute dark-haired girl?” I asked, half joking.
“She has a better chance but I’m pretty tight with my morals.” He kissed the top of my head. “You better get through the bath. Don’t forget you can’t get your tattoo wet.”
“Yeah, I know. Want to take the gauze off and look at it?” I asked, turning my back to him.
“Sure, I can do that for you.” He reached out and pulled the tape and gauze from my back. I heard a hmmm from behind me and I shivered. What did that mean? “It’s already healed up, looks like the ink is set already too. Still wouldn’t get it wet though just in case. Does it itch any? Tender?” He ran his finger down my spine and I shuddered. For a good boy, he was such a tease.
“No, it doesn’t, it feels fine actually.” I turned around. There wasn’t even a second to breathe before his lips were on me. It was a good five minutes before he let me get air. “What was that for?”
“I’m not going to see you all day,” he groaned.
“True, but it’s not like you are going to be alone,” I said, pinching him on the arm. He flinched and pinched me back.
“Neither are you, but we don’t know when we are going to see each other today. It might not be till tonight.” He sighed and started pushing me toward the bathroom. “Take a bath, woman!”
“Fine!” I yelled playfully and walked into the bathroom. A huge garden tub! My heart melted. I turned on the hot water and started filling the bath. Pulling my clothes off I dipped one toe into the water and sighed with happiness. I pulled my hair up on top of my head and tied it in place. I was going to have to wash that last. The water felt amazing and I basked in the glory of the hotness.
I don’t know how long I sat there but at some point I heard a knock on the door and Adam’s voice rang in clearly.
“Dawn. You almost done? Mona just called from the limo and said they will be here in like twenty minutes.” I moaned. This meant I had to leave the sanctuary of the water.
“Yeah, give me just a minute,” I said, but he didn’t hear me. Instead the door opened slowly and Adam was staring at me, wide-eyed.
“Holy shit. I am so sorry Dawn I thought you said come here a minute.” He didn’t rush in, shutting the door. His eyes just kept flinching. I laughed and pointed for him to get out of the bathroom. He shut the door and I heard him mumbling to himself.
I washed my hair quickly and wrapped it in a towel before it had a chance to hit the tattoo. I wrapped another towel around my body and walked into the bedroom. Adam was lying on the bed, he couldn’t move fast enough to get up when he saw me though. I gave him a wink as he sauntered out the door, looking over his shoulder three times.
Grabbing the white dress from my bag, I laid it on the bed while I put on my undergarments. Once I had the dress up and over
my chest I called to Adam for help with the zipper. His fingers shook as he zipped up the back of the dress. He was nervous as hell to be near me right now.
“Why are you shaking?” I laughed as I turned to look at him. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye.
“I just … never … seen …” He slipped an innocent smile in there and ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes shooting around.
“Oh,” I said slowly, winking at him. “Don’t worry about it.”
“How can you be so calm? I just walked into the bathroom while you were …” He motioned to my whole body and huffed.
“Oh hell, Adam, they are just boobs.” I sighed. “There is nothing to worry about. I’m sure you will see plenty more in your future.” I pushed past him and grabbed my makeup from my bag and returned to the bathroom with the door open. “You have nothing to worry about.”
“How did you feel the first time you walked in on someone?” He asked, moving in front of the door.
“Walked in on someone how? In the shower? Dressing?” I pulled out my mascara and eyeliner and laid them nicely on the marble countertop.
“Any of those.” His voice shook. Was he seriously that clueless about the sins of the flesh?
“Your dad did tell you where babies come from, right?” I teased him and for a second he looked hurt.
“I know how it all functions. Just because I’ve never done it doesn’t mean that I’m a prude. I’m just willing to save myself.” He crossed his arms.
“I’m sorry. I know, and I respect your morals.” I apologized. I didn’t mean to offend him in any way. “I was scared.”
“When?” I had lost him.
“My first time. I was scared.” I started putting a light gray on my eyelids. He knew I needed to get ready so I was hoping that it wasn’t going to bug him.
“Then why do it?” He asked.
“I think everyone is scared their first time. I mean you have no idea what it is going to be like.” I started putting the eyeliner around my eyes.
“Still, you shouldn’t do anything if it scares you like that.” He was extremely innocent, I knew that he was, but this solidified the whole thing.
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