I hear a soft tap on the door. “Tristan, you don’t need to knock,” I chuckle.
He pops his head through the door and smiles at me. “May I come in?”
“Yes.” I can't help rolling my eyes at him.
He walks over to me, kneels down and looks up at me with those puppy dog eyes again.“I’m sorry about earlier,” he says.
“Don’t worry about,” I retort, trying to change the subject.
“Coral, it’s important…very important. I don’t want to fuck up in the bedroom and lose you because of it,” he says.
“You’re not going to lose me Tristan, so it’s irrelevant,” I argue.
His lips set into a hard line, then he slowly nods his head.“I have something for you,” he tells me. “Give me a moment.” Tristan walks out the bathroom, when he returns, he’s holding a large, gift wrapped box in his hand.“Here, for you,” he says handing it to me.
I cock one eyebrow up and accept the gift. More presents?
The first thing I notice is that it’s heavy, which has my curiosity peaked. Pulling at the bow, then lifting the lid off, my heart melts when I see what’s inside.Earlier today as we strolled through the shops, I spied an Aromatherapy shop and popped in to pick up an oil for my bath tonight.The shop assistant had taken me over to the samples to help me chose, leaving Tristan at the counter, talking to the other member of staff.What I evidently hadn’t noticed, was the gift he swiftly purchased for me, we both had so many bags in our hands at the time, it would have been easy to disguise; come to think of it, it was the only time he wasn’t touching me.
I run my hand over the lid that says Aromatherapy Essentials.
“How did you’ – “I have my ways,” he beams interrupting me.
“Brilliant, but sneaky,” I smile.
“Do you like it?” He tentatively asks.
“Yes, I love it,” I say pushing back tears of appreciation. When did I turn into a blubberer?“Thank you,” I whisper,leaning down to kiss him.
“Open it,” he says excitedly.
I place the box on my lap and lift the lid.Inside, I can see there are so many bottles of oils that I could be here all night going through them. As I delve further, I see there’s a guide to Aromatherapy book, and an oil burner with tea-lights.
“Do you have any idea how sweet and romantic it is that you bought this for me?”
Tristan shrugs.“I just want to buy you things I know you’ll like...and use,” he says, his cheeky grin appearing.
“You have been listening,” I say dryly.
“Attention to detail,” he says tapping his head.
“Well, you’ve got both presents right so far,” I say jingling my bracelet at him.
He smiles shyly at me, gets to his feet, and kisses my forehead. “I’ll be unpacking the car,” he tells me and slowly saunters out of the room.
Picking up the small bottle of Sandalwood oil that I purchased for myself, much to Tristan’s dislike, I shake it so several drops fall into the bath water. Apparently it’s one that’s used for relaxation. I know I definitely need to do more of that! I’m trying, I’m getting there.
As I'm pinning my hair up, I get a flashback of Tristan in the store, arguing with me about who was going to pay for a tiny little bottle of oil. No wonder he got so agitated when I purchased it, he’d already bought this gift for me.
I shake my head, it must have cost a fortune!
With the bath filled, I switch off the water, let my towel fall to the floor and step into the humungous egg shaped bath.I sink down slowly into the warm water, it feels wonderful and the scent of Sandalwood in the air is actually making me feel a little drowsy...
“Hey,” I hear his voice whisper.
My eyes dart open, I must have drifted off for a second, Tristan is leaning his arms on the edge of the bath, his chin propped on top.
“Hi,” I whisper back.
“May I join you?” He asks very politely – God I love that about him, he’s so gentlemanly.
“Yes.” I smile, and watch him strip his clothes off in no time at all.
Leaning forward so he can sit behind me, I suddenly wonder why I haven’t felt hot. It’s been another sweltering day, yet I haven’t felt uncomfortable in the house at all. Tristan pulls me gently towards him, so I’m lying against his chest.
“Has this house got some special coating on the walls or something?” I say.
“Why do you ask?” He questions.
“Because I didn’t know it was so hot outside until we went out, this house iswell, cool.” I say by way of an answer.
“That’s because it has an Air-Con system,” he answers.
“A what?” I balk.
Tristan chuckles.“It’s like an air-conditioning unit, but better.”
“That’s a bit extravagant isn’t it? I mean it’s not like we normally get summers like this,” I say.
“True, but it’s been useful so far.” His hands start wandering across my body.
“Oh no you don’t mister!” I playfully slap his hand that almost reached my breast.
“Sorry...you’re kind of hard to resist,” he says, kissing my cheek.
“Well resist until I have fed you sir, that’s an order!” I try for a scolding tone, but it just comes out as playful.
“Yes ma’am.” Tristan starts massaging my shoulders, just like in my daydream.I surrender to it, it feels magical. I had no idea that being with someone could really feel this good. I thought it was just in books and movies, definitely not in real life. How wrong I have been...
“Nice?” He questions.
“Wonderful,” I breathe.
“Coral, are you afraid of being dominated? It’s something I need to know baby.” Shit! – I instantly tense up, his hands pause on my shoulders. My heart has picked up, so much so that I think he can hear it banging against my chest – Please say you don’t want this!
“Why? Do you want to dominate me?” I manage to squeak out.
“Don’t change the subject,” he scolds.
I stay silent, racking my brains for something to say, so he doesn’t get suspicious. Tristan continues massaging me, and I have to wonder if he’s doing this on purpose.
“I think what we have is hot, off the charts hot. But everyone’s different, like’s different things…” He says, but I detect a hint of nerves.
“I suppose,” I whisper, scowling at the water.
“This guy that you were with, how long were you two together?” He asks lightly.
“You really want to know?” I sigh.
“Yes.” His answer is immediate. Great!
“Why?” Where’s he going with this?
“I just do,” he says nonchalantly.
“Fine!” I huff. “Two years.”
“Really?” Tristan sounds surprised.
“Yes.”
“Hmm, I didn’t think it would have been that long,” he muses.
“Why?”
“I don’t know really, gut feeling maybe.”
“It was on and off, he wanted more…I…I didn’t.”
“When did it end?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Curious.”I don’t believe him, he has an ulterior motive, I’m sure he has.
I sigh heavily. “Five years ago.”
“So, he never dominated you?” So much for a relaxing bath!
“No.”
“So back to my original question. Are you afraid of being dominated?”
“No.” I snap.Liar!
“You’re not?” He questions.
“No.” My answer is clipped.
“So why didn’t it work out with this other guy?”
“Tristan,” I sit up and turn in the bath so I’m facing him. “Why are you so interested? It was in the past, it didn’t work out,” I say feeling frustrated.
“Just trying to get to know you baby, like I said, I don’t want to fuck it up.”
“You won’t.”
“But unle
ss you’ – “Tristan,” I close my eyes in exasperation. “Seriously, where are you going with this? I came in here to have a nice relaxing bath, and I have to say, so far it isn’t working out for me.”
He looks wounded.
“Ah Christ Tristan! What?” I say, my hand splashing into the water.
“I guess I’m trying to work out what kind of sexual experiences you’ve had, you know…what you did with him that you liked, so…” He breaks off reading my expression.“You don’t want to say, do you?”
“Not particularly,” I grumble.
“I’d still like to know’ – “Christ!” I take a deep breath. “We didn’t do much of anything, just plain sex Tristan, no oral, pretty boring stuff. I was young, scared, I had no confidence, and no idea of what I really liked, what turned me on. Satisfied?” I snap.
“Did he hurt you?” His voice is suddenly low and ominous, his expression frozen as he waits for my answer.
“No, not in the way you’re thinking,” I say, staring down at the bath water.
Tristan seems to relax a little. “How did he hurt you baby?” he asks, his voice soft.
I close my eyes. “He cheated on me with my best friend, Harriet.”
“She can't have been much of a friend,” he muses.
“No, I guess not.” I snap. It still stings when I think about it.
“And he can't have realised what he had,” he says.
“Oh…he did,” I retort.
Tristan frowns. “If he did then why did he cheat on you?” He asks with his head cocked to the side.
I take another deep breath and slowly blow it out. He’s just going to keep questioning me, I know he is, so I may as well just get this over with.
“Because he wanted me to commit to him, move in together, and he wanted to do more in the bedroom and I wouldn’t, and…” I grit my teeth. “It’s like I said to you, I’m not sure…I still don’t know if I’m doing this right. I don’t know what intimacy is, or how to be close to someone…” I drift off for a second, knowing that is true, then continue.
“Harriet was a lot of fun,she was very pretty and very confident, she knew who she was and what she wanted.” I close my eyes trying to push the memory away of me catching them at it.“So I guess they were perfectly matched for one another,” I bite.
“How did you find out?” He whispers reading my mind.
“I caught them shagging!” I hiss.
“Do you miss him Coral?”I look up at him staring down at the water, waiting again for my answer.
“No Tristan! I don’t miss him at all,” I bark. He doesn’t look convinced – Great!
“Look, he was my boyfriend and she was my best friend.I thought they both cared for me, like I did them, so to find them…” I close my eyes and take a deep breath.“I don’t care that it ended with Justin, it wasn’t going anywhere anyway, and I don’t think it would have bothered me that much if I’d have caught him with someone I didn’t know…but my best friend? If he had come to me and said he wanted to end it, in a respectful way, and then started seeing Harriet, I wouldn’t have minded at all. I’d have been happy for him, for both of them, but they didn’t.
I shake my head, feeling stupid. “I know most people don’t think like this, but to me, your best friend should be the person that’s most loyal to you, not the one that does the dirty behind your back with your boyfriend. It made me feel like neither of them gave a shit about me, andthat’s what hurts the most. It had been going on for months, and when I caught them, they both disappeared out of my life. I didn’t even get an apology. In one day I lost my boyfriend, my best friend, and my social life.”
“Your social life?” He questions.
“I’d known Harriet since school, we were drinking buddies. I didn’t have anyone else Tristan.”
“Oh, I see,” he says frowning back at me.“You didn’t go out with your sister?”
“No, Debs has always been more of a homely girl, and they were trying to conceive so she wasn’t drinking. She told me she was pregnant the same day I’d caught them two at it!”
“Hmm…” Tristan looks deep in thought, then he gazes at me again, his eyes all deep and mysterious.“Do you know what turns you on now?”
“Yes, you!” I say, hoping to change the subject.
He smiles wryly at me.“That wasn’t what I was asking, and you know it,” he says.
I close my eyes again. “What Tristan, what do you want to know?”
“I don’t…” I open my eyes and see him run his hand through his hair. “I guess I’m just trying to work you out, and I know a little bit more now.”
“Yeah…enlighten me,” I say sarcastically.
“You have issues with sex.”Oh crap!
“No I don’t,” I argue petulantly.
“Yes...you do, you were with this guy before you got the studio, before…” he breaks off. Before I was raped! “I think you know where I’m going with this,” he adds.
“Do I really come across to you as someone who has issues with sex?” I say with one eyebrow cocked up.
“You seem very relaxed with me…” He says frowning deeply. “But you freaked out again today because I tickled you.I swear it’s linked, sex, touch, men. I know there’s something you’re not telling me…” He adds.Fuck!
“No Tristan, there’s not,” I whisper, trying to get him off the subject, I cross my arms and pout at him, feeling really annoyed.Tristan picks up my right foot and starts massaging it, it should feel really good, but I’m too worked up to appreciate it.
“Are you done questioning me?” I bark.
“Yes,” he frowns.
“Good. My turn,” I say, surprising him.
“Oh?” he cocks his head to the side and smiles wryly at me. “I’m all ears.”
“Yesterday, when I came back, you said ‘I’m not sorry I pushed, it made you leave and it’s made me realise a few things’ when I asked you what you meant, you said ‘later’ well, it’s later, so spill,” I bark.
He stops massaging my foot for a moment as he scrutinizes me, then he shrugs and continues, his thumbs digging deeper into my feet – Ok, that’s starting to feel really good.
“Ok, well firstly, it made me realise that you have issues, very deep and disturbing issues that you really don’t want to share with me,” he softly says.Holy crap, he knows…he knows I have secrets, shit!
Tristan continues. “Secondly, I realised that it’s ok, you know…if you don’t want to tell me, then that’s fine.” I stop breathing, and just stare at him with wide eyes.
“And thirdly, you walking out the door, leaving me, made me understand the depth of my feelings for you. I knew the moment you leftthat it doesn’t matter how many times you run because you’re scared, I’ll always come after you. I’ll always fight for you and bring you back home.”Tristan stares down at me with dark, brooding eyes.
“Oh,” I breathe, trying to take it all in.
“Satisfied?” he asks, throwing my words back at me.
I decide not to answer him, instead I lean back,rest my head on the edgeof the bath and close my eyes, my shoulders slowly start to work their way down from my ears.
“Come back over here baby,” Tristan says, I open my eyes and stare hesitantly at him. He has his hand stretched out towards me.
“No.” I pout.
“Please, let me massage you, you’re shoulders are almost up to your ears.” He gives me his sad, puppy dog look.
I roll my eyes at him.“Fine!” I grumble. I turn around so I’m leaning against his chest once more. His hands start massaging my shoulders again…oh that feels so good!
“I’m sorry,” he whispers against my ear then kisses my cheek.
I say nothing, if I open my mouth it may lead to more dialogue, more questioning. Or, he might want me to comment on what he just told me, and I don’t want that, I can't take it.
“Who are we listening to?” He asks chirpily.
“Enigma.”
“
They’re good.”
“Yeah…they are.” I say, my voice sounding unintentionally sad.
“Hey,” Tristan takes hold of my chin and turns me to face him. “I really am sorry. How can I make it up to you?”
“By not questioning me anymore,” I whimper, feeling vulnerable.
“Done, anything else?” He says.
“Yes, by making non-dominating love to me when we finish this bath,” I answer dryly.
His eyebrows rise. “Miss Stevens, you shock me. You want it again?” he teases, then sighs blissfully. “Oh it’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it,” he chuckles, running his hands across my breasts.
“Well I would have said I’m glad it’s you, but after that interrogation I’m not so sure!” I scoff.
“Interrogation?” he says, chuckling to himself.
“Glad you find it amusing,” I bite, but a stupid grin is already appearing across my face, giving me away.
“Ah baby…” He soothes wrapping his arms around me, squeezing me tightand chuckling in my ear.I shake my head and laugh along with him, not really understanding what I’m laughing at.How can I go from feeling vulnerable and angry one minute, to lighthearted and playful the next?
Oh Tristan, what you do to me…
CHAPTER SIX
TRISTAN HAS STAYED UPSTAIRS after our gentle, sweet lovemaking, citing he has some work to do. So there I left him, on the bed, laptop sitting on his legs, looking as gorgeous as ever – Wish I was sitting on his lap right now!
I grit my teeth at myself – Coral!
Jeez, I'm turning into a sex maniac too!Shaking my head at myself, I head down the stairs feeling much calmer than I did in the bath.I shudder slightly, all that questioning...I hope Tristan’s just guessing about my past, I really don’t want him to know that side of me.
As I reach the kitchen, I take a moment toassess how I really feel. I am definitely feeling more relaxed now, I guess that’sall the sex, and I’m feeling very excited to be cooking in Tristan’s awesome kitchen.
Right! Time for some music to cook by!
Darkest Fears Trilogy: Fallen For Him / Freed By Him / Forever With Him Page 50