“Remind me to tell you the story behind this ring later,” Trystan told her as his eyes lifted to hers.
“Why not right now?” Alina teased her eyes flashing at him.
Trystan shook his head as he tumbled her back against the bed and she shrieked with laughter as he kissed her with renewed passion.
“Later,” he growled as he picked up where he left off undressing them both before he interlocked their hands lifting his head as he rested his nude body against her own and he shuddered at the feel of her against him.
“I’m not the prettiest woman in the world,” she muttered the blue gem of the ring on her left hand winking from her finger.
“You are to me, Alina,” Trystan told her as his head came down slowly. “You are to me.”
He kissed her slowly rebuilding the passion between them and Alina feeling the tension in his body, knew he was going to take his time to show her what true passion was all about so she would understand that what they had was different than what she had done a long time ago.
Alina rested back against the bed tightening her hands around Trystan’s as she kissed him back allowing herself to be drawn into the seduction he had begun. Trystan deepened the kiss as their bodies began to burn with the passion that was flaring between them and neither backed down from its heat.
A few hours later, Trystan curled around Alina his arms wrapped around her while her bottom nestled comfortably in his groin as he played with her hands his chin resting against her shoulder.
“I thought we may have to resize it,” he said quietly as they stared down at the ring on her hand. “I’m glad that we didn’t have to.”
He kissed the curve of her neck and Alina shuddered at the feel of his warm lips causing him to chuckle with male satisfaction at the reaction.
Alina groaned at her tell-tale action and Trystan kissed her again before he whispered in her ear, “I love your reactions to me.”
He felt her tense slightly at his words and he kissed the curve of her shoulder before he admitted, “You do the same thing to me, Alina, without even trying.”
He could feel the tension leave her and he shifted away so he could turn her over onto her back to stare down at her before he kissed her lightly and then laid on his back drawing her over so her head rested on his shoulder and Alina shifted so one thigh rested across his own. His hand smoothed up and down her back as he stared up at the ceiling and Alina allowed her hand to rest on his chest, and he anchored it to him by covering it with his own feeling the ring against the palm of his hand.
“I didn’t plan on falling in love with you,” he told her quietly. “I only wanted to distract you for Marla so she and Samuel could be together, but even from that first look I couldn’t stop thinking about you and not in the way as I should’ve.”
He shook his head his fingers moving against Alina’s lightly and Alina let him talk loving how his hand smoothed against her back and how his fingers lightly played with her own as she tilted her head kissing his shoulder while he continued to talk, and Alina listened to it all but it was beginning to darken outside when he started to talk about the ring that rested on her finger.
As he looked down at her, she glanced up at him in shock before a smile crossed her face and she leaned up to kiss him without any restraint which had a satisfying effect on the both of them resulting in them getting up later as a different hunger called to them.
Chapter 31
Over the next few days, Alina knew what it felt like to have a man love her and for a moment she thought about her mother wondering if this is what she had been looking for all those times.
She was looking out the kitchen window stirring the sauce she had simmering in the skillet as this thought crossed her mind in the middle of the week.
“Alina,” Trystan called quietly as he walked in the room seeing the thoughtful look on her face and she turned to him with the same look although she gave him a smile. “What are you thinking about, honey?”
“Janice,” she told him as she glanced down at the sauce she was stirring. “I was just wondering if she was looking for what we have found.” She frowned as she glanced up saying hesitatingly, “I wonder if maybe I would…”
Trystan shook his head as he walked over to her taking the spoon from her hand putting on the counter before he wrapped his arms around her waist kissing her lightly before he whispered, “Never, because you have too much self-respect for who you are and what you’ve achieved.”
She chewed on her bottom lip wondering if that was true as Trystan leaned his forehead against hers and she raised her eyes to meet those gorgeous grey ones as he told her, “That night at the restaurant, Alina, you didn’t respond to my come on and you even looked wary. If that had been Janice sitting there, what would she have done?”
Alina didn’t have to think hard about it as she sighed and her eyes closed as she revealed, “She would’ve definitely smiled back giving you the go ahead to come over even though she was with another man. She would’ve liked to see who would win of the two of you.”
Trystan didn’t make another comment as he kissed her forehead giving her a hug and Alina rested her head on his shoulder as she breathed, “Thank you.”
Trystan rubbed her back gently in response loving the feel of her against him, but he knew right now she needed comfort from him and not passion which he was more than willing to give her.
“Dinner should be down in another fifteen minutes,” Alina muttered reluctant to step out of his arms.
The ringing of Trystan’s cell made Alina lift her head and step back watching the frown cross his face at the interruption, and as he pulled the cell out of his pocket he kissed her briefly before he glanced down at the phone.
The look of astonishment on his face at the caller id had Alina wondering who it was as he excused himself, and she went back to the dinner as she added the pasta to the boiling water.
Twenty minutes later, Trystan walked back in the kitchen a thoughtful look on his face as Alina glancing up said quietly, “Dinner is ready.”
Trystan nodded as he sat down and they began to eat before Alina asked quietly, “When do you have to leave?”
Trystan glanced up in surprise before he said bluntly, “When I leave this time, you are going with me” getting a shocked look from Alina at his words.
He shook his head as he admitted after taking a few bites of his dinner, “That was the detective who arrested Dana at Samuel and Marla’s wedding.”
He watched as Alina’s hand froze before the fork landed back on the plate as she said in astounded voice, “I forgot all about her.”
Trystan gave her a narrowed look as he said harshly, “I haven’t especially as she tried to kill you more times than I care to think about.”
Alina grimaced as she muttered under her breath ‘I’m sorry’ before she lifted her head and asked, “What did he have to say?”
Trystan shook his head as he sighed heavily, “Dana had to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital about an hour’s drive away from her parents’ house. It seems that Dana has a complex where she fixates on any man who is polite or nice to her, and from what the detective was telling me, it stems from a very friendly uncle she had when she was growing up.”
Alia paled as she asked jerkily, “He didn’t…”
Trystan shook his head as he reached at a hand covering hers as he told her, “No, there were no signs of sexual abuse but he loved her as his niece and yet for some reason, Dana took it as more.”
“So he was the first,” Alina murmured softly a look of sorrow in her eyes that Trystan sensed was for Dana which one of the reasons he loved her although he couldn’t help his anger at what she tried to take away from him.
“According to the police, and her mother, all of Dana’s friends envied her because of his attention that she started to believe his attention stemmed from another reason instead of the fact that she was his uncle. He was dating one of Dana’s school teachers and when Dana learned about i
t, she accused the teacher of being inappropriate with one of her male students. The young teacher was put on suspension and later lost her job due to it, and although it was discovered later that Dana lied, the woman wasn’t given her job back.”
“What happened to the uncle?” Alina asked a worried look on her face.
Trystan grimaced as he said, “He died not too long after the teacher left town in a car crash. It seems that he had been drunk at the time and ran off the road.”
“Dana left home shortly after that moving around until she landed here,” Trystan informed her tightening his hold on her hand. “Samuel wasn’t the first since then, and he probably wouldn’t have been the last.”
Alina glanced up at him as he told her this and she nodded her head in agreement sensing that he was right in his assumption.
“So what’s going to happen to her?” Alina asked looking down at her plate before she pushed it away.
“She will be staying in the psychiatric hospital until the doctor’s say otherwise, but the detective doesn’t hold out much hope,” Trystan revealed. “Since the day of the wedding, Dana has been making plans for her own wedding with Sam while at the same time claiming Samuel as the father of her child.”
At the startled look on Alina’s face, Trystan told her, “It has been discovered that she is almost six weeks pregnant and although her neighbor has claimed the baby as his, Dana…”
“Believes that it’s Sam’s,” Alina finished for him shaking her head slowly.
“Yes,” Trystan admitted in a quiet voice.
“It’s kind of sad actually,” Alina said as she glanced up at Trystan. “A moment of kindness was misconstrued into something so much more than it was intended.”
Trystan frowned as he thought about her words as he realized she was right and said softly, “True, but it still didn’t give her a right to do what she did.”
Alina was quiet before she nodded her head in agreement as she said, “I know” as she gave him a brief smile.
Trystan stared down at their dinner before a wolfish smile came to his face as he said, “Let’s clean up and then…”
Alina laughed huskily as she caught his meaning and her own eyes sparkled back as she stood up gathering the dishes as Trystan laughed getting up to help her.
As they finished cleaning up, Alina glanced over at Trystan who was folding the dishtowel and placing it where she kept it. Her hazel eyes sparkled with humor as she reached for the sprayer only to be stopped when Trystan’s hand closed around her wrist and he nipped her ear before he whispered, “I don’t think so, my dear. If we are to get wet, I suggest taking a shower together.”
“Trystan!” Alina cried in shock as he laughed and swept her into his arms his grey eyes flared with a wicked light.
“In fact, I can’t wait,” he murmured kissing her deeply before turning and heading upstairs to the bathroom where he proceeded to show how delightful a shower could be if they shared it.
Lying in bed later that night, Trystan ran his hands through her hair as she played with the hair on his chest.
“Still thinking about Janice and Dana,” he asked quietly staring up at the ceiling feeling Alina frown against the shoulder she was lying on.
“No, well not really,” she adjusted with a slight laugh.
Trystan chuckled as he continued running his hand through her hair until he heard her breathing ease letting him know that she was asleep. He smiled in the darkness as he continued running a hand through her hair while the other hand nestled over hers that still rested on his chest.
“Goodnight, sweetheart,” he breathed softly as he closed his own eyes so sleep could claim.
On Thursday evening, Alina glanced over at Trystan as they sat in the living room watching a movie on TV. Although the movie wasn’t the greatest, Alina sensed that Trystan’s mind was somewhere else and as the movie came to a close Alina settled in Trystan’s lap.
Although he gave her a surprised look, he adjusted her so they would both be comfortable as she asked, “What’s wrong, Trystan?”
He grinned at her grey eyes still slightly absent as he said lazily, “Why do you ask?”
“You’re distracted as if something is weighing on your mind,” Alina said bluntly running her hands over his face.
He sighed as he caught those hands and kissed her palms before placing them together on his chest. “Well…”
He drawled it out so long that Alina tensed in his lap her hazel eyes growing wary unsure what he was about to say only to be confused when he started to laugh.
“I’m just trying to find a way to tell you that we have to leave tomorrow night so we can be well-rested for our engagement party on Saturday,” he told her kissing her lightly as her eyes grew large with shock.
“An engagement party?” She stammered nervously her hands slightly shaking in his grasp. “When did you have time to organize that, Trystan?”
He could hear the suspicion in her voice as he told her honestly, “Before I came to Tiers the first time to find you. I told my mom I was going to ask you and to make arrangements to celebrate, but I hadn’t asked you yet and then when I got called away, I realized I hadn’t even bought you an engagement ring.”
Alina was startled when a slight flush covered Trystan’s cheeks and she could only stare at him as his eyes shifted for a moment before coming back to her. A smile started to grow across her face as she whispered, “You’re embarrassed.”
His eyes narrowed as she voiced what he didn’t want to say before he admitted in a gruff voice, “I’m over thirty years old and you have the tendency to make chaos of my thought processes.”
Alina leaned forward and kissed him without restraint at what he admitted and as she drew back breathlessly his hands settling on her waist, she muttered against his lips, “Now you know how I feel.”
Trystan’s eyes were filled with desire but she could feel the control he was exerting as he told her in a harsh voice, “If you don’t want to have an engagement party, I will call mom and have it cancelled, but there is a reason I want to do this besides letting our friends and family know that you are important to me.”
Alina drew back slightly tilting her head to the side her brown hair shifting as she stared at him in confusion, but he only smiled and lifting one hand resting it against the pulse in her neck. “Trust me,” he murmured just staring at her the fingers of his hand rubbing softly against her flesh.
Alina did trust him as she nodded her head, but she wondered what he was up to and he answered that unasked question with a twist of his lips and his grey eyes hardened slightly, “You will see on Saturday.”
A frown settled across her face and Trystan shook his head leaning down to kiss her softly before whispering, “No frowning.”
She gasped at the command only to laugh as she saw the devilish light that flickered in his eyes and she shook her head as she wrapped her arms around his neck allowing her fingers to sift through his thick hair.
“Something tells me that Saturday is going to be fun,” she said with a grin, and he only laughed hugging her to him as he settled back on the couch.
They left Friday afternoon where they made one stop before heading out of Tiers and as they walked in Mrs. Santos store she smiled at their happy expressions and clasped hands.
She waved them over as she reached down and picked up the box where she kept her charms, and as they reached the counter Alina shook her head holding at her wrist so she could take off the bracelet.
As she added the new charm, she told them, “After your wedding, come see me again.”
Trystan stared at the bracelet that she returned to Alina’s wrist and he noted the charms his eyes narrowing when he saw each heart shaped charm.
“The minute you walked in my store I could sense the heartache in you, Alina,” she told them softly, and Alina gasped as she tightened her hand around Trystan’s. Mrs. Santos turned her gaze to Trystan and smiled, “As for you, I sensed that you were fighting the fe
elings that were running through you.”
“So is that why you…” Trystan asked his tone speculative.
Mrs. Santos laughed as she put the charm box under the counter as she said, “I would’ve told you the same thing even if you hadn’t picked out that necklace, but I thought it was fitting when you did.”
“Did you know…?” Alina started only to stop biting her lip as Mrs. Santos turned to look at her.
“Maybe,” she said cryptically as they stared at her in awe and a little wariness. Mrs. Santos laughed as she told them, “Go now before you start thinking that I’m some kind of witch, and I hope you two have fun tomorrow.”
At her words, both Trystan and Alina glanced at her but they were unable to read anything in her expression as she turned answering the phone a second before it rung.
As they climbed in the car a few minutes later, Alina said, “Trystan do you think it’s possible that she can see…?”
“You know, honey,” Trystan said as he started the car, “I wouldn’t have one time even considered the possibility, but now…I’m not so sure.”
Alina pursed her lips before a soft smile drifted over her face and Trystan, glancing at her, was stunned at the light which flickered out of her eyes. He reached over and grabbed her hand bringing it to his mouth as pulled away from the curb.
“I would say we were damn lucky that we walked in her store that day,” he told her a note of wonder in her voice.
“We will leave it at being a coincidence,” Alina said giving him a speaking glance which caused him to laugh and he agreed heartily as he headed away from Tiers back to Witt.
“I rather take you to my home,” Trystan muttered as he drew up in front of Trace’s house later that evening, and Alina laughed as she unbuckled her seatbelt.
Before she could answer, the front door opened and her father including Marla and Samuel walked out smiles on their faces.
Trystan let out an growl but he slid out of the car as Alina laughed and followed him as he went to the trunk taking out her case.
His Sister's Return Page 34