by ammyford1
All he did was frown.
I ploughed on. “I shouldn’t have just run off like I did that night, but I honestly couldn’t think straight after what Talina told me and then you didn’t deny it and after the trauma of Toby’s rescue, it was just like…” I struggled to find the words, “like some horrible nightmare and I just felt I needed to get away from Ramia.” I looked at him pleadingly, willing him to understand and not able to stop the tears that had started to stream down my cheeks. This was not going at all well, I wasn’t expressing myself clearly and now I was crying. I put the heels of my hands over my eyes. “Ah, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to get upset,” I said, frustrated with myself.
“Hey.” Suddenly his voice was right by my ear and before I knew it his arms were around me. I turned and sobbed into his chest desperate for the comfort he offered.
“It’s me who should be apologising. I should have told you about Katie.” I felt his chest rise as he drew in a deep breath. “I tried so often to tell you but every time I pictured the conversation in my head it ended with you walking away from me and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.” He started to stroke my hair. “The night you left I hated myself for being such a coward. I wish I’d had the courage to do it before because everything I had feared, happened that night, except that it was infinitely worse and I didn’t know how to put it right.”
I pulled away and saw the tortured expression on his face.
“So please, don’t apologise. I’m the one in the wrong,” he said.
Leylana’s words that had pricked my conscience a few weeks ago came back to me. “If I had been in your position, I’m not sure I could have confessed. Katie’s death wasn’t your fault, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I know that now, and I’m sorry if I’ve made you suffer more than you already have. I want you to know I don’t blame you.”
“You don’t know what it means to hear you say that.”
“I think we’ve both suffered enough in our lives, it’s about time we put our pasts behind us and got on with the job of living,” I said, bracing myself for what I was about to say next. “I understand if you never want to see me again after the way I treated you but I just wanted to make my peace.”
He looked surprised. “Is that what you think? That I don’t want to see you again?”
“You seemed so angry at the palace this afternoon. I thought it was because you couldn’t stand the sight of me,” I said defensively.
He laughed a self-mocking laugh. “I wasn’t angry with you, I was angry with myself for not being able to say what I wanted to say. You appeared out of nowhere and I was totally unprepared. I didn’t want you to feel any obligation to explain yourself and it didn’t seem the right time or place for me to selfishly unburden myself by pouring my heart out to you. I wanted to give you the time you needed and hoped that one day you would learn to forgive me and come back. I love you Sophie. That will never change.”
“You do?”
“Yes of course I love you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone.”
It was like music to my ears. “Oh God, I love you too,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck. All the tension, pain and suffering of the last five weeks were washed away by his words.
He pulled me onto his lap. “It’s been hell,” he said into my hair, his strong arms holding me tightly.
I sat there in his embrace and bathed in the feel of him. I realised this was where I belonged.
“I felt so lost without you,” he said, the emotion heavy in his words.
I reached up and touched his cheek. Maybe I could have put an end to both our suffering sooner but I had felt as lost as he had. I’d had to reach rock bottom to realise I couldn’t live without him and that the future wasn’t something to be feared.
He touched his lips to mine. It was the sweetest, most tender kiss, and it took my breath away.
“Please don’t leave again. I don’t think I could take it,” he implored.
I felt giddy with happiness. I locked eyes with his. “I’ve no intention of leaving.” I kissed him back marvelling at the fact that I was actually here and he was telling me he loved me.
Our kiss deepened and I felt the need to connect with him on a more intimate level. “Take me to bed or lose me forever.” My attempt at seductive humour was ruined by my self-conscious giggle that followed it.
I think he was surprised by my forwardness, but I was rewarded with a cheeky grin and a suggestively raised eyebrow. “Is that what you want?” He was so sexy.
I nodded and laughed. “It’s a cheesy line from a film back home, but yes, it’s what I want.”
He scooped me up into his arms. “Then, I mustn’t disappoint the lady.”
He carried me upstairs and into one of the guest rooms, which was obviously where he had been sleeping judging by the unmade bed. I smiled inwardly, years of rigorous military routine had obviously had little impact on him.
“Why aren’t you in the master bedroom?”
“That’s where I’ve been sanding the floor. After I got back from the palace today I needed to keep busy,” he said.
I understood him perfectly and reached up and kissed him. He laid me on the bed without breaking the contact and settled on top of me. “God Sophie, I’ve dreamed about having you here again, lying in my bed. Tell me you are really here,” he insisted, searching my eyes.
“I’m really here,” I said softly. For the first time, I saw peace settle over the contours of his face. Thinking back, I don’t think he had ever been able to completely let go because of the fear of what the truth about Katie might have done to us, but now that I had said the words he had obviously needed to hear, he was able to lay it to rest. I had been right, forgiveness had bought me my future.
*****
“You are staring at me,” he said sleepily, his eyes still closed.
“I know,” I said. “You are nice to look at.”
He wound his arm around me and pulled me close to him. I revelled in the feel of him.
“Oh my God!” I shrieked.
His eyes flew open. “What?”
“That poor man has been outside in the car all night. I was supposed to send him back if I stayed.” I scrambled to get out of bed. “Oh, I feel so terrible.”
Ahran laughed. “Don’t worry, I sent him on his way last night.”
I stopped my search for my underwear and spun around in surprise. “Did you? When?”
“When I had a shower and you were in the kitchen. Come on get back into bed,” he said, holding the covers back inviting me to return to bed.
I slid back between the sheets, my mind flitting over the events of last night and realising that had been before we had made up.
“But, we hadn’t talked at that point,” I said nonplussed.
“I know,” he replied with a mischievous grin. “You didn’t think I was going to let you have an escape route, did you?”
“How did you know I wanted to stay?”
“I didn’t, I just wasn’t prepared to make it easy for you to leave.”
I punched him playfully on the shoulder. “But you were cold and distant when I arrived and I was scared stiff that you were going to tell me to go to hell.”
“Sophie, you really have no idea how I feel about you, do you?” he said, bemused by my lack of perspicacity. “I thought you had come to tell me that you could never forgive me and that it was over. I was prepared to do whatever it took to make you think again.”
He had been prepared to fight for me. I smiled and felt all warm inside. He pulled me towards him and I settled in the crook of his arm. It felt so good to be there.
“What would you like to do today?” he asked.
“I’d like to see Toby this afternoon and spend the morning in bed with you.”
“Excellent,” he said as he pulled me on top of him. “But you need some breakfast first. I don’t want you flaking out on me.” He kissed me on the nose.
“Come to think
of it, I’m ravenous,” I confessed.
“Me too. How about I make us some pancakes with bananas and maple syrup?”
“Excuse me, I think I may have just stumbled into breakfast heaven.”
Ahran chuckled. “I have a number of divine offerings in my breakfast repertoire.”
“I knew there was a reason I was attracted to you.”
“Just one?”
“I can maybe think of one or two more.” I raised my left eyebrow suggestively.
“I’m going downstairs before I’m forced to prove to you what those are,” he said, rolling out from underneath me. I laughed and sat up, enjoying the view as he pulled on his boxers. He had the most incredible body and now it was all mine. The thought sent a delicious shiver down my spine.
“Give me five minutes before you come down, I’ve got a surprise for you,” he said like an excited schoolboy.
“Ooh, I love surprises.”
“Five minutes okay?” he warned.
I nodded and he left and went downstairs leaving me wondering what sort of a surprise he had in store.
I grabbed hold of the pillow he had been sleeping on, it smelt of him and I hugged it close to me sinking my nose into it. What a difference twenty-four hours makes!
I slid out of bed and went into the bathroom. I didn’t want to waste time having a shower so I settled for cleaning my teeth with Ahran’s toothbrush. I looked at myself in the mirror as I brushed. My eyes were bright and sparkling and my face had lost that haunted look. My cheeks were flushed and my hair looked like I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards. I groaned as I spat out the toothpaste. Why was it that I didn’t have that sexy, sleep-mussed look women always had in films? Instead, I looked like some Neolithic cave woman. I looked through Ahran’s wash bag and bathroom cupboard to see if he had a comb but my search was fruitless. I went back into the bedroom feeling my wrist for a hairband but for once there wasn’t one there and I couldn’t find anything else that would serve as a hair tie, so I gave up. I found the t-shirt he’d had on last night and slipped it over my head, it doubled as a perfectly adequate nightdress and smelt of him. I smoothed my hair down as best as I could. It had to be five minutes by now.
I made my way downstairs. It was such a light house and the wood flooring felt warm beneath my feet. Surprisingly, the idea of this house becoming my home one day didn’t send me into a spiral of worry. For some reason now it just seemed right, like it was part of the natural order of things to come.
I was met by the most delicious smell as I walked into the kitchen. Ahran was liberally applying maple syrup to two plump, banana filled pancakes that were sat on two plates in front of him doing his best to ensure that our breakfast contained an adult’s daily quota of calories.
“Women back home would pay good money to have a hot, half-naked man prepare their breakfast,” I said as I took a seat at the breakfast bar.
He laughed. “My bill’s on the counter next to your surprise,” he said as he brought the plates over and inclined his head towards a steaming mug of tea standing on the surface.
“You got me tea?!” I squealed. I stared at him disbelievingly. “You got me tea,” I said more softly. I was overcome by his thoughtfulness.
He had a huge grin plastered across his face. “It’s English tea.” He was obviously pleased with his work.
“Thank you.” I hopped off the stool and kissed him. “I didn’t think you could get proper tea in Ramia,” I said, picking up the mug and taking a sip of my own personal ambrosia. I swallowed. Ah that was good!
“You can’t. I picked some up the last time I was on Earth.”
“Was that the morning after…you know?” I willed him to understand what I was talking about without actually having to say it. That night had triggered a dark and bleak period of my life. I feared that to even say the words might somehow burst the blissful bubble I now found myself in.
“Actually I’ve been to Earth a number of times since then,” he replied. He had begun to pay meticulous attention to cutting his pancake and I got the distinct impression he was hiding something from me.
“You’ve been back to Earth since then?” For some reason this surprised me, I’d assumed he had been busy with the farm.
He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, he was obviously uncomfortable and it made me wary.
“Ahran?” I said suspiciously.
He sighed. “I’ve been taking it in turns to guard you with a couple of the King’s bodyguards,” he said flatly and shrugged whilst continuing to eye me warily.
I was gobsmacked. I put my mug down and stared at him open-mouthed. He frowned when he realised I wasn’t going to let it go. “Neither Halsan, or I were happy for you to remain unprotected, not with Bazeera still being a threat.” He continued to look at me cautiously, although there was something about the angle of his head that was unapologetic.
I had been completely unaware of being watched over during the last few weeks and to be honest the thought of it was a little unnerving but I couldn’t be cross with him. It was actually rather comforting to think that a) he cared for me that much and b) in spite of me not giving it a thought, I had been at risk and he had protected me.
I laughed. I couldn’t believe that all the time I had been in the depths of despair Ahran had been with me like my own personal guardian angel.
“How often?”
His relief was perceptible when he realised I wasn’t going to give him a hard time. “More often than not,” he said with a smile.
No wonder Leylana had been so sure about Ahran’s feelings for me. “I love you. You getting hurt wasn’t an option,” he said bluntly.
I stepped towards him and hooked my arms around his neck.
“So you’re not mad?” he asked just to make sure I wasn’t about to fly off the handle.
“I’m not mad, you crazy fool, although, I’m a little freaked out that I was being watched the whole time. How come I never saw you?”
“You forget that I used to earn my living moving about undetected, and you weren’t expecting to see me. It’s amazing how much goes unnoticed when you aren’t looking for it.”
He lifted me up onto the counter and lowered his lips onto mine. He tasted of maple syrup. I pulled away licking my lips.
“Hmmm, you taste good enough to eat.”
“As much as I would like to make love to you here on this counter, and believe me I will at some point, you need to eat.”
“You Ramians are obsessed with food,” I said, feeling slightly prickly that he wasn’t about to follow through with his tempting threat.
“Not as obsessed as this Ramian is with you. Now eat!” he commanded. He speared a piece of pancake onto his fork and fed it to me.
I rolled my eyes. “Oh wow! That’s good,” I said with my mouth full.
“It’s just the beginning,” he promised as he loaded the fork.
“I hope so,” I said reading another meaning into his words.
He leaned in and licked some maple syrup from the corner of my mouth.
We polished off our pancakes together. “Mmmm, that was delicious,” I said, pushing my plate away. “Thank you.”
“Let me run a bath for you,” he said.
“Only if you join me.” I laced my fingers with his.
“I’m sure that could be arranged.” His eyes began to smoulder.
“You go and run the bath, I’ll clear up here,” I offered.
“Leave it, it can wait.”
He gently tugged me off the counter and I followed him up the stairs our hands still linked.
“Wait in here. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
I could get used to being waited on, I thought to myself as I laid on the bed. I heard him turn the taps on in the bathroom. Ahran’s bath was bigger than my bath at home but it was still going to be a delicious squeeze lying in there with his big frame. I began to wonder how we were going to take things from here. I would stay here as much as I could and Toby co
uld come and stay here with me. Perhaps from time to time, Ahran and I could stay at the palace. However, I did have a business to run and a kidnap story to play along with back home. I stared up at the ceiling not relishing the thought of being away from Ahran any longer than I had to. How long would it be before the police gave up their search? After I had fled Ramia all those weeks ago it had been easy to appear distraught because I was, I’d been in the depths of despair. But now, everything had changed. I had come to terms with Toby living at the palace and Ahran and I were together. I was on cloud nine. It was not what the police or anyone else would expect of somebody whose precious nephew had supposedly still not been found. It wasn’t going to be easy.
“Okay, you can come in now,” Ahran called.
I jumped off the bed and joined him in the bathroom. He was already in the bath surrounded by bubbles and a woman’s voice crooned quietly in the background from a hidden sound system.
“Mind if I join you?” I peeled off the t-shirt I was wearing.
“I’d be devastated if you didn’t.”
I climbed into the bath and settled in between his legs. “Mmm, that’s nice.”
“When I have the en-suite built in the bedroom, I’m going to have a huge bath put in so that it won’t be such a squash for us to have a bath together.” I loved that I featured in his future plans. He started to gently massage my neck and shoulders. I closed my eyes and laid my head back onto his chest. “That feels so good.”
“You feel tense.”
“I’m not. I guess it’s just a build up over the last few weeks.”
“It was so difficult seeing you and not being able to talk to you or touch you.” I could hear the torment in his voice. “It nearly broke my heart.”
“Let’s not talk about it.”