* * *
At some point, between breathless kisses and laughs, Theo picked up an old board game.
“I used to play this with Malek when we were sent into the mountains to ‘cool off’ as teenagers. We would always get ourselves into trouble, back then it was the biggest punishment having to stay in a cabin in the woods with nothing to do. Oh, how the times have changed, eh?” he said.
I smiled at him and ran my hand through his hair.
“So, what are we playing?”
Theo opened the game and started putting pieces together.
“This is a strategy game. You have different creatures at your disposal to grow your own village, but you also have a secret mission that you need to accomplish.”
I looked at him and laughed, “So basically this game is called ‘How to be a God’ for Dummies?’”
“Ha! I wish it was this easy to be a God. I need to warn you, I am incredibly good at this game,” he said.
After several rounds, I was ready to throw my hands up in defeat. I had known it would be difficult to win in any game against the God of Wisdom, but the way he dominated every game was unreal. He seemed to calculate all of my moves in advance and before I even knew which play I was going to make, he had already anticipated which way I would go and had made provisions.
After I lost six times, I magically won round seven and although he swore to me that he had not intentionally played badly, I knew he had let me win. It was late afternoon already and if I blinked, it would be the next day and we had to leave this place to go into battle.
“I can see what you’re thinking, wordsmith. Don’t let your thoughts wander. Stay here with me, in this moment,” he gently said.
“You’re right, I just wish these days didn’t have to end.” I sniffed.
He pulled me into his side, my nose buried in the crook of his neck, breathing him in.
“Nothing is ending. We are only just getting started, darling.”
Hewas wrong.
And while every fiber of my being rebelled against it, I started building my walls up again. I needed full control over my emotions if I wanted to go through with my plan.
* * *
“All right, open your eyes,” he said as he led me into the attic room.
I slowly opened them, letting them adjust to the light.
Theo had not only prepared the hot tub and two glasses of wine, but had also lit several candles around the room.
“Wow, you are going all the way to get me naked, aren’t you?” I teased, and he grinned at me, pulling me in for a kiss.
“I am confident that I wouldn’t need any of this, if I can just do this,” he said, grabbing my ass and kissing me senseless.
I laughed against his mouth, “All right, all right, I give in. Let’s get naked.”
I was already fully immersed in the tub when he started undressing right in front of me. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, the way his muscles worked when he stripped off, his big hands handling buttons and cords with precision and most of all, the look of pure desire on his face. To my surprise, he placed a book next to the tub.
“We have spent 24 hours together and you are already so bored with me that you’d rather read?” I pouted as he climbed into the tub and settled next to me.
“In fact, I thought you might be bored withmeand I wanted to readtoyou. It’s been my favorite book ever since I was a teenager and it’s a real guilty pleasure, so if you tell anyone about this, I will deny it.”
The book looked old, which shouldn’t have surprised mesince it had been centuries since Theo had been a teenager. But it wasn’t just old, it was clear that it had been read over and over again.
He had marked certain pages with little bits of paper and it looked as if he had also written and doodled between the columns. He came round behind me, and I settled with my back against his chest. He held out the book before me and I read the title, ’The Lost Sailor.’ Theo cleared his throat and began to read in that deep voice of his, and it didn’t surprise me at all to realize that he was a born storyteller.
Once upon a time, there was a sailor named Lucas who had spent many years navigating the vast oceans. One fateful night, a terrible storm arose, tossing his ship like a leaf in the wind. The mighty waves crashed, the sky roared with thunder, and lightning split the heavens. His ship, despite Lucas’s brave efforts, was swallowed by the sea. He awoke the next morning, lost and alone on a small, deserted island.
