He dances out of my reach as I lunge for him.
Biteme92:Bahahaha. Only one of us can carry it, so I guess you’re stuck with me until we get to the castle unless you want to wait for another one to spawn in half an hour.
“Scarlett?” Malcolm’s voice startles the heck out of me and I almost fall off of the couch.
Glancing around, I’m surprised to see that it’s already dark, faint moonlight shining in from the glass wall behind me, the only thing illuminating the room. “Shit, what time is it?”
Flipping on the living room light, Malcolm doesn’t bother to hide his teasing smile. “Almost nine. Here I was ready to apologize for being so late, and you didn’t even notice.” I start to get up, but he gestures for me to stay. “No, please, carry on. I’m thrilled you have something you’re enjoying.”
“Nah, I should call it quits for the day. I desperately have to pee, and now that you snapped me out of my tunnel vision, I could go for a snack.”
His brow furrows. “Wait, have you... you haven’t moved from that spot since I left?”
Grimacing, I shrug a single shoulder. “No?” Glancing down at the couple of missed messages on my screen, I start typing. “I usually only can play on the weekends because of work, but it was pretty much... all weekend. It’s a time warp, I swear.”
Chuckling, he heads to the kitchen. “That’s a relief, honestly, because I feel incredibly guilty leaving you here alone while I’m trapped downstairs; especially when a meeting runs over.”
Speaking of guilt, I call out, “Have you eaten yet?”
“Not yet, why, is there something in particular that sounds good?” he replies, looking through the fridge.
Quickly, I type a hasty goodbye and sign off, setting aside my laptop. “Just let me pee real quick, and how about you go relax in the bath while I’ll cook something for a change?”
The fact that he’s looking at me suspiciously only cements the fact I’ve done a pretty shit job of making this relationship in any way equal.
Closing the fridge door, he cants his head. “What’s going on?”
Taking a step, I wince, grimacing as a shock of pain goes up my leg from being asleep. Rubbing it real quick, I explain, “You’re working while I’m busy sitting on my ass. Least I can do is handle dinner when you’re coming home late and probably exhausted. Not much of an equal relationship if your trophy wife doesn’t even change out of her pajamas for three days straight.”
His bark of laughter follows me as I dart to the bathroom, and when I emerge, he’s still chuckling. “Then maybe you should join me in washing up.”
Cheeks heating, I ignore the lick of his magic on my palms as I push him towards the bath. “You know as well as I do that’s a bad idea.”
Scoffing, he counters, “Dangerous, maybe, but I highly disagree about it being a bad thing.”
If I’m all in... what am I actually waiting for?
Still, some nagging doubt teases the back of my mind, making me hold back. There’s no way I could be naked with the guy and not fuck him senseless, and I’m sure he’d lose control and mark me in the heat of the moment whether or not he intended to. While the thought doesn’t terrify me as much as it did before, I can’t let go of the sinking feeling that there’s something I’m missing, like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop to wreck the perfect fantasy life that I have going on.
That’s it. It’s too good to be true, which means there’s some type of downside to bonding that I don’t know about yet.
“Go enjoy your bath,” I say decisively. “And while we eat, you can tell me more about... what bonding actually entails.”
His body goes rigid before he turns to me with a heated look that screams of hope that I’m worried I’m going to completely snuff out with one wrong move. “It’s a date.”
