Page 31 of White Wings of Desire

"Good morning, Mrs. Collins," he says. His voice is still raspy, and he clears his throat, his chest rattling. I push myself up beside him, clutching the pink blanket to my chest. My eyes land on the source of the voice: a sweet old lady standing in the doorway, wearing a flowery apron to protect her clothes.

"I didn't know we were going to have a guest this morning. A little warning would have been helpful," she says, her voice soft and filled with enthusiasm. She doesn't fit in with the overall picture of his house. Her bright, colorful appearance is a stark contrast to the muted tones of the place. Her bright smile and cheerful demeanor add a strange touch of warmth to the otherwise cold atmosphere.

I look at Noah, who is rubbing his eyes, obviously trying to come to terms with the current situation. "I'm Susan Collins, Mr. Holman's cook and housekeeper. It's a pleasure to meet you." She introduces herself with a big smile.

"The pleasure is all mine. My name is Evelyn Black," I say.

"What a beautiful name." Her smile grows wider. She then turns her attention back to Noah. "Mr. Holman, what are we going to do for breakfast today?"

"A little bit of everything, please."

"Of course," she answers, and her attention shifts back to me. "Is there anything in particular that you like or dislike, darling?"

"I like a sweet breakfast."

"How about pancakes? I have all the ingredients to make you some."

"That sounds lovely, thank you." I offer her a gentle smile.

"Very well, I will get right to cooking, you two take all the time you need." She winks at us, then turns and shuts the door behind herself. Heat crawls up my neck at what she's implying.

"Now you have met my housekeeper." Noah says, falling back into the sheets and scratching his head.

"She is lovely."

"Yeah and nosy."

I turn to look at him, lying comfortably in the pillows, combing his fingers through his tangled hair, his head tilted, looking at me with a lazy smile on his lips. He looks so peaceful and innocent lying there, his features soft from sleep. Each morning when I see him just like this, It's almost surreal, how normal he appears, as if he didn't have a dangerous bone in his body.

"How do you feel?" he asks.

"Good, the painkillers are working."

He nods and pushes himself back into a sitting position.

"Thank you again for last night. You didn't have to do all that."

He shrugs. "Of course I did. You needed it, and I had to make sure you were comfortable."

A familiar warmth spreads across my cheeks and my heart leaps in my chest. "Are you okay, though? We didn't get much sleep."

"I'll survive, I’m not a stranger to sleepless nights," he says with a chuckle, bringing a hand to my face and tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Let's get up, I'm sure Mrs. Collins is dying to meet you properly."

Just as expected, Mrs. Collins is a really sweet older lady, but I now understand what Noah meant when he said nosy. After spending the whole day with me, he excused himself about an hour ago to go to his office because he had to make a couple of calls, leaving me alone with Mrs. Collins. I helped her with the laundry and cleaning the living room before going to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Noah had warned me that she would be asking about our relationship, and he was right.

"Honey, how exactly did you and Mr. Holman meet?" Mrs. Collins asks, and I look up from the small ball of ground beef in my hand. I've been helping her cook dinner: pasta with meatballs.

"We met at a wedding a few weeks ago, and it instantly clicked between us," I answer with a soft, fake smile on my lips. Noah told me to stick to the same lie he had told my friends, because Mrs. Collins has absolutely no idea who she is really working for. He told me she thinks he is the CEO of some sort of company, and he simply stuck with it, not bothering to correct her.

"Oh, so you're the young lady he couldn't get out of his head. I'm so glad it worked out in the end. He seemed really upset for a while," she says, keeping her focus on the cutting board in front of her, chopping some fresh parsley.

"Why was he upset?"

"He said it was complicated, but never really went into detail," she says and looks up at me.

"Ah, yes, it was indeed a complicated situation. It was all new to me. I haven't dated anyone for a while, and I was hesitant." I lie, partly. It's true that I haven't dated in a while, but that's certainly not the reason why things are complicated between us.

"Oh, then it seems that the two of you have that in common."

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